The Elk Mountain pilot., 1919-05-01


his nsts into his ears. and the rest Of
them sat on the parapet IRE step with
their heads between their knees and
their arms wrapped around their
headR.
Our sergeant came to me after .
while and began acting just IKE
people do at . show. only he shouted
instead Of whispered In my ear. When
people are looking at one show they
always want to tell you how good some
other show il, and that was the way
with the sergeant.
"You should see what they did to
~ at st. Eloi," he said. 'They Just
baptised M with the big fellows. They
did not know when to stop. When you
$50 shelling that u shelling. you win
know II, my son"
"Well. Il this II not shelling, what
the devil II 1T Arc they trying to
kid us or are you, mon vieuxT which
u q French oppression that means
something like "old timer"
my son, when you $50 dugouts
caved In, roads pushed all over the
map. guns wrecked, bodies twisted mp
in knots and forty men killed BY one
shell-then You will know you are
seeing shelling."
Then one Of our men sat up straight
against the parapet and stared at u
and began to shake all over. but We
could not get him to say anything or
move. 30 we knew he had shell shock.
And another man watched him for q
while, and then he began to shake.
too. The sergeant said that II We
stayed there much longer we would
not be At to repel an attack, 20 he
ordered ~ into the two dugouts we
had made In the hole. and only himself
and another man stayed outside ON
watch.
The men In the dugout kept asking
each other when the bombardment
would end. and why We were not rein
forced, and what was happening. and
whether the Turks would attack M. It
was easy to see why We were not REIN
forced-no body Of men could have
got 10 N from the reserve trenches.
The communication trenches were
quite q distance from N and were
battered up at that Some Of the men
said We had been forgotten and that
the rest Of our troops had either r.
tired or advanced and that We and
the men In the trench who had tried
to signal n were the only detachment
left there.
Pretty soon another man and ]
relieved the two men who were out
side ON watch, and a. he went down
into the dugout the sergeant shouted
to N that he thought the Turks were
afraid to attack. He also ordered one
Of us to keep q live eye toward our
rear in case any Of our troops should
try to signal N. When looked
through . little gully at the top Of
the hole, toward the other trench, all
I could sec was barbed wire and
smoke and two or three corpses.
began to shiver . little. and waa
afraid would get shell shock, too.
SO I began to think about Murray and
how he looked when they took him
OF the wall. But that did not stop the
shivering. 70 thought about my grand.
mother and how she looked the last
time I saw her. I was thinking about
her. I guess, and not keeping q very
good lookout. when q man rolled over
the edge and almost fell ON me. He
was from the other trenches. carried
him into the dugout and then went out
again and stood my watch until the
relief came. We were doing half-hour
shifts.
When I got into the dugout again
the man was coming to. he was Just
about a. near shell shock ~ had
been-by this time was Ghivering
only once in Q while. when I did not
watch myself. He said four men had
been sliced up trying to get to ~ be-
fore he came; that they had lost
IL men out Of their 82, including the
sergeant-mAjoe In command and two
eorporals; that they were almost out
Of ammunition; that the trenches on
both sides Of them had been blown In
and that they were likely to 60 to
pieces at any moment. He said they
all thought the Turks would attack
behind their barrage. for he said the
curtain Of ire did not extend more
than q hundred yards in front Of their
trench. What they wanted us to do
was to relay man back with the
news and either get the word to ad-
vance or retire or await reinforce
ments. they did not care which-only
to be ordered to do something. There
was not q commissioned onicer left
with either Of the detachments, you
see. and you might say we were up
In the air-only We were really ~ far
In the ground as We could get.
The man thought there were other
Of our lines not far behind us, but we
knew better; 70 then he said he did
not see how any one could get back
from there to our nearest lines. ]
did not see either. Then we all hg-