有声英语少儿童话故事 顽童故事 斯莱特山的雪堡 第13章

Perceiving that it was impossible withtheir small number to dislodge us, the watch sent for reinforcements. Theircall was responded to, not only by the whole constabulary force (eight men),but by a numerous body of citizens, who had become alarmed at the prospect of ariot. This formidable array brought us to our senses: we began to think thatmaybe discretion was the better part of valor. General Harris and General Ames,with their respective staffs, held a council of war in the hospital, and abackward movement was decided on. So, after one grand farewell volley, we fled,sliding, jumping, rolling, tumbling down the quarry at the rear of the fort,and escaped without losing a man.

Butwe lost Fort Slatter forever. Those battle-scarred ramparts were razed to theground, and humiliating ashes sprinkled over the historic spot, near which asolitary lynx-eyed policeman was seen prowling from time to time during therest of the winter.

Theevent passed into a legend, and afterwards, when later instances of pluck andendurance were spoken of, the boys would say, “By golly! You ought to have beenat the fights on Slatter’s Hill!”

有声英语少儿童话故事 顽童故事 斯莱特山的雪堡 第12章

Matters grew worse and worse. SevenNorth-Enders had been seriously wounded, and a dozen South-Enders were reportedon the sick list. The selectmen of the town awoke to the fact of what was goingon, and detailed a posse of police to prevent further disturbance. The boys atthe foot of the hill, South-Enders as it happened, finding themselves assailedin the rear and on the flank, turned round and attempted to beat off thewatchmen. In this they were sustained by numerous volunteers from the fort, wholooked upon the interference as tyrannical.

The watch were determined fellows, andcharged the boys valiantly, driving them all into the fort, where we madecommon cause, fighting side by side like the best of friends. In vain the fourguardians of the peace rushed up the hill, flourishing their clubs and callingupon us to surrender. They could not get within ten yards of the fort, our firewas so destructive. In one of the onsets a man named Mugridge, more valorous thanhis peers, threw himself upon the parapet, when he was seized by twenty pairsof hands, and dragged inside the breastwork, where fifteen boys sat down on himto keep him quiet.

有声英语少儿童话故事 顽童故事 斯莱特山的雪堡 第11章

Asthe winter wore on, the war-spirit waxed fiercer and fiercer. At length theprovision against using heavy substances in the snow-balls was disregarded. Aball stuck full of sand-bird shot came tearing into Fort Slatter. Inretaliation, General Harris ordered a broadside of shells; i. e. snow-ballscontaining marbles. After this, both sides never failed to freeze theirammunition.

Itwas no longer child’s play to march up to the walls of Fort Slatter, nor wasthe position of the besieged less perilous. At every assault three or four boyson each side were disabled. It was not an infrequent occurrence for thecombatants to hold up a flag of truce while they removed some insensiblecomrade.

有声英语少儿童话故事 顽童故事 斯莱特山的雪堡 第10章

Onthe following Wednesday the siege was renewed. I forget whether it was on thatafternoon or the next that we lost Fort Slatter; but lose it we did, with muchvaluable ammunition and several men. After a series of desperate assaults, weforced General Ames to capitulate; and he, in turn, made the place too hot tohold us. So from day to day the tide of battle surged to and fro, sometimesfavoring our arms, and sometimes those of the enemy.

GeneralAmes handled his men with great skill; his deadliest foe could not deny that.Once he outgeneralled our commander in the following manner: He massed hisgunners on our left and opened a brisk fire, under cover of which a singlecompany (six men) advanced on that angle of the fort. Our reserves on the rightrushed over to defend the threatened point. Meanwhile, four companies of theenemy’s scalers made a detour round the foot of the hill, and dashed into FortSlatter without opposition. At the same moment General Ames’s gunners closed inon our left, and there we were between two fires. Of course we had to vacatethe fort. A cloud rested on General Harris’s military reputation until hissuperior tactics enabled him to dispossess the enemy.

有声英语少儿童话故事 顽童故事 斯莱特山的雪堡 第9章

Itwas glorious excitement, those pell-mell onslaughts and hand-to-hand struggles.Twice we were within an ace of being driven from our stronghold, when GeneralHarris and his staff leaped recklessly upon the ramparts and hurled thebesiegers heels over head down hill.

Atsunset, the garrison of Fort Slatter was still unconquered, and theSouth-Enders, in a solid phalanx, marched off whistling “Yankee Doodle,” whilewe cheered and jeered them until they were out of hearing.

