The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1917-11-03

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tie dusty rivulets CHIME trickling down
upon me. Wounded as / was, drag
ged myself up to the kdge of the hole.
There was no trace anywhere of the
four men who had jus, Aleft me. They
have never been heard of since. Their
bodies were never found. The big
shell must have fallen right among
tnem and simply blown them to bits.
It was about a quarter to Z I'm the
morning when was hit. lay in the
shell hole until 2 in the afternoon. suf-
rering more from thirst and cold and
hunger than from pain. 1 only hoped
the Germans wouldn't drive our men
back over me. At O'clock q batch Of
sixty prisoners came along under es-
cort. They were being taken to the
rear under fire. The artillery bonn
bardment was still practically undi-
minlshed. I asked for four Of the
prisoners and made one of them get
out his rubber ground sheet, carried
around his waist They responded
willingly and seemed most ready to
help me. 1 had a revolver (empty) and
some bombs in my pockets, but / had
no need to threaten them. They half
dragged me toward the rear.
Carried to the Rear.
It was a trip which was mot without
incident. Every now and then we
would hear the shrek Of an approach
ing "coal box" and then my prisoner
stretcher bearers and l would tumble In
one indiscriminate group into the near
est shell hole. If we did that once we
did it half dozen times. After each
dive the four would patiently reorgan-
ize and arrange the improvised stretch
er again, and we would proceed. Fol-
lowing every tumble however, would
have to tighten my tourniQuets, and,
despite all could do, the hemorrhage
from my wound continued to fow so
profusely that was beginning to feel
very dizzy and weak. On the way in
1 sighted our regimental dressing sta
ton and signed to my four bearers to
carry me toward it. / couldn't talk
German. The station was in an old
German dugout. Major Gilday was at
the door. He laughed when he saw
me with my own special ambulance
detail.
"Well, what do you wantT' he asked.
Most of ALL" said, II think want
drink of rum"
He produced it for me instantly.
"NOw," said he, my advice to you is
to keep on travelling. You've got fine
ri oxoN 80 Ia ofk
Make 'em carry you to Pozieres. It's
only five miles, and you'll make it all
right. I've got this place loaded up
full, no stretcher bearers, no assistants,
no adequate supply of bandages and
medicines and lot Of very bad cases.
If you want to get out of here In a
week just keep right on going nOw."
AS we continued toward the rear we
were the targets for a number Of hui
morOus remarks from men coming up
to go into the fight.
"Give my regards to Blighty, you
lucky beggar," was the most frequent
saying.
"BL' me-" said one cockney Tommy,
there goes one o tn Canadians with
an escort from the kaiser"
Another man stopped and asked
about my wound.
"Good work." he said. "I'd like to
have q nice clean one like that my
self"
/ noticed one Of the prisoners grin
ming at some remark and asked him If
he understood English. He hadn't spo-
ken to me, though he had shown the
greatest readiness to help me.
''Certainly understand English" he
replied, speaking the language perfect
ly. Il used to be a waiter at the
Knickerbocker hotel in New York"
That sounded like voice from home,
and I wanted to hug him. didn't.
However, 1 can say for him he must
have been a good waiter. He gave me
good service.
OF the last stages of my trip to Po-
zieres 1 cannot tell anything, for ar
rived unconscious from loss Of blood
The last remember was that the for
mer waiter, evidently seeing that
was going out, asked me to direct him
how to reach the field hospital station
at Pozieres and whom to ask for when
he got there. 1 came back to con-
sciOusness in clean hospital cot the
next morning.
l realized as lay on that cot I was
out of the modern hell for a time, and
my mind drifted back over the days
just passed. Wounded men, grim re-
minders, were all about me, many of
them worse of than was. / had seen
all kinds of bravery-British officers
climbing calmly over the top with a
monocle in their eyes dnd a cane In
their hands into almost certain death,
like man getting into tub Of water
where he knew he would get wet.
Come on; let's go" they would
drawl. My respects to them.
Ico 30, he