The citizen., 1918-05-30

told a rookie that the trench rats
were so big that he saw one Of them
trying on his greatcoat. They used to
run over our faces when we were
sleeping In our dugouts. and I've seen
them In ravenous swarms burrowing
into the shallow graves of the dead.
Most Of the soldiers legs are SCARED
to the knees with bites.
The one thing OF which we constant
ly lived In fear was a gas attack.
used to wake In the middle Of the
night In cold sweat dreaming that
heard the clatter and whistle blowing
all along the line, which meant that
the gas was coming And finally I
really did hear the terrifying sound,
Just at a moment when II couldn't
have sounded worse. was In charge
of the daily ration detail. sent back
about ten miles to the point OF near
est approach Of the transport iorries
to carry In rations, ammunition and
sand bags to the front trenches. We
had lot of trouble returning with our
loads. Passing point which was
called Shrapnel Corner, because the
Germans had precise range of It, we
were caught In machine gun fire and
had to lie on our stomachs for 20 min
utes, during which we lost one man,
wounded. I sent him back and went
on with my party. only to run into
another machine gun shower a half
mile farther on. While we were lying
down to escape this, u concealed Brit
ish battery OF five-inch guns. about
which we knew nothing, opened up
right over our heads. II shook US up
and scared US so that some Of our
party were now worse of than the
man who haS been hit and carried to
the rear. We finally got together and
went on. When we were about mile
behind the reserve trench. stumbling
In the lark through the last and most
dangerous path overland. we heard a
lone siren whistle, followed by a wave
of metallic hammering and wild toot-
Ing which seemed to spread over all
of Belgium a mile ahead Of US. All
any of us could say was:
"Gasr
All you could see In the dark was
collection of white and frightened
faces. Every trembling finger seemed
awkward as a thumb as we got out
our gas masks and helmets and put
them on, following directions as nearly
as we could. l ordered the men to sit
still and sent two forward to notify
alarm was over. They lost their way
and were not found for two days. We
sat there for an hour, and then l ven
tured to take my mask of. As nothing
happened. I ordered the men to do the
same. When We got In the trenches
with our packs we found that the gas
alarm had been one of Fritz's jokes.
The first sirens had been sounded In
the German lines. and there hadn't
been any gas.
Our men evened things up with the
Germans, however. the next night.
Some OF our scouts crawled clear up
to the German barbed wire, ten yards
In front of the enemy fire trench. tied
empty jam tins to the barricade and
then, after attaching small telephone
wires TO the barbed strands. crawled
back to our trenches. When they start
ed pulling the telephone wires the
empty tins made a clatter right under
Fritz's nose. Immediately the Ger
mans opened up with all their ma
chine gun and rifle fire, began bomb
Ing the spot from which the noise
came and sent up as o s" signals for
artillery fire along mile Of their line.
They fired a $4,000 salute and lost a
nights sleep over the noise made by
the discarded containers of five shil-
llngs' worth of jam. 1t was good
tonic for the Tommies.
The Prince Of Wales.
A few days after this very young
officer passed me In "a trench while i
was sitting on IA fire step writing
letter. l noticed that he had the red
tabs OF STAFF officer on his uniform,
but paid no more attention to him
than that. No compliments, such as
salutes to officers. are paid In the
trenches. After he had passed one of
the men asked me II l didn't know
who he was. l said didn't.
"Why, you d fool" he said,
"that's the Prince of Walesl"
When the little prince came back
stood TO salute him. He returned the
salute with u grave smile and passed
on. He was quite alone, and l was
told afterward that he made these
trips through the trenches just TO show
the men that he did not consider him
self better than any other soldier. The
heir of England was certainly taking
nearly the same chance OF losing his
inheritance that we were.
After we had been on the front line
Is days we received orders to make a
bombing raid. Sixty volunteers were
asked for. and the whole battalion Of
fered. l was lucky-or unlucky-
enough to be among the 60 who were
H.