Show for 0 tirrance by sergeant arthur guy aimy i empey author of over the ti tea first caw call etc 0 00 0 0 i mr empens espeli Ex peri teen months in kline line trenches of the I 1 k british army in I 1 france 1817 bv the 2 it was 1014 and the great world war wai was was on and here lieis waw was I 1 in the united states and neutral for thirteen years ilind I 1 had been soldiering bu bat bid bad never been under fire in my imagination I 1 could hear the ae guns gims i booming ou on the western wester n front I 1 admit aas I 1 was a trifle afraid nevertheless I 1 had a great desire to get into the up bow could I 1 get over I 1 planned out lehany many ways but none of them were practical one day while fie walking down greenwich street new york I 1 passed an agency staring me in I 1 the ilie face was a great flarin flaring 9 sign horses for france vrina 11 under this ahli men wanted here was my chance upon returning to ray my offices office I 1 immediately got in touch over the telephone with WIM two prominent rn men n in new yo york rk whom hom V I 1 knew to be distinctly pro ally after outlining my desire an an appointment was made forme for me to meet acer a certain gentleman at the hotel astor a at t 1 four that afternoon I 1 met him he introduced me to a franai frenchman at that time in my eyes a frenchman was a fiera hero a man to tb bo be looked up to tod a man fighting in the great sause dause but now a frenchman to me la Is more thin than a hero aero af after ter being introduced I 1 went exit up into the frenchmans French mans room robra and talked over the matter maiter of horses ford for france tor for about twenty minu minutes tei upon leaving the Fre frenchman fichman I 1 was told to report to him three days later atthe at the same time and place I 1 left bubbling over with enthusiasm and anticipation during daring this interval of three days I 1 mopped out a story of my life to present to him upon our second interview the aien eventful i taul day at last laft cimei came and onceco once more fe awai I 1 was closeted with him hah I 1 started till tell him my etory ile he interrupted apted I 1 hiie me by waving his right 16 hand nato ito the right and left it reminded me md of the butts on d a target capie range during rifle practice when the man marking thie the target wigwags a alsa to the firing line my heart sank danl chen he S spoke poke and I 1 was waa garried carried I 1 from despondency to ao the gr greatest eanest beighl helget t of expectation tatlo fi his words pardon W f rue me monsieur 1 I already aw know your life and inan an amazingly short time he be bold me more than I 1 knew about myself I 1 had bad been carefully investigated 1 my instructions received from him bini are confidential so I 1 will not go into them anyway he handed me an envelope and told me to follow out carefully all details as contained therein I 1 immediately went back to my office opened the envelope and on a typewritten sheet I 1 read report at goldsmiths employment agency no greenwich street et ship as an ordinary horseman and during voyage carefully follow the ifie verbal I 1 anstr instructions uc received by you during our in tery lew making careful not note 1 e of all details immediately after happening me be cautious in doing this upon landing in france rep report ortto to the prefecture of police Borde bordeaux hux and to the letter obey his instructions goodluck good luck I 1 went home and put on my oldest clothes an old bla black suit ollye olive dr drab iab ehert a pair of heavy army shoes and a woolen n 1 cop cap 1 I had let roy my beard grow ind and certainly looked rough going down greenwich street slouching along looking at the g round ground I 1 ran plump into a young lady of ini my acquaintance I 1 bad a f feeling of bf at af section tec tion for this particular young lady but it soon died out upon hearing her remark as I 1 collided with her if you cannot look where you are going I 1 will have you arrend 11 of mcburse course cb urse not recognize pe roe and I 1 took no pains to argue the matter with ith her I 1 was glad enough to slink by byi when I 1 cama came to io the agency there was vas a long lindof line of bums two and three deep aebi trying to ship ai as horsemen for france It lt llowd would be lm impossible to gets a rob rougher glier un und dmore more unkempt gathering of men it looked as if some come huge giant ilant had bad taken idine a fine comb and carefully combed the gutters c of 4 new kew york I 1 fell Ini anio othis this line and waited my iny turn upon arriving at the desk in front oame sat mf a little faai fat greasy jew to dei describe cribe ula manner of ban K aul lulng nithe the ie men n ai as beang being impolite would kattie S e a great exaggeration the fayhe handled that line of of humin human cattle woula dothe the kalie keisers kaisers kai sers heart bood it ca came me my tun and tion ensued I 1 what do you yoo know knor about horses I 1 answered ats years in the united stales cavalry thea agent what hat rag regiments I ments I 1 eleventh and twelfth youre a liar lian you never saw the cavalie cava liy I 1 felt like punching blinso him on the jiose but did n not ot do dd ea so I 1 wanted td 0 o ship ag a afo horseman cseman 1 I showed him my discharges He hebald A sald d 1 faked what did boudo you