Dave Darrin on the Asiatic Station Part 17

"You're right," he answered, in a low tone. "Pa.s.s the word to the men at the machine gun to be ready."

Stepping quickly down the little line on the river side of the wall Dave gave whispered instructions to the men to lie low and to await the order to fire.

Then, motionless as a tree, Darrin stood for fully two minutes, with the gla.s.s at his eyes.

"Ready!" he called, at last, in a low, but penetrating voice. "Aim!

Fire!"

As the volley crashed out, Danny Grin raced around to the west rampart, to look for signs of a Chinese advance against that side.

Hundreds of Mongols had stolen forward on the river side. Instead of checking these, the brisk American fire brought thousands of others swarming from the streets and buildings.

"Keep that machine gun going," shouted Darrin in the ear of the machine gun captain. "Make it hot, my men! We want to get as many of the yellow fiends this time as possible. The more b.l.o.o.d.y they find this charge the more careful they will be through the rest of the night."

To add to the din Danny Grin had ordered the machine gun on the west side to fire, directing also his riflemen to fire only as sharpshooters.

Rightly judging that the attack on two sides might be only a feint to draw attention away from the biggest movement of all on the southern side, Darrin darted around to that point, traveling on the rampart.

Nor had he been there two minutes before the howls of thousands of infuriated yellow men sounded on the open ground before the wall.

"Pump that machine gun," Dave ordered sharply to the men at the gun.

"Riflemen! Fire at will, and shoot as straight as you know how!"

This latter order he repeated as he darted along the line.

"Here, my friend, you get down! Lie behind the parapet; don't expose yourself in that fas.h.i.+on," Dave ordered, pus.h.i.+ng down a sailor who had knelt on the parapet instead of lying behind it.

"I wanted to get a better aim, sir," replied the young sailorman, upturning a face full of enthusiasm.

"And you want to show your sand, too," nodded Dave appreciatively.

"None doubts your courage, my man, but the fighting man who exposes himself needlessly draws just that much more fire toward comrades close to him. Remember that, and keep down."

Plunk! plunk! Dave was just in time to see the tops of two ladders planted against the stone ramparts by yellow men under the walls.

"Look out, men!" he yelled. "The c.h.i.n.ks are trying to plant ladders and scale the walls! Beat 'em back, or we are gone!"

A yellow face appeared at the top of one of the ladders. Like a flash Ensign Darrin bounded forward, bringing down his sword on the left shoulder of the yellow man.

Then, without a moment's further thought, Darrin seized the top of the ladder, giving it a mighty push that sent it toppling to the ground below. In a moment he had sent the second ladder, with three men on its rungs, after the first.

Drawing his revolver, and throwing himself across the parapet, Ensign Dave emptied ten shots into a ma.s.s of yellow humanity at the foot of the wall. Some of the sailors followed his example.

But now it seemed as though nothing would daunt the desperate, rat-like courage of the Mongols.

All along the four sides of the rampart, light bamboo ladders were set up. Hundreds of yellow a.s.sailants rushed up these ladders.

"Prepare to repel boarders!" l.u.s.tily howled one sailorman, as he sprang forward, clubbing three Chinese in succession over the head.

But it looked as if the American force must be overwhelmed, for with fiendish fury the yellow swarms toiled up and fought at the edge of the parapets.

CHAPTER IX-THE TRAITOR OF THE YAMEN

How they ever came through the next fifteen minutes was afterwards a mystery to Dave and Dan.

They were in the thick of that frantic, deadly scramble for possession of the ramparts. As fast as Chinese a.s.sailants fell they were instantly replaced by others.

When Dave's revolver was not barking, his sword was in action, and his arms fairly ached with the labor of pus.h.i.+ng away ladder after ladder.

Hardly one of Dave's men was less occupied. Many of the Chinese had dropped the rifle for the long spear, or else for the keen, two-edged sword. American blood flowed in that quarter of an hour.

Boom! Out of the darkness came a trail of fire. Bang! A sh.e.l.l from the "Castoga" exploded among the nearest buildings on the river side beyond the yamen compound. In another moment flames were leaping upward from a flimsy house in which a sh.e.l.l had exploded.

Boom! Other sh.e.l.ls began dropping about, on three sides of the compound. Soon a score of native houses were in flames, the light showing to the marksmen on the parapets just where to "find" their yellow a.s.sailants.

But no sh.e.l.l was fired over the yamen. Plainly the "Castoga's" gunners feared that they might drop a sh.e.l.l into the compound itself.

On three sides the flames of the conflagration made the surroundings nearly as bright as in daytime. The men on the ramparts could now see excellently, and aim accordingly.

At the same time the attack by ladders ceased, for now the laddermen were too plainly visible and could be killed with ease.

"Great work, that done by the sh.e.l.ls!" chuckled Danny Grin.

"Yes," nodded Dave, "but I wish we could have the same kind of illumination to the southward. Withdraw enough men from the other three sides, Dan, to strengthen the southern rampart sufficiently."

The machine guns barking out anew, and with increased deadliness, the thousands of fanatical Chinese, now finding themselves too much in the spotlight, soon withdrew to a distance. From the darkness on the farther sides of the fires, however, they still kept up a sniping fire.

"Watch from the south wall, Dan," urged Ensign Darrin. "I'm going down into the compound to see how it fares with our wounded."

Throughout the deadly a.s.sault by the ladder men no American had been killed, but several had been wounded.

Many were the "jackies" who, binding handkerchiefs over their wounds, stubbornly remained at their posts.

In the circle of light under the paper lanterns, Dave found a medical missionary, a.s.sisted by some of the women, attending to the wounded.

Five sailors, two marines and three missionaries comprised the list of the more severely wounded. All were cheerful, however, and none seemed in danger from his wounds.

Not until Dave had gone the rounds did Belle step forward.

"Have you a moment to tell us anything?" she asked quietly.

"Yes," smiled Dave, resting an arm on her shoulder. "We are going to have quite a noisy night."

"Are you going to be able to hold the yamen against the Chinese?"

"That's exactly what we're here to do," answered Dave with a confident smile.