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Show II MY I L FOURTEEN I I MONTHS AT I THE FRONT M An American Boy' B Bap' i am of Fire I WILLIAM J. ROBINSON H Coprlgbl. Utile. Brown & Ce I SYNOPSIS H "" Wllllnm J notilimnn, a young Amnrlrao b on atjalBoaa i iip in London, ealchea tna M Mr faver ami iiillsia In a llrltlili cavnlry M regiment ami lands at Ostein In October, B 1914 HH MhiIr drlvnr of Ml m mured car and takes HH part In Kittle nlimit Ypri-s Transferrin) HH to tii army arrvlca corps, hits further HH flflitliig rxperU-ni es aa a motorcycle llder HH with n'n- Ii!n sun attnrheil and aa a tile- H patch rider. H Deecrlliee Christinas of 1914 In trenches HH aouth of Yprei. Fearful luaaes. Kills a HH sniper mid tells of Hi Iglun spins. H A lirusli with Oermnn cavalrymen Tells H Of motor work and work of chaplains, doo- Bj M tora arid nureea. M J Witnesses Ttoynl Horse artillery In ao- HB tlon lias u nnrrow escape and takes icf- HBl U4,' In a cellar Is sent to Carls H A big Irish iiwi ti on mo (limbing- up with BB n loud of liimilin, mill H i ho enmo for BB ward I raw theso QejfBMM raise their Bj illlcs tO flri' ut linn. The li'lshiiinii was BB too i'il' k for i hem. 1 1 . 1 1 -. 1 1 . for bo BB chucked n bomb Into tho troneli thpy BB were In, and I heard his yell, "Split BB tlint between ye, ye swine." BB It wiped out tho whole crowd of them, BB of course. Itlul the best part of It was BB that the Irlshmnn didn't niter Ills stride BB the leant lilt. Tho expression has be BB come quite popular among "tiomliera." H We bndn'l been in I'operlui;lic many BB days before tho Ueriuan aeroplanes be- BB Ran coming" over us. They didn't do BB any diinniKe lit first, and I wuudcrcd BB why they didn't drop any bombs. Ev- BB cry morning about 5 o'clock two or H three tnubes would appear and fly H back and forth for a few minutes, und H then they would go away, and wo BB wouldn't boo any more of them mail BB the next morning ut the same hour. BB jj At last we got used tO tbem, and thej BB . didn't bother tin at all. Once In awhile BH our guns would bring one of tbetn to By LJ earth, ami then there would be one BB grand rush to the place where the mil BB chine hud fallen. I saw one fellow fall BB one iii'Tnin:- and ns I had by motor- B) : bii I hopped on and dashed down the BV road to try mid find him lie hud ciiino BB to earth safely, but his engine had been BB I"1' "l" "' commission by n piece of BB ahrapuel. lie hud set tire to the uut- BB clilne and v. as calmly sitting nu the BB ground some distance from where it BB vaa burning. BB Some Dying COrpt fellows were there BB .'"s n few M "i . ahead of me, and BV tbtj made him prisoner As he i-'ot to BB hi leet he remarked In perfect Bng- BBV llsb. "I hud a pre.,enl liuent that I BBBBM -IK 'i"i bbbbbI "' -' BB BB SJ(VsHSa t Bf 'SjsaawVMjSjUaBBft BB lb Irishman Yelled, "Split that ba- HHj tween ye, ye swine." BBT j V'uiiiu't Kit ba u this morning oh. BB well, e'est la guerre, do With me hut BB BB) llowevei, he ;m ii ilcinnti. a great Hj many of our enemy could speak the BB king's language BBj We kMevv that sooner or later these HH aeroplanes were going to take it good BBT stiff cruck at us, and we weie cpeet- BH lug It every day The (list air mid on BH roperlngbe came about a month after HH we hud taken the town over. 1 luid a BB new cur, and I bad been out with it for BH a trlul run. When 1 got bu U to Toper- BB Ingbe I ran IntO the Cirand phi e and BB hi opped In front of the geuerul hillet. BBf where the corps und guards were liv- BHJ ing I had the engine still running and BHj was just sitting In the driving seat HB listening to It HH It was a cloudy day, and I remember HH hearing an aeroplaue but I thought It HH w"k "'"' "f u owl' 'ur "e "' "ur HH flying grounds was close by. Suddenly HH taube shot down through the clouds, HH "1' a M,'''","i Of so later there was a HJ deafening explosion followed by two HH others In guick surcesslon. The first HB bomb lundeil about thirty yards iiwuy BH from where I wus. and the pieces flew HB all around me. HH Altogether ther were forty -aix cas- sVB ualfiee from that raid; eleven were Mlled There was only one British sol dler and one lYMCb gendarme killed iinong the military; the remalndc: sron nil (Ivillnns A military funeru! was given (hem nil, nud it was oue of i he most solemn and Impressive ceremonies cere-monies I ever witnessed Hrltlsh sol-olers sol-olers