New-York tribune., 1913-08-03

its source for it is the yell OF man IN mortal terror
But now it is so thin and weak by contrast so utterly
INSIGNIFICANT and mouselike, that Smith would not no,
ce it save for the fact that 1t IS repeated again no
,ga;n and as the effect of the guns mighty voices
starts to wear away it begins to take Its natural place
among other sounds.
Smith sees men running from the emplaceneIIS 10
he edge OF the parapet, and he wonders what IS up
but he has no time TO investigate just then lie IS tax
ing the actual time of flight OF thousand-pound smell
He started his watch when was hred and now SandS
waiting for it strike his glasses at his eyes lie sees
let OF water miles thrown high INTO the air, ana
knows il for the first of SplaSheS that the shell
will make before finally settling TO rest on the bottom.
Stopping his watch he pockets 1t and follows the otherS
to the edge OF the parapet there to behold the living
refutation of what had been accepted as tact, until
few seconds before by the science OF modern gunnery
The refutation is man, little lrlShrnan, grlzzled,
and for the moment pale, except tor the blood that
streams across his face This blood has lett trai down
the steep outer slope OF the parape-the DaSC Slope
as is caled-shOwing that he has rolled or been rolled
from the top TO the bottom, where he now hes save
for few negligible tatters that still cling to It, his WIZ
ened bow-legged body IS as innocent OF cotnin% as
when it came into the world. His eyes protrude ana
his face is twitchng; his chest heaves nightly but APP
parenty its sole for doing so IS to gam breath
that can be violently exhaled another howl.
Young Smith, however, knows that only a dozen
seconds ago the few aters were the immaculate UNI
form Of a Corporal and he has no difficulty IN guessing
what has happened. OF long service, good soldier,
and matchlcss gun pointer, the little Corporal has
DcScttng weakness, WHICH OIOuSll
ovcrcomes him Having accumulated much OF this
weakness in of the saloons that cluster about the
confines of a military post, he chose the blast slope, OF
all places in the world, as a refuge where he might
sleep off the effects and, worse STILL selected for his
)uch that part OF it that lies directly under the nuz
zc Of a gun.
Now, this particular part of the slope has been turted
like the rest Of it. Unlike the rest, however 1t IS bare
and brown. Every dead close-cropped blade OF gras;
lies as fiat as does the nap OF well brushed silk hat
Ants may build their tiny hills all about; but not on
this space. 1t was supposed that nothing could live
there that the fghtful blast and the heat would Snui
out all animal life instantly Yet that Of the Corporal
has not been snuffcd out Save for his uniform. his
fright and bloody nose he was not even hurt More
ne was not even sobccd; for little later young Smith
sees him rolling away toward his quarters quite recov-
cred from his fright and clad in borrowed oyercoat
whistling "Father OFlynn7 between his teeth.
THESE great guns have finished their work by this
time and Second Lieutenant Smith strolls back
toward his own battery but stops by the way at the
edge Of a mortar pit Young Jones, his chum, is at
tachcd to this mortar battery and being, like Smith
Second Lieutenant is naturally detailed as pit officer.
Il always pleasant to our friends work; 50 Smith
,has Tho scene btl0ly him. where the sun,