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Show Jim-A Siclier of 1c ling tzSt We wf-te ma'-hiti" liriii'-i"" of tiie IJrit-teh IJrit-teh army, Ma t ioiu-i " So en f whore in Franco," and liaI Juft nrrivt"I at our rtrst billots a ft or a we ry rn;u-h from the iron I. liii'- : ctor. The stable we had to .sloop in was an Ui, raiMh!iij.rkto affair, al.sohitoly ovi;r-l ovi;r-l im with rata great, big black follows, who up oM to ho w up our leather e-p'ip-incnl, eat our rations ami iun over our bodiea at nifcht. O-rmnn hh had no eifeot on those rodents; In faot, they ftcemed to thrive on it. The floor space Tvould ooruforta bly jiccorniiiodaLe a bout twenty rnoii lyinx down, huL when thiny-1hree, thiny-1hree, ini-Iudltig oi uiiJinent, woro orowdud In I o It, M. wa m noai i v nnboara Mo. The roof and vwtlls wore full of shell hokn. When it rained, a constant drip, drip, drip who in order. We v. ore mo rrowdod tli.iL if a follow wax unlm :ky rnoiiRh (and nearly all of us lit this in-ni in-ni an co w;r; unlin-Uy) tr sloop under a fiolo, he had to grin and hoar it. It was like sleeping beneath a showor Uuh. At ono end of the billot, with a ladder lad-der lending- up to h, was a sort of grain Jbln, with a door in it. TMm place was the headquarters of our guests, the rats. "Many a Mrniy cabinet meeting was held there hy them. Aianv a boor was thrown at It during the night to let thorn know that Torn my Atkins objected to tho matter mat-ter tinder discussion. .Sometimes one of these missiles would ricochet, and land on the upturned countenance of a snoring Tommy, and for about half an hour even the rats would pause in admiration or Jils flow of language. On the night in question we flopped down In our ufH clothes and wori soon wloep. As was usual. No. 2 gun's crew ,were toqother. 1 The last time we had rested in this , (particular village, it was Inhabited by rlvlliajis, hu t now It was deserted. An order had been issued, t wo days previous pre-vious to our a nival, t hat a 11 civilians should move farther hack of the lino. 1 had been asleep aoout two hours, when T was awakened by Sailor Bill Blinking nie by the shoulder. lie was itremblinjr like a leaf, and whispered to tine: "Wake up, Tank, this ship's haunted. Tboro's otnonno aloft v.i.o's been i-ioan- i ing for tlie ii si. hour. Sounds like tne v.iwl in the r:-;i:ig. I ain't scared of! humans or U;c:v.;iiis, hut when it comes to n:-s.-in in with shims it's time for me to go below. Lend your ear and cast your deadlights on that grain locker, and I listened sb-epily for a minute or so, 1 bu t i.-ould hea i- no' hi ng. 'orning to -1 he conclusion that Sailor Hill was dreaming t h ! r i g.s , 1 was again soon asleep. IVrhaps fifteen minutes had elapsed when i wax rudely awakened. "Var.k, for Clod's sake, come aboard and lision!" I listened, and, sure enough, right out of that grain bin overhead came a moaning and whim poring, and then a scratching against tne floor. .My hair stood on end. Blended with the drip, drip of tho rain, and the occasional scurrying of a rat overhead, that noise had a sunemat ural sound. I was really f ri g fit'jned ; per ha ps my nerves were a t rifle unst rung- from our recent tour !n the trenches. 1 I awakened Ikey T-Tonnoy, while Sailor Bill roused Happy Houghton and Hungry Foxerof t. Jlungry's first words were: "What's the matter, breakfast ready?'' In as few words as possible, we told them what hnd happened. By the light of a ca ndle I had ligiitod, tlieir faces appeared ap-peared ms white fis chalk. Just then the whimpering started ngain, and we were fro.en with terror. The tension was relieved re-lieved by Ikey's voice: "1 admit I'm afraid of ghosts, hut that sounds like a clog to me. Who's going up the ladder to investigate?" No one volunteered. I had a n old deck of cards In my pocket. Taking them out, I suggested cutting, the low man to go up the ladder. They agreed. I was the last to cut. I got the aee of clubs. Sailor Bill was stuck with the five or diamonds. Upon this, he insisted that it should be the best two out of three cuts, but we overruled over-ruled him, and he was unanimously elected for the Job. With a "So long1, mates, I'm going aloft," he started toward tho ladder, with the candle in his hand, stumbling over the sleeping forms of many. Sundry grunts, moans and curses followed in his wake. i As soon as he started to ascend the l;u.i'J---r, a "tan-tap-tap" coiil-J l;e hpard i mm t jo 5rni:n bin. "o WKiicd in i-Tir ;wil irf-n.biln the reHul! A his misinn. t f i.nt ry v. a 3 encourayiriLf him vi:.li "iJii-r-.-ro, mate, tho woivt is yet to come." Aff.