Show r r 1 ADVENTURERS' ADVENTURERS CLUB V f T t HEADLINES H E A D L I N E S FROM FRO M THE T If ELI LIVES V E S OF 0 F PEOPLE P E 0 P L ELI LIKE KEY YOURSELF 0 U R S ELF S I Dead Mans Man's lJ ans an's Dole By FLOYD GIBBONS Famous Deadline Hunter Bunter ELLO EVERYBODY HELLO H H Luigi Francia of Brooklyn N. N Y says In fn his letter to tome tome me that hes he's not so good at composing a story Well Well Well- youre you're not bad at it by a long shot Luigi but ut the point Is r that you dont don't have to be good at composing co your yarn s This TIlls column is for not Adventurers not writers And youve you've got to admit that yarn yam has all the elements of swell adventure story First look Jook at the setting North Africa Ain In Zara a small town 60 miles inland from the city of ot Tripoli a town composed of about Bedouin Arabs and four tour regiments of ot Italian infantry Luigi Francia was fighting in one of those infantry i. i regiments in June 1913 and that was an adventure in itself We were constantly attacked at night by b Y marauders he says and we had many many casualties It was no fun lun getting hit hU with a slug slag from Irom a Mauser lauser rifle No matter how slight tho the wound it seldom healed Tetanus set In and then you yon died Attacks were getting so frequent around Ala Ain Zara and casualties were so heavy that the of ot the garrison decided something ought to be done about It The regiments were issued extra ammunition and a reserve supply of ot food and the word went out that they were going to make a counter attack on the Arab tribes that had been doing all the marauding Captured by the Arabs After weeks of 01 preparation the Italians were ready for tor a surprise attack One hot June night Luigi's regiment got orders for a n mass formation and a n square of soldiers was thrown about the camp Luigi who was corporal major was sent with 15 men on a scouting expedition I I t a- a i s t The Chief Told Luigi to Shave the Dead Man to an advanced post In the desert When they sighted the Arabs they the were to give the alarm so that the regiments could close in But But I guess says Luigi that we figured wrong About twelve thirty that night we were the surprised ones with a horde of ot Arabs popping up all around us yelling Allah Allahl 1 Allah Allahl and shooting as they ad ad- It happened so quickly that we were surrounded and about a hundred of us taken prisoners The hardships we endured at their mercy are unprintable In a month there were but 30 of 01 us left The others died from Irom wounds some starved Others were butchered outright The rest of 01 us had to pump water wash the Arabs' Arabs filthy clothes cat eat grass grass- grasshoppers grasshoppers hoppers and drink stinking slinking water In dirty sand wells Ordered to Shave a Corpse But one day there th re came a diversion In the routine of ot that Arab camp A A. big Arab Ara came to the Italians and asked if it any of ot them could shave And Luigi said that he could The Arab led Jed him to the chiefs chief's tent and there on a pallet lay the chiefs chief's brother stiff and cold The chief gave Luigi a razor and a little soap and told him to prepare the dead man for burial I started shaving him says Luigi while outside a thousand t Arabs prayed to Mahomet their prophet I was so skinny from malnutrition malnutrition and so nervous that I could hardly hold the razor straight but I did my best I was almost through when the razor slipped jabbed Into the stiffs stiff's neck and to my surprise the BLOOD BEGAN TO FLOW Luigi knew then that the man wasn't dead He Be told tho chief and the chief put his hand on his brothers brother's heart but he couldn't feel any beat Then Luigi told him to get a mirror lie He held it in front of the mans man's mouth and It clouded That settled It DC Lie wasn't dead Among us prisoners says Luigi was a young man who I new knew medicine I called him and he pronounced the man to be suffering from sun stroke and said he could cure him I dont don't know what he did but in three days be he had him up and walking around again Food and Freedom His Reward And after those three days Luigi and the young doctor had a pleasant surprise The chief called them Into his tent and told them they had saved his brothers brother's life He was thankful and to show that he meant It he fed those two starved half poor prisoners gave them money put them on a camel and told them that they could go With a supply of ot food and a full of water they set out across the desert the old chiefs chief's blessings ringing In their ears It took them two days to get out of 01 the desert The first fast place Pla e they hit was an Italian outpost at Cubella CubelJa about 90 miles from Tripoli And there as they approached they were almost killed by machine gun bullets fired feed by their own comrades to whom In their dirty yellow Arab garments they looked more like enemies than anything else The of ot that post listened to t o their story In amazement and sent them back to Tripoli There after receiving medical attention they were brought before the chief in command at the Presidio and had to tell their story all over again Both of them were given a six s months' months furlough with pay and many and well many a soldier would go through that adventure all aU over again for tor that sort of a break Copyright Service |