Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1918-01-30
Episode Illustrative of One Of
Many Diverse Phases
of the War.
CLOSE VIGILANCE NECESSARY
Three Whistles; Presto, Battery car,-
oufIaged!-In This Instance Ven-
turesome German Machine
Plunged to Earth.

ness was to watch for hostile airplanesI
and warn the battery of their APP
proach. 1t does not sound very ardu-.
Gus business, but it is one that requires
considerable training if mistakes are
to be avoided. Airplanes fly too high
nowadays for their distinguishing
marks to be discerned, even through
the best glasses. The sentry must be
able to detect the enemy as soon as he
comes in sight, at whatever angle he
may happen to be flying; and with so
many different types Of machine in the
air this requires experience and a
quick eye.
The experience he had gained by be-
ing attached for some days to an anti
aircraft battery whose business it was
to spot all hostile planes at once;
quickness of vision was inbred in him.
for he had an Englishman's love of
sport. The attitude Of watchfulness
seemed natural to him as he sat with
his glass slung round his neck, his eyes
searching the skies all about him.
A couple of hundred yards away, the
battery was at the height of it's morn
ing toilet The big guns were uncov-
cred and the Iimber-gunners and their
assistants were performing the morn
ing additions OF their charges washing
out the bOres and scrubbing them with
the lOng-handlcd piaSaba brushes that
take four men to push through. The
artificer was testing air pressures; the
section officers and their layers we're
busy with the sights. Behind the guns,
again. groups of men were laying shells
in rows, taking them from the heaps in
which they had been dumped by the
ammunition column during the night.
The whole orchard was a scene of &C
tivity, and concealment was out Of the
question while it lasted.
Sudden Transformation.
Suddenly the airplane sentry stood
up, gazed at q distant speck in the sky
through his glasses for few seconds,
then blew three blasts upon his whis-
tie. Before the echoes had died away
a furious scene-shifting began in the
battery. The cleaning squads put
down their utensils and drew up the
gun-cOvers, the artifcer put his span
ners in his pocket and sprang under
the nearest tree, where he was Joined
by the section officers and their assist
ants. The shell numbers hastily COW
cred their work with leaves and brush
wood, and hid themselves under cover
of the shed that acted as an ammuni-
ton store. In ten seconds, where all
the activity had been the sharpest eye
would have seen nothing but q compact
orchard, with here and there q group Of
men sheltering under trees, invisible
from the air.
The German airplane made a wide
sweep over the lines at great height,
the nucleus of q scattered pattern of
shrapnel that burst all around it,
leaving puffs of smoke that hung like
cottonwood against the clear blue Of
the sky. Then, apparently not liking
the look Of a couple of British fighters
that rose to pursue it, it made off,
without having been anywhere near
the battery. The airplane sentry blew
his whistle once more and the covers
were stripped off the guns and the in
fterrupted work went on again.
A Second Invitation.
But the sentry redOubled his vigi-
lance. The battery had made itself
exceedingly unpopular with the Ger
imam; it had recently put several Of
his guns out of action, besides account
ling for big minenwerfer that had an
tnoyed the infantry in the front line,
land it was evident that he meant to
discover it's position somehow. There
were several German balloons ND as it
was, though fortunate rise in the
Eground just hid the battery from their
view. Nor was it likely that on day
when visibility was so good the enemy
would stop at one casual airplane. It
was far more likely that he would send
them over at intervals throughout the
day.
And so it happened. Before an
hour was past a second speck appeared
in the sky and again the scene shifting
took place on the blast Of the whistle.
This time the hostile plane was shap-
ing a course that would bring it very
nearly over the battery, and the sentry
watched it with some concern. On it
came, the shrapnel bursting furiOusly
round it, diving and wheeling to dis
concert the gunners' aim. It swept
over the battery, went straight on for a
few minutes, then turned and came
back again. Had it seen anything sus-
picious? The sentry scanned the or
'chard sharply. Everything was in per-
feet order, not even a bully-beef tin |
lay about to betray a sign of human |
occupation; there were no tracks visi-
BILE across the grass; every trifle was
carefully covered up. 1t is on details
like this that the safety of battery
depends. Upon the slightest hint that
anything is hidden in particular spot
the airplane calls up it's guns and
ranges on the place. And ever after
ward one has the uncomfortable feel
ing that one is suspected and that at