Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/521

Rh 'Á ellos!' he pounces from out the smoke and hurls them back in disorder, reoccupying the battery.

Worth is equally prompt. He orders forward three companies of the light battalion and a part of the reserve to sustain and rally the shattered column. Garland on his side moves from under the plunging fire of Chapultepec upon the Mexican flank, while his battery runs forward to enfilade the recaptured point. Once more the Americans charge simultaneously from centre and right, under a raking volley of balls and bullets, especially from the roofs. Numbers and impetus prevail. Again the disputed battery falls, and now its deadly vomit turns upon the mill. The fight concentrates in the reëntering angle of the Mexican lines, which had been quickly recognized as the weakest. The heavy cross-fire from the azoteas prevents concerted action among the assailants for a while; but soon a company finds shelter under a bank, and begins to pick off one marksman after another, with steady and fearful precision. The men on the roofs quail as they behold the widening gaps. Their fire slackens, and no sooner do the assailants observe it than on they rush toward the mill, driving back the broken remnants of the front lines. They reach the very walls; and covered by the well-directed fusillade in their rear and flank, they commence almost unmolested to batter the gates and shoot into apertures, widening at the same time the breaches already made. The southern portal yields, and some spring in, while others climb the roof and assist in gaining the north-western entrance. The Mexicans stoutly dispute the passage, under the valiant lead of General Leon; but a bullet stretches him low, and now they waver and fall back. Colonel Balderas steps forward to encourage them.