Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1915-04-14
CHAPTER xlx-Continued.

had fallen back opened fire. SO
close together were these bullet-ma-
chimes that the orbit of each ones
swing made a spray OF only a few
yards breadth over the redoubt. whore
the Browns gun-fire had not for a mo-
ment ceased its 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 automatlcs'
Are. 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 un-
dertone between shell bursts. In the
garish. jumping light brave officers
impulsiyely stood up to hearten their
commands in their work and dropped
with halfuttered 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.
such was their velocity and power OF
penetration. Where shells made gaps
and tore holes in the human mass, the
automatics cut with the regularity of
the driven teeth of 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
Ulcers to restore order in the frantic
medley Of shell screams and explosions
at time when a minute seemed an
age
Meanwhile. between them-this
hanked-up force at the charges end
and the Brown redoubt with it's auto
mates. the Gray gunners were making
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 were in.
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
surgedsback 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
~. at first, they went. for want OF in.
itative in their paralysis; then rapidly
as the law OF self-preservation asserted
itself in wild impulse.
As sheep driven over a precipice
they had advanced, as men they fed
here 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 I'm
a grimace Of hooking hate of all I'M.
mankind, Pilzer savagery ran free n,
the restraint Of discipline and civiIizad
convention. Striking right and left
ne forced his way out OF the region Of
shell fire and sun kept on Clubbing
HE rife he struck down one officer
who tried 10 dotain him: but apotbo,
officer, quicker than he. put a revolver
bullet through his head.
Westerling. who had buried bi- face
IN his hands i'm Marta's presence a
the though, 0f failure, must keen ue
pose Or his position before the atari
with chin drawn IN and shouIders
squared in sort Of Detrided miftarv
habit. he received the feverlsh 1owa
that grew voeo with each brief bYIre
Tin lie. The chief of stan. he ued
worth Wes.arling. the suDerma1 ,a,-,
BE- rock I1 the food of alarm Whom
Nc heard That his human ram was in
recoil he declared that the reruIea had
beou exaggerated repulses aIv,avs
were With word that q heavy counter
attack was turning the retreat into an
0ngoVernabie rout, he broke into a