carried our poor chap and French soldiers carried the Frenchman. The Ivillnns were, carried by their own townsmen. Kach coffin was wrapped In the national na-tional ling, mid escorts and firing parties of each of (he three nations were in itlciidance. The Belgian Old Ouard, ilui old teteratis, turned out with their hand nnd in dress uniform. During tho aervlco In the church, and In fact until the whole funeral wns over, threu aeroplanes, ono Belgian one F"reneli and one ICugllsh, (In led buck and forth over the city. The streets were lined with soldiers, all with reversed arms, and the bund played tho dead march nil tho way to the cemetery. This wns only tho (Irst of many raids on us In this town, and ninny a poor civilian who had harmed no ono met his den'li In this way. If it Is s;ili standing thero la very near the front at Vlnmcrtlncjio, not far Iroin I'oporltigho, a (bateau where one of our dh Islons hud their hendipjai lei . lite corps headquarters being nt I'oper-IngbOi I'oper-IngbOi it mi a beautiful pbi'e built on (he old style, with enormous grounds and a moat all around It. While silting on a table In a room In this chateau I first henrd one of our renll.v Ug gOtta fired I Knew that IbOOO gnu hud boon ptacod la Ibo grounds of Hie huleail someuheie, hut nt the Unci I never thought for a mom(nt what was likely lo happen wlien they went Into nciloii. I was tulking to oue of the fellows about an air raid that wo, hnd Just pulled off. Suddenly and without the sib hie L warning utile this terrllle explosion ;:4' "iB oHbw JBS" ,-J"m'1 t - ' ,'..'. t4aVaV W -" -i ' !'' &&;?. , We Rushed Out and Found That On of the Guns Had Just Bean Fired. that lifted me off the table and dumped me halfway across tho room. The whole place rocked, and every window In the hoime was broken. We rushed out to see what ha 1 happened and found that one of these guns hud Just DOOM tired. I mention this merely to show what damage the concussion ii lone will do. During the time the divisional head-QtMrtora head-QtMrtora Wta in this chateau the strictest strict-est rules were enforced Ngftfdlng keeping keep-ing under cover and showing DO shus of activity around the place. To look nt It from the outside one would never dream that on the Inside BOVOAl gcu- erala and their staffs were working a tremendous lighting machine. No antes, motorbikes, blcyclea or hor-es wore allowed Within the (rates, and 0 heii a man went lu he had to keep under the trees all the way. At Dlgbt, while the place wud brilliantly lighted on the Inside, not even a glimmer shoe, e, from the rond. I gOOM It was about tho most quietly conducted head- (luarteis on the wholo front. tomertiugbe Is so close to the tiring line that It is only a mailer of a couple of minutes before an aeroplane win bo right Over tho place. Of course our corps neadquartera at Poportngho wns bigger, but wus not so hour the front Ml or those big guns of ours went Into action there It was only a matter Of a few days before shells began to drop in on i lie place I happened to bo on lb.- other side of Vlatnertlngbe when the bombardment coma ed, and I had to run through it on my wuy lun k. As usual, one of t lie Hist plni es lo go was IbO church, nnd ns I passed by I cam.' i i a glimpse of the edifice binning and tho prloata working feverlabl) trying try-ing to save some of the content! As usual, too, the people ueie lu a panic. nnd the road was Crowded will) them tine night l wus called and warned for apodal duly the next day 1 hain't the silgbteat bleu in the world what It Would be but I'll confess that I was surprised when 1 found out. 1 was wanted by a colonel who had been sent out from England to And tho grave of Prince Maurice of Batlenberg Ills resting place wao tbougbl to bo In the Meliln Churchyard, und I was to guide the Colonel UP there and was placed at Ids disposal until the grate was found. Now, the Mental churchyard wns nover a pleasing proposition, nnd from what I could see It wns going to bo far from pleiiMint this time, "llelltlre corner" was Just opposite the church and a very unhealthy spot. Prince Mnurbe hud been killed near Ypres title fighting for the English and hurriedly hur-riedly buried In the churchyard, which had been so constantly shelled that It wus feured Ids body hnd been obliterated. obliter-ated. Kngllsh royalty wus anxious to M ow if Ids remains were stil! marked. We went up to the I'orte de