Omaha daily bee., 1918-06-07
CHAPTER XVI.
Stripped for the Fray.

yfull OF the day. Indeed, il was grill
| ing weather, and there in the battery
in hollow. close down beside a littl'
run, or stream. 1t was even hottie
than on the shell-swept bare top. o
the ridge. So the Canadian gunner
had stripped down for comfort. No
man had more than his undershir
on above his trousers. and many o
them we're naked to the waist. will
their hide tanned to the color OF OLE
saddles.
These laddies reminded ME O
those in the first battery had seen
4 They were just as calm and just a.
dispassionate as they worked in theii
mill--it might we'll have been mil
in which | saw them working. Onl,
they were no grinding corn, but deatl
death for the Huns, who hat
brought death TO so many OF their
mates. But there was no excitement
there were no cries OF hatred and
anger.
They were hard at work, Their
work, 1t seemed, never came to an
end or even to a pause. The orders
rang out, in sort OF sIng-song
voice. After each shot a man who
sat with telephone strapped about
his head called out corrections OF the
range, in figures that were Just a
meaningless tumble to me. although
they made sense to the men who lis
tened and changed the pointing OF
| the guns at each order.
Their faces, that. like their bare
backs and chests, looked like tanned
leather. were all grimy from their
work among the smoke and the
gases. And through the CRIME the
sweat had run down like little rivers
making courses for themselves in the
soft dirt of hillside. They looked
grotesquc enough, but there was
nothing about them to make me feel
like laughing, I can tell you! And
they all grinned amiably when the
amazed and disconnected Reverend
Harry Lauder, NJ. ~P.. Tour came
tumbling in among them. We all
felt right at hame at once--and ! the
more so when a chap | had met and
come to know well in Toronto dur
ing one Of my American tours came
over and grippcd my hand.
AYE, but it's good to see your
face, Harryv he said, as he made me
welcome.
This battery had done great work
ever since il had come out. No bat
terry in the whole army had finer
record. was told. And no one
needed to tell me the tale of its
losses. Not far away there was a
little cemetery, filled with doleful
little crosses, set up over mounds that
told their grim story all too plainly
and too eloquently.
The battery had gone through the
battle OF Nimy ridge and made a
great name for itself, And now II
was set down upon spot that had
seen some of the very bloodiest oi
the fighting on that day. ! saw here
for the first time. some of the most
horrible things that the war holds
There was little stream, as | said
that ran through the hollow in which
the battery was placed. and tina
| stream had been filled with blood, no
Y water, on the dayTof the battle.
i Everywhere, here, were whitene,
bones OF men. In the wild swirlint
OF the battle. and the confusion o
digging in and meeting German coun
ter attacks that had followed it, i
had not been possible to bury all iht
dead. And so the whitened bones re.
manned. though the elements had
long since stripped them bare. The
elcments--and the hungry rats. These
are not pretty things to tell, but the,
are true. and the world should know
what war is today
: almost trod upon one skeleton
that remained complete. 1t was tha
! OF huge German soldier--a veritabl'
giant OF man. he must have been
The bones of his feet were still en-
cased in his great boots, their sole
heavily studded with nails. Even |
few shreds of his uniform remained
But the flesh was all gone. The sui
and the rats and the birds had &C
counted for the last morsel of il,
| Hundreds Of years from now.
suppose, the bones that were strewi
along that ground will still be being
turned UP by plows. The genera
tions TO come who live there vii
never lack relics OF the battle, and o
the fighting that preceded and fol
lowed il. They will find bones. an,
i shell cases, and bits of metal OF al
sorts. Rusty bayoncts will be turne,
/ up by their plowshares; strang
coins, as puxzling as some Of thos
OF Roman times that we in Britain
have found, will puzzle them. VIII,
can tell how long it will be before TIL
soil about Vin,y ridge will cease I,
give up its relies?
i That ground had been searche,
carefully for everything that nigh
conccivably be put to use again, or b
made fit for further service. TIL
British army searches every battle
field so in these days. And yet, whc
was there. many weeks after tn
storm OF fighting had passed on, an
when the scavcngers had done the
work, the ground was still rathe
,hickiy strewn with odds and end
that interested me vastly. / migf
! have picked up much more than
did. But l could not carry so yer
much, and, too. so many of the thing
brought grisly thoughts to my mint
: God knows l needed no remindei
5 OF the warl ! had reminder in m
| heart, that meyer left me. Still.
! took some few things. more for th
sake oflthe hame folks. who migi
not see. and would, surely. be intel
esied. | gathered some bayonets fo
my collection--somehow they SCENE
g the things | was most willing to tai
along. One was British. one Germa
two were French.
But the best souvenir OF all ] &
! at Nimy ridge | did not pick up.
z was given to me by my friend, I'll
grave major-him Of whom I woul