New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-08-13
By ARTHUR GLEASON.

Service has had nothing but luck
But don't publish my name" said my
! friend at might worry the folk at home"
We rode on till we had gone eighteen
miles.
"Here is our station"
didn't know we were there. Our Poste
de Secours was simply one more hole in the
ground, an open mouth into an invisible in
terior-one more mole hole in honeycombed
ground
We entered the cave, and something hit
my face. 1t was the flap Of sacking which
hung there to prevent any light being seen.
We walked a few steps, hand extended. till
il felt the second flap. We stepped into a
little round room, like the dome OF an astro-
nomical observatory. 1t was Int by lantern
Three stretcher bearers were sitting there,
and two chaplains, one Protestant, one Roman
Catholic The Protestant was short, en-
ergetic man in. the early forties, with STUDY
black beard and excellent flow OF English
The Roman Catholic was white haired, with
a long white beard, quite splendid old TEL
low with his courtesy and native dignity
These two men, the best Of friends, live up
there in the sheled district. where they can
minister to the wounded as fast as they
come in from the trenches. OF one group
of thirty French stretcher bearers who have
been bringing wounded from Dead Mans
Hill to this tunnel, where the Americans PICK
them up, ten have been killed.
We went out from the stufty, overcrowded
sheltc. and stood in the little communicst-
ing trench that led from the Red Cross room
to the road. We were looking out on oOO,oOO
men at war-n6t a man Of them visible, but
their machinery filing the air with color ana
sound We were not allowed to smoke, for
flicker or light could draw fire.
We were standing on the crest OF famous
hill We saw, close by, Hill $40 and Dead
Mans Hill, two points Of the iercest Of the
Verdun lighting 1t was the wounded from
Dead Mans Hill for whom we waited. Night
bv night the Americans wait there within
easy she'll range Sometimes the place is
shelled vigorously Other nights attention
is switched TO other points.
81 shouldn't stand outside" suggested one
of the stretcher bearers. "The other even
ing one of our men had his arm blown off
while he was sitting az the mouth of the
tunnel He thought it was going TO be quiet
evening"
But the young American doctor liked fresh
air.
II was wonderful night of stars. with a
bell-lke clarity to the mild air and little
breeze stirring. A perfect night for flying.
We heard the whirr Of the passing wings
the scouts Of the sky were out. Search
lights began TO play. | counted eight al
once. and more than twenty between the hills
Sometimes they ran up in parallel columns
banding the western heaven. Sometimes
they located the night errant and played
their streams on him at the one inter
secting point Again the lights would each
Of them 20 off on separate search. Aicking
up and down the dome of the sky and
rippling over banks OF thin white cloud.
Star lights rose by rockets and hung sus-
pended, gathering intensity of light till il
seemed as II Il nit my face. then slowly fell.
The German starlights were swift and brill
liant; the French steady and long continuing
mo good, the Boches lights" said voice
out of the tunnel. A French stretcher bearer
had just joined US.
Other rockets discharged a dozen balls at
once, sometimes red, sometimes green. Then
the pattern lights began to play-the lights
which signal directions for artillery fire.
They zigzagged like snake and again made
geometrical figures. Some Of the fifty guns
nested behind US, fired rapidly for five
minutes and then knocked off for a smoke
From the direction Of Hill sO4 heavy guns
perhaps 22os, Numbered briefly. We could
AAAr tina dron of large shells in the distance.