The Boy Allies in Great Peril Part 34

With impetuous bravery they dashed forward, throwing themselves upon the bayonets of the Austrian infantry, which had braced to receive the shock.

But the enemy could not withstand this desperate charge. They faltered, hesitated, broke and fled. In vain their officers sought to bring order out of chaos. It was beyond their effort.

Straight in among the broken infantry plunged the Italian cavalry. Sabers whirled in the air and descended with terrible effect. Horses trampled fallen men, and bit at those who stood in their way, stamping and striking at others with their feet.

Realizing that his infantry was completely demoralized, the Austrian commander gave the word to send his own cavalry into the fray.

With a shout the hors.e.m.e.n charged. The Italians drew up their horses sharply and braced themselves to meet this new attack.

Chester and Hal, who came within view of this deadly work at this moment, stood spellbound.

Then Chester spoke.

"Now," he said, "you will see what I call real fighting. Look!"

The two bodies of hors.e.m.e.n met with a crash.

CHAPTER XXI.

THE BOYS GO INTO BATTLE.

Sitting their horses quietly, their lives endangered every moment by shot and sh.e.l.l that dropped around them and whistled by their heads, Hal and Chester watched keenly the hand-to-hand struggle that ensued.

The two bodies of hors.e.m.e.n met with a crash less than a quarter of a mile from where the two lads had taken their places. With swords and sabers flas.h.i.+ng aloft, the Austrians had charged with a wild yell. The Italian cavalry, stationary and braced for the shock, received their foes silently.

Hal and Chester could see that the opposing bodies of horse were about evenly matched; and they realized that skill, horsemans.h.i.+p and fighting prowess would play important parts in the encounter.

The very fierceness of the Austrian charge swept away the front rank of the Italian cavalry; and, over the fallen bodies of men and horses the foe pressed on, taking no count of their own dead and injured that reeled and fell from the saddles. The horses themselves became imbued with the spirit of battle, and bit and struck at each other as their riders fought with sword, saber and pistol.

It was a terrible sight, and the lads shuddered unconsciously. It was more frightful to the spectator than it was to the struggling men themselves, who, in the heat of battle, took no thought of the dead and the dying and pressed forward bent only upon protecting themselves while they sought the lives of their foes.

For an hour the fierce hand-to-hand struggle raged, with advantage apparently first to one side and then to the other. In other sections of the field, at least where Hal and Chester could see, operations had ceased for the moment, each commander evidently loath to hurl forward additional troops until the cavalry action had been decided. However, the troops were engaged in other quarters of the field. Upon the right the Italians had made no impression on the Austrian, but the Italian left wing had had better success. The first line of trenches of the enemy had fallen to the attacking forces after a fierce bayonet charge by the infantry, and the left wing had now taken shelter in the trenches and was preparing to beat off a counter attack which the Austrian commander even now was about to make.

And in the center the cavalry still fought sullenly and fiercely.

Suddenly Hal uttered an exclamation of dismay.

From a quarter of a mile to the left of the struggling cavalry, a second body of Austrian hors.e.m.e.n appeared. These men had been ordered to make a detour and fall upon the Italian horse from the left. They now charged with a shout.

Apparently this had taken the Italian commander by surprise, for no additional Italian troops were for the moment hurled forward to the support of the cavalry. Beset by this new foe, the Italians were forced back slowly, fighting every minute, however, and contesting every foot of ground as they retreated.

Hal and Chester now realized for the first time that they were directly in the line of retreat.

"We'd better move, Hal," said Chester, "or we shall have to fight whether we want to or not."

Hal signified his a.s.sent with a nod of his head, and they turned their horses' heads to ride out of harm's way.

But they had delayed too long.

From behind them came a loud, terrible, blood-curdling shout, and gazing quickly about, the lads saw that they were directly in the road of large cavalry reinforcements that were being rushed forward to the support of the hard-pressed men in front.

"Quick, Chester!" cried Hal, and put spurs to his horse.

But it was too late.

The Italian cavalry was upon them, and rather than be thrown down and trampled, the lads were forced to turn their horses in with the troop; and thus they were carried along like a whirlwind in the very front rank of the charge, and Hal, glancing to his left, felt a sudden sense of satisfaction as he saw that the man who led this desperate charge was none other than Colonel Harry Anderson, his old companion in arms, the man by whose side both he and Chester had faced death more than once.

Hal's hand dropped to his belt, and his revolver came forth in his left hand. The reins he allowed to fall loose upon his horse's neck, while with his right hand he drew his sword. Chester, with the light of battle in his eyes, was already prepared.

The horses of the two boys darted forward with the rest of the troop, their ears standing straight up, their manes bristling, their nostrils extended.

Now the troop came close upon the cavalry already engaged; and these men, despite their seeming confusion, parted as though by a prearranged plan, and the reinforcements pa.s.sed through, and fell upon the enemy with an impact that was not to be denied. Behind, the first troop reformed and now came forward in support.

And once more Hal and Chester found themselves in the midst of battle.

Just before the impact, and as Colonel Anderson brandished his sword aloft and urged his men on with a shouted command, Hal discharged his revolver at a tall Austrian who had taken deliberate aim at Colonel Anderson. The man threw up his hands and with a wild yell toppled beneath the feet of the plunging horses, there to be trampled to death if Hal's bullet had not been enough.

One volley was poured into the Austrians at a command from Colonel Anderson, and then the Italians were upon the foe with drawn sabers. A single volley from the Austrians proved ineffective; Hal and Chester and the commander of the troop were unscathed and the Austrians had no time for another.

Chester parried a blow aimed at him by an Austrian cavalryman, and raising his pistol quickly, toppled him from his horse with a bullet. A second ploughed its way through the chest of another trooper and with his sword the lad caught a blow that at that moment would have descended upon Hal's head.

And so the fighting went, cut, thrust, parry and strike, with an occasional revolver shot in between; and Hal, Chester, and Colonel Anderson, in some miraculous manner, escaping injury.

The Austrians fought bravely, giving blow for blow, and in the center succeeded in breaking through. It was but a mere handful of men who succeeded in this venture, however, and they were immediately cut off from their friends. A demand to surrender went unheeded; and a moment later they had gone down.

A bugle sounded in the Austrian rear. The enemy drew off. It was first blood to the Italians and the troops raised a loud cheer as they dashed forward in pursuit of the foe, who now turned their horses about sharply and fled.

For a hundred yards the Italians pursued, doing great execution with their heavy cavalry swords; and then Colonel Anderson called a halt, for he feared he might be rus.h.i.+ng into a trap.

When two hundred yards separated the opposing forces, the Austrian artillery suddenly broke loose again. A sh.e.l.l struck squarely in the center of the Italian hors.e.m.e.n, doing frightful execution. Colonel Anderson hurriedly gave the order to fall back.

The colonel turned to Hal and Chester.

"What are you two doing here?" he demanded. "I thought you told me your fighting days were over?"

"We thought so, too," replied Hal, with a smile, "but you fellows swooped down on us so suddenly that we didn't have a chance to get out of the way."

"And it seemed pretty good," said Chester, "just like old times."

"You both gave good accounts of yourselves," declared the colonel. "I'll have a word to say about you in my report."

"No use of--" began Chester and broke off with an e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n: "h.e.l.lo!"

"What's up?" demanded Anderson.

For answer, Chester pointed to the left and slightly ahead. There, overlooked in some way, a small body of Italian troops was engaged silently with a larger number of Austrians and the Italians were getting the worst of the encounter.