Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1917-11-09

COMES lrOHl tne pen OF q tWenIy-tWO-
year-old Boston boy, who has Just re-
turned from France, where as dragon
guardsman, dispatch rider and motor
car driver he served fourteen months
under the British flag. Out Of thirty
one motorcycle dispatch riders he was
one of four survivors.
what happened, so | pulled IN to the
side of the road. I had hardly stopped
when I heard a rush and rattle that
sounded like an old fivver In the dis
lance. Around the curve dashed eight
horses on the dead gallop, pulling an
eighteen FOUNDER behind them. They
dashed by, but about fifty yards ahead
of me they swung around and trained
that gun on the church.
There was a moments pause, and
then she spoke. and away went steeple,
first shot had been a direct hit. and 1t
couldn't have been better If they had
tried a thousand years.
sIt was the very next day after this
event that l got into as tight a fix as
ever care to find myself. | was order
ed to take three officers to a place call
ed KENNEL. | had been there before,
and from what | had seer then wasn't
eager about making the trip again.
We started off about 1 o'clock and
expected to be back by g.. l noticed as
/ came to the KENNEL road that there
were two sentries on duty there, but
as they only saluted the officers and
didn't say anything l thought no more
about it. Now. KENNEL lies at the foot
of a hill and is tucked in between
Mount Noir and Mount KENNEL. 1t
would be a coy little place In peace
time, but it is an awful trap to get
caught in when there is a wal on.
L sent the car up the hill as fast she
could go, and it was a long climb. AS
we went over the brow and started on
the down grade we ran right under the
nose of the German artillery observers.
This road was officially closed, and
those sentries should have stopped us.
Well. It scared me 50 that / went
down that Hill so fast those officers
must have thought they were in a para
chute. AS we entered the village the
shells commenced to drop in on us, and
we ran for the nearest shelter. which
happened to be a brewery.
There wasn't much left of the place
anyway, as it had been in German
hands, and we had shelled them out of
it, and when we had taken it they had
shelled us out of it. Anyway, we left
the car and crawled into the cellar. II
was wet and filthy, but it looked just
like heaven to me that day.
We lay there in all this filth hour
after hour. while the shells literally
poured in all around us. They GER
tainly wasted a lot of good ammunition
trying to get us, but the best OF it vas
that they didn't succeed. One of the
officers remarked during a moments
silence that the crown prince of Ger
many must have made his headquar-
tiers in the place when 1t was in Ger
man hands. Another officer replied
that he wished the crown prince vas
there now.
We lay there till the fire let up,
which it did about 5 O'Clock. l was
worrying about getting back, and l
was also wondering what had become
of the car. If it was gone we might
just as well kiss ourselves goodby, for
our chances of getting out on foot
would be slim.
When the fire had abated we came
out and looked around. The enemy
certainly had made a mess of the place,
for even the top story Of the brewery
had been shot away from over our
heads. l went to look the car over, and
you can just believe | was relieved to
find that, aside from having a few
holes through the body. it was all
right.
The officers decided to wait until it
was dark before CHANGING to run back.
l didn't know what was going to hap
pen to us. | wasn't very familiar with
the road, and l was afraid they would
have some kind of barricade up or
have a few machine guns trained on us
or something equally unpleasant.
l certainly was dreading that ride
back, but there was no other way out,
and we were between the devil and
the deep sea. 1t was at a time like that
THAI L NlohCo th0L 1 hoo hOfOl OWL
the British army. l turned the car
around, and as soon as it was dark we
got in and started. / opened her up
wide, and by the time we got to the
bottom of the hill we were doing about
fifty miles an hour, and | couldn't see
very much. either, for of course ! did
not use any lights.
/ didn't know whar was waiting for
US at the top of the bill, but l did
know that if there was anything there
we were going right through it, ever
If we didn't go any farther. The ride
ulous part of it was that we went right
through and saw a thing. Abso-
lutely nothing happened, but l don't
ever want to feel again the way / felt
going up that hill.
Shortly after this | learned that tho