The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1916-03-24

| any lA1AS anu tue reply "A SAOL
| half an hour ago. Theirs or ours?'
1T was a Niauser, SIR A second more,
and they both heard US. Who goes
| there?' "A friend 1 answered, giving
two taps with the butt of my rifle and
! receiving one in return. Each platoon
Iihas its own system of signals. The
| subaltern gave an order to one of his
| N. G. o. that the men Stand to- for
! you know every man in the trenches
from the commencement of dawn must
be awake and ready for the attack
| which often comes at that hour. This
| is supposed to be accomplished with
| out noise, but sleepy, stiff men are not
| likely to be light of foot, and the rattle
of equipment makes noise that to the
officers seems thunderous, but perhaps
it isn't so bad as we think, for our
nerves are not what they once were.
eve passed on and reached the snip
er's hole, which is little apart from
the main trench, and for that reason
likely to escape the attention. of the
enemy. But it has its disadvantages,
for one has to sit practically motion
| less, as the place has no parapet, and
/ the only way we could see outside was
by using a periscope. That little in
| strument is wonderful invention.
| Without it we could see nothing but
| the walls of the hole in which we
stood But by applying it without NOV
| ing an inch we had before us view
of the countryside, trenches and wire
entanglements, while the saRdbags
and the shell holes showed up IS If
under a microscope Fifty yards away
was a 1oophole in the German trenches
Two lively men in a trench very near
occupied our attention. We envied
A4--sk FTyJ-@
be able to find targets after all the rest
OF the line was quiet, and we wonder
ed if they too an enemy's life with
every one OF their carefully fred shots.
We saw two soldiers in red and blue
uniform lying in the forbidden line
between the trenches. one with a
whitened skull
ttThen night came on. We had lot
Of barbed wire to put up in front of a |
new trench a little lower down. About |
midnight I was Joined by my best |
N. @. o. and four or five other men.
We were as silent as possible, but In |
spite of sandbagS to deaden the sound /
we did make rather row driving in |
the posts. The Germans heard US, for |
they sent up two star shells. The first |
was on our left, but the next quite |
near. We stood motionless. Fortu- |
nately we were against a dark back !
ground. Then the beggaFs began sweep |
ing right and left with their machine /
guns, and we laid fiat In the mud for a |
time. We could hear German playing |
a mouth organ On the damp, still I
night air the sound came to us very /
clearly. He was playing Rip Van
Wrinkle Presently we got to work
again, but in half an hour the Ger
mans began sniping. I decided it was
too risky to go on. Another wait, and I
then fortunately it began sleeting. We
kept wiring until about 3 a. N. and got
our allotment finished. Then we found /
that the sentries had all been changed
while we were out, and two or three
buffers had not told their relief that
a working party was in front. The
N. G. O.'s on duty should have made
sure of that point also. AS it was, a
very much alarmed platoon sergeant
efept across to tell US of the unex-
pected risk we had been running. We
had used up four or five rolls of wire, |
and some of the men had their fingers
pretty well cut, but they stuck at it
like good chaps and made bully en-
tanglement The job was an exhilirat-
ing one, but as I am not a liar nor al
together a fool frankly confess was t
glad when it was over
ssAs Went back through the trenches
that morning just before dawn passed
a number of men who were muttering I
something between their teeth, and 1
stopped a moment, curious to hear what
it was. They were actually praying
that God Almighty would give the. Ger
mans sufficient grace to make them
come out and attack us just to warm
us up. Both men and officers of that t
company evidently felt alike, as heard
A. - ~
they come, no surrender, lads, as you
have your rifles and then your fists.
As If in answer to their prayers rifles
began to crack all around.
s'Just before I reached the end of
the last trench was surprised to hear
the order, Cease firingr and when +
turned to learn what had occasioned
this unusual command, saw a wound
ed German lying halfway between our
lines and his. An officer who had gone
quit to pick up the man was struck be-
fore the Germans realized what he was
doing, and themselves ceased firing i.
Nothing daunted, the British officer, +
staggered to the fallen man and half i
carried, half dragged him to the Ger
man lines. The officer on duty receiv-
ed him with a salute, and the men in
the trenches set up Iusty cheer Then
the German officer took off his own
iron cross and pinned it upon the
breast of the man in khaki. and as he
staggered back to our trench we could
still hear t11e Germans cheering Poor
dev1Ia He was recommended for the
Victoria cross, but he didn't live to
wear it. He died from the wounds he
got.
Nothing but death, however, can
quench 'Tommy's' good huInor," he I
laughed. ST heard one, of them tell
chap who had lost his way that if he
would go down by la Villa de Dugout
and turn to the left around Piccadilly
circus he would come to the Hotel Ce-