The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1918-08-22

AZ nights ride from our de
barkation camp to the embark
alton port in darkened ears with
our light only the glare Of an
occasional cigarette, our. en-
barkation. on the transport that
was to be our "home'' across the,
trackless deep, the deadly mon-
otony on board ship broken dali
~ by the drills to acquaint the
men with their functions in the
|event of a submarine attack; the
meeting-up with our convoy of
destroyers after days out , our
first sight Of the fair shores of
France; the fleet Of fishing
smacks that nestled under the
shelter of high cliffs at the en-
trance Of the harbor; the sudden
barking Of the gums with which
our transport was well fortified;
the excitement, the appearance
of the shiny whale-like backs of
three subs; the official report
that two Of the sea wasps had
been killed; our entrance into
the harbor amid the deafening
welcoming blasts Of q dozen
ocean-going steamers; our de-
barkation on lighters; our set
ting foot on French soil; our
three-mile march up a steep,
winding village street with the
queer. old high-gabled houses on
either side with the French
children, young and old, boys
and girls, scampering along the
column begging in broken pa
tots for a cigarette, q match, q
stick of gum, a piece of choco-
late, anything-and they were
contented. Our debouchment
from the village and into the
open country ona hard graveled
French road, also narrow that
the more room might be had for
the growing of food for the ar
mics of France road that ran
tortuously and without regard
for geometric convention be-
tween high, thick prickly hedg-
es; the clearings that came in
to view where appeared the
matched cottages and the plas-
tered hutches that sometimes
served as houses, sometimes
as barns, sometimes as both;
arrival at the famous P bar
racks where q century before
Napoleon had trained an army
Of aggression, barracks musty
with age and Of q stern and re-
polling type Of architecture, bar
racks rich in tradition and
breathing the spell Of a by-gone
day and age. Such is the rapid
ly moving panorama of events
that brings me down to Sunday
of last week.
You may have read in the pa
pers Of the submarine attack on
our ship and of the wonderful
success of ourAgunners, and then
forgot the incident. But it all
happened. The ferries" were
out Ia get rs but failed. You can
believe me the excitement was
intense for some minutes. Our
landingywas on May 80-Decora-
Etion Day, and it will always be a
day ~Rng-remembered. Except
for the appearance Of the subs
on TIE last day Of our trip, the
(rest Of the voyage was unevent-
full. A calm sea prevailed for
the entire period and no one
suffered sickness.
A three day rest at the bar
racks and we were off again, en-
training late last Sunday p. m.
on these dinky, diminutive cars
pulled by locomotives as equally
insignificant. Our train was
made mp Of more than forty
cars, some of them the contin-
entail compartment cars with
the running boards alongside,
others box cars bearing the le-
|gend on their exterior: "Homnes
40; cheEaux g." Two days and
nights ride over the heart of
France and we reached our de-
trainingspoint. A march of sew
en- or eight kilos and we arrived
at our, present billets-a little
over twenty miles from the
front. The roaring of the big
guns. are plainly, audible, especi-
: liz ~ tho v,Crninn VIZ owe al