6D an amoican soiwni WIIO WENT ^ * MIllMJYMPLT MACHINE OUNMtR, SERVING IN fRAlK Si 1917 BY Afiftux urt cnm CHAPTER XX. "Chats With Frltx." Wo were swimming In money, from the receipts of our theatrical venture, and had forgotten all about the war, when an order came through that our brigade would again take over their sector of the line. The day that these orders were In sued, our cupfuiu assembled the com pany and asked for volunteers to go to the Machine Oun school at St. Omar. I volunteered and was accepted. Sixteen men from our brigade left for the course In machine gunnery. This course lasted two weeks and we rejoined our unit and were assigned to the brigade machine gun company. It almost broke my heart to leave my company mates. The gun we used was the Vlckers, Light .SOU, water cooled. I was still a member of the Suicide club, having jumped from the frying pan Into the Are. I was assigned to aectlon 1, gun No. 2, and the first time "In" took position In the front-line trench. During the day our gun would be dismounted on the fire step ready for Instant use. We shared a dugout with the Lewis gunners. At "stand to" we would mount our gun on the parapet and go on watch beside It until "stand down" In the morning. Then the gun would be dismounted and again placed in readiness on the fire step. We did eight days In the front-line trench without anything unusual hap pening outside of the ordinary trench routine. On the night that we were to "carry out," a bombing raid against the German lines was pulled oft. This raid ing party consisted of sixty company men, sixteen bombers, and four Lewis machine guns with their crews. The raid took the Roches by surprise and was a complete success, the party bringing back twenty-one prisoners. The Germans must have'been awful ly aore, because they turned loose a barrage of shrapnel, with a few "Min nies" ami "whizz bangs" Intermixed. The shells were dropping into our front line like hailstones. To get even, we could have left the prisoners In the fire trench, In churge of the men on guard and let them click Fritz's strafelng but Tommy does not treat prisoners that way. Five of them were brought Into my dugout und turned over to me so that they would be safe from the German fat In the candlelight, they looked very much shaken, nerves gone and chalky faces, with the exception of one, n great big fellow. He looked very much at ease. I liked hlui from the start. I pot out the rum jar and gave each a nip and passed around some fags, the old reliable Woodbines. The other prisoners looked their gratitude, but .the big fellow said in English, "Thank you, sir, the rum Is excellent and I ap preciate It, also your kindness." ? He told me his name was Carl Schmidt, of the Sixty-sixth Havarla-n Light Infantry ; that he had lived six years in New York (knew the city bet ter than I did), had been to Couey island and many of our ball gamed. He was u regular fan. I couldn't make him believe that Hans Wagner wasn't the best ball player in the world. From New York he had gone to Lon don, where he worked as a waiter in the Hotel Russell. Just before the war he went home to Germany to see his parents, the war came and he was con scripted. He told me he was very sorry to hear that London was In ruins from the Zeppelin raids. I could not con vince him otherwise, for hadn't he seen moving pictures In one of the German cities of St. Paul's cathedral In ruins. I changed the subject because he was so stubborn In his belief. It was my Intention to try and pump him for Information as to the methods of the German snipers, who had been caus ing us trouble In the lq# * -?? *m< - ? ? ? ? think If thut train hud been on ttm?, thos<* seventeen would still be alive. 1 bate to tell you how I wus kidded by the boys When I got back, but it wui good and plenty. Our machine gun company took ove? their part of the line at seven o'clock, the night after I returned frotf. toy ?ear leave. At 3:30 the following morning three waves went over and captured the first and second German trenches. The machine gunners went over with the fourth wave to consolidate the cap tured line or "dig in," as Tommy calls it Crossing No Man's Land without i clicking any casualties, we came to ' the German trench and mounted oui guns on the parados of same. I never saw such a mess in my life ?bunches of twisted barbed wire lying about, shell holes everywhere, trench all bashed in, parapets gone, and dead bodies, why, that ditch was full of them, theirs and ours. It was a regu lar morgue. Some were mangled hor ribly from our shell fire, while others were wholly or partly buried in the mud, the result of shell explosions cav ing In the walls of the trench. One dead German was lying on his back, with a riile sticking strulght up In the air, the bayouet of which was burled to the hilt in his chest. Across his feet lay a dead English soldier with a bul let hole In his forehead. This Tommy must have been killed just as he ran his bayonet through the German. Rifles and equipment were scattered about, and occasionally a steel helmet could be seen sticking out of the mud. At one point, Just in the entrance to a communication trench, was a stretch er. On this stretcher a German was lying with a white bandage around hla knee, near to him lay one of the stretcher-bearers, the red cross on hla arm covered with mud and his helmet filled with blood and brains. Close by, sitting up against the wall of the trench, with bead resting on his chest, was the other stretcher-bearer. He seemed to be alive, the posture was so natural and easy ; but when I got closer I could see a large, Jagged hole In his temple. The three must have been killed by the same shell-burst. The dugouts were