Other orders. A hundred or two of our fighters withdrew from the line. One here and there, ceasing to fight, coming toward Thone, forming behind us. A picked force with which we were to descend into New York. And soon, leaving the scene here, we sped under the grey shadows of Westchester, southward toward the city. And in time, came upon it. New York! Splendid giant. Like some great helpless lion standing harried. Cuffed, wounded, stricken. Unable to fight back. Amazed, bewildered, yet undaunted, ready to fight. But helpless. CHAPTER XIX THE STRICKEN CITY The little glowing bricks had been spread in scores of places. The acres of tumbled masonry which once reared aloft in proud splendor--the Woolworth Building--lay still smoking. Other buildings were down. Lower Manhattan--its pile of monuments to the engineering skill of man--was interspersed with areas of ruin. A smoke pall hung over everything. Through it as we arrived I saw another giant building come down.... A warship lay in the upper harbor. Small boats were clustered around it. Over its decks and within its structure, men were frantically rushing. It stood there, a shadow on the shadowy water, the embodiment of impregnable power; the small anxious boats around it like milling pygmies trying futilely to help its distress. Then men began pouring from it. The little boats took them and made off. Alone it lay there. Motionless. Then there came a surge of its giant bulk upward--a torrent waterspout as of a great mine exploding beside it. Bow down, it began to sink. The Statue of Liberty fell. Head down, with torch plunging like a falling symbol.... The great Fort Wadsworth guarding the Narrows, as though an earthquake had torn it apart, rose and shook itself and fell into a shapeless mass. A small police boat was scurrying by in a panic. The tumbling white waves engulfed it.... The Brooklyn Bridge lay broken and fallen. Its dangling cables hung like rent cobwebs ripped apart by a giant, ruthless hand.... Figures of men were clinging to parts of it. Death, destruction everywhere. But there were soldiers grimly standing in Battery Park. Machine guns idly standing. Another warship, unattacked, belching belligerent smoke, moving majestically around the Battery from one river to another. A harried lion. Undaunted. But helpless to fight. * * * * * Beneath the shadows of the lower Hudson we came upon Brutar and his clustered cohorts. The devastation was slackening; the bricks had done their work. Brutar was doubtless thinking of rejoining his people up there under the little Westchester town. He saw our shapes, and started north. We followed. Urging him on, but not attacking. Thone began, "Once we get them all together up there--all of them together--" But he did not finish.