The Elk Mountain pilot., 1919-04-24

t0o0s - dragged the other chap Into
one Of two holes made BY the shell.
Some plecss o6 the shell had stuck
Into IL dirt In the hole and they were
sttll AoE Also, there was 4 sort a
90 tAsre that hung around for ssv-
senl minutes, but Il wHs not very bad.
The man began talking to me. and
- said It was an hopor to lie on the
asaA u battle with leg shot OF and
dsad nsn Piled an about you, and
some not dad but sToaning. He told
me I would soon b able to hear the
groaning. though I had not said I
minded Il. or anything about Il Then
he said again what an honor Il was
and asked II had q drink for him.
I had not had any water all day, and
/ told him 70, but he kept on asking
for Il an the Same. Some Of the Turk
iah b4mbers must have sneaked up
pretty close to our lines, for when I
looked out Of the hole toward our
lines. and . shell burst near them,
I could zee Turk coming toward n.
We played dead then, but had my
bayonet ready for him In case he had
seen ~ and decided to come up to the
hole. Evidently hs had not. for whom
he got near he hole he stesred 10 the
side and went around.
The other gArby was cheerful when
he was not asking for water, but you
could ~ he was going fast. 30 ~ sat
thsee IN he hole and he died. Shortly
and got out and started toward our
linsA But I rsmsmbsrsd aboat ths
other wounded man I had passed
when I was carrying Philippe YisrrA
% began hunting for him, and aftsr
q long time found him. He was sttll
alivA Alo chest was all BmasAed IN
and hs vas badly cut mp around tie
nsek and shouldsEA / picked him up
and started back, but ran into some
barbed wire and had 10 20 around.
I WAS pretty tired By this time and
awfully thirsty. and I thought u did
not rest little bit could nsvsr make
It. I was % tired and nervous that
I did not care much whether I did
get back OF not, and the wounded
garby was sroaning an the time.
30 when ! thought the shells were
coming pretty thick again I got Into
shau hole and It was the same oos
I had lsft not long befoee. Ths dead
sAFby Was thsre Just ~ bad left him.
TIE wounded one was bleeding IN
ovse, and my clothes were Just soaked
with blood from tie three men, but
most oR all hEom him. There WAS some
Of my own blood On M. too. for Vhsn
I was knocked down b. DE shsn my
nose bled and kept bleeding for long
time. but, q eoWsa.. that was nothing
compared % he bleeding o6 tie
othefA
The WORST q IN was that hs kept
sfoaning for water. and Il made me
thirstasf than I had besn, even. But
there -was nok . drop o6 water any
whseo and knew there was NO u1e
searching any bedies for Aasas. 30
We 3aee had 70 SICK Il out. Pretty
soon the woundsd man quit roanins
and vss quiet, and I knew he was
going 70 de too. Il made me mad TO
think that had not been Of any uss
In eexzying these two men around,
but n had gone On with either Of
them n would have bssn Just he same
they would have died and probably
I would Aave got it, too. When Ag-
ursd Il out this way quit worrying
about it, only I wished The are would
let up.
30 tie oshsr man died. and thsrs
Wsce two of them IN The hole. I read
the numbers On ehelr Identification
disks when shells burst nsar enough
70 that I could - them, and after .
whi13 got hack to our lines and rolled
in. could not remember the num-
bses q the names by that time. but
wosking party got them. along with
oth3A 20 II was IN right
NJ clothes were q msooy - I have
said. and I was % tired I thought I
not sand It In my clothes any longer.
It was absolutely asainst regulations,
but I took or IN my clothes-the
blood had soaked Into the skin-and
wrapped myself IN nothing but cir
and went right 70 deep. did mot
sleep very wen, but woke up svory,
oncs IA Q while and thought was In
the hois again.
During the night they brought up
water. but was aslsep and did not
know 1t. They did not wake me.
but two msn saved BY share
though usually In . case Ike that II
was everybody for himself and let the
last man 60 dry. You could not blame
them, either. - thought It was
pretty decent of thsss two to save my
share for me. I believe they must
have had hard time Keeping the
others o6 Of II. to ~ nothing Of them
selves. for there really was not moro
than enough for one good drink all
around Il tasted better than anything