The Washington herald., 1918-08-04

| for he has been at the front as a
| fighting man from the beginning of
/ the war, with merely brief respites
! for convalescence or for important
service at home. This. Ii his tank
story:
"His majesty's land-ship Hotstuff
was busy rebunkering and refilling
ammunition in a nicely-secluded spot
j under the lee Of a cluster Of Jagged
\ stumps that had once been trees,
while her skipper walked round her
and made a careful examination of
| her skin. He found neither crack,
| dent nor damage to anything deeper
| than the patchwork. All complete,
was reported to him, and he and his
crew proceeded to dine off bully beef,
biscuits and uncooked prunes. The
| meal was interrupted by q motor
cyclist, who had to leave his cycle
| on the roadside and plough on foot
through the sticky mud to the Hot
stuff's anchorage, with a written mes
sage. Chewing a dry prune. the, skip
| per consulted his map and pricked off
a course. The signals dispatch rider
had approached the crew with a deep
desire to improve his knowledge on
the subject of tanks. But the crew
of the Hotstuff, with the warnings Of
hhohtho cOdhCu WI
| marrows, were more battling in their
fullness than the deepest silence
would have been"
Then follows a conversation In
which the crew OF the tank tell In
detail the amazing feats their land
ship has done. The dispatch rider Is
q bit suspicious, but he apparently
swallows 1t all until they begin to
tell him about the experience Of be-
ing towed across the channel. and
| one Of them admits that she makes
"a rotten bad seaboat." He wants TO
know more and one Of them con-
| tinues:
Mind you. we're not designed for
long voyages under our own power.
dunno as ought to be talkin' about
1t. though. It's q little surprise
| we're saVin' up for the Hun when
we gets to the Rhine. Wait till he
secs the tanks swim 1t and walk up
the cliffs on the other sidei be-
lieve we're takin' a turn down across
the river an canal" he went on as
the tank prepared to leave. IF you
follow us you'll most likely see us do
practice swim or two"
The dispatch rider watched the
tank get under way and returned to
his motor-bike wondering whether
he would be the greater fool-in
believing or refusing to believe. AS
he saw her ploughing through the
sticky mud and numbering across a
wide ditch he said to himself. Il
believe she can swim. or stand on
her head. or eat peas of a knife. She
looks human-intelligent enough for
anything"
But the Hotstuff." the author
goes on. "on that particular trip
was to display little enough intelli-
gence. but instead an almost hu-
man perversity. adding nothing to
her battle honors but very much to
her skipper's and crews already
overcrowded vocabulary of strong
language" She developed engine
trouble and the author tells at some
length what happened as she stood
for four hours in a main thorough
fare to the firing line, while her
crew labored with her and passing
cars. lorries, wagons and horses
plastered her with mud. Finally she
pulled out of the quagmire and lum-
bered back home. The next morn
ing. after the crew had spent the
night on her internal troubles, and
had no time to clean up her outside.
the same dispatch rider came with
another message. The author con-
tinues:
The dispatch rider stared at the
tank. Looks as II she wanted her
face washed" he remarked. What
has she been up to? You said she
was going swimming. She doesn't
look much as IL she'd had a bath
lately. His former glib informant
Strengthened a weary back. checked
a tart reply and spoke with an ex-
cellent stimulation OF cheeriness.
Didn't you come an watch us yes
terday. them" he said. well. you
missed a treat-brand-new dodge
our Old Man has invented hisself.
When we got 'er in the canal, we
closed all ports, elevated our peri
scope an new telescope air-toob.
submerged. and sank to the bottom.
And she walked four measured miles
under water along the bottom o. the
canal. That'-and he waved his
hand toward the mud hidden Hot
stuff-"Is where she got all the mud
from" And to this day that dis
patch rider doesn't know whether
his informant told him a gorgeous
truth or a still more gorgeous lie"
Front Lines" by Boyd Cable. E.
p. Dutton, publishers.
The Hive.
Delicate pastels of the beauty of
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THE Hive" by Will Lexington Com
fort. George H. Doran, publishers,
New York. Price $50.
Ten Months In q German Raider.
The account of the master of the
American bark ''Beluga," who sailed
from San Francisco for a two
months trip to Australia, was taken
prisoner, together with his wife and
little daughter, by the German
raider Wolf. was subsequently trans
ferred to, the prize ship Igotz
Mendi. and gained his liberty in
Denmark, after a ten months ex-