Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1921-06-17

betting, the while he whistled softly,
unmasically. and with putting, kissing
sounds between his snaggle teeth. until
Sobrantean gentleman Ut was Doc
tor Pacheco) came out of the ware
house and gave the order to proceed.
They marched along the water front
for four blocks and then turned up a
side street, which happened to be the
Gale de Concordia. thus enabling
Mother jerks, who was peering from
the doorway of Ell Buen Amigo, to see
them coming.
"Hah p she muttered. Emery
they're comm. The worm is turnin',
Emery; 10 years you've wyted for
vengeance, my love, but toby you'll
get it,"
She waddled out into the street and
held up her hand in a gesture as au-
thoritative and imperious as that CT
traffic officer. "Batter-r-ry 'altP she
croaked. She had heard the late En-
cry give that command often enough
to have acquired the exact infection
necessary to make an impression upon
men accustomed to obeying such a
command whenever given. Instinc-
lively the column slowed up; some of
the Foreign Legion, old coast artil-
lerists, no doubt, came to a halt with
promptness and precision; all stared
at Mother Jerks.
low about 'arf a dozen cases O.
good brandy for the wounded?" Moth
er jerks suggested. IAN low about
bally old woman for a Red Cross
nurseT
You're on. ma'am," the foreign
leader replied promptly, and translat-
ed the old lady's suggestion to DR..
Pacheco, who accepted gracefully and
thanked Mother jerks in purest Cas-
lillian. So a detail of six men was
told off to carry the six cases Of
brandy out of Ell Buen Amigo and
load them on the ammunition carts (;
then Mother jerks crawled up into
the armored truck with the machine
gun crew, and the column once more
took up its line of rapid march.
The objective of this unsupported
force within the city was, as Ricardo
Ruey shrewdly suspected it might be,
poorly garrisoned. Usually a force of
fully 500 men was stationed at the
national arsenal, but the sharp. saw
age attack from the west, so sudden
and unexpected, had thrown Sarros
into !. panic and left him no time to
plan his defense carefully. His first
thought had been to send all his
available forces to support the troops
bearing the brunt of the rebel attack,
and it was tremendously important
that this should be done very prompt
ly, in view of the lack of information
the numerical force of the
enemy; consequently he had reduced
the arsenal force to 100 men and re-
tanned only his favorite troops of the
guards and one company of the Fiji
teenth infantry to protect the palace.
Acting under hastily given tele-
phonic orders, the commanding Off
Ger at the cantonment barracks had
detailed a few hundred men to fight
rear-guard action while the main army
fell back in good order behind rail-
way embankment which swept in a
wide arc around the city and offered
an excellent substitute for breast
works. This position had scarcely
been attained before the furious ad-
vance of the rebels drove in the rear
guard. and pending the capture of the
arsenal, Ricardo realized his opera
tons were at an impasse. Promptly
he dug himself in, and the battle de-
into a brisk affair of give and
take, involving meager losses TO both
factions. but an appalling wastage OF
The arsenal, a large, modern con-
.rete building with tremendously
-hick walls reinforced by Steel would
lave offered fairly good resistance to
he average field battery. Surround
ng II on all four sides was rein
-orced concrete wall 30 feet high,
With machine gun bastions at each
'orner and a platform along the wall |
inside and 25 feet from the ground. |
which afforded foot room for infantry
which could use the top five feet OF !
he wall for protection while nring
ver it. There was but one entrance.
heavy. barred steel gate which was
lways kept locked when 1t vas not
ecessary to have ii opened for In
ress or egress. Given warning of an
tack and with sufficient time to pre-
are for 1t. 100 of the right sort of
ghting men could withstand an IN
efnite siege by a force not provid-
4 with artillery heavier than an or
mary field gun. With full reaiiza-
on of this. therefore. Ricardo and
is confreres had designed to accom-
fish by strategy that which could not
e done by the limited forces at their
AS the column approached the
of the arsenal, three de-