Accordingly, without permitting the advance to slacken elsewhere, he threw the First brigade against it. For perhaps fifteen minutes the fighting was fast and furious. In vain the Germans tried to stem the tide in khaki that rushed forward against them. General Schindler further weakened his center to rush reinforcements in order to retain the wedge intact. But it was no use. The Americans were not to be denied. They fought with the courage and desperation of lions. Little heed did they pay to the hail of machine-gun bullets that swept them as they advanced. Artillery and explosive shells failed to stop them. Rifle fire was no more effective. Suddenly from the German lines sallied a regiment of cavalry. The American infantry braced to receive the charge. At the same time Hal found himself before Colonel Taylor of the First brigade with dispatches from General Lejeune. He had just delivered them as the German cavalry sallied forth. "Great Scott! What a chance to take!" the lad muttered under his breath. "The Germans must be licked. This move can be for no other purpose than to give infantry time to withdraw." The American infantry stood firm as the German cavalry hurled itself upon them. Not an inch of ground did they give. Horses and men fell in heaps. Other chargers reeled back, throwing their riders beneath their hoofs. At the same time the Yankee infantry poured in a hail of rifle fire. The Germans retired a pace, reformed and charged again. The result was the same. Not an inch did the Americans give, and the execution in the enemy’s ranks was fearful to behold. "I guess that will stop that," Hal told himself. He was right. When the enemy’s cavalry withdrew a second time it did not reform for a third charge. Instead, it fell back upon its infantry and artillery supports, apparently fearing that the American infantry would pursue and annihilate it. "I thought so," said Hal. In the meantime, the German retirement in other parts of the field had become more rapid. The lines before Sedan were abandoned gradually and at last there was nothing to keep the Americans from entering the city save the cannonading of the German artillery from far to the rear of the town. But although the bulk of the German army had retired safely to the east of Sedan, fortune had not been so kind to the two brigades which had formed the wedge between the Second and Forty-second American divisions. When General Lejeune’s men had pushed back the cavalry attack, General Rhodes, to the south, had gained an inkling of what was going on. Accordingly he had ordered an attack upon the hard-pressed foes. Caught thus between two fires, the Germans tried first to hold their ground, and, finding this could not be done, to retreat orderly. But they had delayed too long.