The Elk Mountain pilot., 1919-03-06

erred 10 the land forces and sent to
11perleneo In . front line trench at
drawn back and forth on the track By
little Belgian engines.
After I had been at my gun for sev-
eral days I was ordered back to my
regiment which was again In the
front-line trenches. Ny course was
past both the British and French lines
but quite Q distance behind the front
linea.
Bverywhefe there were ambulance0
and wagons going backward and for
ward. I met one French ambulance
that was q long wagon full Of poilus
from Q deld hospital near the firing
line and Was driven by q man whose
left arm was bandaged 10 the shoul-
der Two poilus who sat In the rear
on guard had each been wounded In
he leg and one had had q big strip Of
his scalp torn Oh. There was not =
sound man In the bunch. You can
imagine what their cargo was IKE, II
the convoy was ~ used up - these
chapa But all who could were sdng-
ing and talking and full Of pep. That
u the French for you: thsy used NO
more men than they could possibly
spars to take care Of the wounded. but
they were an, cheerful about it
always.
Just after I passed this ambulance
the Germans began Smelling q section
Of the road too near me 70 bs comfort
able. 20 I beat It to Q shell crater
about twenty yards OF the road, to the
rear. A shrapnel shell exploded pretty
near mo Just a. I Jumped Into this
hole-I did not look around to sec how
close It was-and I remember now
how the old minstrel Joke had heard
on board ship came to my mind at the
ums-something about . fellow feel
ing 20 small he climbed Into q hole
and pulled It after him-and wished
I might DO the same. I nattened my
self ~ close against The wall Of the
crater - I could and then I notced
that somebody had made q dusout In
the other wall Of the crater and I
started for II.
The shells were exploding % fast
BY that time that you could not listen
fer each sxplosion separately. and just
- Jumped into the dugout q regular
han Of shrapoel fell on the spot I had
just passed. II was pretty dark In
the dugout and the 6rst move ! made
bumped into somebody else and he
N>A n,,1 . .>In >h~A wA,, rn,,1H havA
heard Q mile. II was Tommy who
had bseo wounded In the hand and
between curses he told mo had sat
right on his wound when moved. I
asked him why he did not yell sooner.
but hs only swore moro. He surely
was q great cussef.
The bombardment slicksned up q
bit about this time. and thought I
would have q look around. I did not
gst out Of the crater entirely, but
moved around out Of the dugout until
I could SEQ the road I had been on.
The Afst thing I saw was Q broken
down wagon that had Just been hit
IN faet, Il was topping over when my
eye caught It Tho driver Jumped
from his ssat and while he was In the
air his head was torn completely from
his shoulders By another shell-I do
not know what kind. This was enough
for me, % hack 10 the dugout
How the Germans did It I DO not
know, but they had found out about
that road and opened nrs at exaetly
the moment when the road was GOV.
cred with wagons and men. Yet there
had not been q balloon or airplans In
the sly for some time.
Aftsr Q while the bombardment
moved away to the east, from which
direction had come, and knew our
batteries were getting It. The Tommy
and I came out Of the dugout. A. I
started climbing up the muddy sides
I saw there was q man standing at
the edge Of II. and I could tell by his
puttees that hs was Q Limey. I was
having q hard Job Of It. % without
looking up hailed him.
THAT was sure some shelllng,
wasn't itr' I said. there's . lad
down here with q wounded nm; better
give him q hand"
what ahslling do you mean" says
the legs, without moving. there's
been none in this sector for some
time, I think"
The Tommy was right at my heel
By this time. and hs let out . string
Of Language. was surprised. too, and
ss1u scramhlins around N the ncd.
Then tho Tommy let 3 sGawa 'elp
usi" and looked up and saw that The
leGD belonged to . Limey cdScsr. .
na3oe. think. And hare w had besa
cussing Tie eyes o9 a hiMi
But he sised Il up rightly and eavs
~ Q hand, and oaly laughed when W
txied - explain. I got ratified and
toad hin that an I saw was ~ lsGs