Evening star., 1914-11-24

| Wanted to Talk About Americans.
! The friendliness came back into his
| eyes. His wan cheeks-a wilderness of
beard had but recently been shorn-
showed a spot of color. He smiled at
! his visitors. He thought he might soon
| be invalided home, and was already
| planning his march down the Boulevard
| des Capucines. He would engage the
! hacre of George, the fat Devonshire
| cafe to cafe. He would find friend in
I each.
For five years. said Jean, II sold
| jewelry to Americans on the Grand
| Boulevard. They are all my friends.
He wanted to talk about his American
friends in the fluent but twisted Eng
| lish his experience as watch seller to
Americans upon the Grand Boulevard
to hear something of his adventures.
! THAT she'll, now" one of them hinted.
| How does II feel to be hit by shrap-
nel?'
Jean hardly knew. Although he was
| among the first called to the colors he
had been under fire only half a dozen
times in all. Until he was wounded he
had hardly heard the whistle of bull
let. That day-it was near Arras-
Jean was lying in his trench with hun
dreds of other little red-legged infan-
trymen. He had not even been watch
ing the scene. He had been tired by
half asleep.
i Incessant Pounding of Guns.
T, After time, he explained, one be-
comes ennuied. There had been moth
ing to see. No enemy was in sight.
Il Only there was the pound, pound of the
Il lgreat guns. Now and then round, white
Il clouds were formed in the air by the
exploding shells.
"Then-eee." said Jean.
A shell burst over his trench. No one
else had been hurt His comrades put
on the first aid bandages, and that
night the stretcher men carried him
back of the lines. The busy surgeons
were working under the glare OF
acetylene torches in the shelter of a
bank. 1t made him think of fair, H..
said-the fiaring lights and the run
ming to and fro and the cries. He ex-
planned carefully that the wounded men
very seldom cried out. He meant the
shouts of the surgical orderlies as they
directed the stretcher men where to
place their charges. There was blood
and he was washing his hands. The
next time one saw him-pah! He was
blood to the elbow.
Jean was fortunate. That night he
was placed upon train, bound for the
base at Calais. Some of the wounded
had been lying in the field hospitals for
| days, waiting for their chance to be
moved. Some had lain in the trenches
or on the field for days before the
stretcher men found them. Jean called
goodbye to an orderly who had found
time to be good to him. He thought his
voice might have been weak, for the
orderly did not hear. 1t grieved the
wounded man. 1t seemed as though he
were leaving a friend to go out in the
darkness.
Fancy how weak I was, msieu,
said he. 81 wept."
Whispered Weakly to Each Other.
There were four others in the straw
on the floor of .hc cattle car in which
Jean started for the base. They talked
to each other L very little as they
lay there in the darkness. The door of
the car had been closed. They had
heard the iron bar drop into it's place
outside. Jean did not think at first
that any of his companions had been
seriously wounded. No one of them
complained. They whispered weakly
to each other. Then they relapsed in
to silence. Just before the train start
ed Jean heard one OF them-he must
have been an Englishman-speak in
an undertone.
Bessie" he said. Bessie"
The train was started. with jerks and
harsh clanking Of the coupling links
and groans from the wheels. Conver
sation became impossible, even if one
! had desired. The noise was too great.
Jean thought he had not suffered
greatly, except that as the hours wore
on his poor body ground down through
the thin layer of straw to the boards
of the box car floor. Two of the others
had broken bones. The heavy joltinG
of the train began to grind the shat
tered surfaces of bone together.
'They cried out" said Jean. looking
at us with awed, frightened eyes; 81
heard them strike the floor with their
hands. One of them kept saying, over
and over:
"'It is impossible. 1t is impossible "
In the end he thought they must have
tainted Or perhaps the increasing n lis
Of the train drowned their cries. The,
seemed to. be growing weaker. he had no
ticed. Or perhaps Jean himsel. partly
lost consciousness. He was feverish from
his wound, he said. He greatly desired
water.
In Agonies of Thirst.
| When the light of the sun finally pen
etrated through the crevices of the
cars sides he looked about him. His
him his companions were still alive.
very little. The train stopped at a way
, station. After long time one of the
. wounded said to another:
What is your wife's name?
"Ernestine." said the other.
!, '"Fhen@ began the first. But he
! did not finish his sentence. Jean Won
ders what he meant He has the agile
Imagination of a Frenchman. He
e scents a romance.
The day went on. The car remained
there, on the side track No one en-
Tha1 RI l,,&