Show w. w AM y HEADLINE E HUNTER 1 ALl i ri t Skirmish Line f By FLOYD GIBBONS LYS LY'S Distinguished Adventurer boys and girls is Charles ine ne of New York city an old soldier and a veteran of f thene the thene he ne ne campaign Charley has an army citation for gall gali gal- gal l i action and action and heres here's how he won it it s the night of January 22 1913 and word had come to the army at Jolo Jobo that a Moro stronghold had been located eighteen the he interior ulterior Charley Levines Levine's outfit Troop outfit Troop H Eighth Cavalry Cavalry- ed d by two companies of Philippine scouts and one company of started out after the insurrectionists With them jackass battery consisting of one three-inch three mountain gun gunCo gunto to lo four balky mules and Charley was one of twelve men mento mento mento to that battery Jl JI night long they forced their way through matted jungle they were in sight of the Moro retreat retreat retreat-a a rectangular b h surrounded by a wall of bamboo palings covered over overa a thick matting of cogan grass and stocked with enough and Iud supplies and ammunition to withstand a long siege The Skirmishers Went Vent Too Far was no time for rest The Moros oros espied the cavalrymen a blast of rifle fire The Americans set up their moun- moun on a knoll five hundred feet away and let loose a rain of shellie shell shell- ic le rest of the he men deployed in a long skirmish line and ads adi ad- ad i s the fort skirmishers moved on the on-the the mountain gun shooting over their Then hen suddenly the lieutenant in charge of the gun shouted boys THEY'VE GONE TOO FAR The skirmishers almost in rt now had advanced into the range of fire of their own ceased Somebody will have to go down there tiem tem iem to fall faIl back the lieutenant snapped A man was sent down message message We Ve watched him plunge into the jungle growth e off toward the line says Charley Suddenly a lithe brown out of the underbrush A bolo flashed and the messenger into the sea of grass grass DECAPITATED It was over in a aWe aWe aWe We gritted our teeth with helpless rage Another man went ird to rd-to to his death The jungle down there was full fall of Moros mother another man went down down and and again that macabre perform- perform was was repeated Charley Too Took c the Suicidal Job s s. s sheer murder to send a man down into that Moro infested no- no ind sheer nd-sheer sheer suicide to volunteer But in the meantime the rs on the line were firing blindly at the bamboo walls exposed of the Moros while they waited for the mountain gun guns guna a t s breach Something had to be done Charley and a buddy volunteered to try it together wasn't much more than three hundred feet to the line says but it looked like miles The tall grass rippled sleepily in the ming breeze Ahead of us lay the Moro fort swathed in swirls noke which rose sinuously in the damp air Rifles roared and darted and ducked through the cogan The of the theler theler ler iier our feet the feet the drowsy rustling of the tall shoots shoots made made us rifles hard and pivot from one side to the other in the le Ie sound Every movement o of the undergrowth looked like a alo ato lo to in hand waiting to pad out silently behind us and cut off our they had cut off the heads of the others no one Moro wanted to tackle two men They got goto gotto to o the line The line fell feU back and once more the gun on the med out and sent its shells screaming into the fort Great rued med in the walls The fire from the Moros became feebler er er r. r Surrounded by the Moros l ley ey y and Claude stayed on the line until the order to charge ded Then they leaped forward with the rest They stumbled luddy creek bottom and swarmed through a gap in the wall waIl was deserted The Moros had slipped away those away those th that t relive re re- re live live leaving leaving behind their dead their supplies and their ammu- ammu he men started back to the knoll Mopping their sweaty faces and md Claude turned to follow when when- ut of the jungle came eight Moros spread their poised for their work of decapitation We gripped our says Charley and retreated slowly exchanging glare arc with the A scatter of rifle riOe fire sounded be- be IS us Cut oft off SURROUNDED The creek bottom I roared den derwood Lets run for it We ran for lor that slimy asylum lug ling the creek bed as another burst of gunfire crashed over ever leads cads hugged the floor of the creek breathing hard It was their d. d They peered through the grass but there was no one in inhere inhere inhere here were those Moros Why didn't those birds with the bolos I finish their deadly work And where were their own pals ey y see the predicament Claude and Charley Chancy were in Comrades to the Rescue suspense was maddening They decided to make a break for shoot their way out The Moros weren't much good as marksley marks- marks icy ley might make it Another crash of rifle fire and Charley Charleys s get up An anxious voice yelled Get down Charlie Stay Jude aude And Charley says that for tor the next ten seconds you have save lave slipped a cigarette paper between him and the ground I tier ler volley or two and it was all over The rifle fire had come Americans who had seen those eight bolo swinging bolo swinging Moros and ing ng to drive them off ofT by shooting over Claudes Claude's and Charleys Charley's ucking Ducking into the creek had saved both their lives because it ir r buddies a chance to shoot over them and drive off ofT the enem enemy ity ty years later almost to a day Charley Levine received the Iver ilver star citation citation for for gallantry in action against hostile Moros Islands January 22 1913 O o Service |