The Wheeling intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1903-1961, 1916-01-15

is certain. and Il Is the mrcrophones that have
done Il. The firing will keep up. and there Is
no shelter anywhere. not a trench. not a hole.
Down on the ground. commandant.' cries
Osman to me from afar. for he sees a second
shell coming toward me. while my attention
is fixed on the graves. OF what good is IL to
lie down? That IS useful in case OF solid
shells. but not with shrapnel bullets. which
fall from above. No. what we need Is our steel
helmets. but rashly. not thinking there was
danger here. we have left them in the auto with
our gas masks. We must escape. we must run.
that is all there is to do Osman runs TO me
with his spade and his second little bottle. l
self"
Good heavens! I remember that our auto has
not been turned in the right directioni II would
have been an elementary precaution to do that
when we arrived here. l have committed n
series OF stupidities to-day. what is the matter
with my head? IL was because everything
seemed so calm when we came into this ceme-
terry. l cry TO the two chauneurs who are still
photographing. Leave everything. turn the
auto quick. but not so quickly as to make a
noisei" Osman has seized the opportunity Of
my speaking TO the chauffeurs 20 begin digging
near me. mo. stop that" l say 10 him. you
see that they are still firing; run and hide
behind a tree in the road" But IL is almost
done. commandant." he answers. BY the time
the auto is turned II will be finished
After all. l rather prefer that he should dis
obey me a little and finish his work. Never
was a hole more hastily dug or bottle more
hastily buried. When he has put in the bottle
he Throws DaGh the "a H. JUMPS oA II ~
II out and throws his grave digger's spade
away. Then We run as hard as we can over
the hillocks OF our dead, silently begging them
10 pardon US. There Is nothing so ridiculous.
nothing which looks so foolish as running UNI
der IRE. But ] am not alone; / have the re-
gponsibiity Of the lives OF these soldiers, and
I should be criminal II l should delay for a
second the fight of all OF them.
The shrapnel shells continue 10 burst, scat
tering all around us their deadly hail. How
strange are the rehnements Of modern war
fas l seeks MS in. the depths OF the invisible.
in the heart OF the white clouds upon the hori-
zon, hurled at US by people whom we do not
see and who do not see us, hurled blindly but
sure to find US sooner or later.
During this wild fight my imagination, left
at liberty. turns back TO that cemetery and its
dead. The ~shrapnel shells, how strangely they
sounded in the midst OF that silence and in
that extraordinary fog which Increased as
does a microphone the noise Of their flight!
II is. perhaps, the first time that / heard them
thus. playing as a solo separated from all the
habitual noises Of the battle front. in intimacy.
II ] may saw so. and paying me the honor OF
a visit TO myself alone. Never have ! before
experienced the almost physical sensation OF
the mad speed Of a small. hard object. and Of
what must be the effect OF fits collision against
a fragile obstacle. such as a chest or a headi
The adventure is over, we return TO the vii
lage OF b. There the shrapnes can no
longer hurt us. The heavy calibre guns alone
could reach us there. We have not had a win
dow broken, we have not received a scratch.
BY instinct the chaufeurs come TO a stop in
the road at the moment when | was going to
tell them 10 do so. not because the auto has
need OF a breathing spell, but because we have
need TO look at our belongings. TO put a little
order I'm our things. which were thrown In pell-
NEIL and which during our fight have been
leading a Wild dance in which Photographic
cameras. helmets and revolvers take a promi-
nent part.
Then. like people who have at last found a
sheltering doorway after running through the
rain. we look at one another and feel a desire
to laugh. Yes. We desire to laugh In spite OF
the agonizing memory Of our dead so fresh in
our minds, 10 laugh at our escape. 20 laugh
al having succeeded in what we wished 20 do.
and especially al having foiled the fellows who
were shooting al us.