The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1918-05-02

door, he stuck his thumb to his nose
and left.
"Then the sergeant majors turn
came. He didn't come out our way.
Judging by the roaring, Old Pepper
must have eaten him.
"When the door opened and the gen.
eral beckoned to me, my knees started
to play Home, Sweet Home against
each other.
my interview was very short.
cold Pepper glared az me when /
entered, and then let loose.
"tOf course you don't know anything
about it. You're just like the rest
Ought to have a nursing bottle around
your neck and a nipple in -FOUR teeth.
Soldiers-by CAD, you turn my stom-
ach to look at you. Win this war,
when England sends out such samples
as l have in my brigadel Not likely
Now, sir, tell me what you Gon't know
about this affair. Speak up, out with
it. Don't be gaping at me like a fish.
Spit it out
81 stammered, sir, / know absolute
ly nothing
"'That's easy to see,' he roared
that stupid face tells me that. Shut
up. Get out; but 1 think you are a
ID liar just the same. Back to
your battery
81 saluted and made my exit.
'"That night the captain sent for US.
With fear and trembling we went to
his dugout. He was alone. After sa-
luting we stood at attention in front
of him and waited. His say was short.
Don't you two ever get it into your
heads that Morse Is a dead language.
I've known it for years. The two of
you had better get rid of that nervous
habit of tapping transmitters it's dan
gerous. That's ALL
"We saluted, and were just going out
the door of the dugout when the cap
tain called up back and said:
Smoke Goldfiakes? Yes? Well,
there are two tins of them on my table.
Go back to the battery, and keep your
tongues between your teeth. Under
standT
"We understood.
For five weeks afterwards our bat
terry did nothing but extra fatigues.
We were satisfied and so were the
men. 1t was worth 1t to put one over
on Old Pepper, to say nothing of the
injury caused to Fritz feelings"
When Wilson had finished his story
/ looked up and the dugout was
jammed. An artillery captain and two
officers had also entered and stayed
for the finish. Wilson spat out an
enormous quid of tobacco, looked up,
saw the captain, and got as red as a
%carnation. The captain smiled and
left. Wilson whispered to me:
"Blime me, Yank. / see where | click
for c%ruciixion. That captain is the
same one that chucked us Goldflakes
in his dugout and here l have been
'chueking me weight about in his
hearing"
Wilson clicked his cruciixion.
Quite a contrast to Wilson was an
other character in our brigade named
Scott we called him "Old Scotty'' on
account of his age. He was fifty-seven,
NAAAA0hS1 AOOhlnS IbA ~ Oil DLOLlN
had been born in the Northwest and
had served in the Northwest Mounted
police. He was a typical cowpuncher
and Indian fighter and was a dead shot
with the rifle, and took no pains to
disguise this fact from us. He used to
take care of his rifle as if it were a
baby. In his spare moments you could
/ afxe~av~ can ASvo .,Ta,~4,- - --T41I
ing the stock. Wee betide the man
who by mistake happened to get hold
of this rife; he soon found out his
error. Scott was as deaf as a mule,
and it was amusing at parade to watch
him in the manual of arms, slyly
glancing out of the corner of his eye
at the man next to him to see what
the order was. How he passed the
doctor was a mystery to us; he must
have bluffed his way through, because
he certainly was Independent. Beside
him the Fourth of July looked like
Good Friday. He wore at the time a
large sombrero, had a Mexican stock
saddle over his shoulder, a lariat ON
his arm, and a "fOrty-five" hanging
from his hip. Dumping this ~parapher-
MALTA on the floor he went up to the
recruiting officer and shouted "Tm
from America, west of the Rockies.
and wan to join your ID army.
I've got 10 use for a German and can
shoot some. At Scotland Yard they
turned me down said l was deaf and
so am. / don't banker to ship in with
a ID underwriting outfit, but the
cavalry's full, so | guess this regi-
ment's better than none, so trot out
your papers and I'll sign EN-" He told
them he was forty and slipped by. l
was on recruiting service at the time
he applied for enlistment.
1t was Old Scotty's great ambition
to be q sniper or 'body snatcher," as
Mr.. Atkins calls it. The day that he
was detailed as brigade sniper he cele-
DRAFTED his appointment by blowing the
whole pIafoan ~ favS