The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1918-11-29

CHAPTER XxIi--Continued.

Most of them had died from cholera,
typhoid and NEGOTIATIONS. We heard
from the prisoners there before us that
the Germans had come through the
camps with word that there was an
epidemic Of black typhus and cholera
and that the only thing for the men to
do was TO take the serum treatment to
avoid catching these diseases. Most Of
the four hundred men had died from
the NEGOTIATIONS. They had taken the
Germans word, had been in~oculated
and had died within nine hours. Which
shows how foolish 1t is to believe a
German. None of us had any doubt
but what the serum was poisonous.
The second day that we were In the
regular camp the Germans strung
barbed wire all around our barracks.
They told us we had n case of black
typhus among us. This was nothing
more nor less than a bluff, for not one
OF us had typhus, but they put up the
wire, nevertheless, and We were not
allowed to go out.
One day when i al loaflng around
bur barracks door and not having any
hing particularly important to do, l
packed a nice hard SNOWFALL and land
ed 1t neatly behind the ear Of a little
sentry not far away. When he looked
around he did not blow his whistle but
began hunting for the thrower. This
was strange in a German sentry and I
thought he must be pretty good stuff.
When he looked around, however, all
he saw was a man staggering around
as If he were drunk. The man was
the n who had done the throwing, all
right, but the sentry could not be sure
Of 1t. for surely nc man would stay
out In the open and invite accidents
like that, But still. who had done 1t?
So / just kept staggering around,
and the sentry came up TO me and
looked me over pretty hard. Then ]
thought for the first time that things
might 60 hard on me, but / figured
that IL quit the play acting 1t would
be all over. So l staggered right up
to the sentry and looked at him drunk
emily, expecting every moment to get
one from the bayonet.
But he was so surprised that all he
could do was stare. So l stared back,
pretending that / saw two of him, and
otherwise acting foolish. Then / guess
he realized for the first time that the
chances OF anybody being drunk In
that camp were small-at least for the
prisoners. He was rubbing his ear
all the time. but finally the thought
seeped through the ivory and he began
to laugh. l laughed, too, and the first
thing you know he had me doing 1t
again-that is. the imitation. One
SNOWFALL was enough, / figured.
/ used to talk to him quite often
after that. We had no particular
love for each other, but he was gamer
than the other sentries, and he did not
call me schweinhund every time he saw
me, so we got on very well together.
His name must have been Schwartz, /
guess, but it sounded like "Swatts" to
me, 30 Swatts he was, and l was
"Chink" to him, as everybody else
called me that.
One day he asked me If 1 could
speak French, and / said yes. Italian;
yes. Russian; yes. No matter what
language he might have mentioned I
would have said yes, because I could
smell something in the wind, and i
was curious. Then he told me that IL
A went to the hospital and worked
there. / might get better meals and
would not have to go so far for them,
and that my knowing all the languages
] said I did would help me q great
ways toward getting the job.
Evidently he had been told to get a
man for the place, because he APP
pointed me to 1t then and there. He
put me to work right away. We went
over to one Of the barracks, where q
case Of sickness had been reported,
and found that the invalid was a big
Barbados negro named Jim, a fire.
man from the V~oltaire. At one time
Jim must have weighed $50 pounds,
but by this time he was about two
pounds lighter than q straw hat, but
still black and full of pep. Light as
ne was, ! was no white hope" and Il
was all I could do to carry him to the
hospital. Swatts kept right along be-
hind me. and every time I would stop
to rest, he would poke me with q
broom-the only broom I saw In Ger.
maryland laugh and point to his ear.
Then I thought 1t was a frame-up
and that he was getting ever with me,
but / was In for 1t then, and the best
i could do was to go through with Il.
But / was all In when we reached the
hospital. The first thing / saw when
we got I'm the door was another negro,
from Barbadoes, and as tall and
as Jim had once been short and
fat. This black boy and l made a
great team. bit / never knew what
his name WA I always called him
Kate. because night and day he was
whistling the cid song, skate, Kate,
Meet Me at the Garden Gate" or words
10 that effect. I have walked UP many
nigh and heard chat whistle Just
About at the same place as when / had
asleep. 1t would not have been