Evening star., 1917-10-07
supreme Sacrifice by Members Of Foreign L.

only half as high, without betraytnE
any means of escape.
and roof from collapsing do not know.
nor could they ever explain. The COM
pressed air forced into an earth pocket
by the explosion, perhaps.
x y
At any rate. they were there, and there
to stay, it seemed. For they had no
water and no food. and no tools except
a bayonet with which to dig their way
out. And how long could four men live
on the one hundred cubic feet of air
that the cavern contained? i do not
know, nor did they. but their laborinG
lungs told them that it would not be
very long.
The corporal unsheathed his bayonet
and started digging upward. At his
commandsthe others packed the Ioos-
ened earth into the corners OF the
chamber as compactly as they could.
After half an hours work the di-
mensions of their prison had changed
1t was now four feet square and some
six feet high, and, as they advanced. 1t
became narrower and lower, for they
were unable to pack the dirt as tightly
as it had been originally. They made
ing work. as they had no idea how far
they were from the surface. and
breathing was becoming more difficult
every moment.
the bayonet a couple OF minutes at q
time. Their hearts pumped racingly
and their veins seemed about to burst.
They were faint and dizzy. Fleury. un-
of the shaft. The loosened dirt. drop
ping from the roof. fell on him. and
every so often his companions must
needs lift his helpless body. stamp
down the dirt under him and lay him
down again, only to repeat the Same
process a few minutes later.
Fleurys back had been hurt. and his
left side was numb and useless. but
thought the situation over and weighed
his chances of getting out. They
seemed mighty small to him. The air
was almost unbreathable now. but. on
more rapidly. showing by the looser
formation that they were not far from
the surface. If his comrades could only
hold out little longer. they might
reach the air. He was only an obsta-
Gle. He breathed as much air as they.
but could not do his share OF work.
why should he stand in the way OF the
others?
He decided what to do, and did II
quickly Drawing his bayonet from its
sheath. he plunged it into his breast.
Fleury died without a sound. His com.
rades did not even know when he died.
1t was only when they stopped to clear
the dirt away from him the next time
that they realized what he had done.
And for the moment they did not un.
derstand.
''He was a coward they thought.
"He could not stand the pain and the
uncertainty"
A few minutes later big shell burst
near them. and. throwing hundreds OF
tons of earth and rock into the air. un.
covered the shaft where Corp. Jeannct
and his men were burrowing. They also
were thrown into the air by the ex-
plosiop and being lighter than the
earth ard rock. took longer to fall and
fell on top of the other debris.
Soon afterward. French company.
sent to occupy the new shell crater.
found them, badly hurt but still alive
Marouard, who occupied a bed next to
mine in the American ambulance at
Neuiliy, told me the story. apropos OF
a discussion on suicide.
Having thought it over. he maintains
that Fleury could not have been
actuated by any but the ncblest mo-
tives, for he was deyout Catholic and
firmly believed that by committing
suicide he lost his chances of eternal
life.
Copyright. 1917. by The Bell syndicate. Ine.)