Evening star., 1918-08-25
THE WATCHER.
BY MAJ. G. J. g. STREET..

THE chimney rocked In the gale like
ship at anchor Every now and
then the night was swept by squall Of
sleet that blotted out everything from
the Observers eyes. and roared upon
the Corrugated iron above his head.
nearly deafening him. In the. clearer
intervals he could see an occasional
flare from the German trenches. or. far
away below him. the broken outline Of
the factory wall above which he was
perched
The interior of the shaft itself was
utterly dark. 1t needed some practice
to climb up the $50 feet OF them until
ones head touched the floor of the cell
that had been made at the very top.
And even then one had to wlggle through
the hole in the floor and worm ones
way onto the board that served as .
could be removed to form window.
There was just room to sit down. with
the speaking tube that communicated
with the telephonist below at ones ear,
and one's glasses balanced on the ledge
Of the window.
Here sat the Observer. closely muffied
up. but none the less shivering in the
draught that swept up the chimney. Ono
night In four he was condemned to
spend In this narrow cage. and his young
mind rebelled at it. What good could
ne possibly be to anybody up there?
cred until dawn released him from his
vigil, and nothing had ever happened,
he had never Cleaned the smallest item
OF information that could be Of tho
slightest use to anybody. And tonight
ne could not even see the line Of his own
support trenches.
Suddenly O confused noise reached his
ear above the thunder Of the gale. and
he strained his eyes into the night. try
Ing to find its cause. As he looked
toward where he knew the British front
flashes and he could hear the roar Of
many explosions. German trench.
mortar bombs. he told himself What
was happening? A storm of rain and
hall hissed down upon him, hiding ev-
erything. He put his glasses down-they
shielding his eyes with his hands, he
peered out into the night. All at once
q green blur shone through the storm,
to die away and give place to second
blur OF red. 1t was the signal for the
artillery support the Germans were
"Huilo! saunders!" he yelled down
the tube. "call up the battery S. o. 8.
northern sector. Look sharp!"
Very good. sir!" came the voice Of
the telephonist. and in few seconds II
SoHtiHueu: BATTERY acknowledged mes-
sage, SIR
As the last fury of the storm fled
away before the gale the barrage
opened. growing in width as battery
after battery Joined In The German
lines were covered with bright flashes
as the shrapnel rained In upon the
troops collected for the assault. For
ten minutes or SO flares went up from the
American trenches. whose line was
marked by the flicker of rifles and ma
chine guns. Then a single rocket scared
Up into the night.
Cease firing" yelled the observer
through the tube. and as the barrage
died away and everything became quiet
again he felt warm glow Of satisfac-
tion that mastered the chilling breath
OF the night. The artillery had answer
ed the call In wonderfully quick time.
and he himself 1t was who had given the
olarm. The swaying chimney was not
such bad place after all. since 1t gave
one opportunities like this.
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