The Big Sandy news. [volume] (Louisa, Ky.) 1885-1929, 1918-11-22

80 l tho Z he wot i hGye TO he my
chief COO and horde washer for a
while; NJ besid there was some
thing him Il made him look
pretty 81 able / had not recognized
his whistliIg yet, SO Slim looked to bC
HE right name for him.
Sim, what's that big cupboar
for?"
How'd know? Muffin in it."
Slim, that would make fine bon
for coal or wood. wouldn't itT'
I'm. Whar de coal an WOODY =
Pm going out and take observa-
dons, Slim. Take the wheel while Pm
sGne, and keep your eye peeled for
u-boats." SO / sneaked out. the door
aud began looking around.
If you look at the sketch | have
made, 1t will moi take you long to see
TINT next to us was a vacated Russian
barracks. And 1t did not take me
much longer to see 1t, too. Back to
the hospital and Slim.
"Slim, what barracks are next to
us?
Russian burrucks, only dey amt
dere now. Been sick"
And you mean to tell me you don't
know where to get woodf'
sick men been In dem burrucks."
.Sick men here, aren't there7 Let's
CO."
That did the trick. The black boy
would watch from the hospital win
dows until he saw the coast was clear,
then we would slip into the barracks
next door. and he would watch again.
When there was no sentry near
enough to hear US. crash and out
would come dividing board from the
hunks. When we had an arInful
apiece. and had broken themup to the
right lengths. all we needed was a HIT
tie more watching, and then back to
The hospital and the big cupboard.
Later on, our men told me they used
TO watch the smoke that poured from
the hospital chimney all the time and
wonder where on earth we got the
wood.
We got the same kind Of food in the
hospital that was served In the other
barracks, and / would not have had
any more than / used to, except that
some Of the twenty-six pa
tients could not eat their share, and
then, OF course, 1t was mine. One day,
though, we all had extra rations.
Two Russian doctors came to visit
us each day, and once they we've fool
ish enough, or kind enough, to ask If
we had received our rations-we had
received them earlier than usual and
they were finished at the time. OF
course, said no, so they ordered the
Russian In the kitchen to deliver
rations to us, which was
not quite three loaves of Bread. We
We're that much ahead that day, but it
again.
One day German doctor came to
the hospital barracks. He would not
touch anything while he was there
not even open the door. All of the
patients had little cards attached to
their beds-charts of their condition.
When the German wanted to see these
charts the Russian doctors had to hold
them for him.
was having great time at the
hospital, wrecking the barracks next
door each day for wood, along with
Kate. and getting little more food
sometimes, and was always nice and
warm. ! thought myself quite a pet.
Compared to what / had been up
against, it seemed like real comfort.
But the more food got, the more l
wanted. And it was food that brought
Inc down, after all.
Across from us was a barracks in
which there were English officers, and
somehow 1t seemed to me that they
must have had a drag. Every once in
a while / saw what looked like vege-
tables and bags of something that was
Il dead ringer for brown flour. So 1
told Sim, or Kate, as was calling him
by then, and with him on guard,
sneaked out.
After two or three false starts, got
over our barbed wire and their barbed
wire, and in through a window.
There saw carrots! And graham
ilour
took all / could carry, TO divide up
with Kate, and then started eating,
SO as not to waste anything 1t was
certainly some feast-the only thing
besides mud bread and barley coffee
and shadow" soup that had to eat
in Germany. Then | started back to
the hospital. got over their barbed
wire all right, and Kate gave me the
so-ahead for our entanglements, BIZ
inst as was going over them sentry
nabbed me. At FIRST l thought Kate
had turned traitor, because we had
had little argument a short time be-
fore.
But later on figured that he would
not have done trick like that, and
besides, he knew i was bringing him
something to eat. So the sentry must
have sneaked up without Kate seeing
him. Who got the carrots and sra
ham -four that was carrying do not
Know. The sentries booted me all the
way back to my old barracks.
CHAPTER XIII.
Dsspair-and Freedom.