The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1918-10-10
25 trucks at a time. y

a while. Oh, yes, they all volunteered.
They had only worked 60 hours with
out sleep, and the next trip only
meant "a hours more, also without
sleep, on roads that were being she'll
ed. So they wanted to fight for the
privilege of going. Captain Wesley
and Sergeant Willie had to use their
authority.
Where Suspicious Were Aroused.
Here enters the outcast chauffeur.
Back in the rest area, where Supply
Train No. 1O7 only get shelled once
in a while, the soft job was torun the
shop track. Men hunted soft jobs
shamelessly: The, man at the shop
truck "laid in" comfortable every
night on a bed rigged in the rear of
the truck among the tools and lathes
and vises. All he had to do was work
all day. Even that was not over hard
for him, because I suspect
Mind you, this is not mere suspic-
ion. But it isn't nature that man
can take 100 big chain drive trucks
and keep them all running, like Cap
tain Wesley has, over roads that look
like contour maps of the Little Mis-
souri, valley, and in the midst Of war.
Even H. @. would not believe it. When
Captain Wesley reported that Sup
ply Train 107, alone among the sup
ply trains in France, had every car
it began life with, H. Q. simply re-
fused to believe. It checked up Cap
tain Wesley and went away wonder
ing. -.
H. @. is too busy to waste. time in
conjecture. But I suspect, it being a
part of my business in life to sus-
pect, that the chauffeur of any other
supply trains who happens to break
down on the road near Supply Tain
No. 107 had best stick. to his car.
That is more suspicion, you under
stand. But it is certainly fact that
Captain Wesley never seems to lack
spare parts, no matter what hap
pens. He said something kind of
confrmatory of this suspicion the
other day, too. .s
"I\ used to run an auto repair
shop in little town, in Wisconsin"
said he. -
So it was the snap job of the outfit
to run the shop truck The price of
the Job fuctuated more or less, &C
cording to conditions, but . it was
always strongly held, as Wall Street
would say. Of course, if the shop
truck man struck an unusual number
of threes of a kind when somebody
managed to make dushes the price
might go down. Once the shop truck
driver got a boche pistol as boot
when he swapped jobs and another
got eight dollars.
Same old job, here in Chateau
Thierry. Same old snap. Nothing to
do but tinker around the car a little
and help the mechanic in his repairs
and watch for rain. All the other
drivers take their turn driving up
those delectable roads toward the
front where the shells fall every lit
tie while. Two or three of the
trucks have already been hit, but
not hard enough so that Captain
Wesley's patented system will not
save them. The other drivers do
not meet with any gratitude when
they get up to the front, either. On
the other hand, they get the sourest
of sour words.
He Hates His Job Now.
"Why didn't you get here yester-
day." they were asked. eve wish
to Croesus this mans army would
get somebody that knows how to
drive track"
That locks like a fine job, back in
Chateau-Thierry, doesn't it? Moth
ing to do but loaf around the shop
truck and put in a little gas now and
then and maybe hit something with
a hammer. But the driver of the
shop truck-who gave So for the job
back in a quiet and lovely sector
is an outcast. He glowers at people
and goes to the shadow Of his truck
with his mess tin to eat, precisely
as a surly dog crawls backward into
his kennel. The other fellows will
hardly speak to him.
what does he hold his job at
now?" 1 asked Captain Wesley.
HELL" said the captain. He'd
give a moath's pay to get rid of it.
He has made that offer. But not
one of the other fellows will take
him up. They would not have that
shop truck job now at any price"