The review. [volume] (High Point, N.C.) 1908-19??, 1918-10-31

drawn back and forth on the track b
little Belgian engines.
After had been at my gun for sew
| eral days I was ordered back to m
: regiment, which was again in tn
! frOnt-line trenches. Ny course wa
, past both the British and French line
. but quite a distance behind the from
lines.
Everywhere there were ambulance
and wagons going backward and for
ward. I met one French ambulance
that was a long wagon full of poilu:
from a field hospital near the firing
line and was driven by q man whose
left arm was bandaged to the shoul
der. Two pOiluS who sat in the real
on guard had each been wounded il
the leg and one had had big strip OF
his scalp torn off. There was not q
sound man in the bunch. You can
imagine what their cargo was like, if
the convoy was as used up as these
chaps. But all who could were sing
ing and talking and full of pep. That
is the French for you: they used no
more men than they could possibly
spare to take care of the wounded, but
they were all cheerful about it
always.
Just after I passed this ambulance
the Germans began Smelling a section
of the road too near me to be comfort
able, so I beat it to a shell crater
about twenty yards off the road, to the
rear. A shrapnel shell exploded pretty
near me just as I jumped into this
hole-I did not look around to see how
close 1t was-and / remember now
how the old minstrel joke had heard
on board ship came to my mind at the
time-something about a fellow feel
ing so small he climbed into a hole
and pulled it after him-and I wished
1 might do the same. I f1attened my
self as close against the wall Of the
crater as I could and then I noticed
that somebody had made a dugout in
the other wall Of the crater and I
Started for it.
The shells were exploding so fast
by that time that you could not listen
for each explosion separately, and just
as jumped into the dugOut a regular
hail of shrapnel fell on the spot had
just passed. 1t was pretty dark ina
the dugout and the first move 1 made
bumped into somebody else and he
let out yell that you could have
heard a mile. It was a Tommy who
had been wounded in the hand and
between curses he told me I had sat
right on his wound when I moved. /
asked him why he did not yell sooner,
no
was great cusser.
The bOmbardment slackened I'D q
bit about this time, and I thought I
would have a look around. I did not
get out Of the crater entirely, but
moved around out of the dugout until
could see the road I had been on.
The first thing saw was a broken
down wagon that had just been hit
In fact, 1t was topping over when my
eye caught it. The driver jumped
from his seat and while he was in the
air his head was torn completely from
his shoulders by another she'll do |
not know what kind. This was enough |
for me, so back to the dugout.
How the Germans did it I do not |
know, but they had found out about |
that road and opened fire at exactly
the moment when the road was COW
cred with wagons and men. Yet there |
had not been balloon or airplane in |
the sky for some time
After q while the bombardment
moved away to the east, from which |
direction I had come, and knew our
batteries were getting it, The Tommy
and 1 came out of the dugout. AS
started climbing up the muddy sides
saw there was a man standing at
the edge of it, and could tell by his
puttees that he was a Limey. I was
having a hard job of it, so without
looking up hailed him.
"That was sure some Smelling.
wasn't it?" I said. "Theres a lad
down here with a wounded fin: better
give him a hand"
"What Smelling do you mean" saws
ne legs, without moving, "There's
oeen none in this sector for some
time, I think"
The Tommy was right at my heel
oy this time, and he let out a string
II language. I was surprised, too, and /
still scrambling around in the mud,
Then the Tommy let a "Gawd 'elD
is - and looked up and saw that the
egs belonged to a Limey officer,
MAJOR, think. And here we had been
'ussing the eyes off of him! F..
But he sized it up rightly and gave {
is hand, and only laughed when we ,
rled to explain. I got ratified and IL
old him that all saw was his legs :
md that they did not look like an off,