Evening star., 1917-10-14

man with personality. II he Is silent
there is nothing to distinguish him
from a thousand other bundles of man
gled flesh from which the divine spark
has fled
For hours Tex lay where he had drop
ped without. being able to make up his
mind to the effort of calling for help.
Thousands of men passed him In the
heat of the battle, for the French mad
pushed past the second German line.
He lay there on his face. not exactly
unconscious, yet not fully cogniZant OF
what was happening. He could hear
the roar of the cannon and could feel a
sharp pain in his chest at every breath,
but the pain was bearable except at in
stants when a needless passer-by
would trample over him with cruel
hob-nailed shoes.
His wound had stopped bleeding. but,
as night came on, it brought dreary
drizzle that soaked his clothes ana
started the hemorrhage anew. Then ne
woke up and called for assistance in a
voice weakened by pain and cracked by
thirst A couple of musicians, bearing
a stretcher between them, heard his
cry and hurried in his direction, stoop-
ing over each huddled mass in their
search for him. He called again and
again. and at last they found him.
While one man held a canteen of wa
ter to his lips the other hurried Off to
seek an "infirmier." a good priest. who.
in addition to his holy offices, performed
ND]N1N>--~
ion surgeon.
An emergency dressing was clapped
on both orifices of the wound, and Tex
was started on the first stage of his
long journey to the rear on a canvas
stretcher between two members of the
regimental band, who thus Justify their
presence at the front when there is no
need of music
The young medical student in charge
of the dressing station, Robert Maduro
by name, received Tex with a sympa-
thet.c interest that was heightened by
the fact that the wouuded man was an
American. one of the few who did not
wait for his country's official sanction
of the war before crossing the seas to
fight for the cause of civilization.
since you are still alive. you Will re-
cover rapidly" Maduro reassured Tex.
Il will try to have you sent to the
American Ambulance at Neuilly, which
is without doubt the best equipped in
stitution in France"
All that night Tex lay on a pile of
straw in the dressing station trying to
sleep and watching Maduro treat the
scores of wounded that were brought in
one by one from the firing line. What
struck him particularly was that near
ly every man insisted he was wounded
in the head. despite the fact that very
few cases of head wounds were found
by the doctor. He asked for an ex-
planation, and was told that every seri-
Gus wound imparts a terrific shock to
the nervous system which is reflected
to the base of the brain.
Often there is an absolute lack of
SenSibility in the wounded member,
: and a man whose legs are shattered in
ssts that his wound is in the back of
his head.
The next morning Tex was carried on
muleback through miles of communi-
eating trenches to the third French
line, where his bandages were renewed,
and he was given his first square meal
in two days.
From the field ambulance Tex was
sent to the base hospital. SOME thirty
miles in the rear, in an automobile be-
longing to the field service of the
American Ambulance He was sur