New-York tribune., 1918-05-19

and make a pillow of it for
wounded German. There was a pri-
vate who had his arms round an
enemy, trying hard to make the best
of an uncomfortable resting place.
"In the midst Of all this tragedy
the element of comedy was not
wanting. A cockney lad struck up
ditty and the boats company
joined in the chorus of Raymond
Hitchcock's All Dressed Up and
Nowheres to Co. Then we had
Take Me Back to Blighty,' and as
French vessel came along to our
rescue the boys sang Pack Up Your
Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag and
Smile, Smile, Smile The French
displayed unfoygettable hospitality.
AS soon as they took our wounded
on board they improvised beds and
stripped themselves almost bare SO
that English and German alike
: might be comfortable"
1t was a cold and wretched morn
ing when the rescue boats from the
Lanfranc put into port. The waters
of the harbor were whipped to
frenzy by vicious, driving, sleety
rain. Twas a good time to be lay
ing home in warm bed, but no sort
of night to be in No Mans Land
trying to get shelter out OF water
logged, shrapnel-sprayed shell hole,
and certainly no time for wounded
to be at sea on craft so small they
tossed about like cockleshells, every
lurch bringing untold agony to ship
wrecked men who had been wounded
while trying to make the world safe
for democracy.
Twas long, stiffly moving file of
shaky, utterly weary souls, wrapped
about with rain and brine-soaked
bandages, which came ashore. Few
had had any sleep for several
nights; all were newly plucked from
the jaws of death out there fighting
under the scream of their own and
enemy shells and forcing their way
through knee-deep mud and tangles
of German barbed wire in the in
ferno between Arras and Vimy
Ridge; and all, unarmed and help
less, had faced the Hun in his vilest
and murderous guise when he'd tor
pedoed the Lanfranc without warn
ing. AS the official account says:
"The fatigue in their eyes, which
no man may hide in such case,
was pathetic, but there was a look
in the same eyes that overrode any,
thing like pathos; the look indom-
table"
eyes, we were within sight of
Blighty when the torpedo got u.s."
long, lean North of England country
man said. at just got our stern
and blew it clear away; a few men
with it, too. Another four secs and
that would have been a wasted tor
pedo."
eyes," an exceptionally small,
earnest faced man from the factory
districts round Manchester, said:
eyes, and suppose a few Huns
might have been saved for bit
from earning-hell"
Back in Blighty,
You Know"
A handful Of lint was given to one
man with a bandaged arm and a
nasty cut on his forehead, which was
still bleeding. II only just found
out that had it," he said. II did
feel a bit Of bump there when
was getting down the side, but for
got it after. Of course, we could
see she was done for and everybody
kept quiet. 1t was perishing cold,
but I'm feeling fine now. I goi
nty-eight Huns to me own rifle
out there on Vimy and I wished it
had been a hundred. We picked 'em
eff as they ran like rabbits. No
wonder they wanted to get us to-
night. 1t seems a dirty way to do
it, with a hospital ship. l suppose
the Huns can't help being Huns
the silly blighters!"
One went the length of the long
hospital train containing the sur
vivors from the Lanfranc, and the
silent calm of it all seemed almost
unnatural. The wounded accepted
the whole thing as part of the days
work. AS one man expressed it.
Were in Blighty. you know, an
don't you forget It'll" And as the
train started slowly and smoothly