Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1918-09-27

hOmmeS ~, Chevaux g. After hourl
OF humping over the uneven French
roadbeds they arrived at the trainins
base Of Rouen.
At this place they were put through
a weeks rigid training In trench war
fare. On the morning Of the eighth
day they paraded at ten o'clock, and
were Inspected and passed by General
h, then were marched to the quar-.
termaster's, to draw their gus helmets
and trench equipment.
At four In the afternoon they were
again hustled into cattle cars. This
time the journey lasted two days.
They disembarked at the town of FIRE.
vent and could hear a distant dull
booming. With knees shaking, Lloyd
asked the sergeant what the noise was,
and nearly dropped when the sergeant
replied In somewhat bored tone:
"Oh, them's the guns up the line.
Wen be up there in a couple o. days
or SO. Don't worry. my laddie, you'n
see more of 'em than you want befors
you get 'ome to Blighty again, that IL,
II you're lucky enough to get back.
Now lend hand there unloadin' them
cars, and quit that everlastin' shakin'.
believe yer scared" The last with
contemptuous sneer.
They marched ten kilos, full pack,
to little dilapidated village, and the
sound Of the guns grew louder, con-
stantly louder.
The village was full of soldiers who
turned out to inspect the new draft.
the men who were shortly to be their
mates in the trenches, for they were
going up the line" on the morrow, to
take over" their certain sector of
trenches.
The draft was paraded in front of
battalion headquarters and the men
were assigned to companies.
Lloyd was the only man assigned to
ID company. Perhaps the officer in
charge of the draft had something to
do with it, for he called Lloyd aside
and said:
Lloyd, you are going to new COM
pany. No one knows you. Your bed
will be as you make 1t, so for Gods
sake, brace up and be a man. | think
you have the stuff in you, my boy, SO
good-by and the best of luck to YOU"
The next day the battalion took over
their part of the trenches. 1t happened
to be very quiet day. The artillery |
behind the lines was still, except for
an occasional shell sent over to let the |
Germans know the gunners were not
asleep.
In the darkness, In single file, the
company slowly wendell their way
down the communication trench to the
front line. No one noticed Lloyds
white and drawn face.
After they had relieved the company
In the trenches, Lloyd, with two of the
old company men, was put on guard In
one of the traverses. Not a shot was
fred from the German lines, and no
one paid any attention to MIN
crouched on the firing step.
On the first time in, new recruit In
not required to stand with his head
"over the top" He only "sts it OUT
while the older men keep watch.
At about ten o'clock, all of a sudden
he thought hell had broken loose, and
crouched and shivered up against the
parapet. Shells started bursting, as he
imagined right in their trench, when In
fact they were landing about hun
dred yards in rear of them, in the sec.
ond lines
One of the older men on guard. turn
ing to his mate. said:
"There goes Fritz with those ID
trench mortars again. It's about time
our artillery tapped them, and sent
over few. Well, I'll be ID
where's that blighter of a draft man
gone to? There's his rifle leaning
against the parapet He must have
legged it. Just keep your eye peeled
Dick. while report 1t to the sergeant
l wonder II the fool knows he can be
shot for such tricks as leavin' his
postT
Lloyd had gone. When the trench
mortars opened up, maddening ter
ror seized him and he wanted to run
to get away from that horrible din
anywhere to safety. So quietly sneak.
ing around the traverse, he came to the
entrance Of a communication trench
and ran madly and blindly down II,
running into traverses, stumbling into
muddy holes, and falling full length
over trench grids.
Cropping blindly. with his arml
stretched out in front of him, he at
last came out of the trench into thu
village, or what used to be a village
before the German artillery RACED IL
Mixed with his fear, he had a De
culiar sort of cunning, which whis
pered to him to avoid all sentries. be
cause If they saw him he would b
sent back to that awful destruction In
the front line, and perhaps be killed
or manned. The thought made him !
the cold sweat coming out in