Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1914-11-12

S0OI at Hlu IOI luck. May De put d
hole in one Of his wings, but the
chances are / fell short.
And then the little lieutenant said.
GO, get EN-. boys, bif. biff. just as
knew he would, and we scrambled over
our little Tedoubt, 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 il was hot enough there,
heaven knows. 1t seemed to be rain
ing shot, and now and then a shell
would burst and 1 would imagine it
had me. so We were glad enough when
they told US to go on again. Anything
was better than crouching there il
those bushes, hardly able to see a
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 az their cavalry
had done. Only our gUnners had the
range, and there wasn't anything like
the reception for US thar they mad 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 lift. We pulled, and maybe
staggered, because it was very ex-
hausting, 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 dubbed. l reckon that German
must have been the only live one in
the vicinity, for I 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. I'VE are a
! lot of fools, he said, sitting here
without a 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 off-not me and
my pal, you understand, or the lieu
/ tenant-but dozen other fellows all
/ along the line
Used Basins for shoves.
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 shoveled the earth they had
j up until it gave us protection from
/ their rife fire. 1t would make a nice
/ story right here if | 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
/ much wiser thing for him to do than
any tomfoo1 bravery would have been.
! We had our position clinched They
were bringing guns down into the lit
/ 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 as 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 dig o. They brought up
| shOvels from supply wagons and
we made q real breastworks, a whole
lot better than any we had had since
! we left the Aisne. 1t was funny to
| see engineers, with levels and transits,
| working where only an hour before
/ there had been mora dead men than
living, but these p3or fellows were
gone now, and from brave soldiers we
! became mere diggerf in the soil Speed
was necessary, for Il, German doesn't
know when he is licked, and his fire
upon our position was getting warm
er all the time
/
Digging trenches sounds like sim
pie thing; and so it 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 chance of com
ing out alive than dig trenches for
two hours If you could think of the
danger, if you could keep the noble
part Of it in the front of your mind,
it wouldn't be so bad; but just to dig
like an ordinary drainman with lit
tie lieutenant yapping about is
frightfuI bore. He is a good fellow,
that lieutenant, and he shot my Ger
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 is precious little, l
wager.
But when the sun dropped into the
hills behind US we had dug regular
standing trenches four feet deep, with
a breastwork high enough to cover
anybody, and we were mighty glad,
can tell you, when they told US TO
give it up and go back and get some
food Other fellows came forward
to take our places as We went back.
They were dean and spick and span,
and when l looked at my pal and he
looked at me we burst into a hearty
laugh. for if there ever was a couple
of dfsreputable looking citizens of the
reD1lhlic it was ourselves
how fortunate they had been in escap-
ing wreck when drawhead had