Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-03-23

amused them Tor Il few days, and thon
things came to Il standstll
one OF the boys on my gun claimed
that he could play u tune while the
gun WAS actually firing. and demon
Stratcd this fact one day on the target
,anc" No were very enthusiastic and
decided To become musicians.
After constant practice | became
quite expert in the tune entitled "All
Conductors liavc Big Feet"
When | had mastered this tune. our
two weeks rest came to an end. and
once again We went up the line and
took over the sector in front Of C
", cd.
y, this point the German trenches
ram around the base Of hill, on the
top of which was II dense wood. This
wu1d was infested with machine guns
when used To traverse our lines at will,
ne. sweep tho streets of n little village
where we were bilic,cd while i'm re-
serve.
There Was one gun in particular
which used to get our goats. I, had
the tNH'i range of our "cIcuhant" dug
"ut EN- rance ana cNc"y evening. about
the time rations were btin. hrou,.h,
up. is bullets would knock up the dust
on the road; more than one Tommy
went west or to BliShty by running
into them.
O..
Fritz seemed to know it, because he
never gave us an hours rest Our
reputation as machine Eunners was at
stake; we tried various ruses to locate
and put this gun out of action. but
"hch on" proved TO he Il failure. and
Fritz became IL worse nuisance than
ever lie was getting frcsher and more
careless every day. took all kinds OF
liberties. with us-though he was in
vinciblc.
Then ono OF our crew got a brilliant
idea and we we're all enthusiasts to
put IL TO the test.
Here was his scheme:
When firing my gun was TO play
my tune, and Fritz no doubt. would
ial! Tor ii, try to initiate me as an add
ed insult. This gunner and two others
would try. By the sound TO locate Fritz
ana MS gun. After having got the To-
cation, they would mount two machine
guns in trees. in little clurnp OF
woods. 10 the left of our cemetery. and
while Fritz was in the middle Of his
lesson. would open up and trust TO luck
hF our calculations. Ii would take a,
least week to pull off tho stunt
II Fri,. refused to swallow our bait.
II would be impossible TO locate his
Specia! gun. and that's tho one we were
fer because they all sound alike. a
low pup-pup pup.
our prestige was hanging by n
thread. In the battalion we had 10 en-
durc all kinds OF insults and fresh re-
marks as 10 our ability in silencinc
frit-. Even TO the battalion that Ger
man gun WAS sore spot.
Next day. Fritz opened up as usual
J lot him fire away for Il while and
then buttcd in with my "pup-pup pup
pun -pup-pup." kent this up quite a
while. used two belts OF ammunition
Fritz had stopped firing TO listen Then
ne started in; sure enough. he had fall
lie" Tor our game. his gun was trying
10 initiate mine, but. at first he made "A
horrible mess of that tune. Again /
huttcd in with a few bars and stopped
TAcn he tried TO copy what | had
played. He was a good sport all right
because hts bullets were going away
over our heads. must have been firing
into the air. commenced TO feel
friendly toward him.
This duct went on for five DAYS.
Fritz was good pupil and learned
rapidly. IN fact. got better than his
teacher. commenced to feel jealous
hen ne had completely mastered the
'"Hc. hc started sweeping the road
again and We clicked IL worse than
ever. But he signed his death war
ship turned 10 hate. Every time he
hred he played that tune and we
danced.
The boys in tho battalion gave us
the Tia la" They weren't in on our
little framc-up.
The originator OF the rusc and tho
other Tvs" eunners had IritZ's location
iapcd to the minute; thcy mounted
thcir two guns. and also gave me the
range The next afternoon was Sc: for
the grand finale.
our three guns. with different Gle
rations. had their fire 80 arranged
that. opening up together. their bullets
would suddenly drop on FRITZ like =.
htilstorn.
GRO BE Continued To Morrow)