The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1911-12-01

81 ID little breastworks nervously
lingering his rifle. The long
III hours of inaction and sus-
pense had told upon his nerves
as on those of every man in the line.
Above all, the constant thunder of the
hidden guns swelling momentarily till
the very air seemed to shake with
their reverberation filled him with
vague uneasiness and curious phys
ical discomfort His body somehow
seemed to have lost solidity, his stom-
ach trembled. something crept along
his spine. The day was already hot
but his hands were cold. Anxiously
he gazed in the direction of the ter
Iible sound. There was nothing to be
seen, not even a dimness on the clear
blue summer sky. Then for the hun
dredth time his eyes ranged the
ground which somewhere concealed
him the grassland stretched uninter-
rupted by hedge or ditch, save where
about 500 yards distant a stream
wound course roughly parallel to
the position, until mile and half
away it reached the dark mass of
woodland which swept over the crest
of the next ridge and down to it's foot.
A road emerged from the wood,
crossed the level ground and curved
to the left of the position. The whole
plain was bare of any living thing.
He turned his head and looked along
his own line. At first the men had
laughed and chatted gaily enough II
somewhat nervously, bat now the long
tension had hushed their voices, and
most of them searched the distances
with haggard eyes in silence. A
couple of subalterns behind him con-
versed in subdued tones, almost in
audible in the roar of the unseen, firm
Notwithstanding guns. Some way along
the line heliograph was flashing out
hurried messages into space. High
Up in the sky a balloon was floating.
He was ignorant whether theirs or the
enemy's.
The muffed beat of hoofs upon the
turf startled him. The general CON-
pianding the division galloped up with
a staff, spoke few words to the col
onel, and disappeared. The whole line
waited expectantly for an order. None
came The artillery thunder seemed
to increase.
Suddenly, with six regular crashes
at intervals as precise as those of a
striking clock, the howitzer battery be-
hind him fired He looked eagerly
to discover their target, but could not
even see where the shells burst.
After some time he heard a pecu-
liarly shrill sound, something like the
screech of a steam whistle. 1t started
Oh q low note, rose swiftly to pierre
Jig intensity and finished in sharp
sound came again. and suddenly a
white cloud-puff appeared in the air
In front Of him, and there was crash
and strange humming.
"Shrapnel," said the man next to
him through locked teeth. Now the
smoke-puffs and crashes followed one
aaothes quickly all along the line, but
principally. 1t seemed to him, near
tie salient single occupied by the next
regiment. So far no one near him
was hurt He waited in mental an
grlsh for something to happen. Sud-
denly a man sprang up with a shrek
rushed along the line of few yards.
ard fell. A couple OF ambulance men
ran up to him, turned him over, and
LETT him. Private 99202 felt his nerves
GO all to pieces. A wild desire to
spring up and rush away beset him.
Theirs was an uneasy stir all along the
line.
Lie down! Lie down. shouted the
officers, and the colonel strobe among
this. bullets to hearter the men, ours
ing at the raw troops he had to COM
msnd.
The strain was becoming intolera-
BILE. Here and there along the line
men were taken Ill and retired. bolt
ing back like rabbits. ducking their
heads in ludicrous fashion to escape
the invisible bullets. Some swore soft
iy and continually. some prayed, some
babbled they knew not what. Above
all the din rose the voices of officers
exhorting the men to be steady. On
the ridge the heliograph still flashed.
but the figure Of the colonel was no
longer to be seen against the sky. He
was stretched on the ground anxiously
watching the wood mile and half
away through his glasses.
Presently he saw a dark figure
emerge from 1t. then another. and
then several. and then many. The
sharper-sighted among the men saw
them also. The cry: There they
arei" ran along the line. Private 81