Evening star., 1916-03-19

Germs two more of the birdlike objects.
then notices that the sky seems to be
full of them. He counts at least
dozen. gliding along here and there.
while the smoke puffs burst over large
areas of sky.
Two. he notices. are close together,
the one following the other. and ap-
parently upon il. He sees the machine
following is French. The other one is
German. Begins chase in the air
half mile high. Puffs cease to break
in their vicinity and the race is on.
From afar off comes the faint poop.
poop, poop of machine gun in one of
the ma chimes leveled at its anita gonist
Immediately follow other shots. ap
parently in reply. As the ma chimes
rush along there are quick repetitions
Suddenly they swerve away. one to
the right and the other to the left.
They describe great arcs in the sky.
Now they are going on a wide parallel
to each other in the opposite direction.
again come together at the end of
vast CIRCLE. The far-away shooting is
renewed. The French machine is still
following. Comes another machine
from somewhere; Corot sees it is also
French, and the two follow the one.
Inc German now turns toward MS
lines and the French follow.
- The craft are for a moment lost in Il
haze of clouds, but the distant shots
can still be heard. Then unexpectedly
one of the machines makes sudden
dive downward through space. rights
itself. then crashes down through the
air like lead. The motor keeps going
while the ! oar and beat of it. growing
louder. fills the air. In the air it has
seemed also directly overhead. but the
thing falls far back in the French rear
with a mighty crash.
The other planes fly over the spot.
circle around like giant birds of prey
and Ay away toward the others. high
in the air. There is a 1nurmur as of
subdued applause through the trenches.
The German has fallen.
Corot gives thought to the wreck
of how gruestome it must be. for he
has seen severa1-then enters the dug
out. He filings himself on a scattering
of straw over the fioor-his bed.
He tries to sleep. but it is impossible.
for the Germans suddenly lombard
the trenches with grenades and shells
that Shrek and burst with terrific
crashes as the German guns open up
at them. They are being made to pay
for the event just past. Corot lies
there with his eyes shut, his face in
the straw. Eventually he falls asleep.
Comes / O'Clock in >the morning and
he is awakened by soldier watch.
to take up his watch. 1t is cold now
but clear and he finds his way by the
light of the stars. IN the ditch again
he asks the news OF his friend. More
grenades have fallen. A piece has cut
him deeply in the neck. but he is all
right he says. He has tied his hand
kerchief around his neck and let's the
collar of his coat up as sort of pro
lection. He departs and Corot is left
alone.
Things are quiet. Standing there in
the mud he dozes by spells, his head
falling in jerks over his breast The
sharp crack of rifles near at hand oc-
casionally discharged or the shrek of
shell rending it's way through the air
now and then from the German side
to the town in the rear hardly disturb
him. But he starts frequently as the
glare of the rocket balls overhead
makes day in the ditch. Then he peeps
out over the ghastly expanse of torn
earth and dead things. looking for life.
Il is with the force of habit
Morning sees him off duty again. One
more trick and he will go back to
town for his rest of four days. He
thinks of this with relief, as he has
done almost countless times before
This time he feels though he has
worked hard and accomplished some
thing, for he is still alive, uninjured
and not disfgured. Because Of the
illness of several men of his company
he has been on continuous duty six
hours and off for the last three
weeks.
He goes back to his dugout and waits
for the afternoon trick. Evening will
see him back in town and he will have
dinner with some American friends
stationed further back. Yesterday sew
eral were up to see him and they ex
pect him tonight.
In the dugout soldier has just
brought up a package and it is for him.
Since he has been here friends have
been sending him over things that are
delivered to his place in the trenches
Eagerly he opens the parcel There
are cakes. candies, some socks, couple
of little books and stack of clippings
and copies of New York newspapers.
He prizes these more than anything.
There are also some cigarettes and
smoking tobacco. These he places aside