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 fashion,” Dave ordered, pushing 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 Chinks are trying to plant ladders and scale the walls! Beat ’em back, or we are gone!”