The Harrison times., 1914-11-21

knew he would, and we scrambled over
our little redoubt, me and my pal and
the whole line of us, and a whole lot
more fellows who had been gathering
in the rear and rushed, lickerty-split,
down to those bushes. 1t must have
surprised them that we were ready to
come back at them so quickly, because
! think that almost every one Of us
made the shelter Of the bushes in safe
ty; but it was hot enough there,
heaven knows. 1t seemed to be rain
ing shot, and now and then a shell
would burst and l would imagine 1t
had me, so we we're glad enough when
they told US to go on again. Anything
was better than crouching there in
those bushes, hardly able to see
thing.
No Charge-Just Getting On.
We forded the stream-it wasn't
more than six feet wide-and started
to climb the hill just as their cavalry
had done. Only our gunners had the
range, and there wasn't anything like
the reception for us that they had got.
My pal and / and the little lieutenant
seemed to make a little group, We
just went on; sometimes he would
take the lead and sometimes we would
give him q lift. We puffed, and maybe
staggered, because 1t was very eX-
not only the climb, but the
jag that our nerves were on. Some
how we got there,
The lieutenant had his revolver IN
his hand, and he finished a round.head-
ed German who aimed at me with his
rife clubbed. | reckon that German
must have been the only live one in
the vicinity, for ! didn't see any more
The main body seemed to have been
driven out before we got there, so we
just squatted down in the trenches
they had made to catch our breath,
and the funny part Of it was that as
far as we could see there were hun
dreds Of US fellows squatting in those
trenches, painting, The lieutenant was
the first to collect himself, 1--WE are a
lot Of fools" he said, Sitting here
without cover, Don't you fellows
realize that they can pick US off as
easy as not?"
1t was time we realized It, because
they were picking US oH-not me and
my pal, you understand, or the lieu
tenant-but dozen other fellows all
along the line
Used Basins for ShoveIs,
Get to work there and dig" he
said, And we dug as we had never
dug before We knew we couldn't go
any further that day and we wanted
to make cover for ourselves that
would last the night out, so with ba.
sins we shoyeled the earth they had
up until It gave us protection from
their rifle fire, II would make nice
story right here II | could tell you
that our little lieutenant had been
killed or badly wounded in trying to
save one Of our lives, but he was no
fool He got behind the first pile Of
earth we raised and told us what to
do next, and that, you will admit, was
Il much wiser thing for him to do than
any tomrool bravery would have been
We had our position clinched They
were bringing guns down into the 1T
tie valley by roads ! hadn't noticed
before and hauling them up to the top
Of the hill near our position, When |
saw that | knew that az far as we
were concerned we had done our work
All this, and It was only two o'clock
In the afternoon, The rest Of the day
we spent digging, They brought up
shoyels from the supply wagons and
we made a real broABtworkB, whole
lot better than any we had had since
we left the Aisno II was funny to
see engineers, with levels and transIts
working whore only an hour before
there had been moro dead men than
living but these poor fellows were
gone now, and from brave soldiers we
became mere dlggora In the soil Speed
was necessary, for the German doesn't
know when ho IN licked, and his fire
upon our position was getting warm
or all the time
Trench Digging Is Drudsery'
Digging trenches sounds like sim
pie thing, and 80 II Is for the first
hour but after you have been working
for two hours or more without any hot
grub and nothing to smoke IT becomes
more like drudgery | would rather
charge with only half a chance Of com
Ing out alive than dix trenches for
two hours II YOU could think OF the
danger, II you could keep the noble
part Of II In the front Of your mind
II wouldn't be- 40 bad, but Just to dig
like an ordinary drainmon with u 1T
tlo lieutenant yapplng about Ia a
trIghlru bore, lie IN u good follow
that lieutenant and no shot my Cor
man friend, but he knew no more
about getting work out OF a lot OF
Paris clerks than he does about farm
ing and that Ia precious little, |
wager.
Hut when the sun dropped into the
hills behind us We had dug regular
trenches four feet deep, with