The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1929-08-02
VIII, z.


She pried his fingers from his
hair, and he took her hands, anC
kissed them wildly.
Then she was in his arms
struggling, protesting, entreating.
Deaf to her pleas, he c~aressed
her. Kissed her lips and her eyes
and her poor plae face, and hel
white thoat. Until, spent with
ardor, they sank on the divan, like
tired children, and her head fell
Imply in the hollow of his shoul.
der.
Tell me-" she whispered, and
her voice was small and weary.
Begin at the beginning"
Truth, they say, is stranger
than fiction. Here then is the
story John Lawrence told Sybil.
The war played strange tricks
on men. And for exquisite cruelty
psychosis turned the screws-that
dread affliction that spared the
body and scourged the soul.
He told his story disjointedly.
l.. They were marching in
squad columns. The objective
oh, no matter. Earth and trees
sprouted up like geysers. There
were weird lights in the sky and
shells screeching like hell let
loose. He was scared. No use
lying. Knees shaking.
There was an explosion. Worse
than the rest. A shell, you know.
Right in the middle of the squad.
ooh, darling! lists no use.
l never tried to talk about it be-
fore. Blood and mud. =.
Fellows blown to pieces
arms and legs-and-and things.
Sybil, hold my hand! All,
sweetheart. No Mans Land,
they called it. :"
He was sobbing. Crying like a
baby-her soldier back from the
wars.
ooh, Johnny dear. My dear
He had lain there it seemed.
Observation-Disclosures knew. Once
he found a little pool, crawling to
it through the slime. And when
he put his lips to it, and drank, it
was sweet and sticky. Blood.
He'd wiped it off with his sleeve.
1t was all over his face.
BY and by he dug a hole-with
his hands. To bury some poor
fellows head. 1t lay there, you
see, staring up at the moon. Aw-
full. The teeth showed.
There was a chap he knew. All
he could see was his hand.
Sticking out of some awful muck
heap. Recognized the ring. A
big, black stone. The chaps
mother had given it to him on his
twenty-first birthday. He told
John so. Someone to talk to.
Oh, God, don't let him be dead.
He reached for the hand.
Touched it-icy cold.
"Come on, old man-out of that
damn slime. I'll give you a pull"
A mighty wrench. A-h-h, there
that's better. He chafed the
wrist, and hunched forward,
his elbows, to see his friends
1T wasn't Jim, Sybil. Only his
arm. 1t came off, you see-in my
hand like that"
"JOHNi Don't dear"
"Yes-yes-I've never talked be-
It's like a dam that's brok-
IN. Thoughts flowing free again.
It helps. Sybil."
So she let him deliver himself
If his misery. Vaguely. Incoher-
At last they found him. Took
lin to a hospital. Base Hospital
No. IS. At Buzzoillex. His leg
vas broken, and his left arm.
"See-how crooked it is. The
eg set better. Shrapnel scars on
ny body. Ribs caved in. Pretty
much of a bust. And I couldn't
ell them a thing, Sybil. Not my {
lame, or my outfit. Nothing at {
IL. My mind was an absolute s
lank. Everything that happened {
efore the explosion might just as t
veil have NEVER happened, so {
as l was concerned. l
When squads blew up, men were
ut down as missing, presumably c
cad. The presumption was safe
nough. And that was how John
lawrence came to be listed first
5 "missing'-and, finally, killed
! action"
He had escaped in delirious t
light from Base Hospital No. IS in a
is pajamas IN night. If they h
ed known his name, they would e
ave dropped him after 10 days, c
5 a deserter. But, because he
as nameless. he vas spared that -"
,nominy. And, when they came
pom him in Bordeaux they sent Il
i'm back again. k
There were months of it. He r
d not know how many. Finally V
ie Armistice was declared. a
But ! was off my nut. | didn't v
re-" N
And you didn't ever think of Il
e?' SIZE whispered. n
mo dear. You see. I C