I 1A/
6D
AN AMERICAN SOIMR
WHO WENT * *
MIIHJMIYMPLY
MACHINE: GUNNER.tflMNGIN F7WCE
?1*7 BY
armu* urt inpct
i;
CHAPTER XXII.
Punishments and Machine-Gun 8tunta.
Boon after my nrrlval In France; In
fact, from my enlistment, I had found
ithat In the British army discipline Is
very strict. One has to be very care
'ful In order to stay on the narrow path
| of government virtue.
There are about seven million ways
I of breaking the king's regulations; to
keep one you have to break another.
The worst punishment Is death by a
firing squad, or "up against the wall,"
as Tommy calls It.
This Is for desertion, cowardice, mu
tiny, giving Information to the enemy,
looting, rape, robbing the dead, forcing
a safeguard, striking a superior, etc.
Then comes the punishment of sixty
Ifour days In the front-line trench with
out relief. During this time you have
I to engage In all raids, working parties
Ijn No Man's Land, and every hazardous
undertaking that comes along. If you
J live through the sixty-four days you
'are indeed lucky.
This punishment Is awarded where
there Is u doubt as to the willful guilt
of a man who has committed an of
fence punishable by death.
Then conies the famous field pun
jishment No. 1. Tommy has nicknamed
It "crucifixion." It means that a man
? is spread-eagled on a limber wheel,
| two hours a day for twenty-one days.
During this time he only gets water,
bully beef and biscuits for his chow.
You get "crucified'' for repeated minor
offenses.
Next in order is field punishment
No. 2.
I This Is confinement in the "clink,
without blonkets, getting water, bully
jbeef and biscuits for rations and doing
all the dirty work that can be found.
This may be for twenty-four hours or
tweuty days, uccordlng to the gravity
of the offense.
Then comes "pack drill" or default
ers' parade. This consists of drilling,
? mostly at the double, for two hours
with full equipment. Tommy hates
this, because It Is hard work. Some
times he fills his pack with straw to
.lighten It, and sometimes he gets
caught. If he gtts caught, he grouses
at everything In general for twenty
one days, from the vuntage point of a
Umber wheel.
Next cmnes "O. B." meaning "con
flneU to barracks." This consists of
staying In billets or barracks for twen
ty-four hours to seven days. You also
get an occasional defaulters' parade
nnd dirty Jobs around the quarters.
The sergeant major keeps what Is
known as the crime sheet. When a
tnan commits an offense, he Is
"crimed." that Is. his name, number
nnd offense is entered on the crime
sheet. Next day at 0 a. m. he goes to
the "orderly room" before the captain,
*vho either punishes him with "C. B."
or sends him before the O. O. (officer
commanding battalion). The
of the company can only award "O. B.
Tommy many a time has thanked
the king" for making that provision In
his regulations.
To gain the title of a "smart soldier.
Tommy has to keep clear of the crime
Bheet, and you have to be darned smart
to do It.
I have been on It a few times, most
ly for "Yankee Impudence."
During our stay of two weeks In
rest billets our coptaln put us through
a course of machine-gun drills, trjlng
out new stunts nnd theories.
After parades were over, our guns'
crews got together nnd also tried out
some theories of their own In reference
to handling guns. These courses had
nothing to do with the advancement of
the war, consisted mostly of causing
tricky Jams In the gun, and then the
rest of the crew would endeavor to lo
cate as quickly as possible the cause
of the stoppage. This amused them
for a few days and then thlugs come to
? standstill.
One of the boys on my gun claimed
that he coujd J>lny_a tune YhUe the
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if'tfh wns srrttjnny^nrlng.^ffna-^!!!^!
<trated this fact one day on the target
range. We were very enthusiastic and
leclded to heroine musicians.
After constant practice I hecnme
lulte expert in the tune entitled "All
Conductor Have HI* Feet."
When I had mastered this tune, our
two weeks' rent came to un end, and
>nce again we went up the line and
took over the Hector In front of O
wood.
At this point the German trenches
ran around the base of a hill, on the
fop of which was a dense wood. This
wood was Infested with machine puns,
which used to traverse our lines at
#111, and sweep the streets of a little
village, where we were hllleted while
in reserve.
There was one pun In particular
which used to get our goats, It had the ,
exact range rit our "elephant" dugout
>n trance, and every morning, about the
time rations were being brought up, Its
bullets would knock up the dust on the
road ; more than one Tommy went
West or to Itllghty by running Into
hem.
