Latest / Insurgent Mexico / 38 - Insurgent Mexico by John Reed

Transcript

38 - Insurgent Mexico by John Reed · Insurgent Mexico

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Section thirty seven of Insurgent Mexico. This is a LibriVox recording.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: by Timothy and Livewrite Part four a People in Arms,
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Chapter thirteen a night attack. Two or three of us
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: had a sort of camp beside the ditch, far up
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: along the Alamos. Our car, with its food supply, clothes
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: and blankets, was still twenty miles back. Most of the
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: time we went without meals. When we could manage to
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: beg a few cans of sardines or some flour from
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: the commissary train, we were lucky. Wednesday. One of the
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: crowd had managed to get hold of tinned salmon coffee
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: crackers and a big package of cigarettes, and as we
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: cooked dinner, Mexican after Mexican passing on his way to
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: the front, dismounted and joined us. After the most elaborate
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: exchange of courtesies, in which we had to persuade our
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: guests to eat hugely of the dinner, and we had
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: painfully foraged for ourselves, and he had to comply at
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: a politeness, he would mount and ride away without gratitude,
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: though full of friendliness. We stretched out on the bank
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: and the golden twilight smoking the first train, headed by
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: a flat car, upon which was mounted the cannon. El
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: Nino had now reached a point opposite the end of
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: the second line of trees, scarcely a mile from town.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: As far as you could see ahead of her, the
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: repair gang toiled on the track. All at once there
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: came a terrific boom, and a little puff of smoke
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: lifted from the front of the train, far cheering scattered
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: among the trees and fields. El Nino, the darling of
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: the army, had got within range. At last. Now the
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: Federals would sit up and take notice. She was a
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: three inch gun, the largest we had. Later we found
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: out that an exploratory engine had sallied forth from the
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: Gomez roundhouse, and that a shot from El Nino had
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: hit her square in the middle of the boiler and
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: blown her up. We were to attack that night, they said,
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: And long after dark I got my horse Bucephalus, and
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: rode down front the sign of Herrera and the counter
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: sign Hihuahua. Number four, so as to be sure of recognition,
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: is one of ours. The command was to pin your
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: hat up behind everywhere. The strictest orders had been sent
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: out that no fire should be lit in the zone
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: of fire, that anyone striking a match until the battle
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: began should be shot by the send Beaucephalus and I
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: jogged slowly along in the moonless and absolutely silent night.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: Nowhere was there a light or a stir all over
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: the vast plane before Gomez, except the far hammering of
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: the tireless repair gang working on the track. In the
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: town itself, the electric lights shone brightly, and even a
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: street car bound for Lair, though lost itself behind the
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: Cerro de la Pilla. Then I heard a tiny murmuring
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: of human voices in the darkness near the ditch ahead,
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: evidently an outpost. Kian Vive came a shout, and before
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: I had a chance to answer, bang he fired. The
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: bullet went past my head. No, no, you fool, drawled
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: an exasperated voice. Don't shoot as soon as you challenge,
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: wait until he gives the wrong answer. Listen to me now.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: This time the formality was satisfactory to both sides. In
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: the off said Passe is dead. But I could hear
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: the original century growling, well, I don't see what difference
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: it makes. I never hit anybody when I shoot. Feeling
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: my way carefully through the darkness, I stumbled into the
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: rancho of San Ramon. I knew the Pacificos. It all fled,
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: so it surprised me to see light shining around the
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: chinks of a door. I was thirsty and didn't care
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: to trust the ditch. I called. A woman appeared with
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: a little brood of four babies clinging to her skirts.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: She brought water, and all of a sudden burst out
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: with oh, signor do you know where the guns of
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: the Brigatta Zaragosa are? My man is there and I
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: haven't seen him for seven days. Then you are not
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: a Pacifico, truly I am not, she returned indignantly, pointing
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: to her children. We belonged to the artillery down front.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: The army lay stretched along the ditch at the foot
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: of the first line of trees, in absolutely darkness. They
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: whispered to each other, waiting until the word of Villa
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: to the advance guard a quarter of a mile ahead
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: should precipitate the first rifle shots. Where are your rifles?
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: I asked? This brigade is to use no rifles, tonight,
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: answered a voice over on the left, where they are
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: to attack the entrenchments, there are rifles, but we must
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: capture the Brittenham Corral tonight, and rifles are no good.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: We are Contraras's men, the Brigata Huaras. Seeing we have
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: orders to walk up to the walls and throw these
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: bombs inside. He held out the bomb, and was made
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: of a short stick of dynamite sewed in a strip
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: of cowhide, with a fuse stuck in one end. He
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: went on General Robla's hint. They are over there on
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: the right, They too have grenados, but rifles also. They
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: are going to assault the Serro de la Pila. And