GeneralAmes remained behind to effect an exchange of prisoners. We held thirteen ofhis men, and he eleven of ours. General Ames proposed to call it an even thing,since many of his eleven prisoners were officers, while nearly all our thirteencaptives were privates. A dispute arising on this point, the two noble generalscame to fisticuffs, and in the-fracas our brave commander got his remainingwell eye badly damaged. This didn’t prevent him from writing a general orderthe next day, on a slate, in which he complimented the troops on their heroicbehavior.

有声英语少儿童话故事 顽童故事 斯莱特山的雪堡 第8章

Thevictory, however, had not been without its price. Six North-Enders, havingrushed out to harass the discomfited enemy, were gallantly cut off by GeneralAmes and captured. Among these were Lieutenant P. Whitcomb (who had no businessto join in the charge, being weak in the knees), and Captain Fred Langdon, ofGeneral Harris’s staff. Whitcomb was one of the most notable shots on our side,though he was not much to boast of in a rough-and-tumble fight, owing to theweakness before mentioned. General Ames put him among the gunners, and we werequickly made aware of the loss we had sustained, by receiving a frequent artfulball which seemed to light with unerring instinct on any nose that was theleast bit exposed. I have known one of Pepper’s snow-balls, fired pointblank,to turn a comer and hit a boy who considered himself absolutely safe.

Butwe had no time for vain regrets. The battle raged. Already there were two badcases of black eye, and one of nosebleed, in the hospital.

有声英语少儿童话故事 顽童故事 斯莱特山的雪堡 第7章

The fort opened fire first-a single ballfrom the dexterous band of General Harris taking General Ames in the very pitof his stomach. A cheer went up from Fort Slatter. In an instant the air wasthick with flying missiles, in the midst of which we dimly descried thestorming parties sweeping up the hill, shoulder to shoulder. The shouts of theleaders, and the snowballs bursting like shells about our ears, made it verylively.

Notmore than a dozen of the enemy succeeded in reaching the crest of the hill;five of these clambered upon the icy walls, where they were instantly grabbedby the legs and jerked into the fort. The rest retired confused and blinded byour well-directed fire.

WhenGeneral Harris (with his right eye bunged up) said, ‘Soldiers, I am proud ofyou!” my heart swelled in my bosom.

有声英语少儿童话故事 顽童故事 斯莱特山的雪堡 第6章

GeneralMat Ames, a veteran commander, was no less wide-awake in the disposition of hisarmy. Five companies, each numbering but six men, in order not to present toobig a target to our sharpshooters, were to charge the fort from differentpoints, their advance being covered by a heavy fire from the gunners posted in therear. Each scaler was provided with only two rounds of ammunition, which werenot to be used until he had mounted the breastwork and could deliver his shotson our heads.

The drawingbelow represents the interior of the fort just previous to the assault. Nothingon earth could represent the state of things after the first volley.

The enemy wasposted thus:–

a. The five attacking columns | b. Artillery | c. General Ames’sheadquarters

The thrillingmoment had now arrived. If I had been going into a real engagement I could nothave been more deeply impressed by the importance of the occasion.

有声英语少儿童话故事 顽童故事 斯莱特山的雪堡 第5章

GeneralHarris divided his men into two bodies; the first comprised the most skilfulmarksmen, or gunners; the second, the reserve force, was composed of thestrongest boys, whose duty it was to repel the scaling parties, and to makeoccasional sallies for the purpose of capturing prisoners, who were bound bythe articles of treaty to faithfully serve under our flag until they wereexchanged at the close of the day.

Therepellers were called light infantry; but when they carried on operationsbeyond the fort they became cavalry. It was also their duty, when not otherwiseengaged, to manufacture snow-balls. The General’s staff consisted of fiveTemplars (I among the number, with the rank of Major), who carried theGeneral’s orders and looked after the wounded.

有声英语少儿童话故事 顽童故事 斯莱特山的雪堡 第4章

Beforethe action commenced, a meeting was arranged between the rival commanders, whodrew up and signed certain rules and regulations respecting the conduct of thebattle. As it was impossible for the North-Enders to occupy the fortpermanently, it was stipulated that the South-Enders should assault it only onWednesday and Saturday afternoons between the hours of two and six. For them totake possession of the place at any other time was not to constitute a capture,but on the contrary was to be considered a dishonorable and cowardly act.

TheNorth-Enders, on the other hand, agreed to give up the fort whenever ten of thestorming party succeeded in obtaining at one time a footing on the parapet, andwere able to hold the same for the space of two minutes. Both sides were toabstain from putting pebbles into their snow-balls, nor was it permissible touse frozen ammunition. A snow-ball soaked in water and left out to cool was aprojectile which in previous years had been resorted to with disastrousresults.

Thesepreliminaries settled, the commanders retired to their respective corps. Theinterview had taken place on the hillside between the opposing lines.