Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-01-15
BRITISH SHELLS COVER
RETREAT IN BALKANS
Continued from Page One

continued from Rage Oue
are going to fall back to the Greek bor-
der. Haven't you heard anything about
1t back in Salonica?"
I hadn't. His question was the first
sign of the coming retreat. On this spot
the very next day, dead British and
French soldiers were to lie among the
holly shrubs and Bulgars were TO charge
with bayonets. shouting their cry ', of
NE pret, ne nosh."
ITS been cold here" explained the SOL
dier, but I've been healthier than I've
ever been before i'm my life. why, when
the war began couldn't stand any hard
ship. If | wasn't in bed by 10 o'clock
every night | suffered all day for it.
had indigestion terribly Now I haven't
slept in n bed for five months, and I eat
anything. anything and enjoy II. War
beats pills. tell you.
"All this artillery firing makes me
laugh. That big English gun isn't hitting
anything. and here are three Bulgarian
batteries over there that haven't hit any
where near anybody. They ought to send
word to each other about how far they're
missing. If they don't help each other
out they'll waste an awful lot of ammu
nition."
He had to be going, at last Would I
walk along the road with him?
Right around the turn here some of
the Bulgarian shells are well aimed" he
said, They're paying a good deal of at
tention to this turn this afternoon"
1t was like getting ready to jump into
n cold bath to start off with him. I
knew that after | got my feet to working
they would carry me along. but the hard
part was to make an excuse and return
to the ravine. My right foot started,
however. and then my left, and so feet
further on, we passed the turn and faced
n mile stretch of road, cut along the face
OF the hill Below us was the valley of
Costorino; across it four miles away were
the hills where the Bulgarans were A
few soldiers were OH the road, walking
singly.
"Along here you may get a shell any
time." said the Frenchman. 81 have to
walk along here n dozen times a day to
get to my dugout from the kitchen back
there in the ravine. Want to see my dug
out?"
l did, and quarter-mile walk along the
road brought us to. a little ravine on the
side of which was a soldiers home, part
ly hole and partly tent.
Two other soldiers in the dugout were
packing up their belongings.
Just to be ready if we CO." they ex-
planned.
On fire outside the dugout was a. tin
pail with steaminG contents. 1t wasn't
coffee, /, wasn't rum, II was half and
half l must have two drinks of t. 1t
had an awful buzz in It.
I'VE get two dippers full of wine and
half a dipper full of whisky every day"
explained n soldier And we need it in
the cold. too"
l figured II out as amounting TO a quart
of wine and three l5-cent drinks OF
whisky.
Are you a tourlst?" asked one of the
Frenchmen.
Mon dieu, you silly" exclaimed his
friend What would tourist be doing
here? He's a peWspaperman,"
explained that six of us had been
brought out to the battlefield and that
has lost the main p' ~, but that We
were to gather again at the waiting auto
mobiles at o'clock.
well it's time to go then. said my
friend looking at his ists watch
Good luck to you," they all saia as |
went away. / wished them good luck,
too for they needed IL more than / did.
What happened TO these French zouaves
"a hours later when the Bulgarian rush
began | don't know. Was all the new
health of the little French soldier-the
new health of which he was so proud
ended by a Bulgarian bullet or a Bull |
gaTian bayonet thrust?
On the hillside as 1 returned. per- /
haps 100 yards from the French battery |
which topped the hill, another Bulgarian |
she'll burst.
DOTS ARE SAFE,
"They never shoot shell AT a single |
man. it's too expensive" my French |
friend has told me, and it was COM
forting thought TO the Bulgarians across |
the valley, the little dots of human be- |
ings that passed singly. along this road |
weren't worth potting at with shells that |
cost about $25 each. II was good TO feel |
like a dot 10 know that though a New !
York insurance company thinks your life !
worth some thousands of dollars the Bull /
gars counted it at less than S25
Back at the automobiles the party was l
gathering for the departure from the I
Every one Of US had I
heard from some soldier that the French |
and British were going 20 fail back. We /
all put two and two together on the way
back. remembered all signs We had
seen duIng the day-the fugitlYes, the
trains bound for Greeee-and finally We
agreed on this:
aThe Allies are getting ready to re-
treat"