-r many ransos Bill reached the top of tiie ia-bii-r and opened the door. Wo listened with bated bream. Then he shouted : "Blast my rMadliphta, If it ain't a poor do': Come alongside, mate, you're on a lee .shore, and in a sorry plight." Oh, what a relief those words were to UH '. With the candle in one hand an a daik obji;rt under his arm. Bill returned and deposited in our midst the sorriest looking specimen of a cjt dog- you ever &et eyes on. Jt was so weak it couldn't stamt. Hut that look In its eyes just &ratiiude. plain gratitude, lis stump of a tail was poundin? against my mess tin and sounded just like a message In the Morse code, ilappy swore that it was sending S. O. S. We were like a lot of school children, every one wanted to help, and make suggestions at the same time. Hungry suggested giving it something to cat. while ikey wanted to play on his infernal jew's harp, claiming it was a musical dog. Hungry's suggestion met our approval, and there was a general scramble for haversacks. All we could musier was some hard bread and a big piece of cheese. His nibs wouldn't eat bread, and also refused the cheese, but not before sniffing at it for a couple of minutes. I was going to throw the cheese away, but Hungry Hun-gry said he would take It. I gave It to him. We were in a quandary. It was evident that the dog was starving: and in a very weak condition. Its coat was lacerated all over, probably from the bites of rats. That stump of a tail kept sending S. O. S. against my mess tin. Every tap went straight to our hearts. We would get something to eat for that mutt if we were shot for It. Sailor Bill volunteered to burglarize the quartermaster's stores for a can of unsweetened un-sweetened condensed milk, and left on his perilous venture. He was gone about twenty minutes. During his absence, with the help of a bandage and a capsule of iodine, we, cleaned -the wounds made by the rats. I have bandaged many a wounded Tommy, but never received the amount of thanks that that dog gave with its eyes. Then the billet door opened and Sailor Bill appeared. He looked like the wreck of the Hesperus, uniform torn, covered with dirt and flour, and a beautiful black eye, but he was smiling, and in his hand he carried the precious can of milk. We asked no questions, but opened the can. ! Just as we were going to pour it out. 1 Happy butted in and said it should be mixod with water; he ought to know, because be-cause his sister back in Blighty had a baby, and she always mixed water with its milk. We could not dispute this evidence evi-dence so water was demanded. We would not use the water in our water bottles, as it was not fresh enough for our new mate. Happy volunteered to got some from the well, that is, if we would promise not to feed his royal highness until he returned. We promised, because Happy had proved that he was an authority on the feeding of babies. By this time the rest of the section were awake and were crowding around us, asking numerous questions, and admiring our newlv found friend. Sailor Bill took this opportunity to tell of his adventures while In quest of the milk. "T had a fair wind, and the passage was good until I came alongside the quartermaster's quarter-master's shack, then the sea got rough. When I got aboard I could hear the wind blowing through the rigging of the supercargo super-cargo (quartermaster sergeant snoring", so I was safe. 1 set my course due north to the ration hold, and got my grappling irons on a cask of milk, and came about on my homeward bound passage, but something was amiss with my wheel, he-cause he-cause I ran nose on into him," caught him on the rail, amidships. Then it w-as repel boarders, and it started to blow big guns. His first shot put out my star- j hoard lisht, and I keeled over. I was in the trough of the sea, but soon righted, and then it was a stern chase, with me in the lead. Getting into the open sea, I made a port tack and hove to in this cove with the milk, .safely in tow." .Most of us didn't know what he was talking about, but surmised that -e had got into a mix-up with the quartermaster sergeant. This surmise proved correct. Just as Bill finished his narration a loud splash was heard and Happy's voice came to us. It sounded very far off: "Help; I'm In the well! Hurrv up. I can't swim!" Then a few unintelligible words intermixed with blub! blub! and no more. Te ran to the well, and awav dow-n we could hear an awful splashing. Sailor Bill yelled down. "Look out below; stand from under; bucket coming!" With that he loosed the windlass. In a few seconds a spluttering voice from the depths yelled to us, "Haul away!".. It was hard work hauling him up. We had raised him about ten feet from the water, when the handle of the windlass got loose from our grip, and down went the bucket and Happy. A loud splash came to us. and, grabhing the handle again we worked like Trojans. A volley of curses came from that well which would have shocked Old Nick himself. When we got Happy safely out, he was a si eh I worth sein. He did not even iioii.