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: now down the warm still night came suddenly the sound
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: of heavy firing from the direction of Laredo, where Maclovio
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: Herrera was going in with his brigade. Almost simultaneously, from
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: dead ahead, rifle fire awoke sputtering. A man came down
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: the line with a lighted cigar glowing like a firefly
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: in the hollow of his hands. Light your cigarettes from this,
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: he said, and don't set fire to your fuses until
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: you're right up under the wall. Captain Karamba it's going
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: to be very, very duro. How shall we know the
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: right time? Another voice, deep rough spoke up in the dark.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: I'll tell you, just come along with me, whispered smothered
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: shout of Viva villa burst from them on foot, holding
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: a lighted cigar in one hand, for he never smoked,
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: and a bomb in the other. The general climbed the
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: bank of the ditch and plunged into the brush, the
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: others pouring after him all along the line. Now the
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: rifle fire roared, though down behind the tree, I could
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: see nothing of the attack. The artillery was silent, the
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: troops being too close together in the dark to permit
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: the use of shrapnel by either side. I rode back
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: and over to the right, where I climbed my horse
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: up to the steep ditch bank. From there I could
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: see the dancing, tiny fires of the guns at lair though,
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: and scattered spurts like a string of jewels all along
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: our front. Over to the extreme left, the new and
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: deeper noise told where Benavides was making a demonstration against
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: Torreon Proper with quick firing guns. I stood tensely awaiting
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: the attack. It came with the force of an explosion
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: in the direction of Brittenham Corral, which I could not see.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: The syncopated rhythm of four machine guns and a continuous
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: inhuman blast of volleying rifles made the previous noise seem
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: like the deepest silence. A quick glare reddened the heaven above,
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: and then the shocking detonations of dynamite. I can imagine
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: the yelling savages sweeping up the street against that withering flame, wavering, pausing,
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: struggling on again, with Villa just in front, talking to
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: them back over his shoulder as he always did. Now
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: more furious firing over to the right indicated that the
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: attack against the Serro de la Pilla had reached the
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: foot of the hill, and all at once, on the
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: far end of the ridge, towards Lerdo, there were flashes.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: Maclovio must have taken Lardo Lo. All at once appeared
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: a magical sight. Up the steep slope of the cerro,
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: around three sides of it, slowly rose a ring of
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: fierce light. It was the steady flame of rifle fire
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: from the attackers. The summit too, streamed fire which intensified
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: as the ring converged toward it raggeder now a bright
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: glare burst from the top. Then another a second later
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: arrived the dreadful reports of cannon. They were opening upon
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: the little line of climbing men with artillery. But still
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: they rose upon the black hill. The ring of flame
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: was broken now in many places, but it never faltered,
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: so until it seemed to merge with a venomous spinning
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: blaze at the summit. Then all at once it seemed
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: to wither completely, and little single fireflies kept dropping down
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: the slope all that were left. And when I thought
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: that all was lost, and marveled at the useless heroism
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: of these peons who walked up a hill in the
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: face of artillery, behold the ring of flame was creeping
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: slowly upward. Again. That night they attacked the Sero seven
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: times on foot, and at every attack seven eighths of
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: them were killed. All this time, the infernal roar in
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: the play of red light over the corral did not stop.
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: Occasionally there seemed to come a lull, but it recommenced
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: only more terribly. They assaulted the corral eight times the
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: morning that I entered Gomez. Although the Federals had been
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: steadily burning bodies for three days, they were so thick
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: in the wide space before the Brittanham Corral that I
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: could hardly ride through on horseback. And around the Serro
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: were seven distinct ridges of rebel dead. The wounded began
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: creeping through the plain, obscurely in the dense darkness. Their
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: cries and groans could be distinctly heard, though the battle
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: noise drowned every other sound. You could even hear the
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: rustle of the bushes as they crept through, and their
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: dragging feet on the sand. A horseman passed along the
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: path below me, cursing furiously that he must leave the
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: battle because his arm was broken, and weeping between curses.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: Then came a footman who sat at the foot of
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: my bank and nursed a hand, talking without cessation about
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: all sorts of things to keep from a nervous breakdown.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: How brave we Mexicans are, he said, rolie killing each
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: other like this. I soon went back to camp, sick
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: with boredom. A battle is the most boring thing in
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: the world. If it lasts any length of time, it
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: is all the same. And in the morning I went
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: to get the news at headquarters. We had captured Lerdo,
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: but the Serro, the Corral and the Quartel were still
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: the enemies, all that slaughter for nothing, and Section thirty
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: seven