This gun got our nerves on edge,
ind Fritz seemed to know It, because
he never gave us an hour's rest. Our
reputation ns machine gunners was at
stake; we tried various ruses to locate
and put this gun out of action, but
each one proved to be a failure, and
Fritz became a worse nuisance than
ever. He was getting fresher and more
careless every day, took ull kinds of
liberties with us ? thought he was ln
vlndlge.
Then one of our crew got a brilliant
Iden and we were all enthusiastic to
put It to the test.
Here was his scheme:
When firing my gun, I was to play
my tune, and Fritz, no doubt, would
fall for It, try to Imitate me as an
added Insult. This gunner nnd two
others would try, by the sound, to lo
cate FrTtz and his gun. After having
got the location, they would mount
two machine guns In trees, In a little
clump of woods to the left of our ceme
tery, and while Fritz was In the middle
of his lesson, would open up nnd trust
to luck. By our calculations, It would
take at least a week to pull off the
stunt.
If Fritz refused to swallow onr bait,
It would he Impossible to locate his
special gun, and that's the one we were
after, because they ull sound alike, a
slow pup-pup-pup.
Our prestige was hanging by n
thread. In the battalion we had to en
dure all kinds of Insults and fresh re
marks as to our ability In silencing
Fritz. Even to the battalion that Ger
man gun was n sore spot.
Next day, Fritz opened up as usual.
I let hlra fire away for a while and
then butted In with my "pup-pup-pup
pup-pup-pup." I kept this up quite a
while, used two belts of ammunition.
Fritz had stopped firing to listen. Then
he started In ; sure enough, he had
fallen for our game, his gun was trying
to Imitate mine, but, at first he made a
horrible mess of that tune. Again I
butted In with a few bars and stopped.
Then he tried to copy what I had
played. He was a good sport all right,
because his bullets were going away
over our heads, must have been firing
Into the nlr. I commenced to feel
friendly toward'hlm.
This duet wont on ror five flays.
Fritz was n good pupil nnd learned
rapidly, In fuct, got better than his
teacher. I commenced to feel Jealous.
When he had completely mastered the
tune, he started sweeping the road
again and we clicked It worse than
ever. But he signed his death warrant
by doing so, because my friendship
turned to hate. Every time he flred he
played that tune nnd we danced.
The boys In the battalion gave us
the "ITa ! Ha I" They weren't in on
Our little frameup.
The originator of the ruse nnd the
other two gunners had Fritz's location
taped to the minute; they mounted
their two guns, and also gave me the
range. The next afternoon was set for
the grand flnule.
Our three guns, with different eleva
tions, hnd their fire so arranged, that,
opening up together, their bullets
would suddenly drop on Fritz like a
hailstorm.
About three the next day, Fritz start
ed "pup-pupping" that tune. I blew a
sharp blast on a whistle. It was the sig
nal agreed upon ; we turned loose nnd
Fritz's gun suddenly stopped In the
middle of a bar. We had cooked his
goose, nnd our ruse hnd worked. After
firing two belts each, to mnke sure of
our Job, we hurriedly dismounted our
guns nnd took cover In the dueout. We
knew whnt to expect soon. We didn't
have to wnlt long, three salvos of
"whizz-bangs" cnme over from Fritz's
nrtlllery, a further confirmation that
we had sent that musical machine-gun
ner, on his Westward-bound Journey.
That gun never bothered us again.
We were the heroes of the battalion,
our captain congratulated us, said It
WlPT'nfHr pHrrp cr ?wk. irira, mniie
quently, w? were all puffed up over tiie
stunt
There are several ways Tommy uses
to disguise the location of his machine
(Tun and get his range. Some of the
most commonly used stunts are as fol
lows :
At night, when he mounts his gun
over the top of his trench and wants
to get the range of Fritz's trench he
adopts the method of what he terms !
"getting the sparks." This consists of
tiring bursts from his gun until the
bullets hit the German barbed wire.
He can tell when they are cutting the
wire, because n bultet when it hits a
wire throws out a blue electric spark.
Machine-gun fire Is very damaging to
wire and causes many u wiring party {
to go out at night when It Is quiet to
repair the damage.
