The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1918-10-01
TELLS OF Wild MOTOR RIDE OVER
ROAD SWEPT BY HUN ARTILLERY
Writer Uses His Cap as a Shock Absorber for Knocking Knees
bitches Become Unbefevaby Popular and a Sx-Foot Man Is
Perfectly Able to Conceal Himself in a Sxinch Ditch
Makes Record Time Getting Into Trenches.

ters. OF course we were knocking
splinters off our teeth with the chat
tering wesfelt IL our duty to do; we
were a trifie pale, say as pale as fresh
snow. Aside from this with our
hearts beating so they sounded like a
dilapidated cannon engine, with our
hair standing out like spines on an an
cry ~porcupine, u appearance and
bearing were normal.
"Going Back7" "Sure."
With nonchalance we filed our tom
neau with supplies.
"Going back?' somebody asked.
The driver looked at me and l looked
at the driver.
"BackT" said he.
"Oh, he means back" I said easily.
"You understand back. That way"
They're Smelling the road" said the
manager of the warehouse.
Indeed" said 1. Smelling? Why,
we hadn't noticed 1t. Regular shells?
We just come down the road. 1t was
peaceful-peaceful as a-cow pas.
ture."
$50 you're going right back. eh?"
Sure" said the driver, standing
with his legs far apart so his knees
couldn't hit.
"Of course" said /, hanging onto
the seams Of my pants for the same
reason.
"Get in" said he.
/ never saw a car so difficult to
mount, so high to climb, but / got
here. The driver cranked 1T and we
started away with gay, n%onchalant
waves of the hand.
We had to climb a hill. / suggested
that maybe the engine needed a little
tinkering before we tried it, but the
driver thought not. / could have
would have held us there a week. But
we went on.
All of a sudden the air filled up with
the holler of a shell. 1t busted yehe-
mently, but l didn't see it. / was where
/ couldn't see, with my head down
among the control levers. A few
pieces of roof and debris settled on
my back. but I was not annoyed. The
more that settled there the better /
would be protected.
'Shall we go or 2" the driver asked.
I'm just a passenger" said / with
steady courage. ~ can't jump out
while you are moving-at this rate,
anyhow"
Knew 1t Was a Roof.
Another shell landed, this time on
the roof at our very elbow Sc to speak.
/ didn't have time to Join the levers
again, so / saw 1t. 1t landed on a roof.
because / saw the roof just before it
landed. / will never see that roof
again. Our acquaintance was brief.
AS / looked the roof moved away
from there hastily. 1t sought divers
destinations, many of which were in,
at or around us. Tiles and plaster and
dust filled the air.
Mister" said /, "step on her. She's
standing still"
"We're doing sixty an hour IL we're
doing an inch" he said.
1t was not true. l can prove 1t. 1t
Z NOOh US L. ulAAubCcS aNNhuA NodAhf "
pass a tree. Afterwards the driver
told me 1t wasn't a tree, but a woods
several kilometers long, but he was
mistaken. / know a single tree when
l see it, and I counted that tree again
and again.
II hope" / said, "that the soldiers
get this tobacco. / hope they get ii
soon. Let's see. they're In dugouts,
aren't they? You don't need to bother
about taking it to them. I'll do that.
l haven't chatted with these boys for
quite a while, and much as l dislike
the closeness Of a dugout l think ]
can sacrifice myself today and stay
down with them a little while. BY the
way, it's a dugout with a thick roof,
isn't it?"
Mister" said he gravely, "the man
that gifts into that dugout first is the
fastest runner in the A. K. Fly. M. G,
A."
Which was true. / am the champion
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