The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1918-03-24

! We got into them in the dense dark
/ ness Of Just before dawn. The divi-
sion We relieved gave us hardly any
instruction. but beat II on the hot
foot. glad 10 get away and anxious
to go before sunup. AS we settled
down in our cosey danger spots i
heard Rolfo, the frog voiced baritone
humming one Of his favorite coster
songs.
oh why did I leave my little back
room in old bloomsbury?
Where could live for pound week
I'm luxury.
/ wanted to live higher,
SO I married Martcr.
Out of the frying pan into the bloonin'
fire.
And he meant every word OF II.
In our new positions In the Grouse
holes the orders were TO patrol the
open ground between at least four
times a night. That first night there
was one more patrol necessary before
daylight. Tired as | was / volunteered
for It, / had had one patrol before
opposite Bully Grenay and thought ]
liked tho game
! went over with one man, fellow
named Relinger. We got out and
started to crawl All we knew was
tifat the sector was 400 yards away.
Machine gun bullets were squealing
and swapping overhead pretty continu-
ousiy and we had to hug the dirt. 1t
is surprising to see how fiat a man
eau keep and still get along al a good
rate of speed. We kept straightsway
In the left and presently got into wire.
Ana then we heard German voices.
pw' I went cold all over.
PATROL DUTY WILDLY EXCITING
Then some very lights went UP
and saw the Roche parapet not
twenty feet away, Worst OF all there
was lane through their wire at that
point. and there would be, no doubt.
a sap head or A listening post near.
| tried 10 lie still and burrow into the
dirt At the same time. Nothing hap
rened. Presently tho lights died and
Beliinger gave me poke in the ribs.
We started TO crawfsh. Why we
weren't seen ] don't know, but we had
gone alt OF 100 feet before they spotted
us Fortunately We were on the edge
OF "A shallow shell hole when the sentry
caught our movements and Fritz cut
loose with the 'typewriters" We rolled
IN. 4 perfect torrent Of bullets ripped
up the dirt and cascaded It's with gravel
and mud The noise OF the bullets
cracking" yard above us was deaf
euinE
The fusillade stopped after a hit
] was all for getting out and away i'm
nediately. BeNinger wanted 30 wait
A while We argued for as much as
ave minutes, 7 should think. and then,
the lights having gone out, took
matters in nay own hands and we went
away from there. Another piece OF
luck,
We weren't more than a minute on
our way when pair OF bombs went
off about over the she'll hole. Evil
IDENTITY some bold Heinie had chueked
them over TO make sure of the Job in
case the machines hadn't 1t waa .
close pinch--two close pinches. 7 was
I'm scores Of places afterwards where
there was more action and more
danger. but, looking back. ] DON'T
think ] was ever sieker or scareder.
II would have been easy meat IL they
had rushed us.
We made our way back slowly and
eventually caught the CLEAN OF steel
helmets, They were British. We had
stumbled upon our left sector. We
found out then that the line curved
and that instead OF the left sector
being directly TO the left OF ours--the
center-~it was a telephone wire run
ming from one 10 the other. We re
ported and made our way back to the
center In about 1--WE minutes by feel
ing along the wire, That was our
method afterwards and the patrol was
CushH for US.
want to say word right here
about patrol work in general. because
for some reason 1t fascinated me and
was in my favorite game,
F'AsIS ATED BY PATROL WORK
If you should be fortunate---or I'M
fortunate enough, M the case might be
to be squatting in a front line trench
this fine morning and looking through
a periscope You wouldn't see much.
Just over the top. not more than TWEEN
tv feet away, would be your barbed
wire entanglements, a thick network
of wire stretched on iron posts nearly
waist high. and perhaps twelve or nf-
teen feet across. Then there would
be an intervening stretch OF from fifty
to $50 yards of No Man's-Land. a tor
tured. torn expanse OF muddy soil.
pitted with shell crarers. and over
beyond the German wire and his para
pet
There would he nothing alive visible.
There would probably be few bodies
lying about or hanging in the wire.
Everything would be still except for
the flutter OF some rag of a dead mans
uniform.
Ordinarily. however. there Is little
movement between the wires, nor be-
hind them. And yet you know that
over yonder there are thousands of
men lurking in the trenches and shell
ters
After dark these men. or some OF
them. crawl out like hunted animals
and prowl in the black mystery OF No
Man's-Land. They are the patrol.
The patrol goes out armed and
equipped lightly. He has to move soft
ly and at times very quickly It Ia his
duty to get as close to the enemy lines
as possible and find out IL they are re-
pairing their wire or II any OF their
parties are out, and to get. back word
to the machine gunners. who imnedi-
ately cut loose on the indicated spot.
Sometimes he lies with his head to
the ground over some suspected area
straining his ears for the faint ''scrape.
scrape" that means a German mining
party Is down there getting ready to
plant a ton or so OF high explosive or.
IT may be. Is preparing to touch IT
off at that very moment.
Always the patrol il supposed to