Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-10-31

his chest His eyes dared any one to
touch it.
But not at first. Not at first
Grinned as They Charge.
The little man cracked into laughter
as he told of the charge. Out Of their
|, trenches as one man, he said. when the
whistle blew. Slipping, sliding in the
mud The Germans on his secteur
were alert. A line of fire ran along the
top of their trenches.
Il FELL" said he, land thought I was
done. But it was only that my feet
had slipped on that greasy clay. Every
faces in the mud and getting up laugh
ing. 1t must have surprised the Boches
to see us grin as we came on"
Then he thought a moment.
They could not have seen our grins,"
said he, because of the mud"
On their way they passed a crater
where mine had been exploded.
Bodies of Germans were thick in 1t.
Many boots protruded from the dis
heveled ground.
man. shrieking with laughter. I'VE
wanted to see II the men in the boots
still lived"
Before the charge the airmen had
found deep moat had been dug in
front of one portion Of the German
lines. Bridges of planks were built
and as the little French infantrymen
ran forward they carried these bridges
with them. The Germans had not ex-
pected this and were not massed be-
hind the moated line. The muddy in
vaders ran across the bridges and leap
ed in the trenches and spread through
the communication lines.
1T was as though quicksilver had
been thrown upon a carved table,"
said he. I'VE were everywhere"
Germans Were Stunned.
Here and there the Germans had been
so stunned by the unceasing artillery
fire that they hardly resisted. They
sat. the little man said. and looked at
the undiscovered Frenchmen as they
came leaping on, and did not even raise
their hands in surrender. Elsewhere
they neither gave nor asked quarter.
Both sides slashed and stabbed grimly
in those narrow pits until one gave
way and the others ran on, thrusting
at the backs of the fleeing foe. French
and German met at an angle in one
trench and fought there until the pile
of dead had grown so high the bayonet
could not be used over it The wound
ed wriggled off around the feet of the
llVlHE ones. before the french COulQ
go on they cleared, the trench by
throwing the dead upon the parapet.
The rain began again. The I'M
wounded were desperately at work re
versing" the newly taken trenches. to
be protected from the inevitable
counter-attack. The wounded dragged
themselves slowly toward the rear. On
hands and knees, some of them, pulling
broken legs through the mire. Hob
bling on guns used crutchwise. Lying
at full length sometimes in the soupy
ooze until enough strength had been
gained to make another small progress
possible. Helping each other.scursing
each other. bawling their hate and
anger singly to the dripping skies like
bulls that had been driven out of the
herd Still maddened by the fever of
the charge. some of them. so that 1t
was unsafe to go near them Some
laughing. Some laughed today, forty
eight hours from the fight, after an
a ching journey in the jerking stretch
ers of hospital train of freight cars:
Never have I SO enjoyed myself"
said the little man. ITO see these
Jumps of mud pretending they are men.
The waxworks of La Pouilleuse." A
surgeon came busting up with two
stretcher bearers at his heels to de-
mand where the little man had been
hurt.
Nothing much" said he. Il got too
near a German bullet and IL went
through my stomach"
The trim little major went away
swearing and wiping his eyes