To disguise the flnre of his gun at
night when firing. Tommy uses what Is
railed a flare protector. This Is a stove- ;
pipe arrangement which fits over the
barrel casing of the gun and screens \
the sparks from the right and left, but
not from the front. 80 Tommy, always
resourceful, adopts this scheme: About
three feet or less In front of the gun he
Showing How Fritz la Fooled.
drives two stakes Into the ground,
nhou? five feet npiirt. Across these
stakes he stretches n curtain made out
of empty sandbags ripped open. He
soaks this curtain In water and flres
through It. The water prevents It
catching lire and effectively screens
the flare of tlie tiring guu from the
enemy.
_
hound Is b valnaMe asset In locating
a machine gun, but Tommy surmounts
this obstacle by placing two machine
Kuns about one hundred to one hun
dred and fifty yards apart. The gun
on the right to cover with Its flre the
sector of the left gun and the gun on
the left to cover that of the right
gun. This makes their flre cross; they
are flred simultaneously.
Ry this method It sounds like one
gun firing and gives the Germans the
Impression that the gun Is firing from
a point midway between the guns
which are actually firing, and they ac
cordingly shell that particular spot.
The machine gunners chuckle and say,
"Fritz Is a brainy boy, not 'alf he
ain't."
Rut the men In our lines at the spot
being shelled curse Fritz for his Igno
rance and pass a few pert remarks
down the line In reference to the ma
chine gunners being "windy" and
afraid to take their medicine.
!
CHAPTER XXIII.
j ________
Gas Attacks and Spies.
Three days after we had silenced
Fritz, the Germans sent over gas. It
did not catch us unawares, because the
wind had been made to order, that Is,
It was blowing from the German
trenches toward ours at the rata of
about five miles per hour.
Warnings had been passed down the
trench to keep a shnrp lookout for gas.
We had a new mnn at the periscope,
on this afternoon In question; I was
sitting on the fire step, cleaning my
rifle, when he called out to me:
"There's a sort of greenish, yellow
cloud rolling along the ground out In
front. It's coming ? "
But I waited for no more, grabbing
my bayonet, which was detached from
the rifle, I gave the alarm by banging
an empty shell case, which was hang
ing near the periscope. At the same
instant, gongs started ringing down the
trench, the signal for Tommy to don
his respirator, or smoke helmet, as we
call It
Gas travels quickly, so you must not
lose any time; you generally have
about eighteen or twenty seconds In
which to adjust your gas helmet.
A gas helmet Is made of cloth, treat
ed with chemicals. There are two win
dows, or glass eyes. In it, through which
you can see. Inside there Is a rubber
covered tube, which goes In the mouth.
You breathe through your nose; the
gas. passing through the cloth helmet.
Is neutralized by the action of the
chemicals. The foul air is exhaled
through the tube in the mouth, this
tube being so constructed that it pre
vents the inhaling of the outside air or
gas. One helmet is good for five hours
of the strongest gas. Each Tommy
carries two of them slung around his
shoulder in a waterproof canvas bag.
He must wear this bag at all times,
even while sleeping. To change a de
fective helmet, you take out the new
one, hold your breath, pull the old one
olT, placing the new one over your
head, tucking In the loose ends under
the collar of your tunic.
For a minute, pandemonium reigned
in our trench ? Tommies adjusting
I their helmets, bombers running here
; and there, and men turning out of the
| dugouts with fixed bayonets, to man
the fire step.
lie-enforcements were pouring out of
' the communication trenches.
Our gun's crew were busy mounting
the machine gun on the parapet nnd
I bringing up extra ammunition from
the dugout.
German gas Is heavier than air and
soon fills the trenches nnd dugouts,
where it has been known to lurk for
two or three days, until the nlr Is purl
lu d by means of large chemical spray*
?1*8.
We had to work quickly, as Fritz
generally follows the gas with an In
fantry attack.
JL Company man on our right was
too slow in getting on his helmet ; he
Hank to the ground, clutching at hit*
throat, and after a few spasmodic
twisting!! went West (died). It was
horrible to see him die, but we were
powerless to help him. In the corner
of a traverse, a little, muddy cur dog,
one of the company's pets, was lying
dead, with his paws over his nose.
It's the animals that suffer the most
?the horses, mules, cattle, dogs, cats
and ruts ? they having no helmets to
suve them. Tommy does not sympa
thize with rats In a gas attack.