Menin, In Ypres, In the car and de hied to leave it there, aa It was not advisable to let a ear stund very long on the Menin roud As we went up the road 1 Wamod the officer to be careful, for there were plenty of enlpers about. HHHHHHBBBBBHHHHHHI lie wae such an old man he hnd not ban out t the front before in this war, but from the colors he was wearing wear-ing on Ids breast I would be willing to wagM Hint Hits was the first one be I adu't been lu for a good many years We reai bed the churchyard without anything exciting happening, but I was not at all fussy about poking around among those graves. The place had heen all shelled to pieces and the bod-les bod-les blown out of tho graves. After about fifteen minutes' search we found die grave wo were looking for by the Inscription at the base of a crude mon-"inont mon-"inont and murked It ao we would lie sure to find It ngaln. Tho body of the prince will probably tie rcburled elsewhere else-where In more POJOOftsI times. When we left tho graveyard the officer of-ficer asked how far It was to our trenches. I told him that It was lese 'linn a in le. but that It wns mighty risky business going up In the daytime. day-time. When the colonel found that It WM such a short distance ho wanted to go up nnd seo what they were like. I was under Ids orders, so there was nothing for me to do but lake bbn there. I spoke of the snipers ngaln, but he didn't seem to cure for nil the nlpera In the QOfSkan army, so we started up the road. We hndii't gone MO yards before a bullet pinged by close enough to give n wooden man heart failure. Of courso I ducked, and the old man noticed no-ticed It. Von enn Imagine how I fell when be snid: "If yon henr any snipers snip-ers you might let me know. I'm get-llnir get-llnir rather deaf lately." Weil, I admit that I swore. CHAPTER VII. The Attack on Hill No. 60. AT Inst we came to tho place where the communication trench began, and 1 explained It lo him. The trench lay about bin yards off the roud, running parallel to it. It was awfully muddy and one of the dirtiest boles to get to (hut I ever saw. Ho noted thll und wanted tO stick to tho road, ao I shut up und said no more for a few minutes. Pretty soon a few shells began to eotno over, and I could see them hur-l-lug farther up the roud. 1 hpoko again and pointed out the danger we were running into. He had to consent then, so we slipped and slid through the mud and finally got into the trench. It wns easy after that, and we reached reach-ed tho trenches Just In tliuo to have sonic lunch. lu tho afternoon he wns shown all through tho treuchea there and then came buck and asked to see aouie bombs thrown. They threw some houihi for hi in nnd then started Ilrlng rill grenades. F.vcrything was lovely until un-til about 4 o'clock. Suddenly something some-thing wlil.zed over and landed In a trench not a flOPOU feet from whore we were standing. I didn't wult to see what it wns. I didn't even hesitate. My foot Just acted automatically, and I think I broke tho world's record for the standing broad Jump right then and there. As It bappOnod, the thing didn't explode, und It's a good thing It didn't, for tho colonel Just stood and watched It. Soon ufler this he decided to go bnck, so we returned the same wny we hud come, and nil the way buck he hnd me picking up shell noses nnd plocOO ol shell until, when we reaehisl tho cat again, l n smbled a Junk wagon, To put the finlablng touchea on it all they were abetting Vlatnertlngbe when we returned, and WO paSQOd through Hint place as fa t as th it ear could travel, White tbO houses were tmnhlinil down on either side of us. Taken all In all. It was about ns exciting n day as i wanted. But my troubles were not over M't, for I wm Informed that I was to take him to the Ploogstoert trenches tho next day I did not mind that so much. for thO Saxons Were holding the trenches trench-es oppoelte us on that part of the line, nnd they did OOl bother lis very much. Somcliines cays would pass Willi hardly hard-ly a shot being tired, o.' courao the (ieiinan aKiUcry gin e It to us Just the same as everywhere else, but the Sux-mis Sux-mis tbemaolvoo are pretty decent chaps. The illume of Ploogateert is a very InterCOtlUg place, as there had heen a great deal of hand to hand fighting there in the earlier du.s of the war and the houses and trees left Standing were ull acratcbed and cut by bullel raarka We stalled out about PI o'clock t lie ' next mom lug, and by II we were on OUT way up to the trein lies lu v i i the irenebca one passes through a Ida Wood, and Ihis place, too. was alive with simpers We arrived without mla hap, ' .!. but thlnga were warmer' than uaual, for it seems thai there were some Bavarian! in agu .