The Madison journal. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1888-current, 1916-04-08
Baked BY MIRAGE
British Artillery Has Queer Trou.
BILE in Arabia.
EyoIutions Of Troops Are Obscured-
See Infantry Like Trees Moving
and Think Them a Trans
port Train.

Sheikh Saad, Arabia.-The ground
between the Tigris river and the hills
was the scene of the battle of Sheikh
Saad. The land is maliciously and
'anatically sterile. Even the agoon
and the kharnoog come to an end. 1t
vas over this rutty ground that the
transport wagons bumped and jolted
with their freight of wounded on the
evening of January Z.
II was evening when our steamer
noored near the battlefield. We went
out to meet them as they streamed in
over the mud-colored fiat, and gave
what aid we could. Many were walk
ing very erect, some of them with the
stiffness of effort. These were the less
serious cases. The stretchers and
transport wagons came in later. One
was struck with the hardness and
stoicism of the British and Indian
alike.
BEG your pardon, sir" says a Brit
sh private; 'can you tell me where
The ambulance is?" and he deprecates
the support of my shoulder, though his
calf is bandaged and it is painful for
him to put his left foot to the ground.
Il am all right, sir; it's nothing seri-
ous"
He lifts up his shirt and points to
puncture in his stomach. His face is
bloody and bandaged.
1T is nothing" he explains; took
off bit of my gums"
He will not rest, but moves on to-
wards the distant Red Cross flag and
the tunnels of the steamer on the riv-
or. Here at least should be rest, warm
tea and comforts for his wounds. But
In Mesopotamia 1t is far cry to the
smooth motor ambulances of France,
The rapid transit to the hospital. where
IN hour or two after he has received
irst aid doctors and nurses are ready
with every saving device that science
can provide.
We have heard the guns overnight
and again in the morning as our pad
lie steamer with its attendant light
ers forged up stream. The first shell
disturbed flight of sand grouse which
came wheeling across the river in such
myriads that we who were watching
irom the roof of the bridge forgot the
shells and turned our glasses on the
birds-a skein Of plumage half mile
long tying itself up in loops in the
tAd he
suddenly wheeling around, while the
rear, an opposite point, then converged
In a hoop. They were dark at one
turn. silvery the next, as the sdn
caught their underwings through the
black smoke of a monitor.
The evolutions of our troops on
land were obscured by the mirage. We
raw infantry like trees moving, and
thought them a transport train. Other
masses, which could be nothing but
artillery, crossed the pontoon bridge
ahead of US from the right bank to the
left. The mirage does not affect the
atmosphere at the height Of bursting |
shell; we could see the shrapnel smoke |
uulOiuluS tWO vi tuIcc ulicS lTOI TIC |
bank, and wondered II It were Turkish |
artillery or our own. Smelling their |
advance posts" was the general YER
dict. II was not until later that we
realized that the whole force was at |
grips with the enemy; and it was not
until we moored and met the converg-
Ing stream coming in from the
trenches that we realized how costly
the day mad been. The guns we had
heard had played but a small part in
the action. for the mirage had made
artillery preparation for our advance
Intellectual, and the bulk of our casual
ties on both banks of the stream had
occurred in frontal attacks on the en-
emy's position.
AS / write we are moving on to at
tack new position, and 1t is not the
yet for q detailed account of
the action.