Evening star., 1918-04-16
Fright Through Middle of It."


Inside the pink house the officer in
command received US with a grin. The
humorous feature Of the situation laid
in the fact that we had come up the
railroad. every inch Of the road being
under close observation by the boche.
HIS aid said we had come right
through the middle of 1T" His aid. by
the way. used to do city hall in New
York for ar evening paper. and sent
New York Globe. He said that Bill
was a good old scout. Bills merits did
not appeal to us as worthy Of discus
They're not wasting shells on few
men on the railroad" said the officer
in command. "They need all those
shells to lam our batteries with"
table in bare room. There were no
chairs in the room. for men only en-
tered there to report and to get or
ders. Now and then telephone buzzed
a pad of blank paper and sheaf Of
reports on the table. The windows
jumped continually to the hammering
'.If you go upstairs" said the ofncer
in comma nd. you can get some idea Of
the lay of the land"
Tho house was three-story one
| which had once been occupied By. a
well-to-do French family. Now the
| rooms were bare and dusty with that
| suggestion Of straw and desertion
which follows moving day. In some OF
| the rooms blankets had been spread on
straw pallets. where these boys from
the farming country slept at night
| From the upstairs windows we looked
German lines. From the rear &in-
| dows we gazed into an orchard that
struggled over warm hill. Ameri.
can guns were so plainly visible In 1t
4 that we could pick them out without
the aid Of glasses.
German Trench 800 Yards Away.
"our lines are three hundred yard.
! farther on" said the aid. lust beyond
the edge Of the village"
| The American wire was easily to be
seen. Three hundred yards farther on
was the first German wire. Even In
| the melting haze of the afternoon IT
| could be distinguished. dark line
| farther back was the German hre
trench A tongue Of @ thin nj woo WOODLAND; naars
| of war, thrust down the bare hill to-
| ward us. That was the German salient
that was to be Strengthened out.
I'VE are to cut of the salient at
American troops are to make each at
tack Jointly, the Americans in the CEN
ter while the French bring up the
tanks. Then we will break through
up. clean up whatever is in the salient,
| and come away.
A time Of comparative inaction fol-
| lowed, SO far as the spectators were
concerned. We sat about in the pink
| house and watched the progress Of af-
fairs. Orderlies came in to report the
| various events as they declared them
selves. The gunfire grew continually
louder. The nearest American battery
was not three hundred yards In oul
rear. AS we watched it-for we could
see the outlines Of the guns under the
thin screen of branches-shells broke
in 1t. One gun was put out Of action
There was. continuous scream Of
shells over our roof. Everywhere, Il
seemed. machine guns were busily ham
mering away. They were annoying thu
German by indirect nre.
"Time to CO." some one said. IL yor
want to see 'em go over"
Yes; He Had Been in Dubuque.
We walked up the single street Of ths
village. keeping close to the walls BY
order, feeling sinsularly naked ana un
clothed. French and American soldieri
4 | grouped In doorways watched Us curl
ously. Our guide only spoke to Us once
Then he nung q question at me:
L YES" said. It did not seem Z TIM
to discuss Dubuque. He said no more
We came to . turn in the street, mark
cd by fresh she'll hole. Just beyond IL
house that had just bean s1nashsd IN d
: big sAeil We cltznbeA 3 uttls sRsvelll
road between two walls untn we cam
bThsn - 2olloEAA nux Gn1dA Wakall