-i ns ut tin time While I he colonel Was mousing a. I 1 picked Up one Of the new pcriseoph: rlflee tbal had just come out unit slurped slurp-ed potting al a chap who wus digging ii aulplug trencb oui In front .r the German parapet 1 could only see (be llash of hi.s intrenching tool a he threw (he dirt out. and once in awhile hU heud would .show for a fraction of a second. Hut 1 kept potting awuy more lo kill time than an thing else He soon knew that I was alter .. for every once lu awhile he wo id wave his little sIioncI at me ju.-t '(er 1 had taken u bind. All uftciiioe , 1 kept this up und about 4 JO I wag e-ginuing e-ginuing to get lather tired of the game I Just happened to gluuce Into the glass of tho periscope, and there was his whole bead und shoulders showing uhove the little parapet. 1 pulled the trigger, and bo seemed to disappear almost ut the snnie Instant. It sounds rather long to tell uboiit. but it all happened in the fraction of u aae nnd. I didn't know whether I bad hit htm Off DOt, and I wus beginning to doubt It When some one threw Ins body out und wenl on digging in his pluce i hud fired nearlj -phi m la of am inuiiiiioii to g.'t oue Herman bill i ieit BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBH rather sick at having finally heen successful. suc-cessful. Around fi o'clock we started hack to the ear, and as wo were going through the wood we saw one of our poor fo lows sniped We had severnl bntterlc of artillery In the vicinity, and this chap was an artilleryman He was walkbiK up a pnth which Joined the one we were on, the Junction f the paths being abOOl KXi yards ahead of us. We could henr the poor devil whistling as he came along, but his whistle whs cut short by the crock of a rifle. We rushed to the spot where he had gone down, and we found that he hud a bullet through his right lung I got out nit field dressing bandages, and we bound l.im up, tying the pad on the bnndage tight over the bullet hole We cnrrled him down until we HjppHB J? f ".mm '. He Piokad It Up and Came Dashing Into Camp With It. came to the artillery quarters, and there we gave him over to his comrades, com-rades, who rushed him to the nearest field ambulance. 1 do not know whether he recovered or not; 1 have often wondered about it. We found our car where we bad left It, and we were buck at headquarters before dark. On the way back the old eotonil made a remark that I believe he really meant. He said: "I've enjoyed en-joyed these two days immensely, and It brought back the days of my youth. Fnte bus decreed Hint my body shull remain in England, but Hod knows thut my heart lies with you bo)s out here lu the tienchea." A rather funny thing happened soon after this which shows what a man who doesn't know the ropes will do when he vets excited. There was a very strict order to the effect that no man other than one detailed for fho Work should touch or ill any way dis tUrb BO OnaXploded enemy's shell. A heavy penalty was Imposed lor (lis-obeying (lis-obeying this order, and no one but a man Who didn't know any better would think or doing 11. A new regiment came up nnd went Btralgbl It. to real camp before going Into in lion A private lu tills rOgimont happened to run across an ones ploded shell (Hie day. nnd, being, the first ho bad ever seen, be was greatly excited, lie pl ked it up und came (lushing into camp with It. Before showing it to any one else who knew any Is-tter ho went straight to his commanding oiti- cci o exhibit his I. ol Oh. look what I found sir," tie said. "it's u Uannaa aboil thai banal ex- ploded ' "Is It really?" said the Officer. "Well, I'll tell you what you can do with it You will take It into that Held, and you Will dig a bole five f00 deep, und yotl will bur. your find there, providing, of Coin se. it doesn t explode In jour bunds before you have time to carry out this outer Corporal, fall in two men and aee that tbla man obeys the order." Von maj be sure that that man never so mm h aa looked at an unesplodod shell alter that. During the time I wag at the front I pul six automobile! oul of commission. according