The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1915-01-07

- 0ak1.ADVo0AA
4 ed neal" b. .no4lsA II the ~ q HI
| voice.
The coloasa ee ~ l1sth hsA ~
looked for i0ned1ato resistance. He
had told Fracasss's nsa . occupy tha
knoll expeditiossly. But By the con-
noa impulse of military traiaing. No
less thaa In answer to the Whistles
call. in face 0f The vithsri.g nrs they
dropped to earth 1t the hase Of Q
knoll. where Hugo threw himself
down At full length in his place In liss
next to Peterkin.
Fire pointblank at the crest in
front of yos! ! saw . couple Of nsa
standing up there!" called Fracasss.
Fire fast! That's the way to keep
down their hre-poistblank. I tell you!
You're firing into the sky! l want to
see more dust kicked up. Fire fast!
Well have them out OF there soon!
They're only an outpost"
Hugo vas firing vaguely. like q man
In . dream. Pilxer was shooting to
kill. His eye had the steely gleam
Of his ride sight and the liver patch
on his cheek was deeper hue a. he
sought to avenge Eugene's death.
Drowned by the racket OF their own
fire. not even Peterkin was hearing
the whish-whish OF the bullets from
Dellarme's company now. He did not
know that the biacksmith's son. who
was the fourth man from him, lay with
his chin on his ride stock and Q tiny
trickle Of blood from . hole in his
forehead running down the bridge of
his nose.
Young Dellarme, new to his cap
tain's rank. watching the plain
through his glasses. saw the move
ment Of mounted officers to the rear
of the 12Sth ~ . reason for summon
ing his men.
Creep up! Don't show yourselves!
Creep up = carefully-carefully!" he
kept repeating as they crawled for
ward on their stonachs. And no one
10 to hre until the command comes"
Hugging the cover Of the ridge OF
fresh earth which they had thrown up
the previous night, they watched the
white posts. Stransky. who had been
ruminatively silent all the morning.
waN in his place. but he was not look
Ing at the enemy. Cautiously, to avoid
reprimand. he raised his head to en-.
able him to glance along the line. All
the faces seemed drawn and clayish.
They don't want to hght! They're
Just here because they're ordered here
and haven't the character to defy au.
thority." he thought. "The leaven is
working! My time il coming"
For Dellarme the minute had come
when all his training was to be put to
test. The figures on the other side Of
the white posts were rising. He was to
prove by the way he directed q com.
pany Of infantry in action whether or
not he was worthy of his captains
rank. He smiled saeerily. In order
that he might watch how each man
used his rife. he drew back of the line,
his slim body erect - he rested on
one knee. his head level with the
other heads while he fingered N
whistle. The instant that Eugene
Aronson sprans over the white post
\ blast from the whistle began the
war.
1t was a signal. too, for stransky
to play the part he had planned: to
make the speech of his life. His six
feet of stature shot to its feet with
Jack-in-the-box abruptness, under
the impulse Of q mighty and reckless
passion.
Men. stop firing!" he howled thun-
derously. stop firing ON your broth.
ers! Like you. they are only the
pawns of the ruling class, who keep
us all pawns in order that they may
have champagne and caviare. Com
rades, Ill lead you! Comrades. we'll
take white flag and 90 down to meet
our comrades and we'll hnd that they
think as we do! I'll lead you!"
The appeal was drowned in the
cracking Of the rifles working as regu.
larly as punching-machines in a fac
tory. Every soldier was seeing only
his sight and the running figures un-
der 1t. Mechanically and automatical.
ly, training had been projected into
action. anticipation into realization. A
spectator might as well have called to
a man in hundred-yard dash to stop
running, to an oarsmap 10 q race to
jump out .. HIS she'll.
The colnpahy sergeant spfang for
Stransky with an oath. But Stransky
was in no mood to submit. He felled
the sergeant with a blow and, reck
lessly defiant, stared at Dellarme.
while the men. steadily firing, were
still oblivious Of the scene The SER
geant. stunned. rose to his knees and
reached for his revolver. Dellarme,
bent over to keep his head below the
crest, had already drawn his as he
hastened toward them.
"Will you get down? Will you take
your place with your rifie?" demanded
Dellarme.