Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-12-01

to the soldiers because they only
spoke Greek. So we just waited. The
other two Greeks came back in Is
minutes. They were very agitated
and I thought the Italians were
coming, but did not know because OF
language difficulty.
I motioned to 60 out but the
Greeks shook their heads and mo-
toned for silence. We waited Is
minutes more and the Greeks were
silent except for an occasional
whisper. Being accustomed to the
darkness I could see their rifles
held ready in their hands. The hut
smelt of manure and it was getting
hard to sit still because of little
animals. One of the Greeks went out
and after while came back and
motioned to the others. We crouched
from the hut up the hill on all tours
and back to the lookout post again.
Here the Greeks reported to an Of
ficer, who told me in French that two
of the patrollers had seen Italians
moving ammunition or some sort Of
stores downhill.
They had come back into the hut
because they thought the Italians
might use the hut for storing am
munition, but they didn't, for two
of the soldiers had gone out and
seen them putting ammunition I'M
der rocks and crags This fact was
telephoned back to the Greek guns,
and 5 minutes later Greek shells
were dropping among the huts.
After four or five shots there was a
succession of ground explosions and
We knew the Italians stores were
blowing up. We could hear for the
next few minutes intermittent bull
lets going off, like small packets of
fireworks, as fire spread to small
arms boxes.
Italians Get No Supplies.
There is some sort of action 60
ing on over on the other ridge held
by the Greeks, too. There is plenty
of machine-gun fire from both sides
now and occasional rifle volleys.
We get a spent bullet drifting our
way every now and then, but that
Is all we know about it, We did see
a mule shot this morning, though
I don't know to which side the ami
NAL belonged, but he had broken
loose and was wandering down the
ravine to small stream which he
crossed yesterday. In a fraction
of a second there was soft plunk
and the old mule toppled into the
water he was drinking. 1t will be
a nice feat by some one tonight to
slip down to the ravine and take
the boxes off the mules back.
I don't know what the Italians
are doing for food Maybe they are
eating their mules. They certainly
are not getting any supplies in. But
the Greeks are getting plenty. Last
night had full dinner of sardines,
hard bread, thin soup and cheese. A
peasant, wearing captured Italians
tin hat, came in yesterday with a
couple of rounds of cheese. He
said his wife had made it. He pro-
duced three eggs for the officer.
Then he disappeared again, saying
he would be back tomorrow.
These peasants don't worry much
about the war. They mind their
sheep down in the valleys and if
shells start bursting around them
they just move the herd away. Prac-
tically the whole time you can hear
the tinkle of bells around the sleeps
necks playing a melody, with the
background drums of artillery. It's
a real Tschaikovsky symphony.
I am getting sick of the sound of
artillery. 1t is impossible to sit still
and it will probably go on all night
and tomorrow. BY then the Italians
are through. It's just a matter of
sitting here and keeping out of the
way of further bombs and shells
and listening to this bloody noise,
and waiting.