The Tucumcari news and Tucumcari times., 1919-05-22

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"Whcn l mounted, the captain
reached for his revolver. covered
him with mine and. with shrek Of
terror. Adricnne threw herself In
front OF the Uhlan captain To protect
him. l saw her too late. My bullet
pierced her left breast. and red
smudge showed on her white silk
blouse as she sank TO the ground.
shot the orderly's horse to prevent i'm
mediate pursuit and then away on n
, mad gallop down the road. 1t was a
long chase, but escaped them.
"The rest OF my men were captured.
At our headquarters l had to lie like
trooper. Told them we had been
ambushed and wiped out. 1t was the
only way to save my skin. There
were no witnesses against me. so l
got of with reduction to the ranks and
D transfer to another regiment. They
smellcd rat, oil right, but had no
proof.
$50 that is my story, Yank. Just
forget that ever told II to you.
Enough to make fellow get the blues
occasionally. isn't Il? Just pass me n
fag. and take that look of your face"
gave him the cigarette and. with
out word, went out of the dugout
and left him alone. was thinking OF
Adrlenne.
Upon reaching the tren'h ] paused
In wonder and fright. The sky was
nlight with red glare. The din was
terrific. A constant swishng and
rushing through the air. interminglcd
with n signing moan, gave tes-
tlmony that our batteries were
sweating blood. The trench seemed
to be rolling like ship. stood In
awe. This bombardmcnt OF ours was
something indescrlbable, and shud-
der passed through me as / thought
Of the havoc and destruction caused
In the German lines. At that moment
I really pitied the Germans, but not
for long, because suddenly hell seemed
to burst loose from the German lines
as their artillery opened up. l could
hear their "fve-nines" screeching
through the mir and bursting In the
artillery lines in our rear. Occasion
ally far-off rum-hum-rump-rump
Crash Bru.u-nn.u-gg could be heard
as one OF their high calbered shells
came over and burst in our reserve.
I crouched against the parndos, hardly
able to breathe. While in this position,
right overhead. every instant getting
louder, came German shell-hlZ-Z.z
bang-g-g! I was blinded by the fash.
Down l went, into the mud. Strug-
Cling to my feet In the red glare Of the
bombardment.
saw that the traverse on my left
had entirely disappeared. Covered
with mud. weak and trembling. ! could
hear what sounded like far-distant
voices coming from the direction Of
the bashed-in traverse.
"Bllme me. get is bloomln' nnpper
outa tn mud; 'e's chokin' to death.
Pass me bnndagc-tyke is b'yonet
fer spllnt. Bllme me, is leg Is
smashed. not 'arf hit h'alnt. TIL rest
a. you blokcs 'op Il fer strctcher.
'Ello, 'c's got another one-qulck. n
tourniquet. the poor blokcs n'hlecdin'
to death. Quick, h'up against the par.
npet, ERE comes another"
Whiz-z-z Bang.g.g!
Another flare and once again ! was
thrown into the mud. opened my
eyes. Bending over me. shaking me
by the shoulder was Atwell. His voice
sounded faint and far away. Then !
came to with rush.
"Bllme me. Yank. that was close
one. Did It get you"
He helped me to my feet and felt
myself all over. Seeing was all
right. he yelled In my ear:
"We've got to leg II out Of 'ere.
Fritz Is sure sendin' over 'whiz-hangs'
and 'minnies.' Number 0 platoon In
the next fire bay sure clicked IL. About
eighteen OF them have gone West.
Come on. Wen see II we can do any
thing for the poor blokes."
We plowed through the mud and
came into the next fire bay. In the
light Of the bursting shells an awful
sight met our eyes. The traverscs were
bashed In, the fire step was gone. and
In the parados was n hole that looked
like subway entrance. There was
mud and blood.
Every now and then, ducking as a
"whiz-bang" or "minnic" came over,
we managed to get four Of the wound
ed on the stretchers. and Atwell and
! carried one 10 the rear to the first
aid dressing station. We passed the
dugout which ! had left but few
minutes before. or IT least. what used
TO be the dugout, but now all that
could be seen was a caved-in mass OF
dirt; huge squnre.cut timbers sticking
out of the ground aud sllhouetted
against the light from bursting shells,
looking like huge giants. A shudder
passed through me as realized that
II we had stayed In the uugout we
would have now been lying fifteen to
twenty feet down, covered by that
caved-in earth and wreckage.
Atwell jerked his head In the direc-
tlon Of the smashed-in dugout, and. as
was his wont. remarked:
How about that fancy report you
were writing out few minutes agof
Didn't tell you that 1t never paid TO