At times gas has been known to
travel, with dire results, fifteen miles
behind the lines.
A gas, or smoke iielmet, as it Is
called, u t the best is a vile-smelling
I thing, and it is not long before one gets
a violent headache from wearing it.
Our elghteen-pounders were burst
ing in No Man's Land, In an effort, by
the artillery, to disperse the gas
clouds.
The fire step was lined with crouch
ing men, bayonets fixed, and bombs
near at hand to repel the expected at
tack.
Our urtlllery had put a barrage of
curtain fire on the German lines, to try
I and break up their attack and keep
back re-enforcements.
I trained my machine gun on their
trench and Its bullets were raking the
MTMWt
Then over they came, bayonets glis
tening. In their respirators, which
have a large snout In front, they look
ed like some horrible nightmare.
All along our trench, rifles and ma
chine guns spoke, our shrapnel was
burstliig over their heads. They went
down In heaps, but new ones took the
places of the fallen. Nothing could
stop that mad rush. The Germans
reached our barbed wire, which had
previously been demolished by their
shells, then It was bomb against bomb,
and the <Sevll for all.
Suddenly my head seemed to burst
from u loud "crack" in my ear. T icq
my head began to swim, throat got
dry, and a heavy pressure on the lungs
warned me that my helmet was leak
ing. Turning by gun over to No. 2, I
changed helmets.
The. trench started to wind like a
snake, and sandbags appeared to be
floating in the air. The noise was hor
rible; I sank onto the fire step, needles
seemed to be pricking my flesh, then
blackness.
I was awakened by one of my mates
removing my smoke helmet. How de
licious that cool, fresh air felt In my
lungs.
A strong wind had arisen and dis
persed the gas.
They told me that I had been "out"
for three hours; they thought I was
dead.
The attack had been repulsed after
a hard light. Twice the Germans had
iralned a foothold in our trench, but
bad been driven out by counter-at
tacks. The trench was filled with their
dead and ours. Through a periscope
I counted eighteen dead Germans In
our wire; they were a ghastly sight in
their horrible-looking respirators.
I examined my first smoke helmet.
A bullet had gone through It on the
left side, just grazing my ear. The
gas had penetrated through the hole
made in the cloth.
Out of our crew of six we lost two
killed and two wounded.
That night we buried all of the dead,
excepting those In No Man's Land. In
death there Is not much distinction ;
friend and foe are treated alike.
After the wind had dispersed the
gas the R. A. M. C. got busy with their
chemical sprayers, spraying out the
dugouts and low parts of the trenches
to dissipate any fumes of the German
gas which may have been lurking In
same.
Two days after the gas attack I was
sent to division headquarters, in an
swer to an order requesting that cap
tains of units should detail a man
whom they thought capable of passing
an examination for the divisional In
telligence department.
Before leaving for this assignment
I went along the front-line trench say
ing good-by to my mates and lording It
over them, telling them that I had
A Gas Helmet.
clicked a cushy Job behind the lines,
nnd how sorry I felt that they had to
stay In the front line and argue out the
war with Fritz. They were envious
but still good-natured, nnd ns I left the
trench to go to the rear they shouted
after me:
"Good luck, Yank, old boy; don't
forget to send up a few fags to your
old mates. '
I promised to do this ard left.
" I reported at headquarters with six
teen others and passed the required ex
amination. Out of the sixteen appli
cants four were selected.
I wr.s highly elated because I was, I
thought, iu for a cu*hy Job back at the
base.
The next morning the four reported
! 10 envision neaaqunriers ror msrrue
I tlons. Two of the men were seut to
large towns In the rear of the Hues
with an easy Job. When it came our
turn the officer told ua we were good
men and had passed a very creditable
examination.
My tin hat began to get too small
for me, and I noted that the other man,
Atwell by name, was sticking his chest
out more than usual.
The officer continued : "I think I can
use you two men to great advantage
in the front line. Here are your orders
and instructions, also the pass which
gives you full authority as special M.
1'. detailed on Intelligence work. Re
port at the front line according to your
instructions. It is risky work and I
wish you both the best of luck."
My heart dropped to zero and At
well's face was a study. We saluted
and left.
That wishing us the "best of luck"
sounded very ominous In our ears; if
he had said "I wish you both a swift
and painless death" it would have been
more to the point.
When we had read our instructions
we knew we were in for it good and
plenty.
