American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1918-08-16

OI lneSe night RAIDS started. L nope
this information will get none of them
into trouble, but 1 cannot resist the
temptation to let the commandant
know that occasionally we put it over
on him.
One afternoon I received a note,
through our underground channel, from
my female visitor, asking me to attend
a party at her house that night. 1
answered that she could expect me and
to meet me at a certain place on the
road well known by all patients, and
some visitors, as lover the wall" l
told her 1 would be on hand at seven
thirty.
About SEVENTEEN I sneaked my
o%vercOat and cap out of the ward and
hid 1t in the bushes. Then 1 told the
nurse, a particular friend Of mine, that
I was going for a walk in the rose gar
den. She winked and 1 knew that ev-
erything was all right on her end.
Going out Of the ward, 1 slipped into
the bushes and made for the wall. 1t
was dark as pitch and 1 was cropping
through the underbrush, when sudden
ly 1 stepped into space and felt myself
rushing downward, a horrible bump,
and blackness. When I came to my
wounded shoulder was hurting horri-
bly,. l was lying against a circular
wall of bricks, dripping with moisture,
and far away / could hear the trickling
of water. 1 had in the darkness fallen
into an old disused well. But why
wasn't 1 wet2 According to all rules
I should have been drowned. Perhaps
1 was and didn't know 1t.
AS the shock of my sudden stop
gradually wore off it came to me that
1 vas lying on a ledge and that the
least movement on my part would pre-
cipitate me to the bottom of the well.
l struck a match. In its faint glare
1 saw that 1 was lying in a circular
hole about twelve feet deep-the well
had been filled in! The dripping 1 had
heard came from a ate pipe over on
my right.
With my wounded shoulder It was
impossible to shiny up the pipe. l
could not yell for help, because the
rescuer would want to know how the
accident happened, and 1 would be
hailed before the c~ommandant on
charges. l just had to grin and bear
it, with the fOrlorn hope that one of
the returning night raiders would pass
and 1 could give him our usual signal
Of "siss-s-s-s," which would bring him
to the rescue.
Every half-hour 1 could hear the
clock in the village strike, each stroke
bringing forth a mufied volley of
curses on the man who had dug the
we'll.
After two hours I heard two men
talking in low voices. L recognized
Corporal Cook, an ardent might raid
err" He heard my "siss-s-s-s' and
came to the edge of the hole. 1 ex-
planned my predicament and amid a lot
of impertinent remarks, which at the
time 1 did not resent, 1 was soon ished
out.
Taking off our boots, we sneaked into
the ward. 1 was sitting on my bed in
the dark, just starting to undress
when the man next to me, "Ginger'
Phillips, whispered, Top it, Yank, ere
comes the matron."
1 Immediately got under the covers
and feigned sleep. The matrOn STOOD
talking in low tones to the night nurse
and l fell asleep.
When 1 awoke in the morning the
: night sister, an American, was bending
over me. An awful sight met my eyes
! The cOverlet on the bed ana the sheet
were a mass of mud and green slime
She was a good sport all right, an'
hustled to get clean clothes and sheet
l so that no one would get wise, but sol
2 her own" she gave me a good tongu
flashing but did not report me. One o
: the Canadians in the ward sescribe'
her as being "a Jake of a good fel
/ low"
! Next visiting day I had an awfu
a time explaining to my visitor why
had not met her at the appointed tim
s and place.
And for a week every time 1 passe
a patient he would call, swell. wei
i here's the Yank. Hope you are fee
ing well, old top"
Inc surgeon IN our Waru was q
i American, a Harvard unit man, name
IS Frost. We nicknamed him SAC
/. Frost" He was loved by all. If
r Tommy was to be cut up he had no oil
20 lection to undergoing the operation
d "Jack Frost" was to WELD the knit
Their confidence in him was patheti
to He was the best sport 1 have yer me
lie One Saturday morning the cOmman,
ant and some high up" officers we
a inspecting the ward, when n of Il
ut patients who had been wounded in Il
as head by a bit of %shrapnel, fell on Il
floor in a fit. They brought him roun
and then looked for the ward order
to carry the patient back to his b'
at the other end of the ward. The q
derby was nowhere to be fOund-lil
u policemen, they never are WHIT
nN- -aN,-- --,~, % n 10