The Lamar register. [volume] (Lamar, Colo.) 1889-1952, 1916-10-25

'v'ee "evp,ns "er eye Odr fSE me a.
Paris
1t was pitch dark, and when the
hideous rockets went up we flung our
selves fiat upon the ground, and hap
PLY escaped detection. At last we
halted in a traverse, 1t was twelve
yards from the enemies lines. We
could hear them talking among them
Selves. We listened.
And then, as lay there, looking for
my chance to dart down the trench,
anu yet not daring to. there happened
the most terrible thing that have ever
went of
had no time to be afraid. l felt
my self rising, rising, amid din OF the
Internal regions, and l wondered
whether | should travel as high as the
moon. Up / went-and then l must
have lost consciousness, for l opened
my eyes to find myself lying In a huge
crater, amid perfect silence.
The lieutenant ana my companions
were nowhere to be seen. lay in a
pool of what thought was my blood.
was only water. l was absolutely I'M
harmed.
My hopes went up. Now 1 could
surrender. 1 should become a prls-
Oner until the war was over. An
nette, Jean Pierre. Marie, Antoine,
Louis, Philippe, Auguste would see me
again. / listened. All about me
heard the Boches tHking in their gut
tural tongue. In front of me, behind
me, and on each side of me were the
enemy. To which, then, should sur
render2
1t puzzled me. II went right, those
on the left might be indignant and fire
on me. But l must certainly surren-
der to some party Of them, for there
was not Frenchman left In the
trench which they had blown up. I
crawled out Of the crater, and my
hand touched something round and
smooth which made me recoll in terror.
1t was a skull, the grisly skull Of a
dead man? So l thought for few mo-
ments But MOI 1t was a bomb-one
Of the bombs which we had brought
with us. The pins not having been re-
when the mine went of, though tons
of earth were flung all about us.
touched II more easily and then Its
nelghbor Then sort OF curiosity
overcame me, and l counted the bombs.
There were just eighteen of them-my
six. and the six of each Of my com
panions, the brave fellows who now
lay buried under the great heap Of de-
bris that formed the SIDES of the era
ter.
My blood began to rise. Assasslnsi
| shook my fists at the BOches. Did
they stop to think what they had done
before they massacred brave lieu
tenant and two soldiers of France7
The little lieutenant had looked like
my own Jean. Perhaps he had II moth
or somewhere, waiting for his return.
Rendezvous I" shouted harsh
voice at my side.
The invitation to surrender, spoken
In an execrable information, brought me
back to myself. l started. and saw
three Boches with fixed bayonets lev
eled at me. heard a cry on my other
side. l looked around. Six Boches
stood there. And they were coming up
before me and behind me. 1 was
trapped. l dlved into the crater. and
as / did so the whole eighteen bombs
rolled down after me like skulls.
l trembled, l shook with fear. Then
suddenly hideous sentiment took pos
session OF me. 1, h'renchman, the
father of seven children, to surrender
to pack of cowardly Boches7 l saw
red. STOPPING, gathered up a bomb,
removed the pin, and hurled 1t with all
my might in the faces of the nearest
party.
1t exploded with terrific crash. and
the whole six took to flight. But on
my other side the party Of three We're
already topping the crater. l saw their
bayonets cleaning, and 1 picked up
another bomb and flung 1t at them.
laughed at the defamation. When the
smoke cleared away nothing was seen.
heard the shouts and groans of the
wounded Boches, but they did not move
my heart. l hurled bomb after bomb,
before, behind me. l gathered up
the remainder and ran into the Boches'
trench. l saw the frightened pack re-
treat, and l rushed after them. bomb
ing them. with my right hand |
hurled the deadly missiles, while with
U.E8 7