“Take aim! Fire!” came the order; and the long line of rifles flashed forth and many a Boxer was seen to topple over, to rise no more. Each regular was a trained marksman, and shot to kill. Then the Americans swept on, and in a few seconds more Gilbert was in the very midst of his first battle on Chinese soil.
CHAPTER XV
FIGHTING ALONG THE PEI-HO
“Give it to ’em hot-like, boys! Show ’em what American regulars can do!”
“Make every round tell. We haven’t any ammunition to waste.”
“The colonel expects us to give a good account of ourselves. Don’t disappoint him.”
So the cries ran on, while the regulars were advancing. But, as they drew closer to the enemy, a strange silence fell; for all realized that what was before them was no child’s play.
The Boxers facing the American troops numbered at least a thousand, the others having pursued the Russians at the embankment. They were well armed; and a second volley from their first rank brought down two of the Americans, both seriously wounded. The Celestials were making a tremendous din, and the combined noise was deafening, while the wild waving of banners was well calculated to destroy a marksman’s aim.
But the command was again to go forward, coupled with the order to fire at will; and soon Gilbert found himself almost face to face with a crowd of Celestials. He fired his pistol, and saw his man tumble backward; and then, as if by magic, four or five of the Boxers hurled themselves at him.
The fury of that onslaught cannot be described. The young lieutenant had been in several hand-to-hand encounters in Luzon; but no attack by Filipinos could equal this frenzied rush by fanatics, who thought by annihilating the “foreign devils” they would gain for themselves a superior place in the Hereafter.
“Cheri-chi-chi!” was the battle-cry, as it sounded in Gilbert’s ears. “Kill! kill! kill!” was the word the Boxers used the most, repeated in several dialects.