The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1916-10-12
Continued from Yesterday
CHAPTER XXI.
The Charc,


Mot the next time, nor yet the
M next, nor the next, was Com
pany r, band of twenty two
men now, able to bayonet.
n "a. as building. was gone. \ "a
had become purely a position. ram
part of cotton bales and ballast bags
chinked up with bricks and stone
from the debris of the warehouse II
was a section of firing trench which
girded the Manhattan water front from
the Battery to the Bronx and then
along the Hudson and the Harlem. too
as the regent drew his lines about the
billion dollar fortress of Manhattan
It was ten days after that first as
sault. according to Jims reckoning
the reckoning did not agree with that
Of Kilbane. who knew it was eleven
days-that the infantry of the regent
crossed to Manhattan island near the
old line of Manhattan bridge. The reg
ulars, who had held the line up there.
must have been killed, and the Ameri
can batteries about there either were
destroyed or out of ammunition. That
was more likely. Jim thought. for If
twenty-five men at \ 81 couldn't get
rife cartridges except nj night when
some one crept to the opening OF
the subway the artillery men far; her
away must be having their troubles
Or perhaps more Of the guns had burst
and killed their crews
Guns were bursting pretty often now
Jim knew. but that wasn't strange;
| they were defective guns-a lot of 200
guns made for the allies during the Flu
| ropean war. They hadn't been accept
ed on account of defects. so they'd
been returned. and when this war came
| the army had grabbed them. for at
least they were guns: they would shoot
| good many times maybe. before they
burst. Suppose they were going to
kill the men who had to fire them.
| More American men would be killed If
the guns weren't fired. if rifiemen We're
going to try to fight infantrymen and
artillery without any artillery supper.
at all. Besides. lie the Americans used
those defective. foreign guns the Amer
lean factories could supply them with
| shells right away without having to
change a pattern or rip out machine
The regents men were coming on
on toward the ramparts OF n Cd.
The TWENTY-FIVE men there were be-
coming trained to holding a position.
or Winslow and Houston had convinc-
ed them all that If man tried to run
he surely would be shot through the
head. So, as the regents men moved
on IN 81" twenty-five rifles fired over
the cotton bales.
"Bayonets now, boys! Bayonets!
Stand up and give 1t to themi They're
comingl Give 1t to them! Oh. stand
and give 'em the steel or you'll get It!
Now-bayonets! Bayonetsr'
i The recruits could not all stand to
that. Some Of them ran and were
shot, not by Winslow or Houston. but
by the regents men, Others fell down
and tried to hide behind the cotton
bales. But when Winslow jumped up
on a bale to fight and Houston. stun
bling little because of his wooden
leg, stood up also others followed
them. Paddy Kilbane, for one. and
for another Swenson. the ex-janitor
Jim Ashby fought beside him.
i Steel against steel. KiIbane was
!. quick. He lunged low and got man
before one got him. But Swenson was
bit slow. He tried TO club his mus
ket and was thrust through. Yet the
man opposite Jim was lighting with
dubbed musket. and Jim could not
reach him. Instead. Jim went down.
quite helpless. but not quite uncon
| SefoY1S and foIt otf1ors mon falling uDon
him. They did not move because they
were dead and as he did not move the
enemy considered him dead also. They
:. went over him and past him about
2 business which they had yet to do