The Parker post., 1917-01-20

known in my life. The German mine
went off!
[ had no time to be afraid. I felt
my self rising, rising, amid din OF the
Internal regions, and | wondered
whether | should travel as high as the
moon. Up went-and then I must
have lost consciousness, for I opened
my eyes to find myself lying in huge
crater, amid perfect silence.
The lieutenant and my companions
were nowhere to be seen. / lay in q
pool of what / thought was my blood.
But after while / discovered that it
was only water. I was absolutely I'M
harmed.
My hopes went up. Now I could
surrender. / should become pris-
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 talking in their gut
tural tongue. In front of me, behind
me, and on each side of me were the
enemy. To which, then, should I sur
render?
1t puzzled me. If I went right, those
on the left might be indignant and fire
on me. But | must certainly surren-
der to some party of them, for there
was not a Frenchman left in the
trench which they had blown up.
crawled out of the crater, and my
hand touched something round and
smooth which made me recoil in terror.
1t was skull, the grisly skull of Il
dead man? So thought for few mo-
ments. But no! 1t was q bomb-one
of the bombs which we had brought
with us. The pins not having been re-
moved, they had not been discharged
when the mine went off, though tons
of earth were flung all about us.
I touched it more easily and then it's
neighbor. Then a sort of curiosity
overcame me, and 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. Assassins
l 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 France?
The little lieutenant had looked like
my own Jean. Perhaps he had moth
Fl, l.;
Rendezvous shouted a harsh
voice at my side.
The invitation to surrender, spoken
in an eXecrable intonation, brought me
back to myself. / started, and saw
three BOches with fixed bayonets lev
eled at me. l heard cry on my other
side. l looked around. Six Boches
stood there. And they were coming up
before me and behind me. was
trapped. / Owed into the crater, and
as | did so the whole eighteen bombs
rolled down after me like skulls.
| trembled, shook with fear Then
suddenly hideous sentiment took pos
session of me. /, Frenchman, the
father of seven children, to surrender
to pack of cowardly Boches? l saw
red. STOPPING, gathered up a bomb,
removed the pin, and hurled it 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 were
already topping the crater saw their
bayonets cleaning, and / picked up
another bomb and flung it 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. hurled bomb after bomb,
before, behind me. / gathered up
the remainder and ran into the Boches'
trench. saw the frightened pack re-
treat, and / rushed after them, bomb
ing them. With my right hand
hurled the deadly missiles, while with
my left withdrew the pins. In an
incredibly short space of time l had
cleared the trench. / paced it like
victorious lion.
And then suddenly the realization of
my folly came to me. I, who had
wished to YIELD had permanently
alienated my friends the enemy. 1 be-
came frantic.
II surrender! I am Kamarad I
shouted. But there was none to an.
swer me. l was alone, like Crusoe in
the hostile trench. I thought of An
nette, of Jean, Pierre, Marie, Antoine,
Louis, Philippe. Auguste I sat down
and hid my face in my hands and wept
bitterly.
Suddenly the air above me Kissed
with bullets. covered in terror at
the bottom of the trench. THE battle
had begun again. I heard an earth
shaking tread. A company advanced
at the double, with bayonets fixed.
The foremost man leaped into the
trench. looked down. One bomb re-
maiaed. raised it to remove the pin.
Then l saw that the blue uniforms