m the two windows.
"There they are!" cried the lieutenant. "Come on, boys, we have 'em
now!"
But the glory of it was not to be--for him. Hardly had the words left
his mouth than he crumpled up, rolled completely over and lay still.
Afterward a dozen bullets were found in his body.
But the others halted not. The man immediately behind the fallen
lieutenant leaped over his lifeless body and led the advance, as Jimmy
and Simpson were doing.
They were close to the mill now. They could see the flashes of fire
coming from the guns which were shooting through the windows. And the
fire was deadly. Jimmy heard a yell from Franz, who was directly in
his rear. He did not dare stop or turn around but he shouted:
"Done for, Schnitz?"
"Only one finger nipped," was the grim answer. "Go on! We're with
you!"
One machine-gun concentrated on Simpson and his four gallant lads,
and, in less time than it takes for you to read these words, the five
lives were snuffed out.
"Come on! Come on!" yelled Jimmy. He was so mad with rage he hardly
knew what he was saying or doing. He saw a German face at one of the
windows. Quickly he fired. The face turned crimson with blood and
disappeared.
Mason, who was leading the other four, since the death of the
lieutenant, stumbled and fell twenty feet away from the red mill. One
of his companions assumed the lead of the three who were left, and
Jimmy and his four chums now converged with these four in a rush
toward the open portal.
They were now out of range of the guns, which could not be turned at
such an angle as to rake them. But hard fighting was yet to come.
"Wait!" shouted Jimmy, as he reached the threshold of the door, and
saw, to his left, a group of Huns about a gun that seemed to have
jammed. And not all the Huns were alive, either, showing that the fire
of the attacking party had done part of its work.
With a quick motion Jimmy threw a hand grenade into the midst of the
German crew, at the same time falling back himself behind the door
post, and pushing Bob, who was now next him, into the same safe
position.
There was a roar as the grenade burst, and smoke, for the moment,
obscured the scene. When it was blown away, drifting through the doors
and windows, there was no longer a German machine-gun crew, and all
that remained of the gun was torn and twisted metal.
Jimmy's quick action with the hand grenade had saved fierce fighting
for possession of the weapon. But
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