AN ENGAGEMENT.
Right, left, front and rear of where Stubbs and Chester stood the troops
began to move. In front they could make out the heavy guns being dragged
forward, officers dashing about and gesticulating excitedly, but order
reigning in the midst of apparent confusion.
From the rear now dashed a squadron of cavalry, a handsome appearing body
of men. A second squadron came into sight and disappeared ahead, to be
followed a moment later by a third. Other squadrons passed in rapid
succession.
Chester and Stubbs kept their positions.
Half an hour passed and still the mounted horsemen swept by. Then came
the infantry. Column upon column came swinging along at a dog trot, their
officers urging them on. They moved silently and swiftly, apparently all
ready for the terrible business in hand.
"A handsome body of men," said Stubbs. "I have never seen better."
"And the size of them," exclaimed Chester. "Must all be over six feet."
It did seem so. Great, big, husky-looking fellows they were, strong as
gorillas--heavily bearded, most of them, and warmly and snugly dressed.
"They'll make these Austrians move around some, with an even break,"
declared Chester.
And still the troops passed, seemingly without end.
"Must be an attack in some force," said Chester.
"Or reinforcements to check an enemy's advance," declared Stubbs.
"Well," said Chester, "if there is going to be a battle, we ought to try
and see something of it."
"They'll arrest us if we go fooling around here," declared Stubbs.
Chester thought quickly.
"I'll tell you," he said at length, "you saw the orderly stationed
outside our tent?"
Stubbs nodded.
"We'll go back and get him. Also we'll take Hal and Colonel Anderson.
They wouldn't want to miss this."
"Don't forget my old friend Nikol," said Stubbs. "Remember he is
something of a fighter, too. He'll want to have a look."
They made their way back to the tent quickly and aroused the others. The
orderly placed at their disposal, once their wants were made known,
volunteered to conduct them to the front.
"I'll get an automobile," he said, and departed.
Five minutes later he was back with a big car and all climbed aboard. A
moment later they were being driven rapidly toward the extreme front.
There, just behind the first line troops, Hal and Chester made out that
the movement was in reality a defensive one. Apparently the men rushed
forward so early in the morning were reinforcements.
The troops had entrenched themselves hurriedly and were preparing to
resist an attack, which, the orderly informed his charges, was expected
momentarily. It appeared that the Austrians had made some slight gains
the day before and the Montenegrin general staff had reason to believe
the offensive would be continued to-day. Accordingly, steps had been
taken to resist the invader.
As the orderly explained the situation, the battle would probably be
fought along a twenty-five-mile front; and he announced that at this
particular moment the party was somewhere between the center and the left
wing of the Montenegrin army.
"Well, we can't see much from here," said Chester.
He gazed across the hills. Then he pointed to his right, toward a not far
distant elevation, somewhat higher than the others nearby, and also
somewhat closer to the Montenegrin center.
"Now, if we were up there," he said, "we might be able to see something."
The orderly seemed nonplussed.
"It is from that eminence that the king and the general staff will
witness the struggle," he said, "I do not know--"
"Oh, that will be all right," said Stubbs. "The king is a good friend of
ours. Why, only last night he said that if we desired anything all we had
to do was to call on him. Now, taking the king at his word, what we would
desire most is to be allowed to witness the battle from that eminence."
The Montenegrin officer hesitated; but only for a moment. Then he said:
"If those were the king's words, he no doubt will forgive me for leading
you thither."
"Most certainly he will," declared Stubbs; "in fact, he will thank you
for bringing us to him."
The officer, without further words, proceeded as desired, and ten minutes
later, having left the big army automobile, they climbed the eminence and
took their positions not far from where the king and the general staff
stood viewing the Austrian lines through their glasses.
Even as they settled themselves as comfortably as possible, the first big
gun of the enemy boomed. Other big guns from the Montenegrin lines took
up the action and soon the artillery engagement became general. The air
was filled with terrible din and it was next to impossible to make
oneself heard above the roar of battle.
Hidden batteries in the Montenegrin lines were making their fire felt.
