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Show Maps and Men By MART COLES McClure Syndicate WNU Features. THE cqlonel's temporary head, quarters were in his hotel bed. room. At noon, ten young men stood before the plain board table that had been brought up from the dining room to serve as a desk. One. of the young officers wore a captain's bars; eight, those of first lieutenants and one, who stood at the extreme left, the single bronze bars of a second lieutenant. His name on the roster was John Sherman, bu4 his fellows dubbed him "Agricultural" "Agricultur-al" when they learned that he had been, a farmer prior to enlistment. The colonel spoke. "We have been assigned to this sector." He moved his pencil across the map which lay before him. "Note . the boundaries carefully." The officers offi-cers crowded around, leaving John j Sherman to peer over their shoulders. shoul-ders. j "As you see," continued the colonel, colo-nel, "our area is roughly square, about fifteen miles on a side. Beginning Be-ginning tomorrow I want to move fifteen batteries into position. The terrain is hilly. There is a good deal of plowed land, and there are a number . of wooded spots." He pushed the chart to one side. "I want a map showing the hills, the groves of trees and all the dirt roads. And I want it fast." Lieutenant Lieuten-ant Sherman tried to get closer, but the broad back of Captain Jorg blocked the way, and the captain's elbow dug the lieutenant in the ribs. "Now, gentlemen. I shall not judge your success by anything but results. If you can find a print showing the region I have indicated, complete in detail, bring that in, or a fair copy. But Captain Jorg believes, and I agree with him, that . the quickest way to get the data is to estimate tht tract flurielvei. Any question?" No one answered. "Very well, gentlemen, carry on. Five cars with drivers have been allotted to you for the afternoon. ' Divide as you think best. Report to me here immediately after evening j mess." Colonel Shore smiled. "To add a sporting feature, I will grant a three day leave to the man or j group bringing in the most useful . instrument." The young men saluted and nine of them hurried from the room. Second Lieutenant John Sherman remained, his face flushed with embarrassment. em-barrassment. "Sir, may I see the map?" "Certainly." It was an ordinary Government survey. The locality to which the colonel had referred was marked in red. John copied the section and township numbers in the zone, saluted, salut-ed, and stumbled from the room. By the time he reached the street four of the jeeps had left. The fifth, with two men in the rear seat, was just starting from the curb. "Do I go with you?" John asked. "Not as I understand it, Agricultural," Agricul-tural," said one of the passengers. "Captain Jorg is alone in one car and I heard him say that he would get paper and pencils and come back to pick you up. You're both from the same town, aren't you?" "Better than that," said the other. "They both get letters from the same girl. Be nice if Jorg and Agricultural Agricul-tural win the leave. They can visit her together." The little car whirled off. John waited for thirty minutes. He did not expect Captain Jorg to return, re-turn, and soon was convinced that the whole thing was a trick. Jorg had prevented him from seeing the map; Jorg had arranged that the other lieutenants would pair oft and leave him without transportation; Jorg had made sure that if he did not win the leave, there would be no chance whatever for John to do so. A jeep, empty except for a corporal cor-poral who was driving, pulling up. John forgot the formality that governed gov-erned between officers and enlisted men. "Any chance of your driving me thi afternoon? I've territory to measure." The corporal looked astonished, then amused. These shavetails, they didn't know nothing. "Sorry, sir," he said, "this car isn't free. The lieutenant would have to have an order, anyway." Then he added sar-castically, sar-castically, "Perhaps the lieutenant could catch a bus." John thanked him for the suggestion and rushed to the bus station. That evening the same ten officers offi-cers stood before Colonel Shore. A pile of sketches lay before him. Captain Cap-tain Jorg had an air of easy confidence. confi-dence. Second Lieutenant John Sherman Sher-man looked anything but happy. "Gentlemen," said the colonel, "I have examined all of these. Considering Consid-ering the speed with which you worked, they are quite good. Captain Cap-tain Jorg's especially. But," the colonel pulled a large sheet of thin paper from the bottom of the pile, "this one turned in by Lieutenant Sherman is by far the most complete." com-plete." "Lieutenant Sherman explained that through his carelessness he was left without a conveyance," said the colonel. "But in the emergency he used his head. Once a farmer, it occurred oc-curred to him that the local center of the Agricultural Department would have air maps, which of course are in detail. He went to the county seat by bus and made a tracing. trac-ing. Since I wanted results irrespective irre-spective of method, the three day leave is properly awarded to Lieutenant Lieu-tenant Sherman. Thank you, gentlemen, gentle-men, that will be all." , |