Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1918-03-15

One OF the BIZ
two minutes the officer reappeared.
The sweat was pouring from his fore
head and his face was the color OF
beet. He was speechlcss, As he
passed the captain he jerked his thumb
in the direction Of the lions den and
went out. Then the captain went In,
and the lions were once again fed.
The captain stayed about twenty min
utes and came out. couldn't see his
face but the droop In his shoulders
was enough. He looked like wet hen
"The door Of the generals room
opened and Old Pepper stood In the
doorway. With roar he shouted;
"Whch one of you is CuSsell?
Dbl me, get your heels together
when speak Come in here"
"CasSell started to say, Yes SIR
"But Old Pepper roared, Shut up
"Cassell came out In five minutes.
He said nothing, but as he passed me
he put his tongue into his cheek and
wnked, then, turning TO the closed
door, he stuck his thumb to his nose
and left.
"Then the sergeant majors turn
came. He didn't come out our way.
Judging by the roaring, Old Pepper
must have eaten him.
"When the door opened md the gem
eral beckoned to me, my knees started
to play Home, Sweet Home against
each other.
"My interview was very short
"Old Pepper glurcd mt me when ]
entered, and then let loose
"'Of course YOU don't know anything
about it. You're just like the rest
Ought to have nursing bottle around
your neck and nipple in your teeth
SoldicrS-by cad, you turn my Stom-
ach to look at you. Win this war,
when England sends out such samples
as | have in my brigade Not likely!
Now, sir, tell me what you don't know
about this affair. Speak up, out with
it. Don't be gaping at me like fish.
Spit it out
81 stammered, Sir, | know absolute
ly nothing
"That'S easy to see, he rOarcd;
that stupid face tells me that, shut
up. Get out; but | think you are Il
ID liar just the same Back to
your battery
81 Salutcd and made my exit.
"That night the captain sent for us.
With fear and trembling we went to
his duCout He was alone, After sa-
luting we stood ut attention in front
of him and waited. His say was short.
"'Don't you two ever get 1t into your
heads that Morse is dead language.
I've known it for years The two of
you had better get rid of that nervous
habit of tapping transmitters; it's dan
gerouS. That's ALL
eve saluted, and were just going out
the door of the dugOut when the cap
tain called up back and said:
"'Smoke Goldhakes? Yes2 Well,
there are two tins of them on my table.
Go back to the battery and keep your
tongues between your teeth. Under
standY
"We understood.
"FOr five weeks afterwards our bat
terry did nothing but extra fatlgues.
We were satisfied and so were the
men. 1t was worth it to put one over
on Old Pepper, to say nothing of the
injury caused to Fritz feelings"
When Wilson had finished his story
/ looked up and the dugout was
jammed An artillery captain and two
officers had also entered and stayed
for the finish. Wilson spat out an
enormous quld Of tobacco, looked up,
saw the captain, and got as red as a
carnatiOn. The captain smiled and
left. Wilson whispered to me:
"Bllme me, Yank, see where click
for cruclfxion. That captain is the
same one that chucked us Goldfakes
in his dugout and here I have been
'chucking me weight about in his
hearlSg.'"
Wilson never clicked his crucIfxion.
Quite a contrast to Wilson was an
other character In our brigade named
Scott; we called him "Old Scotty" on
account of his age. He was fifty-seven,
although looking forty. "Old Scotty"
had been born in the Northwest and
had served In the Northwest Mounted
police. He was typical cowpuncher
and Indian fighter and was dead shot
with the rifle, and took no pains to
disguise this fact from us. He used to
take care of his rifle as If 1t were
baby. In his spare moments you could
always see him cleaning it or polish
ing the stock. Woe betide the man
who by mistake happened to get hold
of this rife; he soon found out his
prror Nvoc Hnof nc N Y,nttIn