Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-02-14

|
hunt Hungry went after our ration
or tea. Hungry was sure on tn,
JOB when 1t came to eating. Prett!
soon he returned with a dixie quar-
| ter full of tea, two tins of jam, Z
loaf of bread, large piece o.
cheese, and a tin of apricots which
he had bought at a nearby French
estaminet. He dished out our ra
tons, not forgetting generous
share for himself. After we hat
finished, out came the inevitable
| fags, few puffs from each man
and the ball of conversation started
rolling.
Curly Wallace cleared his throat
ana started in with:
remember that village we pass.
ed through on our march up the
iihe ABOUT two weeks ago; you know
tne one where that big church wit
all the shell holes in it was right
on the corner where we turned tc
the left to take the road at St
We all remembered it, and turned
inqulrlng glances in Curly's direc.
ton.
We'll, this morning, when I went
down with the Quarter (Quarter,
master Sergeant). to draw coal. l
met fellow at Division Headquar-
ters VINO told me a mighty interest
ing story of how he and another
IelloW rounded up a couple of spies.
Ihls bloke, through modesty, and
10 cover up his own good work
trled to make me believe that it was
only through a lucky chance that
ne stumbled over the clue which
lead to the spies arrest, but I'm
thlnkin'. and l know you'll all
agree with me, that it was not so
much luck as it was clever thinking.
m not much at telling a story, but
m going to try and give it, as far
as | can remember, just the way he
handed 1t out 10 me-
1t seems that this fellow, who
told me the story, and another chap
mad been detailed to the Divisional
Headquarters waiting for something
TO happen.
Now, here's the story as he reel
ed is off to me:
About three kilos behind Di-
VISION Headquarters was the old
French village of b. One OF
our important roads ran through it.
rms road was greatly used by our
troops for bringing up supplies and
ammunition for the Front Line. II
was also used by large numbers OF
troops when relieving battaDons in
the fire sector.
OF course, on account of this
road being in range of the German
guns, it could only be used al
night; otherwise the enemy airmen
and observation balloons would get
wise and it would only be a short
time before the road would be she'll
ed, thus causing many casualties.
For the last ten days reports had
i - =
ters that every time troops passed
a certain point on this road, marked
by an old church, they were sure to
click heavy shell fire from the
Boches. On nights when no troops
passed through, there would be very
little shelling, if any, but if a bat
TALON or brigade happened to come
this way they suffered from heavy
shell fire.
Upon receipt of the first two or
three of these reports we put it down
as strange coincidence, but when
the fifth report of this nature reach
ell us 1t was evident to us that a spy
was at work, and that in some mys-
terious way the information of our
troops were communicated by him
to the enemy.
Myself and another bloke, who
had been working with me for the
last two weeks, We're assigned to the
task of discovering and apprehend-
ing this spy. To us it seemed an i'm
possible job as there were no clues
TO work upon. AS is usual, our Cen
era, old Pepper called us in, and
said: r..
There is spy working in the
village of B; go get him."
II I'M -,
for further information. 1 got it, all
right. With a lowering look which
made me tremble, he roared.
Go and dig up your own clues.
What are you with the Intelligence
Department ID for? Intelligence De-
partment!. 1t ought to be called the
'Brainless Department if you two
are a sample of the rest"
Somehow or other we didn't
stop to argue with old Pepper
At this point Sailor Bill butted
in:
"Blime me, he's just like an Ad-
miral we had in our Navy, this old
Pepper
A chorus of, ooh, shut up. you're
in the Army now," cut off Bills
story. We knew Sailor Bill. If ever
he got started talking Navy. moth
ing short of gas attack could stop
him.
Sailor Bill, with an indignant
glance around the circle, relapsed
into silence.
Curly Wallace exclaimed.
ITO ell with your Admiral: Do
YOU want to hear this story? If Won
do, shut up and let me tell it,"
go on, Curly, never mind; he's
calculated Happy Hough-
ton.
Curly carried on, with:
Getting our packs and drawing
three days rations. we started hik-
ing it for the village of L. We
arrived there about four in the af
ternoon, and after putting our packs
and rations in an old barn which we
intended to use as our billet during
our stay in the village. we left on a
general tour of inspection.
There were about three hundred
civilians in the place. who prefer
red to brave the dangers of shell
fire, as there was a rich harvest to
be reaped from the sale of farm
produce, beer and wines to the
troops billeted all around. Two esta-
ninets CFrench saloons) were still
open and did a thriving business.
=" Occasionally a shell would burst
n the village, but the civilians did
not seem to mind it; just carried on
with their farming and business as
usual.
To he Continued