The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1918-04-12
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tAafhR en- niRNI

perior force Of Boches, Old Pepper
would send for the commanding off,
Ger. In about half an hour the officer
would come back with his face the
color Of a brick, and In q few hours
what wal left Of his command would
be holding their original position.
II have seen an officer who wouldn't
ray d-n for a. thousand quid spend
five minutes with the old boy, and
when he retwned-the;ao low OF language
from his lips would make q navy
blush for shame.
what I am going to tell Jon IL how
two Of US put it over On, the old scamp,
and got away with It, It was q risky
thing, too, because Old! Pepper wouldn't
have been exactly mild with rs II he
had got next to the game.
me and my mate, d Lad named Har-
ry Casseil, a bombardier In D 28s bat
terry, or lance corporal. - you call it
in the infantry. use1 to relieve the
t%elephonists. Wei would do two hours
on and four Oh. I Would be on duty
in the advanced observation post,
while he would be at the other end Of
the wire In the battery dugout signal
ing station. We'were supposed to send
through orders for the battery to fire
when ordered to do so by the observa-
ton officer In the advanced post. But
very few messages we1e sent. 1t was.
only in case of, an actual attack that
we would get q chance to earn our
two and six aaday. You see, Old Pep.
per had issued orders mot to fire
cept when the orders came from him.
And with Old Pepper orders Is orders,
and made. TO- obey. .
1.-THE Germans must have known
about these orders, for teven in the day
their transports and troops used to!
expose themselves as 1T they were on
parade. This sure got up u nose,
sitting there day after day, with fine
targets in front iof us: but unable to-
send over a shell. Wefheartily cussedI
Old Pepper, his orders, the govern!
ment, the peopletat home, and every:
thing in general. But the BocheS
didn't mind cusang, and. gohvery care
less. Blime me, they were bally in
sulting. Used to, .whenlusing a certain
road, throw theiY caps into the air as
a taunt at our ~'helplesaness.
"Cassell had been a telegrapher In
civil life and Joined up when wal was
declared. As for me, 7 knew Morse
learned It at thehstgnalers school back
In 1910. With an o~f1cer,in the obser-'
walton post, We could not carry on the
kind Of conversation that's usual be-.
tween two mates, 30: we used the
Morse code. 10 send, oneof Us would
tap the ~tranSnItter With his finger
nails, and the one on\ithe other end
would get 1t through the receiver.
Many. an hourtwas whiied away in this
manner passing, compliments back and
forth.
TN the observation pcstJ the oficer
used to sit for hours With "a powerful
pair Of field glasses to his eyes.
Through a cleyefly concealed loophole
he would scan the ground behind the
German trenches, looking flor targets
and finding many. This. dficer, Cap
tain A. by name, had a habit Of
talking out loud to himsa II. Some
times he would vent his opHnion, same
as a common private: does when he's
wrought up. Once upon q; time the
captain hadfbeen on Old Pepr er's staff,
80 he could euss and, blind in the most
approved style. Cot to be aort Of a,
habit with him.
about six thousand yards hrom US,
behind the German lines, WAS a road
in plain view Of outpost .Forlt 1.-THE last
three days Fritz had brought ,compa-
MES Of troops down this road Id broad
daylight. They Were newer ahslled.
Whenever this happened -the captain
would froth atsthe mouth and let out
a volume Of OLD Peppers religion
which used to make me love Mm.
Every b~attAryihas' a range chart on
which distinctive, landmarks are noted,
with the range f,r each. These land
marks are called, targets, and .re'num-
bered. On our battery's CHART, that
road was calletl Target II, Range
5000, 8 degrees 8 } minutes left" D 2Ss
battery consisted of four 4.5r: .howtt-
zers, and fired 9. S5-pound n. I. shell.
As You know, ia. &. means :Mgh e1-
plosive.' I DON'T like cumming up my
own battery. BIZ ut we had a record in
the division f{r direct hits, and our
boys were jui IT pining away for a
chance to ed ibit their skill In the
eyes Of Fritz
ION the aft .rnoon Of the four th day
Of Fritz contt mptuous use of th e road
th =, captain and I " ere at
our posts as usual. Fritz was sttrafe-
Ing US prettyt rough, just like he's doing
now. The 8 bells were playing leap
frog all thrG Ugh that orchard.