Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1919-02-14
JIM-A SOLDIER OF THE
KING

]
British army stationed Somewhere in
France" and had just arrived at our
rest billets, after weary march from
| the front-line sector.
! The stable we had to sleep in was
an old, ramshackle affair, absolutely
overrun with rats, big, black fellows
who used to chew up our leather equip
| ment; eat our rations, and run over
| our bodies at night. German gas had
no effect on these rodents; in fact,
| they seemed to thrive ON it. The floor
| space would comfortably accommodate
about twenty men lying down, but
when thirty-three, including equip
ment, were crowded into it, it was
nearly unbearable.
The roof and walls were full of shell
holes. When it rained a constant drip,
| drip, drip was in order. We were SO
crowded that if fellow was unlucky
enough (and nearly all of us in this
| instance were unlucky) to sleep under
| a hole, ne had to grin and bear it.
1t was, like sleeping beneath shower
bath.
| At one end of the billet, with lad
| der leading up tor it, was a sort of
grain bin, with door in it. This
place was the headquarters of our
| guests, the rats. Many a stormy cab
| met meeting was held there by them.
Many a boot was thrown at it during
| the might to let them know that Tom
my Atkins objected to the matter un-
der discussion. Sometimes one OF
| these missiles would ricochet, and land
| on the upturned countenance of
| snoring Tommy, and for about half
| an hour even the rats would pause in
admiration of his flow of language.
On the night in question we Topped
down in our wet clothes, and were
soon asleep. AS was usual, No. 2 guns
crew were together.
The last time we had rested in this
particular village, it was inhabited by
| civilians, but now it was deserted. An
order had been issued, two days pre-
vious to our arrival, that all civilians
should move farther back of the line.
had been asleep about two hours
when | was awakened by Sailor Bill
shaking me by the shoulder. He was
trembling like leaf, and whispered
to me-:
"Wake up, Yank, this ships haunt
! ed There's someone aloft who's
moaning for the last hour. Sounds
like the wind in the rigging. l amt
scared of humans or Germans, but
| when it comes to messin' in with spir-
its it's time for me to go below. Lend
your ear and cast your headlights on
that grain locker, and listen"
listened sleepily for minute or
SO, but could hear nothing. Coming
| to the conclusion that Sailor Bill was
dreaming things I was again soon
asleep
Perhaps fifteen minutes had elapsed
when / was rudely awakened.
"Yank, for Gods sake, come aboard
and listen! / listened, and sure
enough, right out of that grain bin
overhead came a moaning and Whim-
pering, and then scratching against
| Tic HOOls liSlIi oLOOu VII OAAu.
Blended with the drip, drip of the
rain, and the occasional scurrying of
a rat overhead, that noise had SUI
pernatural sound. / was really fright
ened perhaps my nerves were trifie
unstrung from our recent tour in the
trenches.
awakened Ikey Honey, while Sail
or Bill reused Happy Houghton and
Hungry Foxcroft.
| Hungry's first words were, "What's
! the matter, breakfast ready?"
In as few words as possible we told
them what had happened. By the
lia: candle l had lighted their
faces appeared as white as chalk. Jus.
then the whimpering started again, and
we were frozen with terror. The ten
sion was relieved by keys voice:
Il admit I'm afraid of ghosts, but
that sounds like a dog to me. Who's
| going up the ladder to investigated"
No one volunteered.
I had an old deck of cards in my
pocket. Taking them out, suggested
cutting, the low man to go up the lad
der. They agreed. I was the last to
cut. I got the ace of clubs. Sailor
Bill was stuck with the five of dia-
monds. Upon this, he insisted that it
| should be the best two out of three
cuts, but we overruled him, and he was
unanimously elected for the job.
! With $50 long, mates, I'm going
aloft," he started toward the ladder,
with the candle in his hand, stumbling
over the sleeping forms of many. Sun
dry grunts, means, and curses follow
| ed in his wake.
AS soon as he started to ascend the
ladder a ''tap-tap-tap' could be heard
| from the grain bin. We waited in fear
and trembling the result of his mis-
| sion. Hungry was encouraging him
| with "Cheero, mate, the worst is yet
to Gomez
After many pauses Bill reached the
top of the ladder and opened the door.
| We listened with bated breath. Then