The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1915-03-27
len!" he shouted at the top of his

The colonel of the 12Sth had not
looked for immediate resistance. He
had told Fracasse's men to occupy the
knoll expeditiously. But by the com
mon impulse of military training, no
less than in answer to the whistles
call, in face of the whitening fire they
dropped to earth at the base of a
knoll. where Hugo threw himself
down at full length in his place in line
| next to Peterkin.
Fire pointblank at the crest in
front of you! l saw couple of men
| standing up there" called Fracasse.
Fire fast! That's the way to keep
down their fire-pointblank, 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 was firing vaguely, like a man
In dream. Pilzer was shooting to
kill. His eye had the steely CLEAN
| of his rifle sight and the liver patch
! on his cheek was deeper hue as he
| sought to ayenge Eugene's death.
Drowned by the racket of their own
| fire. not even PSerkin was hearing
the whish-whish of the bullets from
| Dellarme's company now. He did not
know that the blacksmith's s son, who
was the fourth man from him, lay with
his chin on his rifle stock and tiny
| trickle of blood from a 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 l2Sth as a reason for summon
ing his men.
Creep up, Don't show yourselves
| Creep up arefully-carefully! he
kept repeating as they crawled for
| ward on their stomachs. And no one
| is to ire 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
ruminatiyely silent all the morning,
was 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 fight, 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 is 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 a COM
pany of infantry in action whether or
| not he was worthy of his captains
rank He smiled ,Neerily. In order
that he might watch how each man
used his rifle, he drew back of the line,
| his slim body erect as he rested on
| one knee, his head level with the
| other heads while he fingered his
| whistle. The instant that Eugene
Aronson sprang over the white post
| a blast from the whistle began the
| war.
1t was signal, too. for Stransky
to play the part he had planned; to
| lIldhc Tie SpSttH Vi HIS lllC MS OLA
feet of stature shot to it's feet with
Jack-in-the-box abruptness, under
the impulse of 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, I'll lead you Comrades. We'll
take white flag and go down to NEE,
our comrades and well find that they
think as we do! III lead YOU"
The appeal was drowned in the
cracking OF the rifles working as regu-
larly as punching machines in fac
tory. Every soldier was seeing only
his sight and the running figures un-
der it. Mechanically and automatical-
ly training had been projected into
action anticipation into realization. A
spectator might as well have called to
a man in a hundred-yard dash to stop
running. to an oarsmap ir race to
jump out - HIS shell
The company sergeant sprang 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.
viii you get down? Will you take
your place with your riie?" demanded
Dellarme.
Stransky laughed thunderously in
scorn. He was handsome titanic, and
ha rbaric with his huge shoulders