What Atwell said Is not (it for pub
lication, but I strongly seconded his
opinion of the war, army and divisional
headquarters In general.
After a bit our spirits rose. We were
full-fledged spy-catchers, because our
Instructions and orders, said so.
We immediately reported to the
nearest French estaminet and had sev
eral glasses of muddy water, which
they called beer. After drinking our
beer we left the estaminet and hailed
an empty ambulance.
After showing the driver our passes
we got in. The driver was going to the
part of the line where we had to re
port.
How the weunded ever survived a
ride in that ambulance was inexplica
ble to me. It was worse than riding on
a gun carriage over a rock road.
The driver of the ambulance was a
i corporal of the R. A. M. C., and he
hud the "wind up," that Is, he had an
aversion to being under fire.
I was riding on the seat with him
whfle Atwell was sitting In the ambu
lance, with his legs hanging out of the
, back.
As we passed through a shell-de
j stroyed village a mounted military po
liceman stopped us and informed the
J driver to be very careful when we got
i out on the open road, as it was very
I dangerous, because the Germans lately
had acquired the habit of shelling it.
The corporal asked the trooper if there
was any other way around, and was
Informed that there was not. Upon
| this he got very nervous and wanted to
turn back, but we insisted that he pro
ceed and explained to him that he
would get into serious trouble with his
commanding officer If he returned
without orders; we wanted to ride,
not walk.
From Ills conversaion we learned
that he had recently come from Eng
land with a draft and had never been
under fire, hence his nervousness.
We convinced him that there was not
much danger, and he appeared greatly
relieved.
When we at last turned into the open
road we were not so confident. On
each side there had been a line of
trees, but now, all that was left of
them were torn and battered stumps.
The fields on each side of the road
were dotted with recent shell holes,
and we passed several in the road it
self. We had gone about half a mile
when a shell came whistling through
the air and burst in a field about three
hundred yards to our right. Another
soon followed this one and burst on
the edge of the road about four hun
dred yards in front of us.
I told the driver to throw In his
speed clutch, as we must be in sight
of the Germans. I knew the signs ;
that battery was ranging for us, and
the nulcker we cot out of tta znno of
nre the better. The driver was trem
bling like a leaf, and every minute I
expected him to pile us up in the ditch.
I preferred the German fire.
In the back Atwell was holding onto
the straps for dear life, and was sing
ing at the top of his voice:
Wa hno * ?? XC
*? *? a i mo WWUO|
We beat you at the Alsne,
We gave you hell at Neuve Chapelle,
And here we are again.
Just then we hit a small shell hole
and nearly capsized. Upon a loud
yell from the rear I looked behind, and
there was Atwell sitting in the middle
of the road, shaking his fist at us. His
equipment, which he had taken off
upon getting into the ambulance, was
strung out on the ground, and his rifle
was in the ditch.
I shouted to the driver to stop, and
in his nervousness he put on the
brakes. We nearly pitched out head
first. But the applying of those brakes
saved our lives. The next instant
there was a blinding flash and a deaf
ening report. All that I remember is
that I was flying through the nir, and
wondering If I would land in a soft
spot. Then the lights went out.
When I came to, Atwell was pouring
water on my head out of his bottle.
On the other side of the road the cor
poral was sitting, rubbing a lump on
his forehead with his left hand, while
his right arm was bound up in a blood
soaked bandage. He was moaning
very loudly. 1 had an awful headache
and the skin on the left side of my
face was full of gravel and the blood
was trickling from my nose.
But that ambulance was turned over
in the ditch and was perforated with
holes from fragments of the shell. One
of the front wheels was slowly revolv
ing, so I could not have been "out" for
a long period.
The shells were still screaming over
head, but the battery had raised its
fire ami they were bursting lu a little
wood about hnlf a mile from us.
Atwell spoke un "t fy.
err uaau i wisnea us tixe be9t o' lucr, *
Then he commenced swearing. I
couldn't help laughing, though my
heed was nigh to bursting.
Slowly rising to my feet I felt myself
all over to make sure that there wtre
no broken bones. But outside of a few
bruises and scratches I was ail right.
The corporal was still moaning, but
more from shock than pain. A shelf
splinter had gone through the flesh of
his right forearm. Atwell and I, from
our flrst-ald pouches, put a tourniquet
on his arm to stop the bleeding and
then gathered up our equipment.
