Las Vegas optic., 1914-12-03

lby blow from sabre. He tried to
lrise, but a heavy weight fell upon him
land then he lost consciousness. The
first thing he became aware Of vas a
feeling that resembled a caress upon
This forehead. He opened his eyes and
There was Tom, one Of the ambulance
ldogs, affectionately tapping his torn
head He tried to rise, but the heavy
weight that had borne him down was
lstill there. 1t was the body of one Of
his comrades who had fallen with a
bullet through his heart.
Impossible to extricate himself, he
| finally succeededdn getting to asitting
posture. His cap was gone and that
Iexplained why Tom had not gone back
to the ambulance for help. Duran
Hooked, and Tom searched but no cap
was to be found GO, Tom and fetch
1.-THE comrades" Durand cried. a half
hour later Tom went into camp and
seizing the first soldiers coat in his
teeth, began tugging at him. The sol
dier did not understand. Then Tom
barked appealingly but with no more
effect. Finally he barked menacingly,
with no result Then the doctor came
along. He understood and Tom gave
a yelp of joy when he realized that
he had succeeded. Directed by him
the doctor and the stretcher bearers
soon found Durand, hidden in thick
ct, where probably he would have
passed unnoticed until he had either
starved or died from his wounds, had
it not been for Tom.
They lifted the dead man off. car
ried Durand back to the ambulance
and Notwithstanding the gravity of
his three wounds, he is now mending,
all thanks to Tom.
Toms is not an isolated incident of
1.-The devotion OF the ambulance dog.
A case is reported from the vicinity
of Verdun in which a dog discovered
| a soldier who had been wounded in
the head and who had received first
aid from one of his comrades, who af-
terwards had been obliged to abandon
him. His cap had also been lost and
the dog could find nothing that he
could carry back to the ambulance to
report his find, but he had the intel
lligence not to touch the bandage on
the soldiers head. Finally, despairing
of finding anything he could carry
back, he lay down on the ground op-
posite the wounded man and howled
dismally until help came.
DR.. vertier, surgeon of the 18th Ar
my Corps, reports that the ambulance
dogs of his corps have saved hundreds
of lives and that not in a single in
stance have they mistaken a dead
body for wounded man. In some
cases where the soldiers cap could
not be found, the dog has torn upon
his knapsack and hunted out some
thing that he could carry back to show
THAT he had made a discovery.
The National Society for the train
ling Of ambulance dogs has already
sent 100 Of these annals into the field
and II more are soon to go. DR..
Troussalnt, director Of the sanitary
service at the ministry Of war, has
authorized the training of stretcher
bearers with the dogs, SO that they
may be able to work better in har-
mony, the dog knowing the man and
the man knowing the dog.
AS rule, each dog works over
ground Of 200 to 400 yards, and as
soon as he scents wounded man, he
begins to bark and seek some article
that he can carry back as an indica-
tion to the ambulance.
For the same reason the serv-
ices Of the dog have been demonstrate
ed in the Belgian campaign. in the
bringing up Of machine guns The
dogs are SO trained that the soldiers
are not obliged to accompany them in
hauling the guns; they creep along
cover as well as they can to the desir-
ed position, leaving the dogs and the
guns behind. When they have reach
ed the desired location all they have
to do is to whistle ana the dogs come