Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1905-01-28

I J uOH make any iillB OF II. >lI. SAID
IT, 1T seems impossible for a man to be
drumming zap and down here without lcav-
/ ing tracks. Yet ! can see nothing out
lcattle-hoof marks. And those all seem
to lead to and from that byre. 1t beats
lme."
Lets 30 and look at the byre7
/ 1t was just an ordinary cattle shed.
with a couple Of beams across to support
| the roof. and heap of fodder in cor
| ner.
There are no cattle here" said Lieut..
Tresidder. and we haven't seen any on
the marsh though by the prints they are
continually coming and going
| Perhaps the owners moved them when
we planted the picket, sir
| Some of the tracks look very fresh
! 10 me, as ii they had not been made more
than Il day or two. And remember we
saw COW the night before last"
4 i was forgetting that, sill"
| Il see nothing for it but to go back
disappointed as before, with our tails be-
tween our legs. Wen never make set
ters or pointers. let alone retrievers"
! The next night it was just the same.
/ The sniping continued as before. but the
aim was more deadly And the cold was
1 so great that we took the extra risk and
chung tight to the fire Quartermaster
Sergt Hahn was sitting in the light, talk
ling to Color Sergt. Male, when he went
down with a thud right over the glowing
embers. When we picked him up he was
| stone dead, with a bullet through his
! heart. Then we did scatter Il little out of
the glare. Next day Lieut.. Tresidder
said
Harding we're going to have another
look over the front. and Eve got leave
foEus both till tomorrow morning"
Yes. sin, said |; but l was getting a
| little tired of these trips.
We went all over the swamp. and there
Iwere no tracks but those Of hoofs to be
seen.
But the strange thing is" said Lieut..
Tresidder, when we got to the cow
house, that there are no COWS to be
seen. and yet their tracks are new"
What are we to do now, SIM"
Wait"
"'I'he situation seems just the same,
sir. only much more So"
1T viii be better not to 90 to bed,
Harding, and to wait here for the sniper."
Getting up always makes me so tired"
Yes, sir" said |, discontentedlv.
Let rs have q look at the other side
Of the hut
Very little of the ground there was soft
enough to- take footprints freely. But
what prints there were were those of a
man, and none Of them were those of
COW.
There's something uncanny about this
place" said Lieut.. Tresidder. Wen
STAY here the night"
We stopped there as the day began to
get brown We kept quiet, for we did
rot quite know who might be near us.
When it got dark, as we had no wish to
be trapped by Il number of the enemy,
we climbed to the beams and Law down
on them. Thus, were a lantern brought
into the hut, we should be out of the
line OF its rays. We lay and waited,
waited and lay, till, if it had not con-
tinued dark all the time. we should have
thought that several nights had come
and gone. Then we heard the lightest of
footballs close outside the hut.
We held our breath. as if we were talk
ing long shot. AMI in came an Afghan
armed with a Martini We thought it
was a regimental rack rifle that had been
stolen; but, when we came to look at it
afterward, we found it was one supplied
by our patriotic gunmakers of Birming-
ham. The Afghan went straight to the
heap of fodder, drew out from under
meath it a cowskin, and, having stripped,
he put this over his naked body. Sticks
in front made the cows head project. his
rifle was slung under the belly. of which
the under cages were tied with two or
three strings From a distance, and in
the dusk. he looked a very respectable
COW. and the mother of Il family. Then
he began to walk to the door his hands
and feet coming down to the hoofs As
we We're nearly bursting with holding
our breath, the lieutenant made me
signal with his hand, and both together
we rolled bang on to the cow
He struggled and fought, but his very
disguise told against him. He was
weighted down by his cowhidc but, in
spite of that, he planted a hind hoof in
my stomach, and that hoof put me out
Of action for Il few minutes. But we
soon had him tied up by the hoofs, and
held a consultation as to what we were
to do with him.
I'VE can't carry him in, sir" said l.
Hes too heavy, and we may lose him if
we let him walk"
"And we may get shot by other
smipers.'
Shall we shoot him now, sir? As well
now rs later
Seeing he's a COW, we'd better cut his
throat. | wish we had a Gurkha here to
do it for us. | don't care about doing it
myself"
All this while the prisoner never said
a word, but just waited,
DO you remember the story of Silver.
theater, sir when we lay in Dublin? How
the galleryites were throwing man over.
when some one looked ont of the nit. and
said: Don't waste 'um. Kill a fiddler
wid um. :"
Il do Harding"
Don't You think, sir, its a pity to
waste him? Why not Kill an Afghan
with him.
So we enlisted him in the guides. and
he's a Ressaldar this day-London Van.