White Pine news weekly mining review. [volume] (East Ely, Nev.) 1910-1920, 1916-07-30

chair in London that 1t was for the
purpose of heading a raid Of savages
upon a colony of anthropoid apes"
ITO such base uses do we come"
said Lord John. smiling. "But we are
up against 1t, SO what's the decisionw
st seems a most questionable STEP"
said Summerlee, a~rgumentative to the
last, "but II you are all going l hardly
see how l can remain behind"
Then it is settled" said Lord John,
and, turning to the chief, he nodded
and slapped his rife.
CHAPTER XIX.
OF to Meet Strange Foe.
T earliest dawn our camp was
astir, and an hour later WI had
~ started upon our memorable
expedition. Often In my dreams
have l thought that | might live to be
a wal correspondent. In what widest
one could | have conceived the nature
of the campaign which 1t should be
my lot to report! Here, then, Is my
first dispatch from a field of battle:
Our numbers had been REINFORCED
during the night by a fresh batch of
natives from the caves, and We may
have been 400 or 800 strong when we
made our advance. A fringe of scouts
was thrown out In front, and behind
them the whole force in a solid column
made their way up the long slope of
the bush country until we were near
the edge of the forest. Here they
spread out into a long struggling line
of spearmen and bowmen. RoxtOn and
Summarize took their position upon the
right flank, while Challenger and l
were on the left. 1t was a host Of the
stone age that we were accompanying
to battle-we with the last word of the
gunsmith's art from st. James street
and the Strand.
We had not long to wait for our
enemy. A wild, shrill clamor rose
from tho edge of the wood. and sud
denly a body of ape men rushed out
with clubs and stones and made for
the center of the Indian line. 1t was a
valiant move, but a foolish one, for the
great. handy legged creatures were
slow of foot, while their opponents
were as active as cats. 1t was horri-
BILE to see the fierce brutes, with foam
ing mouths and glaring eyes, rushing
and grasping but forever missing
their elusive enemies, while arrow aft
er arrow buried itself in their hides.
One great fellow ran past me roaring
with pain. with u dozen darts sticking
from his chest and ribs. In mercy l
put a bullet through his skull, and he
fell sprawling among the aloes. But
this was the only shot fired. for the
line, and the Indians there had needed
no help of ours In repulsing 1t. OF all
the APE men who had rushed out into
the open l do not think that one got
back to cover.
But the matter was more deadly
an hour or more after we entered the
wood there was a desperate struggle, In
which for a time we hardly held our
own. Springing out from among the
scrub, the ape men with huge clubs
broke In upon the Indians and often
felled three or four Of them before
they could be speared. Their ~frightful
blows shattered everything upon which
they fell. One of them knocked Sum-
merlee's rifle to matchwood, and the
next would have crushed his skull had
an Indian not stabbed the beast to the
heart. Other ape men in the trees
above us hurled down stones and logs
of wood. occasionally dropping bodily
on to our ranks and fighting furiously
until they were felled. Once our al
lies broke under the pressure, and had
II not been for the execution done by
our rifles they would certainly have
taken to their heels. But they were
CALAMITY rallied by their old chief and
came on with such a rush that the ape
men began in turn to give way. Sum-
merlee wss w~eaponless. but / was
emptying my magazine as quick as l
could fire, and on the farther flank We
heard the continuous cracking OF our
companions rifles.
Then In a moment came the panic
and the collapse, Screaming and howl
ing, the great creatures rushed away
In all directions through the brush
wood. while u allies yelled In their
savage delight, following swiftly after
their flying enemies. All the feuds OF
countless generations, all the hatreds
and ~cruelties of their narrow history,
all the memories of Ill usage and per-
secution. were to be purged that day.