Show the e lone tree sentinel or ghosts on oa the firing line wa Vs IB by sergeant ar arthur thur guy empey author of over the topi top 1 first call et etc 00 0 f mr empens expert teen months in inthe the First line trenches of the british army in france copyright 1817 1917 by r the mcclure New newspaper 4 1 10 D one sunny af afternoon our guns crew was sitting on the fire step of a front line trench just in front of gomme court wood happy houghton was busily engaged in rigging up a flash screen to hide bide the flaro flare of our gun which we were to mount on tho parapet that night sailor nelor bill was sewing a piece of khaki cloth over his bis tin hat because the night previous while on sentry go standing la in the moonlight with his head over the top the rays from the moon had bad reflected from his steel helmet and a coup couple leof of german bullets had bad knocked up the dirt within a few feet of his head As s was usual with him hungry foxcraft wah was wrestling with a tin of bully beef while curly wallace was hunting for cloties cooties co oties otles ikey Honney with our mascot jim was sitting on the fire step his back leaning against the traverse of the fire hay picking mud out of his harmonica with a sliver of wood jim seemed happy and contented not knowing the fate in store for him two days later poor jim was killed by a german bullet and we buried behind the lines pla placing cinga a little wooden cross at the licad head of his grave ve after aate r working a few minutes at theli the harmonica ikey would pause pausa put it to his lips and blow into it a squeaky noise resulting then with a deep sigh he would resume the picking process I 1 had just finished a letter home and was sighing for the time to come when once again be able to say hello to the old girl with the lamp in her right hand guarding new york harbor although it was warm and sunny the floor of 0 the trench waa was about three inches deep in soft sticky mud on my right I 1 heard a low muttering and a splashing in the mud and around the tru traverse verse into our fi Il carrying a box of ammunition bit ills his shoulder camu came the most weird looking soldier I 1 had ever seen As lie he passed in front of me be turned his gaze in my direction and a cold shiver seemed to run up and down my spine as I 1 looked into his eyes they were un canny a sort of vacant stare as athe owner of them was looking into the great beyond As this soldier staggered ered through the fire bay a almost bending double under finder the th e weight of tho the ammunition and passed from view around the traverse it seemed to me as if the grim reaper had stalked through shuddering a little I 1 instinctively turned my eyes in the direction of the rest of the crew they were also staring at the traverse around w which h ell the gloomy looking soldier had bad disappeared appeared d my heart sank to zero and I 1 had a sinking sensation idu lif in the region of bf my stomach and andion on the in front of me like it a moving picture on a screen flashed a cemetery dott dotted edall all over with little wooden crosses I 1 felt queer tind and uneasy curly wallace in a low half fright ened voice exclaimed blime me that was auntee jerrys brother tile one who clicked it by the old lone tree if you blokes want to get the creeps you ought to ear car tin lm talk some 0 the fellows claim that its unlucky to get im started they sye t that one ol 01 0 Is bearers is sure to click in within a few lays cays time but it if you fellows want to tylre tyke the flick chance chanc eIll ill boover over to is section is occupying the se second cond on our left and see if I 1 L can get im m to tell us its about Is brother but how now mind this i fellow Is y p little balmy in Is napper io so dont myke fun of im I 1 confess that I 1 wat was glad to be rid of him but my curiosity overcame my fears so I 1 asked curly to go nit ahead ead the rest of the crew weakly assented and curly went after terrys brother in about twenty minutes minute lie he returned with him terrys jenys brother came over and sat on the flie step next fo me he sat silent for a few cs ind and then in a piping high pitched voice valc e spoke so yo yon want to car about jerry do you ou they called him auntee jerry I 1 but lie he aunts aunt aun td cd he could ju just wt see e could see into the future could sort 0 tell what was avas agoan to lappen appen B D could talk to the dead and they told am ah B always cid ad spirits around am ghosts you call em cut but thero thera aint ho no such thing filing fis as ghosts souls around about us ua lowi I slowly eased down the fl r away from