Gunnison news-champion., 1917-10-26

also Hb0u; FOO, OF soft mud In feel
lug around FOR frmer tOothold my
foot struck sonnet hing more solid than
the ground around me I started
stamping and kicking about but
coGIiu seem 10 make II give way. BE
Ing curious one OF my comrades and I
dug down Uirh iutrenChinE tools.
What We unearthet was the body OF
dead French man Heaven only knows
tow long he had teen there. but he
Vas as black as a derby hat
At this time the DickebusCh-Holle
teke road was alive with .nlpers. In
some way they would get through our
lines and sccr-te themselves along the
road where they could pick OF indIvid.
uals without much fear OF being seen
! noticed that there was one place In
Particular where We always heard Q
bullet pass too close 10 lie comfortable
Il was q lItrl. wooden bridge and I
don't think I ever crossed Il without
bearing one whine past me
one day rode up with a second lieu
tenant OF the Royal Engineers As we
crossed the bridge a bullet whiZZed be
tween rs tut when | looked a. the on
Ger he did not aTlCar TO have noticed
H. 50 didn't say anvrhlng About
three hours later We were coming back
the sam" way Just uefor- We came TO
the bridge be said
That blasted snIn"r nAs p"tted a.
ne once to- often Well leave the
ruad here sud s."sE down opposite
that bridge under cover OF III" trees
let us see u W. rnu md the Fighter
Well wait until be I"'s a. s"mrh"dy
Else and you keep your ear stretched
aud try to Ioate whrr- the report
comes from
We toilrrrd nUr horses To- tree and
rrcpr down Co. a ru0ar Just about op-
r",.'e tie nF4s~ A"er few min
u',-s Hu yfufrv 'ran-.r-i wagon came
along ~ iHl, hu the nridse dis
tu,'l heard the ,ra.s u ride. but
II ,amr from b'.uai and to the ricl
Of - We hoard the bullet sing over
our .sud. md sav tie dri'er duck aud
our The. wlip to- his horse,
Very guctly Sc era .rd back In the
dir. 'lpu from which the report had
come After going about 100 yards we
aJ suI aud waited Pretty soon We
heard tue rife crack again. and Il
wasn't very far away. but was still
behind Us We went n little farther.
and the lieutenant whispered: Keep
your eyes skinned Watch the trees"
| could see no sign Of life anywhere,
but | knew that the suiper must lie
very close After severnI minutes wait
-
was so close that | jumped We heard
the ejector ny back and the bolt snap
home again And then saw him,
The suiper was well up In a tree.
and he was almost invisible. so well
was . screen OF branches drawn yp
around him His ri6e was lifted up in
tripod and the legs Of this TRIPOD
we're nailed to the branches OF the tree
All he had TO do WAS to sit there and
puIl the trigger. eased back the bolt
OF my rifle so as to make no noise
and | eased It home again. The lieu
tenant drew his revolver. and We took
steady aim together
Fire" he said softly, and the two
shots rang out as one. Mr.. Sniper
came down iiAe a thousand brick
climbed the tree to have look at
his nest. and IL certainly was ingenious
That ride was fIcd dead across the
center OF the bridge, SO all he had TO
do was to pull the trigger when he
heard anything strike the wooden
pianking OF the bridge. II was u pret-
ty little scheme. but 1, came to an end
as all things. good or bad. must
hAr 4
common along this road. but eventual.
ly we cleared the most OF them out.
Many OF the snipers would wear civil
ian clothes, some would be wearing
the British uniform. and some would
have the nerve to use their own uni
forms
We captured a few OF these beauties
alive, Their admissions were almost
unbelievable. They confessed to hsv-
ing patrolled the road every night and
actually greeted any OF our chaps the,
Glanced to pass They knew the
names Of most Of the regiments in that
vicinity. and some of them even knew
the nicknames our fellows had foe
their officers. II Is . job that requires
heaps of nerve, but II IL q dirty. despi-
cable game.
German sniper was killed one
night. and the fellows who brought
him down decided to play a joke on
an lrishman in their regiment They
took the body of the sniper and carried
1t about a hundred yards OF the road,
where they propped It up against Z
tree and also fiIed Q ride to its shoul-
der Then they went In search of the
lrishman When they found him they
told him that he had been ordered to
20 up the road and hunt for a snipes
who was potting at the passing traffic
The irishmah took bis rife and went
ont In search of the German or
course he found him. for be coudn't
have passed without seeing the tran
which had been laid for him The
f,,f, So vks II,