We realized that we were In a dan
gerous spot. At any minute a shell
might drop on the road and finish us
off. The village we had left was not
very far, so we told the corporal he
had better go back to It and get his
arm dressed, and then report the fact
of the destruction of the ambulance to
the military police. lie was well able
to walk, so he set off in the direction
of the village, while Atwell and I con
tinued our way on foot.
Without further mishap we arrlvetf
at our destination, and reported to bri
gade headquarters for rations and bil
lets.
That night we slept in the battalion
sergeant major's dugout. The next
morning I went to a flrst-ald post an^
had the gravel picked out of my face. (
The Instructions we received from
division headquarters read that we
were out to catch spies, patrol trenches,
search German dead, reconnolter in No}
Man's Land, and take part in trench
raids and prevent the robbing of the'
dead.
I had a pass which would allow me
to go anywhere at any time In the sec-1
tor of the line held by our division. It
gave me authority to stop and search
ambulances, motor lorries, wagons and
even officers and soldiers, whenever
my suspicions deemed It necessary, j
Atweil and I were allowed to work to-,
gether or singly ? It was left to our!
Judgment. We decided to team up. j
Atwell was a good companion and
very t>ntertaining. lie had an utter
contempt for danger, but was not fool
hardy. At swearing he was a wonder,
A cavalry regiment would have been
proud of him. Though born in Eng
land, he had spent several years In
New York. He was about six feet one,
and as strong as an ox.
We took up our quarters In a large
dugout of the royal engineers, and
mapped out our future actions. This
dugout was on the edge of a large
cemetery, and several times at night
in returning to it, we got many a fall
stumbling over the graves of English,
French and Germans. Atwell on these
occasions never indulged in swearing,
though at any other time, at the least
stumble, he would turn the air blue.
A certain section of our trenches
was held by the Royal Irish rifles. For
several days a very strong rumor went
the rounds that a German spy was in
our midst. This spy was supposed to
be dressed in the uniform of a British
staff officer. Several stories had been
told about an officer wearing a red
band around his cap, who patrolled the
front-line and communication trenches
asking suspicious questions as to loca
tion of batteries, machine-gun emplace
ments, and trench mortars. If a 6hell
dropped in a battery, on a machine gun
or even near a dugout, this spy was
blamed.
The rumor gained such strength that
an order was issued for all troops to
immediately place under arrest anyone
answering to the description of the
spy
Atwell and I were on the qui vlve.
We constantly patrolled the trenches
at night, and even in the day, but the
spy always eluded us.
One day while In a communication
trench, we were horrified to see our
brigadier general, Old Pepper, being
brought down it by a big private of the
Royal Irish rifles. The general was
walking in front, and the private with
fixed bayonet was following In the
rear.
We saluted as the general passed us.
The Irishman had a broad grin on his
face and we could scarcely believe our
eyes ? the general was under arrest.
After passing a few feet beyond us, the
general turned, and said In a wrathful
voice to Atwell:
"Tell this d ? n fool who I am. He's
arrested me as a spy."
Atwell was speechless. The sentry
butted in with:
"None o' that gassln' out o' you.
Back to headquarters you goes, Mr.
Fritz. Open that face o' yours again,
an' I'll dent in your napper with the
butt o' me rifle."
The general's face was a sight to be
hold. He was fairly boiling over with
rage, but he shut up.
Atwell tried to get in front of the
sentry to explain to him that it really
*as the general he had under arrest,
but the sentry threatened to run his
bayonet through him, and would have
done It, too. So Atwell stepped aside,
and remain^ silent. I was nearly
bursting with suppressed laughter. One
word, and I would have exploded. It
is not exactly diplomatic to laugh at
your general in such a predicament.
The sentry and his prisoner arrived
at brigade headquarters with disas
trous results to the sentry.
The joke was that the general had
personally issued the order for the
spy's arrest. It was a habit of the gen
eral to walk through the trenches on
rounds of inspection, unattended by
any of his staff. The Irishman, being
new in the regiment, had never seen
the general before, so when he came
across him alone In a communication
trench, he promptly put him under ar
rest. Brigadier generals wear a red
band around their caps.
Next day we passed the Irishman
tied to the wheel of a limber, the be
ginning of his sentence of twenty-one
days, field punit foment No. 1. Never
before have I seen such a woebegone
expression on a man's fuce.