The Jasper news., 1918-08-22

l
the leg and one had had big strip Of
his scalp torn off. There was not
sound man In the bunch. You can
imagine what their cargo was like, If
the convoy was as used up as these
chaps. But all who could were sing
Ing and talking and full of pep. That
Is the French for you: they used no
more men than they could possibly
spare to take care of the wounded, but
they were all cheerful about it
always.
Just after / passed this ambulance
the Germans began Smelling q section
of the road too near me to be comfort
able, so I beat 1t to a shell crater
about twenty yards off the road, to the
rear shrapnel shell exploded pretty
near me just as 1 jumped into this
hole-1 did not look around to see how
close 1t was-and 1 remember now
how the old minstrel joke had heard
on board ship came to my mind at the
time-something about fellow feel
Ing so small he climbed into hole
and pulled 1t after him-and wished
l might do the same. I flattened my
self as close against the wall of the
crater as I could and then I noticed
that somebody had made a dugout in
the other wall of the crater and
started for 1t.
The shells were exploding SO fast
by that time that you could not listen
for each explosion separately, and just
as / jumped into the dugout a regular
hail of shrapnel fell on the spot had
just passed. 1t was pretty dark In
the dugout and the first move l made
bumped into somebody else and he
let out yell that you could have
heard mile. 1t was a Tommy who
had been wounded in the hand and
between curses he told me had sat
right on his wound when moved. l
asked him why he did not yell sooner,
but he only swore more. He surely
was a great cusser.
The bombardment slackened up q
bit about this time, and l thought !
would have look around. I did not
get out of the crater entirely, but
moved around out Of the dugout until
1 could see the road l had been on
| lhC hlSl lhlDB buW was uIOhSu-
down wagon that had just been hit
in fact, 1t was topping over when my
eye caught it. The driver jumped
| from his seat and while he was in the
air his head was torn completely from
his shoulders by another she'll de
not know what kind. This was enough
for me, so back to the dugout.
How, did do M,
know, but they had found out about
that road and opened fire at exactly
the moment when the road was GOV
cred with wagons and men. Yet there
had not been q balloon or airplane IL
the sky for some time.
After while the bombardmen
moved away to the east, from which
direction had come, and knew oul
batteries were getting 1t. The Tommy
!. and l came out of the dugout. AS
,, started climbing up the muddy side!
saw there was a man standing a
= the edge of 1t, and could tell by hi
puttees that he was a Limey. l wal
having a hard job, Of 1t, so withou
looking up hailed him.
lHht was sure SOiue Sneflluk
,, wasn't It'll" / said. There's q la(
: down here with wounded fin; bette
!. give him a hand"
! "What Smelling do you mean," say
the legs, without moving, "There'
been none In this sector for som,
= time, I think"
The Tommy was right at my hee
by this time, and he let out strinl
of language. was surprised, too. ant
!, still scrambling around In the mud.
q Then the Tommy let "Gawd ell
us |" and looked up and saw that tn
. legs belonged to Llmey officer,
: major, 1 think. And here we had beel
cussing the eyes Off Of himl
q But he sized 1t up rightly and CAV
!. us hand, and only laughed when W
q tried to explain. / got ratified ant
: told him that all saw was his leg
2 and that they did not look like an Off
> GERS legs, which might have made 1
: worse, only he was good-natured abou
= it, Then he said that ne had beef