Evening journal., 1914-12-01

IL must continue whether It carrie
only sick nan or a dying man or
a poisonous green corpse.
lO4O.-Thrce small deer run across
tho road ahead of us. There are
thousands of soldiers hereabouts. all
with rifles and good meat Is not any
TOO common. but the laws against
noaching are imhued in the peasantrv
OF Europe. and these deer on the
battlefield are probably the safest
of all living things. Battles aave
waged on this ground for weeks and
thousands OF men and horses have
/ been killed; the hungry Russians
nave once held this ground. but here
are the three baby deer cafe and
sound.
l1.00-We came to a wide. shallow
creek In tents on a hillock beside
the road is the corps commander and
his staf. A network of field tele-
! phone wires, the nerves of the army.
/ stretch out from the hillock and run
of among the treetops in the distant
! mis- Two temporary bridges cross
the stream. This is an infinitely busy
/ spot. Over these two bridges pass
all the men, food and ammunition
that feed the battle in the hills. This
little creek is the River of Death for
thousands A regiment of fresh sol
! diers. spick and span are Just march
ing across AT the same time. across
/ the other bridge, wounded and sick
men are being brought from the
| battlefield The contrast defies des-
cription. Days ago in some city
these men marched through the
! streets singing their war enthusiasm
| Their journey to this bridge on the
edge of the battlefield has been long
and slow. But it's almost ended A
short march will bring them where
death is flying all about. They don't
sing now. Their faces are grave. A
group Of other soldiers are cheering
nearby. Their captain has just
made a little speech telling them
they are to go into battle soon and
that he expects them TO do their
best. On a hillside a mile away are
thousands of men in grey. They
form a grey carpet over the great
slope 7 can see a white horse
among them as | look through my
| glasses. The carpet moves and
forms itself into patterns or straight
lines on green background These
| thousands of men are TO be taken
to the front after dark tonight They
are waiting and to keep them from
| growing nervous their officers put
them through drills now and then.
II is 11.30 now. but in this northern
land at this time of the year. It will
be pitch dark at 4.45 this afternoon,
| So they have not many hours TO
swarm idly on the safe hillside.
11.45.-We desert the wagon 10 60
the rest of the way on foot I see
my first shrapnel burst. 10 makes
a tiny, lazily-hoating cloud Of white
smoke over the hills Through my
glasses I see an. Austrian aeroplane
near the white cloud. Another
cloud and another and another break
into view The Russians are trying
for the aeroplane The aviator knows
; it. too. There's no use of his trying
! to climb above the danger, for the
shrapnel has an upward range OF
5 over two miles, so the machine turns
) tail and starts back toward the Aus
trian lines. Puff Puff Puff
More white clouds break out around
It. There are deadly cubic miles of
air up there and If the aviator hap
pens into one of them. ehere will be
burst of splntered wood and tat
tered canvas and his work will be
done But it's all in the days work
for the man in the sky He has
been sent up to draw a Russian fire
so that the whereabouts of a certain
Russian battery may be disclosed.
He has succeeded. too. for soon you
hear the Austrian shrapnel screech-
a.aI
in the heavens where the white smoke
floats The Austrians are feeling
over the forests. hills and valleys
for the Russian batteries. They want
the Russians to shoot and the aero
plane has turned the trick Amid
all these exciting scenes we see hun
cry soldiers with their backs bent
earthward digging with sticks in n
field for potatoes. Their stomachs
are crying louder than the shrapnel.
1210.-We pass piles of ammuni-
tion beside the road There are
white pine boxes the size of a travel
ing mans grip. Each of them con-
tains a shell about four inches In
diameter. weighing about 35 pounds
and costing $3.50. Every shot of this
vast tattoo we are hearing means
one of these shells gone to pot Then
there are other boxes painted black,
the same size. They contain four
two-inch shells, costing about SO
each. We're not hearing these this
morning. for the Russian and Aus
trian artillery lines are about FIVE
miles apart and the smaller shells
do little damage at that distance.
12.20.-Adams, who has spent near
ly all his life in Austria. though he
was born in Boston, and who has
\ been in the Austrian army, explains
what is going on. II is true the artii-
lery lines are five miles apart, but
away up ahead Of the artil-
lery. with their own shells coming
from behind and over their
heads are the regiments of Aus
trian infantry hiding in valleys
trenches or forests coming up 10
advance.
12.3O-We leave the road and take
to a grove. In a clearing we see a
big house officers come and go. In
4 / response to our questions as to the
\ nearest battery they pointed out a
pathway in the garden. We follow
it. In every battle ! have ever read
or heard about. there was an apple
I orchard and this was no exception
At the edge of the orchard we came
upon a vast piece of ploughed farm
land sloping away from us and a
quarter of mile before us, in the