him jerry used to talk to the dead le e would st sit in n cemetery at night while jn in rest resi billets lets and receive messages from them what cant speak no imore sometimes into at night I 1 arft arn oar ear far abt voices callin to mo me but as at t cahnt understand lem cm but I 1 will I 1 will my blood began to curdle curly wallace placing his hand on the beakers knee softly said bald mate we know you can see sea far beyond us its but tell us ua of aunt ed jerry aw anil the tha ponto le e wrote the day before e clicked it at the lone tree jerrys brother nodded in a comprehending h way and reaching into the pocket packet of his tunic drew out a creased ed and muddy piece lf f paper which he opened out upon n hla his knee rind and then in tin an unnatural singsong voice which sent shivers through us ug recited the poem between the lines in no mans land with foliage gone ano anil trunie trunk ahaas to torn rn A lonely sentry sei 1 try takes hla his stand silently watching from morn to morn C on n starlit nights when moon Is bright and spreads its rays rayo of ghostlike beams beam against the tho sky that tr tree co of blight A ghastly hang mans gibbet seems when night Is black and winds faint sigh elgh through its shellhorn shell torn branches moans inmans A call all tomen to men to die to die they altwer it with groans and groans dut cut obey the call for more and more and death sits alts by and grins and grins and watches the f fast st growing score the harvest harves t of his sent rys whims there they lie huddled friend and foe ghastly heaps english hun and french and still those piles forever grow they are fed by the wen men ot of the trench no booc wooden len cross to mark their fall no tombstone theirs no carven rocks just the lone treo with its grim call which forever mocks and mocks when terrys jerrys brother had bad finished a dead silence ensued I 1 nervously asly lighted a fag and out of the corner of my eye noticed that sillier sailor bill was uneasily squirming on the fi letting out a sigh which seemed to whistle between his teeth our guest carried on jerry much at cheerful writing because le e ad a calling even back ionic ome in blighty e much for lights nor fun E took after our mother the neighbors called br er auntee aun ted too but she she could see things like jerry this ere lone tree sentinel jerry writes about was an old tree in no mans land about a undred yards from our oui front line trench it was pretty well v ell knocked about by bullets and shell fragments it made a pretty good guide post sort 0 lonely like up the skyline at night re patrols and bo rabing parties used it to show em the wye back to their trenches because y know out there in the blackness its easy to lose your wye unless you lave live spirits a guldan you lots lot of times english and german patrols would meet near the lone tree and many a and to sand and fight would tyke place around its roots at that part 0 the line it were pretty ot lot what with the rifle and mar ma chine gun firing the only time there would be a lull in the firing was when 0 patrol was out in front and then as you know you fire for fear of a bitting your awn own blokes all around the lone tree were scattered many bodies mostly english and german some of em cm ua aa been alyin a there for w weeks and when the wind were a blowin from the german lines towards us it were sort of unpleasant in our front line every time the captain would woul d call for soldiers for a reconnoiter reconnoitering ing patrol auntee jerry ns as you call lim im always put Is blo bloomin bloom oman ln nyme on an the list it got so that after a while e never asked if le e wanted to go the captain would just naturally put Is ume down as agoan in our dugout jerry would tell me low ow many dead were around the tree ow c t could count lent cm in the dark I 1 dont know but le e could see e could see sometimes in the daytime e would ra rig ag up a periscope on Is own and sit en the fl for hours alook ln out n INS Z 11 bending double under the weight of I 1 the ammunition in no mans land at the lone tree and the bodies around it whis this sort gort 0 got on our captains nerves and 0 o gave jerry orders not to use a pe peri I 1 ri scope after this order jerry used to sit lt off by itself on the fl n i musin and a austn I 1 tho the other blokes laughed at iro but I 1 knew what he were adola e were atall i to the spirit of bf the lone tree free then le e got bortol 0 reckless and be enuse it were orders for lin to uso usa a periscope le c used to in the dw daytime day timp stick lik Is cad over the fop cop and gazo gaze in the