Shielded from the enemy in front, they were also, in most cases, made
invisible to the Austrian air craft that continually hovered overhead,
sheltered as they were in dense clumps of trees and bushes.
From the Montenegrin lines now went a small fleet of aeroplanes, seeking
out the hiding places of the enemy artillery and signaling back the range
to the Montenegrin gunners.
For an hour the duel of big guns continued without other action of any
kind. Now and then the spectators were able to make out the effect of an
enemy shell as it struck within the Montenegrin line, but they were
unable to determine the result of the Montenegrin fire.
Came the sound of a bugle from the rear.
"Something up!" shouted Chester at the top of his voice.
Hal nodded but said nothing. He did not feel equal to making himself
heard above the terrible roar of battle.
From the Austrian line suddenly issued a squadron of cavalry, closely
followed by many other squadrons. It became apparent to the spectators
that the enemy had determined to silence the Montenegrin guns, or a
portion of them, at any rate, by a charge.
On they came in the very face of a hail of lead that cut great gaps in
their ranks, mowing men and riders down like chaff before a storm. But as
fast as the ranks were thinned, they filled up again as the Austrians
continued their charge, while from their rear the great Austrian guns
continued to hurl their messengers of death over their heads into the
ranks of the Montenegrins beyond.
Straight for a little woods in the center of the long battle line the
Austrian cavalry dashed, their intention apparently being to seek
temporary shelter there before charging some other part of the
Montenegrin line.
Now they were almost to the trees and it seemed that they must find
shelter there. This would mean that it would be a hard task for the
Montenegrins to dislodge them. They were less than a hundred yards away
when there came a fresh, terrible rumble and roar.
A Montenegrin masked battery had opened with its rapid-firers. Men
dropped in great heaps, but the others came on.
The Austrian officer in command, realizing that he was in a trap, took
the one chance left him. With what men he had, cut off from his infantry
support as he was, he must either capture that masked battery, die or
surrender. The only support he had now was from his own artillery, and a
moment later that, too, became silent, for the masked Montenegrin battery
could not be shelled without imminent risk of shooting down Austrian as
well as Montenegrin.
On came the Austrians in a desperate and spectacular charge. Of the
number that had sallied forth from the Austrian trench, less than half
remained when they came to the edge of the little woods. These few hurled
themselves forward with the utmost bravery and abandon, and for a moment
it seemed that they might reach the guns, which Hal and Chester, from the
eminence, could see.
But at that moment four squadrons of Montenegrin cavalry, fresh and eager
for the fray, were hurled forward. They dashed out with a yell, and the
two forces met just beyond the fringe of trees.
There was a terrific shock as they came together and in a moment all
was confusion. Men cursed, slashed, stabbed and discharged revolvers at
each other, while the horses of the opposing forces fought as well as
their riders.
The Montenegrin battery had now become silent, for to have fired would
have been to endanger the life of friend as well as foe. The horsemen
struggled desperately, hand-to-hand.
But the force of the Austrian charge had been spent. The few who remained
fought bravely, but they were no match for the fresher and more powerful
Montenegrin horsemen, among the best fighters in the whole world.
Slowly the Austrians were forced back. Then they gave ground faster and
faster, until finally those who were left turned their horses and fled
back toward their own lines. For perhaps a hundred yards the Montenegrins
pursued, then, at the call of a bugle, they halted and turned back.
A moment later the rapid-firers broke loose again, cutting great holes in
the ranks of the fleeing Austrians. The latter retreated even faster than
they had charged, but by the time they reached the shelter of their own
lines their number had been thinned by fully three-fourths.
All the way across the field dead and wounded strewed the ground. The
successful Montenegrins paused for a moment and cheered wildly; then they
took stock of their own dead and wounded, for they had not escaped
scot-free. The hand-to-hand struggle, though brief, had been severe while
it lasted, and the Austrians fought hard and well. The Montenegrin
losses, though comparatively light, had been severe.
While the cavalry action was being fought, the artillery fire had
slackened perceptibly; but now the cavalry of each side--what was left of
it--had returned to its own lines.
The big guns took up the duel anew with even greater vigor than before.