-e u?. Never said a word, just idled Us wau-r boltb- fi'om the water m the bu.-kPt. and went bark to the billet. AN followed. My moss tin was still sending s. o. s.' Ilappv, thou?h dripping wet. siletit fixed up thf1 milk for the doc. In apne-!'ii, apne-!'ii, the ca nine was a dose second to lliitiLrry Fon croft. After lapping . a11 ,ie could hold, our mascot closed his eye and his tail ceased wam;insr. Sailor F.iU took a dry flannel shirt from his pack, wrapped the dosr in it and informed us: "Me and mv mate are soinp bolow. so the rest of you lubbers batten down and turn in." We a!! wanted the honor of sleeping with the doc. but did not dispute Sailor Pill's rlp-ht to the privilege. Ky this time the bunch were pretty sleepy and tired, and turned in without much coaxins. 9 ft was pretty near daybreak. Next day we figured out that perhaps one of t he French kiddies had put the dog- in the srain bin, and, in the excitement excite-ment of packing up and leaving-, had forgotten for-gotten he was there. Sailor Bill was pi ven the rijjht to christen our new mute, lie called him Jim. In a couple of days Jim came around all rischt. and got very frisky. Every man in the section loved that dog. Sailor Rill was court-martialed for his mix-up with the quartermaster sergeant, and got seven days' field punishment Xo. I. This meant that two hours each day i 1 for a week he would be tied to the wheel of a limber. Purina: these two-hour periods Jim would be at Bill's feet, and, no matter how much we coaxed him with i choice morsels of food, he would hot leave until Bill was untied. When Bill was loose. Jim would have nothing to do with him just walked away in contempt. Jim respected the king's regulations, and had no use for defaulters. At, a special meeting held by Vhe sec-I sec-I tion, Jim had the oath of allegiance read i to him. He barked' his consent, so we solemnly swore him in as a soldier of the imperial British army, fighting for I king and country. Jim made a better Sjoldier titan any one of us, and died for M. Mr and country. Died without a whimper of "'i,'1,8' .' fle .several trips hut punk to hit- P'-1- . jh some-in." some-in." if we neglected to t, 1 Jr m thlils to r he would n a ke su n Ins with hhu. ""til Hi" "tNS ' 'tuni. a though his eu!iVTe would SXK .upo Jim ; Jofo which was mure than ha would biy toui. the rest of us. nver once, at daybreak, we Had to po oer the top in an attack. A man in the sec tion named Pulton was selected by Jim as his mate in-this affair. The crew of gun No. a wei e to staj in the trench for overhead lire purposes and, If necessary, to help repel a P''ablo counter-attack by the enemy- 1 a ton was verv merrv and hadn't the least fear o, misgiving as to his safety because Jim would he w ith him through It j ' In the attack Palton, closely lolloncd bv Jim. had sot about sixty yards Into No Man's I.and,v when Jim was hit n the stomach hy a bullet. Poor old Jim toppled over, and lay still. Dalton turned around, and. just as he did so, we saw him throw up his hands and fall lace forward. Jkev Honnev, who was No. 3 on our gun, 'seeing Jim fall, scrambled oyer the parapet, and, through that rain ot shells and bullets, raced to where Jim was. picked him up. and, tucklntr him under his arm, returned to our trench in safety. If he had gone to rescue a wounded man in this way he would no doubt have been awarded the Victoria cross. But he only brought in poor bleedinp, dying Jim. Iliey laid him on the fire step 'alongside of our gun, but we could not attend to him, because we. had important work to do. So he died like a soldier, without a look of rtproach for our heartless treatment. treat-ment. Just watched our every movement until his lights burned out. After the attack, at-tack, what was left of our section gathered gath-ered around Jim's blood-stained body. There wasn't a dry eye in the crowd. Next day we wrapped him in a small union jack belonging to Happy, and laid him to rest, a soldier of the king. We put a little wooden cross over his grave which read: PRIVATE JT.M MACIJlNli-GUN COMPAXT KILLED IN ACTION" APULL 10. 191U A DOG WITH A MAX'S HEART. Although the section has lost lots of men, Jim is never forgotten. |
