Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1915-01-07
tCopyright- I9ll, by Charles scribneris Sons
CHAPTER XIX-Continued.

from the redoubt to which the Browns
had fallen back opened fire, So
close together we're these bullet-ma-
chimes that the orbit OF each ones
swing made a spray of only few
yards breadth over the redoubt, where
the Browns gun-fire had not for mo-
ment ceased It's persistent Smelling,
with Increasingly large and solid tar
gets Of flesh for their practice. The
thing for these targets to do, they
knew, was to intrench and begin to
return the infantry and automatics'
fire. Desperately, with the last effort
Of courage, they rose in the attempt
rose into playing hose streams Of bull
lets whose close hiss was a steady I'M
dertone between shell bursts. In the
gaTish, jumping light brave officers
impulsively stood up to heaTten their
commands in their work, and dropped
with haIf-uttered urgings, threats, and
oaths on their lips.
The bullets from the automatics
missing one mark were certain to find
another. perhaps four or FIVE in a row,
BUN NeAo LhCA1 fCAOSALJ anu RO"VA VI
penetration. Where shells made gaps
and tore holes in the human mass, the
autOmatics cut with the regularity Of
the driven teeth OF a comb. The men
who escaped all the forms of slaughter
and staggered on to the ruins of the
redOubt, pressed their. weight on top
of those in the craters or Rugged be-
hind the pyramids of debris, and even
made breastworks from the bodies of
the dead. The more that banked up,
the more fruitless the efforts of the Of
ficeTs to restore order in the frantic
medley of shell screams and explosions
at a time when a minute seemed an
age.
Meanwhile, between them-thfs
banked-up force at the charges end
and the Brown redoubt with it's auto
mates, the Gray gunners were making
a zone of shell bursts in order to give
the soldiers time to make their hold
of the ground they had gained secure.
Through this zone Stransky and his
men were to lead the Browns in a
COunter-attack
At the very height of the Gray
charge, when all the reserves we're n,
dark objects fell out of the heavens,
and where they dropped earth and
flesh were mingled in the maceration.
Like some giant reptile with it's YER
tebrae breaking, gouged and torn and
piniOned, the charge stopped, in with
ing, thrObbing confusion. Those on
the outer circle of explosions were
thrown against their fellows, who
surged back in another direction from
an explosion in the opposite quarter.
From the rear the pressure weakened:
the human hammer was no longer driv-
ing the ram. Blinded by the lightnings
and dust, dizzy from conclusions and
noise, too blank of mind to be sane or
insane, the atoms of the bulk of the
charge in natural instinct turned from
their goal and toward the place whence
they had come, with death from all
sides still buffeting them. Staggering.
ly. at first, they went, for want of in
itatiVe in their paralysis; then rapidly
as the law of self-Dreservation asserted
Itself in wild impulse
As sheep driven over a precipice
they had advanced; as men they fed.
There was no longer any command, no
longer any cohesion, except of legs
struggling in and out over the uneven
footing of dead and wounded. while
they felt another pressure. that of the
mass Of the Browns in pursuit. OF all
those OF Fracasse's company whom
we know only the judges son and
Jacob Pilzer were alive Stained with
blood and dust, his teeth showing in
a grimace of hooking hate of all hu-
mankind, Pliers savagery ran free of
the restraint of discipline and civilized
convention. Striking right and left,
he forced his way out of the region of
shell fire and still kept on. Clubbing
his rife, he struck down one officer
who tried to detain him: but another
officer, quicker than he, put a revolver
bullet through his head.
Westerling, who had buried his face
in his hands in Marta's presence at
the thought of failure, must keen the
pose of his position before the staff.
With chin drawn in and shoulders
squared in sort of petrifed military
haolt, he received the feverish news
that grew worse with each brief bulle,
tin. He, the chief of staff; he. He'd.
worth Westerling. the superman. must
De rock in the flood of alarm. When
he heard that his human ram was in
recoil he declared that the repulse had
been ggerated-repulses ALWAYS
were, With word that a heavy counter.
attack was turning the retreat into an
ungoYernable rout, he broke into a
storm. He was not beaten; he could
not be beaten.
Let our guns cut q few swaths in
the mob!" ne cried THAT will sion
them from running and bring them
back to a sense of duty to their coun.
try"
The irritating litter of the bell in
the closet off the library only increased
his defiance of facts beyond control
He went to the long distance with 8
reply to the premier's inquiry ready to
his lips.
We got into the enemy's works but
had TO fall back temporarily" he said
Temporarily! What do you mean?'
demanded the premier.
I mean that We have only begun to
attack" declared Westerling. He liked
that sentence. 1t sounded like the
shlbboleth of a great leader in a crisis
I shall assault again tomorrow
night"
Then your losses were not heayy?'