Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1917-12-07

VI WOui0 ndfG ldlltf a nut ScHSiOu Ill
the trenches when we would happen to
get there at the right time, but as far
as any important happenings there was
one
| will lever forget the last day |
spent at the front. 1t seemed to me
that the Germans must have put up a
job on me, and just at the moment l
was sure that | was coming out of it
all right and that the wal was over
for m they were trying to get me.
l was ordered to report with my car
to one of our new officers. ! did so.
aud we left for the firing line. When
we reached the divisional signal office
we left the car and mounted our horses
to finish the journey. We got to a
place called Krustadt and stayed there
about half an hour. | hitehed my
horse to the gate of an old deserted
house and went over to one of our
ammunition columns to see If / could
get some hot tea. When | came back
about fifteen minutes later | found my
poor horse down with his front leg
gone. A shell had exploded in the yard
VI Ills AOuSC dilu had DAOoA Aio ACS
clear off. There was nothing for me
to do but to shoot him and put the poor
beast out of his misery.
| hunted around among the different
units in the vicinity until | found an
other horse, and then | went up and
reported to my officer. We visited
some of our batteries and came back
to Krustadt. The officer told me that
he would not need me during the after
noon, but to meet him at 5 o'clock that
evening. We hitched our horses to a
tree, and the officer went off. Very
soon after he had gone some more Off
GERS came along and hitched their
horses to the same tree. Altogether
there were six tied to the n tree.
| went over to the Royal Engineers
place and proceeded to make myself at
home. I was feeling happy, for knew
that this was my last day at the front,
and | was hoping to be home for
Christmas. OF course | told everybody
| met all about my good luck, and we
were having a regular little farewell
dinner. only we had tea instead of
GlldllIdSnC. AllCl q ht ONC oOAtO
of the boys went away, and proceed
ed to make myself comfortable on a
couch the fellows had built up In the
corner.
/ had been there about fifteen min
utes when for some reason or other |
got up and went over and sat down by
the brazier. | hadn't been off that
oo,,ob fbroa ,ninrtac uban a chrannal
shell burst directly over the hut, and |
should say fully twenty pieces came
through the roof. They went through
the floor as If 1t had been SO much pa
per, and about half a dozen pieces pen
etrated the couch | had been lying on
not five minutes before. There were
three of us in the hut at the time, and
not one of us was so much as scratched.
The shells were coming owe pretty
thick then, so we went for the dugouts
on the dead run. As | passed the tree
where our horses were tethered a high
explosive shell burst in the middle of
them and buttered them all over the
landscape.
Believe me, l didn't pause one sec
ond. l just kept on going. l entered a
dugout that had about a foot and II
half of water in 1t, but / lay right
down In it and was only too glad to
stay there. The Germans we're keep
ing up a sweeping fire, trying to locate
our batteries, and they continued un-
til nearly Z o'clock that evening.
When 3 o'clock came and / vas sup
posed to meet my officers l stayed
right where l was, for l knew that l
would not be expected to go out and
wait by hat tree when the shells were
falling the way they were then. At
Z o'clock the fire had pretty nearly
ceased, so 1 ambled out to the tree to
see what had become of the officer. He
was sitting on the ground with his
back against the tree. l told him what
had happened, and he asked me if l
knew where We could find some more
horses.
l said l did and that it was right on
u way back, so we walked about a
half mile until we came to the trans
port camp, and there we got two other
horses and proceeded to the place
where we had left the car.
Here the officer decided we would
have some tea, so / went into a tent
where there were some fellows 1 knew
and begged some grub. 1 had just
commenced to eat when a shell scream
ed oyer and went into the ground about
twenty or thirty feet from the corner
of the tent. 1t didn't explode, so we
were all right, but | decided that right
here was where l quit, and I went out
and sat in the car until the officer was
ready.
But my troubles were not owe yet.
On the way back to camp n of the
back wheels came off the car and nea
ly dumped us into the ditch. The Off
Ger got a lift down in another car, and
I set to work to try TO put back the
wheel. 1t was dark, and the road was
muddy and soft, and everything seem
Oh ta Oo mronu Tho Train loft OF I