The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1915-04-02

engineers with transits were accur
ate1y mapping the ranges OF vantage
| points across the stream.
Stephens regiment was encampei
on a little plateau above bend In
| the river.
To the east lay thickly wooded
| neck of land-to the west the stream
| cut through hill. Across a stretch
| of bottom land in front spread little
| village near which had been the bridge
was now mass of shapeless masonry
! the engineers having blown it up as
soon as the last soldier was over.
| The crossing of the Marine at that
point would be no easy task. Even
Stephen could see that, and he han
kered more than ever to take part in
the fighting. But he knew his desire
was futile. Duty would send other
men to the firing line; duty would
force him to mix dough while they
battled.
At dawn the German guns opened
III q 81 dhiDiihG iihO q III Gu blCCpCi
awakened too early; then for the first
time in weeks of active campaigning,
Stephen saw real battle begin. The
commissary wagons were back of a
ridge hardly half mile behind the
line of rifle pits, and from the top of
the hill he could see the whole battle
field in the bend Of the river.
The infantry swarmed into the
trenches, each man working diligently
with his bayonet to "dig himself in
deeper, using planks, branches of
trees, or any other material at hand to
construct overhead coverings as pro-
lection from shrapnel. A group of
stan officers galloped the length of the
lines, then the English batteries went
into action, firing at regular intervals
as they tried out the range
The cannonading swelled to a
steady pulsing roar that answered the
throb of German howitzers masked in
the hills beyond the river and soon
the black squirt of smoke from high
explosive shells mingled with the
white cotton balls of bursting shrap-
mel.
All morning Stephen watched the
Germans attempting to force their
way across the river.
He paused in his work to see an
English battery knock pontoon
bridge to pieces, and marveled when
the Germans went doggedly to work
to rebuild it, while their guns concen-
trated a deadly fire ON the pieces
which had caused the damage.
From both sides he heard the throb-
bling of cannon and the smashing rifle
volleys-like the sound of hail on a
glass skylight For miles up and
down the river the battle was in prog
ress. and at every point the German
onslaught was equally determined.
The pontoon bridge was completed
again, and ghost-gray thousands
poured over it.
Cavalry battalions swan their
horses across the stream, and under
the shelter of the high banks the
kaiser's legions massed themselves
for an attack.
They waited while their artillery |
drenched the English position with |
shrapnel, then surged out from under |
cover in gray hordes, and with a rip |
like the tearing of tough cloth, the in
iantry cut loose, the racket swelled by /
he wicked snarl of Inachine-guns
which were spraying the advancing
ines with steel-jacketed bullets.
Into the little village, low deserted
'y its inhabitants, poured a German
column; and as the English shells
dumped down among the houses, thin
,lumes of smoke-which thickened
md grew blacker-appeared at
lozen points. But the Germans did
lot hesitate.
Through the burning town they
wept, while other columns advanced
N each side, and across the river the
living stream still flowed.
In the fields the solid masses spread
ut fanwise and charged up the slope
oward the trenches. Now they were
t the foot of the hill, and Stephen
ould no longer see the ones directly
a front of where he stood; but ON
ach side he had good view of their
inward rush, little flashes of light
limiting from bayonets fixed for the
barge.
Machine-guns and rifles took heavy
oil.
The ground the Germans passed
yer was carpeted with writhing or
lotionless figures; but ever they
losed their ranks and went on. The
tack seemed rresistible-their num-
ers hardly diminished
Halfway up the hill the Germans
Uttered as an enfilading battery
lowed red burrows through their
anks; but it was only for moment;
len they pulled themselves together ]
nd surged upward. At the edge of
lie hill Stephen saw the English clam 6
ering out of the trenches and heard ,
lie final volleys that withered the
larging host and, above the thudding !
cannon and the splitting rattle of !
fies. the deep shout of the infantry ,