He felt that in such
a volley his only danger lay. They kept coming, and fell as he shot. The
foremost man, and the last to topple, did not get ten yards from where
he started. Their bodies formed a line down the hillside.
York resumed the battle with the machine guns. The German fire had
"eased up" while the bayonet charge was on. The gunners paused to watch
the grim struggle below them.
The major, from among the prisoners crawled to York with an offer to
order the surrender of the machine gunners.
"Do it!" was his laconic acceptance. But his vigilance did not lessen.
To the right a German had crawled nearby. He arose and hurled a
hand-grenade. It missed its objective and wounded one of the prisoners.
The American rifle swung quickly and the grenade-thrower pitched forward
with the grunt of a man struck heavily in the stomach pit.
The German major blew his whistle.
Out of their gun-pits the Germans came--around from behind trees--up
from the brush on either side. They were unbuckling cartridge belts and
throwing them and their side-arms away.
York did not move from his position in the brush. About halfway down the
hill as they came to him, he halted them, and he watched the gun-pits
for the movement of anyone left skulking there. His eye went cautiously
over the new prisoners to see that all side-arms had been thrown away.
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