The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1897-10-12
THE DOGS OF WAR.

FRANK .. Plxley IN Chicago Times Herald
THE DOGS OF WAR.
On the left of the pup lines of Greek
infantry lay on the high, bare hills,
firing without intermission. Gray smoke
went up and backward from all these
lines. Sometimes wounded men came
from there and passed the pup as he sal
rejecting in the roadway. Directly in
his front mountain battery of the
Greeks was roaring, and the horses and
mules Of the command were browsing
the grass in a sheltered place not fa1
from the pup. Some soldiers lay in an
upturned furrow of brown trenches.
If the pup had studied the vast green
plain ON his right, he would have seen
black lines and lines still fainter than
black, and these lines were all Turks.
Frequently a cresoendo of boots and
hurtling noises was in the air above
him, and the shells crashed as they
struck. Moreover, there was sometimes
curious singing of great insects. But
for all these things the pup did not
care.
He was little pup, not larger than
kitten, but he was fat and fairly
smothered in long white wool, marked
here and there with black, and he had
every indifference of fat pup. Two
soldiers came that way on their return
to the front, and, Selling him, paused.
One stopped and offered him gently a
bit of hard biscuit, but he had been
used to other food, and, with the inso-
lence of babyhood, he scorned the gen.
erosity of these men who had stopped
under fire to give him assistance. They
laughed then and stroked his long hair
and went away to their business.
The pups interest was always the
thing directly under his nose. He was
really in the battle of Velestino, but
what he wanted to do was to waddle in
his curious way among the stones of the
roadway and smell at them and fall
over them whenever he forgot that be
was top heavy. Although he was not
larger than cake of soap he had some
thing elephantine in his movement. His
little legs were still very weak, and he
sprawled and straddled over the road
in a way that one would expect of a
baby elephant. Once a cavalryman with
orders galloped past him, and hoof of
the gray charger missed him by little,
but he didn't care for that either He
was busy with his geological survey
The Examiner correspondent came
along from the firing line at that time
and stopped when he saw the dog. The
dog had been trying to scratch his near
ear with his off hind leg, but he stopped
when he saw The Examiner correspond
ent. They looked at each other in re-
Elective silence. The pup had crafty
eye, and he put his head on one side
and surveyed the correspondent with
much attention to detail. Another shell
came close then, and your correspondent
said, Come on, pup" He took the pup
in his arms.
The dog was naturally named Veles-
tino at once. There was Thought in
the correspondence mind of calling him
Loot But then he was not really loot
He was simply Greek pup deserted by
his relatives and friends in a most try
ing hour, who had accepted the assist
ance of correspondent of The Exam
liner. His home had probably been in
one of the stone huts that stood here
and there along the road, now all lone
ly. His owners had probably scuttled
out at word of the coming Of the Turks.
But he didn't care about this either.
He simply lolled on the correspondent g
arm and blinked fatty at the passing
landscape.
When the correspondent arrived where
his horses awaited him, he gave the
pup Velestino into the hands Of his
Greek boy and stood and admonished
him sternly for five minutes about the
individuality of losing that pup. The
boy grinned and took Velestino in his
arms.
Later the pup got under particularly
heavy artillery fire While the CORE
spondent's party was crossing bit Of
plain the Turks opened fire on near
by house. One would have thought
they had opened on the pup, because
they came nearer to the pup than they
did to the house. There was some ex-
element. The stragglers in the road
scurried everywhere. The correspond
ent had bit of trouble with his horse,
which had been hurt in the back by
some kind of fragment, and when it
was all over he looked around for the
pup, the two servants and the other
horses, and there was none.
Late that night in Volo a knock
came to the correspondents door, and
as he called out it opened, and the
Greek boy appeared. with a bow and a
grin.
Where is the pup?" said the CORE
spondent instantly
The Greek boy had brought a large
piece of shell which he said had almost
killed him, and he exhibited it proudly
where is the pup"
The boy said he was sure he was 60
ing to be killed when he beard the shell,
and he now considered his escape to be
miracle The correspondent arose i'm
pressively to his feet. Where is the
pup"
Well-poor Velestino, poor CORE
spondentI-they were united only to be
Immediately parted The boy said that
he had brought the pup to Volo and
had given it to man to hold while he
unsaddled hs horse. The man ran away
with Velestino.
There were dispatches to be sent, and
the wires were muddled in way that
was 81; aply scandalous The correspond
ent left for Athens, rejecting from
time to time upon the virtues of his
lost pup.
Volo is ordinarily 300, 900 miles from
Athens. In time of war it is the square
of 800, 0O0 Every route is impossible
All the steamers are on war business
All the carriages have vanished. There
are no horses. 1t requires more energy
to travel now in Greece than it does to
do three months campaign. The cor.
respondent struggled as far as Chalkis
with phenomenal good fortune He was
taking his breakfast in the restaurant
there when be osberyed a peasant come
in and walk toward the rear Of the
place This man had pup inside his
shirt, and the little woolly head project
ed. The correspondent said to his drago-
man, "That is my dog" The dragoman
laughed. "There are 100000 dogs
like that in Greece, sir"
"No, there amt I tell you that is
my dog"
AS the peasant with the pup disap-
peared through a door in the rear the
correspondent and the dragoman rushed
after him. In a courtyard they found
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