do desert or were yo you u kicked out 1 I was as getting sore and an answered deserted tho twelfth kicked butof out of the eleventh your couf name arthur guy empey 11 youre d fl german 11 this was wag too much even for me and J I 1 answered youre a damned liar I 1 saw ray my chances of shipping vanishing in smoke tha jew grinned arih ned and rubbed his bonds ands and said boero all right go into that room and get cef a wc card ardra made ad e out and come back at two awo 1 I received recel a card and went to a hennery be aner iacross across the street streel nud had fiad a wonderful meal m eal of corned beet beef hash ih muddy coffee and huge slices of bread minus but butter tek this cost me fifteen cents at two oc fock I 1 reported back and with seventy two others was herded like ilke cattle and lq in a long straggling giang line flanked bythie by three 0 of alie employees 0 of f the agency we marched to the ferry and landed somewhere in new jersey the hip a huge three stacker was lying flying afong alongside side we gewere were shoved into single file ready to ti go up the gangplank then our real examination took place at the toot of the ibe gang pank plank were a 4 group of men around a long table able they certainly put us through a third degree to toland find out if there was any german blood in us several men were turned down luckily 1 I got thra through bugl and signed for the voyage and went on board at the head of the gangplank stood the toughest specimen of humanity I 1 ha have ever seen he looked kikela like a huge gorilla andrad and had a big crescent shaped livid scar running from his left ear under lunder his chin up to his r right ag it eye every everi time he spoke the ea edges of the sear scar seemed to grow white his nose was broken and habad he had huge shaggy eyebrows his hand band was resting on the rail of the ship it looked like a ham and inwardly I 1 figured out what would happen to me it if that ham like fist fise ever came an in contact with the point of my jaw As we passed him he showered us with a few corn complimentary pit remarks such as of cfall all the lousy scum I 1 have seen this bunch bunc hof of lubbers Is the worst arst and this Is what they give me to tb take thirteen hundred biln dred horses over to bordeaux borde aux 11 later on J I 1 found this individual wits was foreman of the horse hors e gang we were berei ordered aft and sat on the after hatch hi the fellow on my juht right was a huge blue gummed negro he as c continually scratching himself I 1 unconsciously eased away froni from him J an and d b bumped um ped into the fellow sitting on my left after afdera a good look at himi him I 1 eased back again in the direction of the negro negra I 1 dont think that he had bad taken a bath since escaping fram from the cradled cradle right then my uppermost thought was as how I 1 could duck this jelp trip tefrance to france the general conversation among the pe horse gang was when do ae we eat we must have sat there about twenty minutes when the second foreman came aft I 1 took fifteen guesses at atliss ats nationality and at last came to the conclusion co n elusion that he helas was a cross cr oss between bet weert a chinaman and a mexican he was thin about six feet feel tall and wore a huge sombrero ills skin was tanned the color of leather every time affine he be smiled smI ledI I 1 had the impression that the next minute he would plant a stiletto in my back ills his name was pinero his introduction to ud us was very brief V get up off adf of that blank hatch and line up against the rall gedid we did as ordered then he commanded aalthe all the figgers line up along alongside of the port rall rail t I 1 guess a lot of them did not noi know what be bc meant by the port rail because they looked very much bewildered with tin nn oath he snapped 0 out ut you blank ety blank idiots the por port rail trail Js that r rail all aver over the there re come on move or ill soon move you yol he Re looked well abl able to do this and the biggers promptly shuffled over to the place designated he quickly tm anto squid squads g of twelve men then ord ordered all ali of you who are deserters from the army anny or who have searf service in the cavalry step oui out in front froni V four our others besides myself stepped ate aped out the first roan baft he cime came to he informed youre a straw boss dodou do yon know what a straw bo boss ss Is this man meekly answered ered no sir with another oath oath the becq second fre foreman ann said all right youre not a straw boss fall back 11 I 1 got the cue immediately my turn came next do you know what a straw boss Is I 1 said sure he said all right youre a straw boss bos s 1 I 1 had not the least men idea of what he wa was talking about but made up my mind that it would not noi take me long fong to find out then he passed down aown the line picking out straw bosses I 1 asked one bf the men in my pang bang what wha were the duties of a straw boss ild he had been over over with horses before and told me that it a straw boss bosi beant meant to be bb in iii charge of the gans gang to feed the horses and to draw and keep careful check on oh the straw hay bay oats and bran having served edlu in the cavalry this job as I 1 figured ed would be regular plo pie for me A in about afta an hour