A MISSION OF DREAD Panting, with a slither of dry sand under their laboring feet, the Legionaries charged.

At any second, a raking volley might burst from the dunes.

The lethal pellets--so few in this vast space--might not have taken effect.

Not one heart there but was steeling itself against ambush and a shriveling fire.
Up they stormed.

The Master's voice cried, once more: "Give 'em Hell!" He was the first man to top the dune, close to the wady's edge.