H. Bedford-Jones

“ From the gardens a mass of troops rushed swiftly forward to the attack.
Smith, who was on guard at the moment, strove desperately to rally his men; but bows were unstrung, arbalests unwound. Before any head could be made, before any order could be brought out of the confusion, the attackers were beating at the gates and scaling the low walls. And all the while the brilliantly lighted compound was showered with slugs and balls from the muskets on the palace roofs; while archers, stationed in the gardens close by, kept up a rain of shafts that struck down man after man. ”

“ For, sweeping down from a great height, was the fighting aëroplane which Smith had ordered, and of whose arrival he had begun to despair. The vibrant thrum of the engine reached the watching, staring men, and voice them from their trance. Ardzrouni's nobles uttered one soul-piercing yell, and drove into their foes; and those foes broke before them, fleeing with screams of terror. The miraculous bird had come to shatter them in the very moment of victory!
Ardzrouni leaped out among the foremost as the assailants flowed back over the wall, to be pursued and cut down mercilessly. ”

“ Under his deliberate and deadly fire, the center of the attack broke, and by the time Smith dragged him to shelter the nobles had armed and were at the walls.
Now the attack surged up anew, with a fierce venom, in a hand-to-hand combat. But here the nobles proved their worth. Armed from head to foot, swinging long swords, they held the surging tide of foemen, beat back those who had gained the wall, and gave Chou time to get his archers at work. ”