The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1918-03-04

The ground was rough, pitted and sea
from mere bullets to big shells. There
was barbed wire scattered all around
and from some place nearby came the
rafting purr of the machine gun they
had been sent out to find.
Dimly he could distinguish the hall
dozen other men Of the detachment,
Coulon In the lead, standing out 1T
tie way from the rest; and Coulon,
advancing, and peering all about him
for stray sharpshooters who might be
concealed in heavens knows what mud
hole, was bending his elbow regularly
and putting something to his mouth
He was eating d piece Of bread!
Suddenly there was q veer In the
direction Of the sound Of tho machine
gun fire, and Coulon fell face down
ward, and lay perfectly still. A man
came running from the group of which
Coulon had been a part It was Lieu
tenant Lombardin, followed by the
rest Of his men, and, as he passed
Bressac and Janet and Maupeta, he
called out:
Over there, they. are!" Just that.
No dramatfcs about Lombardin. rs
They all ran after him, stumbling
over strands OF half buried barbed
wire and scrambling down into little
declivities, and UP on the other side;
and suddenly. through the mist. they
came in sight OF an old shell crater
which had been supplied with very
carefully concealed Notifications, and
from there three machine guns were
pumping lead at the scattered French
men, with all possible vim. ...
Here they are!" sried Lieutenant
Lombardin triumphantly, and, with his
pistol in his hand, led the way straight
into that murderous fire.
The man next to Bressac drop
ped, as they ran side by side. 1t
was Janet He was Bressac's best
friend. The man just ahead Of
Eressac fell, rose, staggered for
ward, jumped for the crater, and
tumbled over and over down in.
side It.
That was Lombardin. There were
half a, dozen of them rushing togeth-
er right at the edge of the. crater,
when Bressac suddenly ceased to re-
member, to know, to feel, to exist.
When he comes to that point his
brows ,alway, knit; then he closes his
eyes in exhaustion for three or four
minutes. AS soon as his mind has
rested itself, it goes back to him in
the fog with Janet and Maupeta, and
from then on, always including Coulon
eating bread, to the edge Of the era,
ter, where he knows nothing more.
All this is automatic. Bressac has
no interest in it, or in anything else.
A gentle-faced sister came in, NOV.
Ing softly as thistledown. and bent
over him, her wide, stiff black cap
sticking out in the dimness like wings.
Bressac allowed his eyes to remain
shut. He did not want to explain why
he had not eaten his dinner, or how he.
felt. He did not care how he felt
The sister moved out again, as softly
as she had come in, taking his tray
with her. 800 ~
The director came in, a tall, lean
old fellow, with glistening bald head
and q fringe Of white hair, and the
wrinkles Of humor around his eyes.
He too. gazed down at Bressac con.
teinplatively; but he was man who
had inside eyes as we'll as outside eyes
and he had; seen countless Bressacs
since his war began. 81 r.'1
Good evening, Bressac." A very
gentletone, one calculated not to
arouse a sleeper.
No movement. ~
THE doctor says you are getting on
splendidly for SO short a time after
your Operation, Bressac." ~
The doctor says you are getting on
splcndidly for So short q time. after
your operation, Bressac.".
An irrepressible flutter of weari
ness. r
The director smiled, and his eyes
twinkled, and he noiselessly drew up
a Chair and sat before the disinterest.
ed patient.
You're going to recover nicely, the
doctor says. How do you feel?"
The eYelids relaxed. Bressac was
going back to the fog; automatically.
Well have you out In couple of
weeks, Rressac, my moy!"
Would they? No stirring of vitality
in Bressac over that cheerful an
nouncement. ~
He was at that ebb in the struggle
between life and death where it made
no difference to him whether he lived
or not.
Everything was too much trouble.
There was. silence between the two
men for quite little time; then Bres-.
sac's brows contracted, knotted pain
fully, after which exhaustion followed.
He had Just dropped again at the edge
Of the crater. k
The director studied Bressac with
his inside eyes, then he hunted the
doctor in those upper wards where
stup0r and pain and fever held sway
over the rows 81 white cots. s1,T
us II safe 70 move Bressacw ~
When
"TMiSht."
The doctor strOked his beard and
surveyed the director. They had =
great deal Of confidence In each
tothAls 81 SCI i.
mi, ~. hi A slight pause. "Bressac.
Bressac. He needs RNvelsapd ytlliere
and Namotaque and Joisseau and Et-