The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-10-29

CT, as B I1 F remarked, than the in. stde of a cows stomach Naturally we were without lights, so the pres ence of vehicle in the road was in dicated only by the drivers cigar ette, if he happened to be smoking one and the vehicle coming toward us Wagons ahead, and going in our direction were indicated only by the. occasional sparks from a horses hoof, striking against a stone in the road, because nothing could be seen and nothing heard above the noise of our own engine until we were close upon it. Added to this we were not allowed to use horn but could only whistle, so with these difficulties, and the ex- ftra care oi driving with R. on the front fender, you .can imagine somewhat my hardship in driving. At one crossroad where we met a whole battery coming back, I failed to 1o- cate one wagon at all, in spite of R------'s loud cries of direction and nearly scraped him off his perch. This was the nearest we came to hav- ing any casualty to report.
 I must admit 8 slight nervousness, however. while, were were crossing that exposed portion of the road, be- cause with an unreliable engine, and shells flying overhead, and the prog ress slowed down by eongested traf- f1c, there was little of comfort to be had in, such a situation.
 But the most intense moment came when we reached Al and were held up at the erossroad not more than 50 yards from the post, by a double line of wagons going and com ing down German shells were pass ing directly overhead, added to which wa q St,, ,-tJi ,ryic -.,l, Battery of }75s belching scarcely one hundred yards to the side of the road. I was alone in the car at the time. R having gone ahead to
 discover a break in the line, and a
 more welcome souhd can never inn
 agine than hissvoice from somewhere
 out of the darkness up ahead calling 5.'sAll O. K, come on ahead.''
 This incident concerns 'Rhanto- mus" daring German aviator, who
 daily, and always at the same hour,
 comes flying low over the French
 lines to empty his machine gun into
 the French positions, seldom doing
 more harm than wounding man now and then, but very annoying, and al-
 ways escaping untouched, though a perfect rafnstdrrn of rifle and machine
 gun bullets surround him, and also
 q heavy curtain, of shrapnel shells. His l unaccountable escape each time from such heavy fire at such very close
 range has prompted the French to give, him this name which suggests it's own meaning.
 We were at A and had just finish ed our supper when "Phantomus'' ap- l peared on schedule time, flying low enough for the crosses, on his planes to be seen, and popping away with his 1 little old machine gun. Immed diately on his arrival the merry dance start ed up, and while we had to duck in- side to keep from being targets for him we got the benefit of all the noise, ] and if you can imagine an army oi iron riveters at work on sky scraper l you have some idea of the noise swher all these rifles and machine guns l opened fire.
 When he was a little way over, we
 crawled out of our hole long enough
 to see him completely surrounded
 by bursting shrapneI, but he sailed dodging along and was soon lost te lfview over the German line. Othel l than for the psychological effect, 1 can't imagine why he commits such 2
 folly daily. because they are going tt get him sooner or later. But the! | simply have to hand it to him for his
 <. -4 F z