The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-08-27

young English lieutenant grew. with every step.
 At last he stepped up out of the here on top" he said coolly. And so he started the promenade in full sight of the German army.
 They were some distance away, to be sure, but we were a poor lire in- surance risk as we stalked along on the top of the earth works.
 The young officer was carrying a map case which must have caught the gleam of the sunshine.
 At any rate we presently heard the peculiar snarling whine of a German shell.
 Look out!" yelled the British lieu tenant.
 Of course it was too late to look out but I ducked anyhow. The next sound I heard was a sickish squashy thud, followed by a shower of mud
 Tt was a dud," explained the young officer coolly rubbing the mud off his new boots. A "dud'' is shell that fails to do it's duty and does not eX- plode. Had this one exploded I never would have been here writing this ac- count. The "dud' hit within ten feet of where we stood. We would have been blown to flinders.
 Unconsciously I edged away from the "dud." But even as I moved that terrible whining howl came again This time the shell was strictly on the job. It exploded with terrific roar and shower of mud. I don't know just how close it came; it seemed very close.
 Come on," yelled the lieutenant With that he jumped into the. trenches new boots and all.
 Need I say that followed, I do not know the name of the college athlete who holds the record for the running broad jump, but I am sure that shaved several feet off his mark in my | haste to get into the trench. It was a dreadful place-al muG and muck and outrageous smells. Bu we entered it. Our movement WaE accelerated just as we struck the tor edge of the trench. A shell exploded l about ten yards away, and the con cussion threw us into the bottom oI | the trench.
 don't know what became of the | lieutenant I did't wait for any for malities I made my way as fast as I could into sap where found some | slight protection against a big cemen l pillar that had been a part of the oli Hindenburg trench. You must un | derstand that the trench had beer much torn ur and was very jagged | and uneven. You had to find shelter wherever you could.
 -Crouching down there in the muC | was honored by the ardent attention: | of two or three German batteries. Int | Kaiser wasted several million dollar;
 on me that afternoon. The British officers said afterwart | that it was one of the liveliest bonn | bardments they had seen in that sec i tor. It seemed to be as though the
 world was coming to an end. The noise was indescribably awful The air seemed alive with a barbarii
 hellish symphony of bowling shells
 You could hear the distant tigh sounding "tonk" of the guns; then th'
 whine and yell of the shells: lastly th' crash of the exploding shell and th'
 shower of scattered mud.
 For a time they were exploding al
 around us It seemed as thougl
 earth and sky had gone mad. Tn 1 din was beyond all human description
 The effect was something beyond com
 mon fear. The impact of the explod
 ing shells stunned my senses. It i
 easy to understand shell shock. Tn
 sound seems to penetrate. your brain It is though every explosion struck l physical blow under your brain. 1 Directly behind the sap where