to nu estimate made idler a yeai of war, the average life ol an an-tontobilo an-tontobilo is i Igbl days and the Ufa of a bono is about tbirtj houra The lirst iiulo 1 lost was due to en. gme trouble, nud i had to abandon it foi the salvage companies to take euro oi The second one was destroyed by a shell In the city of Ypres while 1 was Inning some dinner. The third one I lost dm lug the scrap for hill 00 I gut tin k In the middle of a Held, and as It was in doubtful positloti 1 set tire to It and trusted to luck that I bud done the right thing The other three were used up by the fearful condition of the roads We kuew several daya before the attack at-tack came on hill On that there win Something In the wind. Our mining and tunneling companies had been working day and night, and 1 noticed thai the artillery seemed to lie concen-trutlng concen-trutlng In thut vicinity Be enforcements enforce-ments were brought up, and everything eiand to point toward some doings in the near future Two da..-, before the attack came oS I wus warned to hold myself in readiness readi-ness to take a uintorcw le machine gun Into action hut I was not told anything any-thing about when I wus likely to ha w un led Hill H Itseir had hardly any right to be called a hill, for to me It looked like a little rising ground and that'e all, but we had ninety-two batteries of artillery playing all over It, and they kept up the heaviest possible bombardment bombard-ment for thlrty-flve minutes. When you think of 8i8 cannon pouring shells Into su(h a small place as oue little hill It may give you some Idea of what we gave the Hermans who were trying to hold it against us. The bombardment stopped as abruptly abrupt-ly as It started, and as soon ns It ended the mines we hnd laid under the hill were set off. The earth seemed to tremble for a moment, and then came a great rumbling ronr, followed by an upheaval of earth which seemed to reach the clouds. The moment the mines had been set off our chaps left their trenches on the dead run, and they charged across the crater where hill GO had been but a few moments before. The henvy artillery fire we had given the i. dm. .ns had partly defnorallzed them. The explosion of the mines Mulshed Mu-lshed the Job, and they fled like sheep. Our machine gun was pouring steel Into them for a few moments, but we had to stop, as our own men were pursuing pur-suing them, and It was not safe to continue con-tinue our Are any longer. It was all over In a very short time and. while we bud to stund by nil night, our work did not last long during the actual battle. Soon after this battle I secured my first "leave" to go to Knglnnd for a rest of seven days, and though this is supposed sup-posed to be a story of experiences while on the fighting front, I will relate re-late something thut happened while I was In QlaagoW, Scotlnnd. Of all the cities In tho British Isles Hlnsgow bus sent more men to the front than any other In proportion to her size. The business firms of the city encourage (heir men to enlist nnd do nil they enn to make things easy for them to leave their families. In mnny cases Arms continue to pny men their salaries while they are at the front The street car company In Glasgow has sent thousands, and their places are taken by women while the men are away. Not only are there women conductor on tho street cara, but women drive the cars too. When one arrives at the station sta-tion In Glasgow It seems very odd to have a woman step up nnd ask to carry your bag. Wouieu have taken the places of the porters In the stations. Scotland has responded nobly to the country a ...." n mauy of the small villages the entire male population has gone to the war, excepting, of course, the men who are too old or those who are physically unlit. In the British Isles during this war a great many of the women have been "helping recruiting" by walking the streets nud putting a white feather In the buttonhole of every man they meet Who la not wearing khaki I was standing Just outside the Central Cen-tral station In Glasgow when a woman walked up to a man who wns standing near me. and without a word phe pulled m u 1,1 1 o fell I her tlirolli-h hid 1 .ol tolih.ile a w idle reamer tiiroiign ma uuironuoio. He was a great big fellow, and she had to do some reaching to get at him. He smiled when he saw what she had dono und snld Thanh you. madam,' very politely. That was