Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1918-06-06

range. We were very enthusiastic ant
decided 10 become musicians.
After constant practice became
quite expert In the tune entitled al
Conductors Have Big Feet"
When / had mastered this tune. oui
two weeks rest came TO an end. and
once again We went up the line and
took over the sector In front Of c.
wood
At this point the German trenches
ran around the base Of hill. on the
top of which was dense wood. This
wood was infested with machine guns,
which used 10 traverse our lines mt
will, and sweep the streets OF little
village, where we were bllleted while
In reserve.
There was one gun In particular
which used TO get our goats, II had the
exact range Of our elephant dugout
entrance, and every morning, about the
time rations were being brought up. its
bullets would knock up the dust on the
road; more than one Tommy went
West or 70 Blghty BY running into
them
This gun got our nerves on edge,
and Fritz seemed to know It, because
he never gave us an hours rest. our
reputation as machine gunners was at
stake we tried various ruses 10 locate
and put this gun out Of action, but
each one proved to be failure and
ri ha
ever. lie was getting fresher and more
careless every day. took all kinds Of
liberties with us-thought he was In
vincible.
Then one Of our crew got brilliant
Idea and we were all enthusiastic to
put 1t to the test.
Here was his scheme:
When firing my gun. / was to play |
my tune, and Fritz, no doubt would
fall for 1t. try to Initiate me as an
added insult This gunner and two
others would try, by the sound, to To-
cate Fritz and his gun. After having
b { the location, they would mount
two machine guns In trees, In little.
clump of woods TO the left Of our ceme-
tcSy, and while Fritz was in the middle
Of his lesson, would open up and trust
to luck. BY our calculations, 1t would
take at least a week to pull off the
stunt.
If Fritz refused to swallow our bait,
t would be impossible to locate his
pecial gun, and that's the one we were
fter, because they all sound alike, a Z
low puppup-pup.
Our prestige was hanging by
bread In the battalion we had to en-
lure all kinds of insults and fresh re-
marks as to our ability in silencing b
ritz. Even to the battalion that Ger J
lan gun was a sore spot. s
Next day Fritz opened up as usual. ii
let hlm fire away for a while and Fl
len buited In with my "pup-pup-pup- :,
up-pup-pup." l kept this up quite a -
lille, used two belts of ammunition. v
ritz had stopped firing TO listen. Then
e started in; sure enough, he had q
lllen for our game, his gun was trying h
} initiate mine, but, at first he made
orrble mess of that tune. Again .,
utted In with a few bars and stopped. !.
hen he tried to copy what | had
Iayed. He was good sport all right =
ecause his bullets were going away "
YER our heads, must have been firing p'
ITO the air / commenced to feel CT
iendly towardehlm. I'll
This duet went on for five days. II
ritz was a good pupil and learned 81
lpldly, In fact, got better than his %
acher. l commenced to feel jealous. -,
hen he had completely mastered the
Inc, he started sweeping the road -
gain and we clicked 1t worse than GO
,er. But he signed his death warrant WI
Z doing so, because my friendship Sc
rned to hate Every time he fired he
aged that tune and we danced. fiji
The boys In the battalion gave us as
e "Ha Ha" They weren't in on N
If little frameup. II
The originator of the ruse and the =
her two gunners had Fritz's location
ped to the minute; they mounted IN
cir two guns, and also gave me the lie
nge, The next afternoon was set for ed
e grand finale. bo
Our three guns. with different eleva- I'll
Dns had their fire so arranged, that, %
,ening up together, their bullets
ould suddenly drop on Fritz nike a
81
About three the next day. Fritz start "s
"pup-pupplng' that tune. l blew err
arp blast on whistle, it was the sig
Il agreed upon; we turned loose and
'ltz's gun suddenly stopped in the TIL
iddle of bar. We had cooked his scs
'ose and our ruse had worked. After or
ing two belts each, to make sure of -
If job, we hurrledly dismounted our .,
ms and took cover in the dugout. We
lew what to expect soon. We didn't =
i've to wait long, three salvos of
came over from Fritz's
tllery, a further confirmation that
Q had sent that musical machinery
'r on his Westward-bound Journey.
That gun never bothered US again.
e were the heroes of the battalion, =
Ir captain congratulated us, said 1t