all smashed in and knocked about, big square-cut timbers splintered into bits, walls caved In and entrances choked. Tommy, after taking a trench, learns to his sorrow that the hardest part of the work is to hold it. In our case this proved to be so. The German artillery and machine guns had us taped (ranged) for fair; it was worth your life to expose your self an instant. Don't think for a minute that the Germans were the ynly sufferers; we were clicking casualties so fast that you needed an adding machine to keep track of them. Hid you ever see one of the steam shovels at work on the Panama canal? Well, it would look like a hen scratch ing alongside of a Tommy "digging in" while under fire. You couldn't see day light through the clouds of dirt from his shovel. Alter losing three out of six men of our crew we managed to set up our machine gun. One of the legs of the tripod was resting on the chest of a half-burled body. When the gun was firing. It gave the Impression that the body was breathing. This was caused by the excessive vibration. Three or four feet down the trench, about three feet from the ground, a foot was protruding from the earth. We knew it was a German by the black leather boot. One of our crew used that foot to hang extra bandoliers of ammunition on. This man always was a handy fellow; made use of little points that the ordinary person would overlook. The Germans made three counter attacks, which we repulsed, but not without heavy loss on our side. They also, suffered severely from our shell and machine-gun fire. The ground was spotted with their dead and dying. The next day things were somewhat quieter, but not quiet enough to bury the dend. We lived, ate and slept In that trench with the unburled dead for six days. It was awful to watch their faces be come swollen and discolored. Towards the last the stench was fierce. What got on my nerves the most was that foot sticking out of the dirt. It seemed to me, at ulght, In the moon light, to be trying to twist around. Several times this impression was so strong that I went to It and grasped It in both hands, to see if I could feel a movement. I told this to the man who had used it for a hatrack Just before I lay down for a little nap, as things were quiet, and I needed a rest pretty badly. When I woke up the foot was gone. had cut it off with our chain saw out of the spare parts' box, and had plastered the stump over with mud. During the next two or three days, before we were relieved. I missed that foot dreadfully ; seemed as If I had suddenly lost a chum. I think the worst thing of all was to watch the rats, at night, and some times in the day, run over and play about among the dead. Near our gun, right across the para pet, could be seen the body of a Ger man lieutenant. the head and arms of which were hanging into our trench. 1 The man who had cut off the foot used to sit and carry on a one-sided conver- \ satiou with this officer, used to argue | and point out why Germany was In the | wrong. During all of this monologue \ I never heard him say anything out of ? the way ? anything that would have hurt the otlicer's feelings lad he been alive. He was square all right; I wouldn't even take advantage of a dead man in an argument. To civilians this must seem dres*V (OU but out here oue gets so used to ?wfu! nights that It makes no Impre* ?ion. In passing a butcher shop you are not shocked by seeing a dead tur key hanging from a hook. Well, in France, a dead body Is looked upon from the same angle. But, nevertheless, when our six days were up, we were tickled to death to be relieved. Our machine gun company lost seventeen killed and thirty-one wound ed in that little loon' affair of "straightening the line,'* while the other companies clicked i*: worse than we did. After the attack we went into re serve billets for six days, and on the seventh once again we were in rest bil lets. (To Be Continued.) I HAVE ONE BAY PONEY HORSE for sale. Gentle and works well any where. Can see him at Ivanhoe Cot ton Mills. For sale also 1 buggy and harness, 1 one horse wagon and two plows. J. H. Williams, Smith field, N. C. DON'T PUT OFF SCREENING house. See us at once. Cotter Hard ware Company. OUR ARMY AND HOW TO KNOW IT for sale at THE HERALD of fice. Price 25 cents. WE HAVE THE JOHN DEERE Corn Planters. Cotter Hardware Company. FOR ALL SKIN AND FACIAL eruptions such as black heads, pim. pies, freckles, and sunburn, use Dr. Muns' tile and eczema ointment. JUST RECEIVED A BIG LOT OF Lynchburg Casting. Cotter Hard ware Co., Smithfield ,N. C. WE HAVE THE jpHN DEERE Corn Planters. Cotter Hardware Company. WE HAVE THE JOHN DEERE Corn Planters. Cotter Hardware Company. WHY SUFFER FROM ECZEMA! Get a jar of Dr. Muns' pile and eczema ointment. FOR BURNS AND OLD SORES, DR. Muns' pile and eczema ointment is a valuable remedy. SEE US FOR ASPHALT ROOFING. Cotter Hardware Co. SAVE THE QUARTERS and SEE THE DOLLARS GROW. BUY WAR-SAVINGS STAMPS! MERCHANTS WILL NEED FLOUR Certificates to be signed by their customers and we have the blanks for sale 100 for 35 cents, 200 for 60 cents or 500 for $1.25. Apply to Beaty and Lassiter, Smithfield, N.C. The Well-Known CHEVROLET AUTOMOBILE The hill climber. Makes more miles to the gallon of gasoline. If you are thinking of buying a car it will pay you to see me before our present stock is exhausted, as we will then have to drive them from factory. W. H. LEE , Four Oaks , N. C. LIKE BACON YOU know how cooking brings out all the rich pungent flavor of bacon ? there's nothing that tastes better. But you wouldn't like it raw. IT'S TOASTED So we toast the Burley tobacco used in LUCKY STRIKE Ciga rettes for exactly the same reason ?to bring out the rich, solid flavor.