The Savannah morning news., 1900-07-14

/ sending a CrOSSfre Wnere they lay. IneS
buried their noses in the red sand anc
talked and thought.
They talked and thought-about what
They have told me and I have made
notes OF il.
Say something funny" said the young
er man Il wish young B. were here. He q
keep us laughing. Wow! but that was
close. 1t famed my ear"
Il wonder what's become Of our
horses"
Hang the horses. What wonder is
how that mule can stand there 100 yards
ahead of us. where the bullets are like
drops in a slanting rain III bet the
I brute is full of holes and doesn't know
#. Perhaps we are. too"
Hello! here's that Guards doctor. Doc
tor! Doctor Come and tell us what's GO
| ing on" The Guards doctor is nothing
loath He dashes over TO the corresDond-
ents. and in doing so awskens new fury
of rife and machine gun fire.
81 can't stay long" he says: we've
got a great many wounded up there. and
l must look after them How's the fight
| going? It's simply going on, forever. and
neither side is budginG. You think the
| bullets are thick here. Watch me go for
ward, and when you see me drop you may
know it's bit thick. There's one place
ahead where the shot come in cold
/ Stre8kS IKE Telegraph wires. wen, td-Ld =
l must make dash for it."
As he runs the correspondents see the
tiny sand fountains squirt up in front of.
beside and behind him At last he drops
! ard for half an hour lies still.
/ For an hour and a half the correspond-
! ents keep their noses pinned in the veldt
/ behind their anthl. Every now and
again there comes lull, and they think
they viii make bolt for safety, and one
rails his head or lifts an arm, whereupou
the bullet factory opens again for bust
ness. and lsaden reaks rake the ar like
a fine toothed comb They resign them
selves and watch other men in like posi-
tons.
They see a Coldsream TRnmy run to
a tiny sage brush that wouldn't stop
pea-shooter and gratefully take its shell
ter.
They see another Tommy lying fat as
a fapjack and reaching stealthily, blind
ly over the ground to gather little stones
none bigger than hens egg. He gets
five or six Of these and builds a whimsi al
shelter four inches wide and three inches
high. He presses his face in the sand
with this ridiculous, microscopic wall in
front of his crown. 1t is The best that he
can do and he is content. He is content
until-ten minutes later an explosive bull
let hits his foot and smashes it as If
heavy sledge hammer lad crushed it.
Distress of the wounded.
He calls to the correspondents to bring
the stretcher bearers to him, Two of
them have been hiding behind an anthin
for very long while. To them the cor
respondents yell and the bearers are Tn
able 10 hear. A Tommy looms up ahead
dragging a shattered leg. hopping along
before a pursuing blizzard OF bullets He
lie ~. aAr-f ant or
Heavens sake gentlemen, get me to an
ambulance. I've been wounded like this
for ten hours" The correspondents forget
themselves and their danger and telling
him with the shattered leg TO go and lie
by him with the crushed foot, they start
through the rain of bullets to rouse the
two bearers.
They forget themselves and their danger
though there is death at every step-just
as every man, who is any good forgets self
and danger on the BATTLEFIELD if only he has
something to do. Even if he has the
| jumps, give him rife and see how in
| terested he will become. Send him gall
| Looping into the fire on an GRAND and his
| funk will drop as If the bullets had shot
| 1t away.
His Company Not wanted.
A word of comamnd to those stretcher
| bearers brought them quickly to their feet.
! Then the correspondents had nothing to
| do again. and then the bullets ping cd
beside them and buzzed about them, and
| they dropped fiat the vedt-with no
| shelter this time. Again they lay long
! time. A bullet touched the hair Of one
! another flew between their heads not
eighteen inches apart. Three Tommies in
| full flight saw them, and ran toward them,
| bringing a cloud OF shot with them.
Keep away! Keep away! You foolsr'
| the correspondents shouted. Get your
selves killed as much as you like, but
don't direct the fire on us. Lie down by
yourselves, you idiots.' p Their frenzy and
profanity revealed to the correspondents
how great had been the tension on their
nerves.
It's telling on me- said the young end
handsome one. yet am not conscious Of
being afraid"
There's no room for fear" said the
other. I'VE know our danger. We can't
help ourselves, and that's all there is about
it. I'm sick of my lime juice and water
Give me drink of your plain essence of
microbes"
Next a bulet-headed Tommy darted up
from behind and dropped beside the
younger correspondent. Just heaven! how
he was sworn at and abused as a new
hall OF bullets showered around the three
-loosened by his dash across the veldt
IF you would pull in that blooming tin
pail, and put ii under your stomach, you
wouldn't git SO much o. the blooming bull
lets. II shoines loike a Telegraph" He
was right. He referred 10 a two-quart
bright, new tin water bottle which the
elder man had left beside him on the
ground.
OF all the sublimated fools in any army
this Tommy was the worst. He next ask
ed for drink. and, taking a covered
bottle. raised himself on his elbows, put
up his head. lifted the bottle high. and
began to quaff. A thousand rifle balls
and ten minutes play of the putt putt"
a challenge. Again Tommy was sworn at
for an idiot-and what was his reply?
II know 1t. When / was Toying hover
there behind a hant i'll, I ed up me
blooming elmet an got ole put through
it before l could 'git it down again"
He was quieted by the impressive as
surance that he would get a pistol ball
through his skull az the next provoca-
ton, and for another half hour he lay
| quiet. Then. suddenly, he said: Gems.
I'm blamed tired of planting me nose in
the sand and waiting for Il to sprout
What l say is. let's run for It, each one
in "A different direckshn, so the bloom
ing Beers won't know which TO peg at"
You're a general. Tommy" said the
correspondents. Were with you"
He gave the word All three ran like
mad in different ways and the Beers
directed oil their fire on the young and
handsome correspondent. ID was dusk
and jets of flame sprang out of the veldt