The Benson signal., 1918-09-21


and asked, "What wounded you in the
face?"
In a polite but bored tone / an
swered, "a rifle bullet
With a look of disdain she passed
TO the next bed first calculating, ooh!
Only a bullet? l thought it was a
shell.7 Why she should think shell
wound was more of a distinction beats
me. | don't see whole lot of differ
ence layseIf
The American Women's War hospi-
tai was a heaven for wounded men.
They were allowed every privilege pos
sible conducive with the rules and mill
tary discipline The only fault Was
that the mems passes were restricted.
TO get pass required an act of par
liament. Tommy tried many tricks to
get out, but the commandment, an old
Boer war officer, was wise to them all,
and it took new and clever ruse to
make him affix his signature to the
coveted slip of paper
AS soon as it would get dark many
patient climbed over the wall and went
''on his own" regardless of many signs
staring him in the face. "Out of bounds
for patients" Generally the nurses
were looking the other way when one
Of these night raids started. / hope
this information will get none of them
into trouble, but | cannot resist the
temptation to let the commandant
know that occasionally we put it over
on him.
One afternoon | received note,
through our underground channel, from
my female visitor, asking me to attend
a party at her house that night /
answered that she could expect me and
to meet me ct certain place on the
road we'll known by all patients, and
some visitors, as lover the WALL"
told her would be on hand at seven
thirty.
About SEVENTEEN / sneaked my
overcoat and cap out of the ward and
hid it in the bushes. Then told the
nurse, particular friend of mine, that
was going for a walk in the rose gar
den. She winked and knew that ev-
erything was all right on her end.
Going out of the ward slipped into
the bushes and made for the wall. 1t
was dark as pitch and I was cropping
through the underbrush, when sudden
ly stepped into space and felt myself
rushing downward, horrible bump.
and blackness. When I came to my
wounded shoulder was hurting horri-
bly,. / was lying against circular
wall of bricks, dripping with moisture,
and far away could hear the trickling
of water. had in the darkness fallen
into an old disused well. But why
wasn't I wet? According to all rules
/ should have been drowned. Perhaps
was and didn't know it.
AS the shock of my sudden stop
gradually wore off it came to me that
/ was lying on ledge and that the
least movement on my part would pre-
cipitate me to the bottom of the well.
l struck a match. In it's faint glare
I saw that l was lying in circular
hole about twelve feet deep-the well
had been filled in! The dripping had
heard came from water pipe over on
my right.
With my wounded shoulder it was
impossible to shiny up the pipe. /
could not yell for help, because the
rescuer would want to know how the
accident happened, and I would be
hailed before the commandant on
charges. just had to grin and bear
1t, with the forlorn hope that one of
the returning night raiders would pass
and could give him our usual signal
of "sisS-s-s-s," which would bring him
to the rescue.
Every ahalf-hour I could hear the
clock in the village strike, each stroke
bringing forth a muffled volley Of
curses on the man who had dug the
well.
After two hours heard two men
talking in low voices. / recognized
Corporal Cook, an ardent might raid
err" He heard my "siss-s-s-s" and
came to the edge of the hole. l ex-
planned my predicament and amid a lot
of impertinent remarks, which at the
time did not resent, was soon fished
out.
Taking off our boots, we sneaked into
the ward. / was sitting on my bed in
the dark, just starting to undress,
when the man next to me, "Ginger"
Phillips, whispered cop it, Yank, ere
comes the matrOn."
l Immediately got under the covers
and feigned sleep. The matron stood
talking in low tones to the night nurse
and fell asleep.
When l awOke in the morning the
night sister, an American, was bending
over me- An awful sight met my eyes.
The cOverlet On the bed and the sheets
were u mass of mud and green slime.
She was a good sport all right, and
hustled to get clean clothes and sheets
so that no one would get wise, but ION
her own she gave me a good tongue
flashing but did not report me. One Of
the Canadians in the ward described
her as being "a Jake of good fell
low"
Next visiting day I had an awful