Jackson County journal. (Sylva, N.C.) 19??-19??, 1918-09-06
CHAPTER XXVII-Continued.

lot stop to figure it out when he was
hit.
One very nice-loolling, overenthusi-
astic young thing, stopped at my bed
and asked, "What wounded you in the
face?"
In a polite but bored tone l an
swered, "A rifle bullet"
With look of disdain she passed
to the next bed first calculating ooh!
Only bullet? l thought it was q
SHE'LL" Why she should think q shell
wound was more of distinction beats
me. l don't see a whole lot of differ
ence myself.
The American Women's War hospi-
tai was a heaven for wounded men.
They were allowed every privilege DOS
sible conducive with the rules and mill
tary discipline. The only fault was
that the mems passes were restricted.
TO get pass required an act of par
lament. Tommy tried many tricks to
get out, but the commandant, an old
Boer war officer, was wise to them all.
and IT took new and clever ruse to
make him affix his signature to the
coveted slip of paper
AS soon as it would get dark many a
patient climbed over the wall and went
ION his own" regardless of many SIGNS
staring him in the face, "Out of bounds
lor patients. Generally the nurses
were looking the other way when one
or these night raids started. l hope
thls information will get none of them
into trouble, but l cannot resist the
temptation to let the commandant
KNOW that occasionally we put it over
on him.
One afternoon l received note.
through our underground channel, from
my female visitor, asking me to attend
party at her house that night.
answered that she could expect me and
TO meet me at certain place on the
ROAD we'll known by all patients, and
some visitors, as lover the WALL"
told her | would be on hand at seven
thirty.
About SEVENTEEN l sneaked my
overcoat and cap out of the ward and
MD 1t in the bushes. Then l told the
nurse, particular friend of mine. that
was going for a walk in the rose gar
oen. She winked and 1 knew that ev-
erythlng was all right on her end.
Going out of the ward. | slipped into
the bushes and made for the wall. 1t
was dark as pitch and l was cropping
through the underbrush, when sudden
~ stepped into space and felt myself
rushing downward, a horrible bump.
ana blackness. When l came to nv
wounded shoulder was hurting horr-
Oily. | was lying against a circular
wall OF bricks, dripping with moisture,
ana far away | could hear the trickling
Oh water | had In the darkness fallen
Into an old disused well. But why
wasn't l wet? According to all rules
should have been drowned. Perhaps
l was and didn't know it.
AS the shock of my sudden stop
gradually wore off it came to me that
l was lying on ledge and that the
ieast movement on my part would pre-
cipltate me to the bottom of the well.
struck match. In it's faint glare
saw that l was lying in a circular
mole about twelve feet deep-the we'll
had been filled in! The dripping had
heard came from water pipe over on
my right.
with my wounded shoulder it was
impossible to Shiny up the pipe.
could not yell for help because the
rescuer would want to know how the
accident happened, and / would be
nailed before the commandment on
charges. l just had to grin and bear
IT, with the forlorn hope that one of
the returning night raiders would mass
ana could give him our usual signal
OF 'slss-s-s-s," which would bring him
to the rescue
Every half-hour l could hear tha
.iock IN the village strike, each stroke
oinieihs 1orth muffled voley of
curses on the man who had dug the
well. nv
After two hours l heard two men
talking in low voices. I recognized
corporal COOK, an ardent might raid
or. de heard my "siss-s-s-s" and
came to the edge of the hole ox
p.a!heu my predicament and amid lot
OF impertinent remarks, which at the
tne did not resent, was soon fisbed
out
Iaklng Off our boots, we sneaked info
the ward. was sitting on nv bed in
tne uarK, just starting to undress
mnen the man next to me- "Ginger'
rhlllips' whispered, "'Op it, Yank. ere
comes the matron."
immediately got under the covers
ana feigned sleep. The matron stood
taking In low tones to the night nurse
and fell asleep.
When | awoke in the morning the
night sister, an American, was bending
over me. An awful sight met nv ewes
Inc coverlet on the bed and the shoots
were mass of mud and green slime
she was good sport all right and
hustled to get clean clothes and sheets
so that no one would get wise, but "on
her own" she gave me a good toneno
iashing but did not report me. One of