Evening star., 1918-04-16
THE EVENING STAR, TUESDAY, APRIL Is, 1918
MYRIADS OF FAILING SHELLS
ALONG THE AMERICAN SECTOR

/ along the twi.sttag way. Underfoot the
duckboards weHe wet and broken: Over.
head the CROSS bAere whtch prcp1ed apart
! the stays. whicA held the reyetmente
Of ,as the trench ": mefs 20 row ''a' A
II have to Jock: here. said he. I'm
too tall for this ft-ench."
In several places the walls Of the
trench had been buassd n 6y tap sapi9a1nas 9anas
ed fairly in the trench itself. and . mar
row way had besr hurFiedl5 dns
through the resultant debris We passed
embrasurss in which were French ma.
chine guns. ehatterin;E away @ With ss! tnat
machine guns. They ,tre unlmpressive
things to hear. There 10 2 suSgest1on
Of industry and commerce rather tnAn
Of war. Sometimes we passed american p
soup or carrying orders. They hailed "
Were going to smear those boehes
good today" was the general tone o.
"Why aren't you going ovsr?" asked
one man. in pause for breath.
"aee! This Is Great5'
"rm one of those hard luck guys"
said he, sourly. II was on guard wnen
the CAPTAIN called for volunteering
every other damn man in the company
volunteered, only me.
A little farther on I was permStea
a guarded glimpse OF the outer outer ~o.,u wsre
whirling. The black boche which had
been annoying every one by mingieo
observation and machine gun ooiielo
was making a frantic effort 10 get
away.
Look at him tread air. said prairie
boy.
II was a fox-and-hounds affair. The
nine French planes chased the oocne
angrily. BY and by two or three OF
them broke away from the chase ana
returned to their job of making oo-
servations. Others did the same Wneh
outdistanced by their mates As we
passed down the trench we were as
sured by earnest young watchers that
the boche had crashed. No one nao
actually seen him brought down, but
the assertion was universal.
conviction in his voice This is great"
There was q narrow. sheltered way
into the fre trench. went down there
for q moment. but am quite free to
say that it was too hot for me. The
ration work in earnest. He was using
six-inch shells entirely. and he was
firing with a deadly precision. Why he
did not land square on the dre trench
I do not know. The line OF bursting
shells seemed to sweep up and down
the empty space before us like some
deadly broom. The air was filled with
a dull brown haze Of squirting dirt
mingled with shell smoke.
Before They Went Over.
Pretty hot" I said, feebly, to the
man at my elbow. He had to go over.
did not He looked at me silently
and then turned his attention to the
work at hand. He was pale and the
muscles of his thin cheek ficksred, but
he was not frightened. do not say
that he was not excited. but he GER
tainly was not scared. l felt he was
not interested in anything I could say
to him, and I wanted to get into =
deep duRout more than / ever wanted
anything in my life. The flesh on my
legs was dancing up and down.
found the dugout and put my eyes to
the narrow slit through which a look
out is kept.
-Four forty-five," said a voice near
me.
1t was the voice Of a friend of mine.
but it was so strange that / turned to
look at him. In twenty minutes the
men were to go over. ] looked at my
watch ten-twenty tfmss-in that
ear to make sure that 1t had not stop
ped. From where I lay some Of the
men in the fire trench could be seen.
I watched them for time-or thought
I did-to see how they were bearing 1t.
So far a / could see not a man chang
ed his position. It was as though they
were stuffed figures in a dripping
ditch.
There came a change in the tune Of
the guns. The German fire foil on in
J Intensity. It seemed incredible at first,
but eventually the fact became certain.
Some of their batteries had been put
out-or something else had happened.
Behind US the reports of the American
and French guns, coming to US dulled
by the curtain Of wood and mud be-
hind which we were hiding, seemed to
quicken. We were all watching the
minute hands. Zero hour was five
minutes past o'clock-and 1t was
three minutes after. four minutes
after. Ave minutes After
cover the Top" for Them.
Brown figures scrambled out Of the
little fraction Of the trench could see
and began to plod ahead. German
shells still dropped in no mans land.
but not 80 many Of them. On ahead
little. and as the screen OF shell
bursts moved on 30 did the line OF
brown figures. 1t was three hundred
yards to the first wire. and the mon
went at what seemed to me slow
walk. The shell screen kept lifting.
I They passed what had been the Ger
| man wire and came to the churned line
that had once been the German first
| line trenches. Then they disappeared
| from view. Now and then I could soc
| their figures in the dimming dusk. An
| eternity passed. Then they came back.
| running lightly across the debatable
ground, their work done. only anxious
| to. get home. A boche machine gun
| somewhere in the distance began to
| kick up spurts OF earth under thetr
feet. but not q man was hurt They
came in painting.
| 'I could lick two Of those guys" said
one man as he passed me. He thrust
his chin toward the two prisoners. that
were being hurried forward by his
neighbor. Darkness had fallen. All
around the half circle Of landscape
behind me flashes of guns might be
seen. as our artillerymen continued
their work Of breeding discouragemen ent
| in the German heart and preventing
| shell reprisals. The nearest machine
| gun began to talk again-or maybe 1T
had been gossiping all the time and we
. had not heard.
| My period of close contact was about
at an end. We made our way to the
| advanced post of command. in which
| a young captain was hard at work.
Some of his men had been among those
who had gone over an hour before.
They were all right. he said-every
i n - hy<& - L.. .-k