Noon
The captain took command of the second floor himself . The three were everywhere encouraging the men , seemingly being all over their respective stations at once . Occasionally , as a man fell , Hal or Chester would step into the breach and hold the place until relieved by another soldier . Noon came and went , and still the fighting continued . Apparently , thus far , the Germans had not conceived the idea of battering the house to pieces with their big field guns . Evidently they thought they could take it without this trouble . And now darkness drew on .