like waving a red flag be-foie be-foie a bull, and she grew crimson and started telling him what she thought of him He Untened until she was all through, and then he naked, "Have you another one of those feathers, by any c banco!" "Yes, I have, you cownrd." she snapped, snap-ped, und she put another feather on him. As she did so he pulled u Victoria Vic-toria cross from bla po ket and pinned It rlht under the feathers. That womajf gasped and stuttered nud stammered trying to muke an apology, and she rem bed out to take the feathers bnck, but be slopped her. "No, mndiini," he snid, "I'll keep tbeeo as souvenirs, If you don't mind, but I'd like to suy a few words to you about what you arc doing. "Because I am in civilian clothes dona not signify that I am a coward For all you knew I might have bOOfl BtOdV Ically unlit for service. I might have been a married mun with ten or u dozen doz-en small hlldren depending on me. I might have been any iiiinil Of of tilings that would have prevented me from Joining the army, but you didn't eveu wait to Inquire. "You simply thought that because I was nol In khaki I was u coward, and you thought to shame me Into Joining the army As a mutter of fact, I have heen at my home recovering from wounds l received when I won this ut tie cross, and I urn now on my way i i k to Join my regiment "If j on will accept a suggestion from a man who knows men. you will stop this silly business, for you are doing more harm than anything else, ami if I warn a civilian and you had done it i" me then. I would have faced n Ilrlng party before I would Join the army I trust you have learned something flood afternoon. " I found out later that he was a ser-geanl ser-geanl piper In one of the most famous oitlsh regiments and that he won the miss for saving three olllcers when wo ruled himself. CHAPTER VIII. Second Battle For Calais. MY rest of seven duys seemed very short, and 1 was back on the Job at I'operlngbe all too soon Ypres which was six miles away had been eompurntlvelv quiet nil win ter lu fact. It hud been so quiet that our Twenty-seventh divisional bend quarters hud moved lu there A- the spring drew ueiir the Germuns begun to shell around the city again lull very few shells landed due. th In die rlty proper There was " blK cus tank on the out iklrts down toward Krisindl und round ibis place the shell tire would be rather heavy at times. The city was much knocked about even then, but It was nothing to what It waa at the end of the "second battle for Calais" Ca-lais" Before the beginning of this bsttlo the kaiser was quoted as having said that B ho failed to break us this time he would Iny the city of Ypres to the M ground street by street He fnlled to " f! break us, all right, and he kept his word, for today the flue old city of Ypres Is nothing but a shapeless hesp of broken bricks. For weeks before the attack onr airmen air-men were bringing In reports that the Germans were massing heavy bodies of fresh troops Just In front of our position. po-sition. All our transport trains went through the city, our men were billeted there, and one of our divisional headquarters head-quarters had moved Into the city. The Germans still continued to bombard bom-bard our positions in this vicinity, but JSK they left the city Itself severely alone, -s jf, All winter It had been as safe to go through Ypres as It would be to go to church, consequently an order to go to Ypres did not bother anybody very much. I wus at the dlvlnlonnl headquartera In Ypres with a staff olllccr on the afternoon aft-ernoon the boniburdrucnt slnrted. We hnd gone to the city on horses, and we naturally expected to come back that way. I suppose It was about 2 o'clock when we arrived there, and I put the hoi scs hi the yard behind several buildings. build-ings. Aa I was still on duty, 1 didn't dare go very fur away, for I didn't know at what moment the officer might show up. The 1. 1 -i Inkling I got of anything unpleasant was when I heard tho scream of several shells coming through the air at once. Bight then I acted on the Impulse that seizes every one at such a time and went through the nearest cellar window, where I landed on a pile of potatoes. I was content to stay there, too, until an orderly found me and told me that my ofllcer wanted me. The Germans had been bombarding us sbout half an hour then, and there wae no sign of any letting up yet (To be continued.) |