direction I 1 of the y tree bullets from german would kick up the dirt and tear tedi the sandbars sandbags sand bags all around lim ini but bul none az fit em cm ever it lm lim no bi bullet illet ever could hill auntee jerry as you yon caw cam im the rest ol 01 0 the blokes in the trench would pull lm down off the fl they thay thought they were ii o samial his life but jerry afraid from bule bul y e lets ae E knew and so did I 1 that they farm arm lm irn 1 then our bur captain le e ad bri brinins lins e ad said that jerry was balmy and gave orders ciders to the sergeant gea tit major to tyke lm lim back td ther doctors to send lm im to blighty jerry was told about this the night be before beford fory I 1 e was to leave E was greatly upset and did bothin but talk to the was full of lem cm 1 I could eier car their voices too j that night about ten jerry was missed morning 0 o e was wag still a alss lill for two days noth ln was card of jerry then the royal irysh miles took over no a sector ov of trench on our right A lot of our blokes told em about serry jerry behrel beta A few of lem em got around me and I 1 described jerry to lem ero but II 11 were tilt afraid for jerry 71 I 1 knew where le e was je e were with Is spirits that night an irish patrol went out and when they returned they br broughto brough tt a body with them said found it at the foot 0 the lone tree it were jerry all right but e it nowhere two bloomin bloom ln doctors examined lim im lookin for wounds wasa dead all right and that bloomin bloom ln nl cap IW ai 1 Z brought in the bleeding body of jim tain e ad brains brain 6 e ad was responsible for is death E ad tried to tyke jerry ably aay from is spirits so jerry crawled out to the lone tree to answer its call 13 answered iti it and now es with the spirits le e loved and some nine time ill be able to talk to im t Es els with lem em ua all right I 1 know 1 I know just then jim started to whimper 1 I guess if the truth were known we all felt like whimpering without a nother another word jerrys brother got up and muttering to himself P passed n s S ed out of sight around the traverse As lie he disappeared froni from view sailor bill exclaimed blaust my headlights deadlights dead lights tnt but if a bloke like that ever slipped in the navy in a fortnights fort nights time e would bloomin bloom ln well be an admiral because e would be the only ono one left in the blI blinkin navy gives me the proper creeps ow in ell Is company stands for im I 1 dont know ow low about it curl curly v why eliy e been sent to blighty as balmy ill tell you bill answered curly this bloke blake only gets these fits occasionally sio nally Es a d d good soldier alwa always ys on the job and next to corporal F rench french and his brother auntee jerr jerry Y os cs the best scout for wort work in no ko mans land ever put a foot liti in these liese blinkin ditches Itson its only li lately that los es been these spells so 0 often and yesterday the sergeant major told roc me that c e was andor ob anal that it would only bo be n time before le e was shIpp shipped etL back bach Is it a fact curly asked happy that this auntee jerry crawled out there the way his brother says and that lie he was found dead without a wound on him if its so he must have bad a bloody poor heart and died that way cayll curly answered it sure Is so because I 1 got it from a leftenant in auntee jerrys section jim was still whimpering this got on ikens nerves lie he gave him hm a slier sharp cuff on the side of the head this was the first time a liand hand had bad been raised falsen against jim since he had joined us months back ile he gava ilcy a piteous look and sticking ahls bis stump ot 0 a tall between his logs legs disappeared from the fire lay bay two days later icoy nin isdo de up for that slap because tit tho tha risk rish of his life durl during tig an attack att ack he raced into no land under heavy fire and brought in the hie bleeding body of jim j all afternoon we tried to lie be as cheerful as possible but our merriment I 1 was very cry artificial every laugh coined forced and strained ned haunted d jerry had bad sure put theng on us that night curly happy and iwer on a watch from ten tea to twelve dd ba aleve me we never spent a d borio two hours in our lives there ws wag not hot a word spoken among us I 1 viks vas thipa I 1 ing of haunted jerry A and nd nod no doubt dubi the other two wera were boink doln likewise A few days later at c r jerrys br brother he wasl was sent back to blighty ai and aid d no doubt right now Is in somo ame insane cy lum in with haunted jerry y andhiv and his spirits |