ville, a suburb two miles out of the city, was
sleepless, and a vague uneasiness possessed him. Thinking that the fresh
air might be beneficial, he went to a window and looked out.

"Out of the myriad hissing, rustling and squawking noises of a tropic
night, he heard the unmistakable 'chuff-chuff-chuff' of a marching
column of barefoot men. He made out a single-file column moving rapidly
across a field, off the road. He made out the silhouetes of shouldered
rifles. Far off, under a yellow street lamp, he glimpsed a flash of a
red shirt. That was enough. He telephoned to the Marine Brigade that the
Cacos were about to raid Port-au-Prince.

"Benoit's bubble," continued the report of the Special Correspondent of
the _New York World_, "burst right there. Only about 150 of his 300
'shock troops' had reached the market-place. No fires had been set. The
people were all in bed and asleep. There were no materials for a panic.

"The Marines, in patrols and in larger formations, spread through the
streets swiftly to the posts arranged for emergency. Leslie Coombs, one
of the Marines, saw several men enter the market, where they had no
right to be; he ran to the door and was set upon by machete men, who
slashed him and cut him down, but not until he had emptied his
automatic.

"The shooting and hand-to-hand fighting spread in a flash all through
the business part of the city. The rest of the surprise detachment of
the Cacos made a rush for the center of the city. One block was set on
fire and burned.

"The Marines deployed steadily and quickly. They put sputtering machine
guns on the corners and cleaned the principal streets. There was
fighting on every street and alley of a district more than a mile
square.

"The Cacos stood their ground bravely for a while, but their case was
hopeless. The American fire withered them. First those on the rim of the
city, and then those inside, turned their faces to the hills. The main
body, realizing that the plan of attack was ruined, started a pell-mell
retreat.

"The Marines moved from the center of the city, killing every colored
man who was not in the olive-drab uniform of the gendarmerie.

"As the sky turned pink and then flashed into blazing daylight, the
fight became a hunt. On every road and trail leading from the city,
Marine hunted Cacos.

"One hundred and twenty-two dead Cacos were found in and about the city;
bodies found along the line of retreat in the next few days raise