anda and a hairs bolts time pinero had bad selected his straw bosses aad the men into ganga and is assigned signed us toi foj our quarters on the chip these quarters wore were between decks and very much crowded the tench stench is was awful one old fellow in my gang ann was wak a trouble maker ile he must have been about forty forti years ol 01 old d and looked as aa hard as aa anft tle lie was haying havin g an argument with a pasty fa faced ced looking specimen of humanity about twenty six years yeara old to tome me this mun man appeared to be in the iho last iasi a stages of consumption I 1 told tho the old fellow to cut out ills his ariu argument ment and leave the other fellow alone upon hearing bearing this he squirted a well directed stream of tobacco juice through his front fint teeth which landed ormy shoe I 1 inwardly admired and respected his accuracy I 1 saw my nu an dhority waning and knew that I 1 would have baleto to answer this in insult sult quickly I 1 took two or three quick steps forward and swung on his jaw with whirl my fist ills his head went up against the iron bunk with a a sickening sound and he i crumpled up and fell on od the deck the blood pouring from the culfin cut in his head I 1 felt sic alck kand and faint thinking that he had been killed but 1 it would not do to show t these hse i signs of 0 weakness dess on rny my part so ro without even moving io toward himi him I 1 ordered ona one of the men to loo look khim him over andsen and aeo if hewko be was all right he soon came ca rne around from that alme an be was the most fal faithful th ful man in the tha section and greatly respected me the rest oj the men growled I 1 and mumbled and I 1 thought iwas I 1 was in fona for n terrible beating lying close at hand was an iron spike about eighteen inches long grasping this I 1 turned to th the rest frying trying to be as tough as I 1 possibly could if any of the rest of you bums think they are boss aroun around dhere here start something and I 1 will sink this into his head although I 1 was quailing qu alling ailing under underneath neAh stilli still I 1 getaway got away with it and from fioro that time on I 1 was boss of my section now every man was smoking or chewing tobacco pretty soon thebold the hold became thick with smoke and I 1 was 9 gasping for breath when the voice of the aab foreman came do down wn the c companionway 0 turn out od on deck and alvea give a hand loading the horses took look ove alive or ill comedown come down there and rouse you out pretty quick I 1 haven have been in a cavalry reit regiment ment when hurry up orders w ere received to entrain for the mexican border borderland and helped to load e edven hundred horses on trains the tae confusion on that dock was indescribable the az horses ks were loaded by three runways my gang and I 1 were det detailed alldon on the after runway the foreman was leaning over over the rail glaring down upon us and now and then giving instructions mixed with horrible oaths he 1 bad ad a huge marlin spike in his hand on 66 the dock was the second foreman in his large sombrero a red neckerchief it around round his neck wearing a blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the il elbows bows and i in his bis right hand a colled coiled 1 lariat it did dl ones heart good to see him rope the horses which aiole loose upon matching his first performance ance I 1 knew ew I 1 was correct whenn when I 1 fig figured ifred him as having mexican blood in bis veins A bleary eyed drunk was trying ng to leada it ad a horse by the our ru run i n me he was looking back at the horse at the ioime same time ilme tugging and derung on the halter you could see the white ln in the horses eyes and I 1 knew abw right away from my experience with horses that this was a bad one or ns as we would term him in the cavalry an outlaw the drunk was cu cursing arsing and swearing shearin g and kicking up u P at the horses S head the foreman saw this and directed his barrage at the offender how in h 1 I do you expect to lead a horse while looking at him turn your back to mm yo you u lousy bu bum rn you are blocking the m whole run turn your back to him I 1 say bay YO you U cant calit lead him that way it if I 1 come down there to y you ou ill soon show you how to get him aboard the bleary eyed one became bewildered and in his excitement lost his footing on the slippery runway runway and fell underneath the horse at the same ti time me loosening hi his s hold bold on the halter chain the horse jerked his head loose reared up turned around and made a break for the deck the man anthe on the gangway tried to scramble scram blei butof out of the way the horse in wheeling let fly with both heels and caught caugh thim him below the right ear with his near hind foot with a piercing shriek the drunk clasped both swung on an H his Is jaw with my fist hands to his head fell over bac backward akward and rolled donitto the foot of bf the gangplank and lay there in a crumpled heap the blood pouring fro nihls fils nose mouth and the ahe wound below his ear ea r upon hearing bearing this shriek several of themen the men leading their horses in their fright turned thern them loose ind there was wa a road mad stampede on the deck the pasty faced horseman whom I 1 had helped out a little while be |