Omaha daily bee., 1918-05-12

7S75lv suartsred in biIIets thsy awaited the
<4x3 " tAks over the lins from scoss'sh
CHAPTER XIV.
WI sent IN officer and two men
fkeod n the morning to pick the best
i61 10 Railway wood. but they never
x9fuyned, % oil three were killed by :
/ tnhl1l. We started out at 3 In the eve
11ax without knowing exactly where
= we're going.
Gcine DO the road We could see
4a1Is bursting ahead Of 10 in large
ubers. but we hurried, because we
41nfed II over. And we walked right
uto X. was plugging along with
~ otter men, one . mate OF mine
1Sn1ed Higgins, who had been my pal
mi nearly two years, and another
fS1o named Bott, that | thought a
6I6o6 deal of--both OF whom have
1Iroady spoken of--and four strctcher
1oeers that | didn't know by name.
she'll burst right in the middle OF
was thrown down and rolled
16 the ditch and half knocked out.
Ju1t % ] was getting up--shell-
s6of still, for wasn't marked and
&ot badly shaken--another smashed
fh1 same place. saw two Of the
iFefcher bearers who were just get
3fne Is their feet 70 down, and lay
3ov while longer. Then ! got out
MA looked. Poor old Hig had gone
] lesl. smashed to bits. Bott had ar
y 1i cH md both legs smashed and
Ied 10 be dead, The four stretchel
&ore were all dead. Strangel,
&&Sh, afterwards ran across Bot
nxIand. He still had the arm
MI ono leg missing, but he was 9th
] tise abiebodied. So you see 4
n56n takes lot Of killing.
ell, after ! had counted what
cnroosed were the dead ! liz out
I aFooe lots towards where ! could see
n~1&o old tree stumps. ! wanted
exof and wanted it bad. was going
n ~ speed when ! went into an
tfench. i turned upside down
n Ike I pinwheef, hit the water
ffst and started to tfy tc
got my feet under after I
n md my head was still yard ol
6 rom the top and water up TO m,
EInpfta. So / knew II was m Oh
G1F61an trench. No Britishef woult
x1Nk dig 20 deep. ! fshed up tn
n md tried TO climb out.
Gol Too slippery. So / starts,
ounder along the trench. I ha'
4 yflJY rome I little way when raj
4 Il " = nan who covered me with a
Nl1o1natic and called to me to halt.
II WAS my company platoon OF
co He didn't say how he cam
11fe, but | suppose the same way
We got out Of the trench m
4 1n4 what was left OF the company
6he1ls were flying over BY nov
Me plodded along without furthe
16ls until ws found our place il
III front linel Il was q throw
~ the old days Of the"Wipers,
~ the Canadians were living Xix
1|lrnts, Or even to the days OF 1911
cnty village, when our own bal
W Wishing that they were mud tut
<1s However, there was no lic
lNE, because there was an excus
lk thn time.
6uging 1917 the British had bee
ing % pretty last and ther
1A been much chance 70 dir Ia
- ncbody cared. We were on tn
- Berlin.
4 ~ Boche had discarded trenche
y lAis part Of the line, too, but h
III did Il because he had somethin
the pill.boxes. I'll tell abou
- 4 just about minute.
NJ &lMr line was narrow trench abou
e feet deep and two wide, wit
6IlY = thin parapet OF sand bags an
no1nmunicaticn trenches. We tunl
e4 Il and wedged ourselves dow
4 Ho Tie bottom Of this crack in III
1 We were some surprised whe
wefe told that we were not /
eoy this trench, but were to NOV
k Mto some shell holes few yard
was still dark when we too
the holes. From four to eiph
we're assigned to . hole. Ou
<fN we're about like this: "Ther
hole on there with four men /
en yards out. Take your "A
md run for il at the word. A
now. Garry on"
M on we did. The hole
10 the prescribed four men |
M they left without waiting /
the toss or even for iu1l
n<hine gun Are, which was av
~ bullets were cracking an
ling overhead in torrent thu
Tor few seconds now an
but on the whole might
IT, continuous. We had ducke
M h one Of the quiet SPELL
& day broke it was easy to Sc
le men we had relieved ha
\ Such hurry.
80 holes were absolutely ii
eetiterous spots that | evs
he new pill-boxes were e
Ie6 ID > row ct point abo,
M sway, and were raking Il
&ytimc II You stuck fng,
would take the top Of.