Evening star., 1918-03-31

tho instruction not to stop to help any one.
Heiwas struck In the abdomen with an ex-
plosive bullet and was done for. felt
terribly about Mr.. Blofeld, as he had been
a good friend to me.
He was the finest type Of oflcer of
the new English army, the rare sort
who can be democratic and yet COM
mand respect. He had talked with me
often. and 1 knew OF his family and
home life. He was more like an elder
brother to me than a superior oficer.
left MI Blofeld and went on.
The hail of bullets grew worse and
worse. They whistled and cracked and
squealed, and I began to wonder why
on earth didn't get mine. Men were
falling on all sides. and the shrieks Of
the hit were the worst had heard The
had been over the top before by day
light. this was the last limit of hellish-
ness. And nothing but plain. unmixed
machine gun fire. AS yet there was no
once again 1 put my hand inside my
tunic and stroked Dinkey. and said to
him. For Gods sake. Dink, see me
through this time" / meant IL. too. I
was actually praying-to my mascot 1
realize that this was plain, unadulter-
ated. heathenish fetch worship, but it
shows what a man reverts to in the
barbartc stress of war.
BY this time we were within about thir-
ty yards Of the boche parapet. and could
see them standing shoulder to shoulder on
the fire step. swarms Of them, packed in.
with the bayonets cleaning. Machine
guns were emplaced and vomiting death
at incredibly short intervals along the
parapet. Flares were going up continu-
ously and it was almost as light as day.
We were terribly outnumbered and the
casualties had already been SO great that
1 saw we were in for the worst thing we
had ever known. Moreover, the next
waves hadn't appeared behind US.
was in command. as all the officers and
non-coms. SO far as 1 could make out. had
snuffed. 1 signaled to halt and take cover.
my idea being to wait for the other waves
to catch up. The men needed no second
invitation to lie low. They rolled into the
shell holes and burrowed where there
was no cover.
| drew pretty decent hole myself. and
man came pitching in on top Of me,
screaming horribly. 1t was Corp. Hos
kins. close friend OF mine. He had it in
the stomach and clicked in minute or
two.
During the few minutes that 1 lay in
that hole l suffered the worst mental an
guish l ever knew. Seeing SO many of
my closest chums go west had nearly
broken me. Snaky as was Wnen the stunt
started. I was dripping with sweat and
frightfully nauseated. A sudden over
impulse seized me to get out in
the open and have it over with. 1 was
ready to die.
Sooner than I ought. for the second
wave had not yet shown up. I shrilled the
whistle and lifted them out. 1t was
hopeless charge. but / was done. I would
have gone at them alone. Anything to
close the act. To blazes with everything!
AS I scrambled out of the shell hole
there was a binding, ear-splitting explo-
sion slightly to my left, and went down.
did not lose consciousness entirely. A
red-hot iron was through my right arm
and some one had hit me on the left
shoulder with a sledge hammer. I felt
crushed-shattered.
My remaining impressions of that night
are, for the most part, vague and indis-
tinct; but in spots they stand out clear
and vivid. The first thing 1 knew def
initely was when Smith bent over me-
cutting the sleeve out Of my tunic
It's blighty one" says Smithy. That
was some consolation. 1 was back in the
shell hole. or in another. and there were
five or six other fellows piled in there, too.
A Of hap