Gilpin observer. (Central City, Colo.) 1897-1921, 1916-12-21

which had been driven from that
Serbian city.
| ~S~~-~-~-~~~-~-~~~"~No~-~~'
| 1t is IL AS a. m. and he is late for the
officers mess which is located near the
open door of courtyard. in the same
street where stands the house of your
correspondent.
Lieutenant Puviani arrives late at
the mess. This hardness is not neces-
sary considering that he has nothing
to do from morning till night, but 1t
gives him certain air of being a
''slave of duty" which he cultivates.
| So Lieutenant Puviani walks along
with firm and measured step toward
hold him in Via A, two steps from his
goal. The street is quiet as though
lulled to sleep in the heat of summer
afternoon.
Suddenly, at the end of the street, a
hundred yards in front of him, he hears
a sinister whistling, an explosion. ter
rife noise. Pieces of wall, beams,
broken glass rain upon the street, while
great cloud, first reddish. then whit
ish, rises into the sky.
Lieutenant Puviani looks at the
stricken house and utters a cry. In
one jump he reaches the mess, where
all the officers of the battalion are
lunching and talking about the shell,
(which must have fallen very near"
and with a sentence causes them to
start to their feet.
Lieutenant Zanghleri's house has
fallen in!''
toward the spot where lies perhaps the
body of their brother officer.
Chapter IIl-What Really Occurred.
| "After his marriage he acquired the
habit of daily work."
At the word "marriage' a dull, far
away boom, half obliterated by dis
lance. One hears thousands like 1t
every day; today none have been
heard and this is the only reason why
the ear distinguishes this. At the word
'habit" the whistle of n shell. The
customary noise. The whistle of shell
begins shriller and again sinks as the
shell passes over. When it explodes
near you it seems to stop at it's shrill-
est point, as II to collect its forces In
n great howl of rage, which is the ex-
plOsion. But the shell of which speak
differs from all the others. The low
tone, the shrill tone, ever nearer, ever
nearer, nearer, near-here II is! My
pen stops at the word daily" in ex-
pectation of the horrible thing. The
house receives shock that makes 1t
tremble to its foundation there comes
an immense roar as of a hundred can
non firing together. The plaster falls
from the ceiling everywhere In the
room, which fills with a white powder,
while hail of fragments strikes the
shutters. Something caves In with n
great rumble. Everything rattles,
trembles, jolts and seems to fall down.
ward into chaos, into an inferno of
broken things. Then silence.
The word work" Is traced hastily.
almost illegibly, by the nervous hand.
write across the sheet: I'll AS, a shell
on my house." Then l go to the win
dow and throw 1t open. Two military
policemen and four or five soldiers are
looking up, showing round eyes, and
pale, almost idiotic, faces.
II
At the left see my dear colleagues
coming toward me. One of them ar
rives on bicycle, the others on foot.
They too, are pale, and look at me
silently, us though were n ghost.
An entire corner of the house has
fallen in, but 1t Ia an uninhabited cor
ner.
"What are you doing up thereT
shouts Lieutenant Fusco. the adjutant
major of the battalion. "The upper
floor il on fire."
Really II Is a false alarm 1t Is only
the dust of fallen ceiling. This does
not keep me from hurrying down to
my colleagues. happy in the escape
from danger, and even more SO from
having read on their faces affectionate
solidarity for their friend. This salts
faction Ia worth at least Pinch
shell, especially when 1t shows itself
as well-bred as that whose uutimely
end have described.