The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1917-10-26

regular inspection. Since have been
told every man on deck was care
fully scrutinized. He strobe up.
"What are you doing here7" be de-
handed. !
I knew In a minute the rockies ru.
mors had reached the G. O.'s. / decid-
ed to bluff it through to the end. There
vas nothing to be lost by trying.
I'm room orderly, SIR" I replied,
coming promptly to attention and sa-
luting. The room orderly stays below
to see everything Is In order and ship
shape.
your nameT"
Garter, sir-K company"
Let me see your chest"
"Well, look at it."
stood up squarely In front Of him.
It was my last chance.
II will" he said. at the same time
reaching out and grabbing my shirt to
rip 1t open at the thoat I clutched his
hand with both Of mine and held on.
The Jig was up. l was not frightened.
My only thought was for my husband.
What would they do to him? could
not cry, although l tried my<best. Be-
ing a woman, I thought 1t was expect
ed Of me. The lieutenant loosened his
grip on my shirt. He took me gently
b,,f Arro1r hv Tho orm
Don't worry, little girl. No one is
going to hurt you" he said. His voice
was husky. "You were certainly a
game one," he added. which l took as
a compliment
Then, turning to the other n Of the
officers, he gave the order that ended
my career as a doughboy--
"Send for the major"
/ did a lot Of thinking during those
silent few minutes while we were wait.
ing for the major. Neither Of the Off.
GERS said a word. They seemed to be
unable to realize such a thing could
actually have happened right under
their eyes. What! A woman come all
the way from Douglas, Ariz.. to some
where In the Atlantic without they
getting wise? Nonsense! But there ]
was. They had to face the fact So
did I. What more I was going to face
I did not know.
Facing the Music.
The major came in on the double
quick. and he wasn't bothering much
about his military bearing either. He
was too excited to be anything except
just natural. When he quickly con-
vinced himself l was real and not a
fake scare he sent for the quartermas.
ter captain Of the ship.
I wanted to see my husband pretty
bad by this time. II be had appeared
on the scene l guess I would just nat
urally have broken away from that
bunch, officers or no officers. and grab
bed him. They would have had to pry
me away from Corporal Carter with a
bayonet
The quartermaster captain came In
all a.bluster. he was as mad as a
bear with a sore ear. A U boat would
have been welcome alongside Of me.
"What are your intentionsT" he de-
manded. He gave me a swell imita
tion Of a clap Of thunder. He expected
me to drop dead Of fright, but fooled
him. This didn't help his temper any.
81 want to go to France and join the
Red Cross" l said.
"Why didn't you join 1t at home in
stead Of trying to make a goat out OF
the armyT
I'm not trying to do anything but
get to France with my husband" !
answered. "If he Is wounded | want
to be there to take ARE Of him. That
goes for the rest Of the boys In K COM
pany too. Why should l sit back home
in a rocking chair and wait while some
strange woman is nursing the one
love and his comrades? I'll 60 right to
the trenches with him. I'll fight with
him, and If he or any Of the other boys
are hurt III drop my gun and take care
Of them"
well see about that" snapped the
quartermaster captain. Fright now
you'll come with me. Fall IN there.
men,"
I marched up to the orderly room on
the top deck with an advance and rear
guard Of one officer each. The q. G.
was In command Of the ship. The 9TH
ers were trailers.
Without further ado court went into
session. OF course they thought my
whole trip had been fixed up by my
husband and some Of his men. They
tried their best to get me to name my
allies, but l never did. How could
when I didn't have any at the start!
I told my story straight. exactly IS II
happened. and that is all there was to
it. Not once did they trip me up
Finally they gave 1t up as a bad job
and ordered me to a stateroom on the
first deck. under guard.
Then they sent for my husband. The
boys told me later that when an egde