Evening Star Newspaper, October 24, 1926, Page 84

Tidal Wave, Sweeping Up River in New Guinea, Engulfs Fragile Craf American Captain and Native Crew Fight Their Way on a Storm-Hammered Coast—Poised on the Crests of 30-Foot Waves—Interrupting a Savage Festival. Spellbound by a_Moving Brown Wall. Without lahorers tations and mines, man's conqueat of Papua, or British New Guinea, would he utteriy unavalling. The handful of men who endeavor to i workers recruited trom th engage in one of the world'e most hazardous enterprises, ohe that vear taket a toll of ships and for the pian the white For four tempestuous months Mr. Tompkins cap alned the most famous “labor recruiter” of them all, the schoonar Kir Arthur, and in the following article he points out the danzers faced hy the re cruiting agenis vear in and vear out, things that are considered as “all in the day's work.’ “The 0ld days of clanking chain debt glavery and overseers whi; have passed in New Guinea, writes Mr. Tompkins. “Under the most paternalistic code of laws that any group of white conquis. tadorce h framed, the Pa-. puan is assured square deaj)” & ever now BY WARWICK MILLER TOMPKINS HERE is no :neicer along th north end of the Gulf of Pa- pua during the southeast monsoon, and 1 had anchored perforce in the open seaway a mile offshore, while Wagi, my faithful mate. put one inne passenger ashore at the storm-hammered sta- tion Night was falling fast, and the wind seemed, if anything, stronger than béfore. The cloud-ghrouded Owen Stanley peaks swirled thelr mantles angrily about their lofty heads and plunged on Into the misiv north. The low coast-line crouched to meet smoking surf. I noted all this umeasily. the low. fast-flying scud and the darkening southward sky, while 1 saw that the dinghy had heen beaten back to shore on the fourth attempt to launch her through the surf. “Ah!" the glasses picked up frantically-bobbing speck as it burst through the crest of a roller and coasted down e back. * Wagi's gotten her through at lasi! Good boy'” Half an hour later, with the tired bove back on board and the dinghy lashed on deck, we shook out our safls, triplé-reefed the mainsail and broke the hooks out of the mud. The Sir Arthur charged off like a racer from the barriér, her lee rail froth ing. Night settled on us Chill. Howling. In the tiny cahin I studied my chart plotted my course for the all-night traverse which woull when we crosged the Gamu Bar. Till 10 o'clock we could sail on this course. Then té dodge the outflung, deadly arms of the Bailala Bar, we'd have to zigzag thus and thus. Latéer—shifting the parallel rulers— I'd have to fall off a point to offset the seaward current of the Auro and Purari Rivers. So! And now hack on the deck once more, oil-skinned and fortified by a mug of coffee. Through the night the fast schooner glashed ahead with the gale on her quarter where she liked it hest. Five o'clock erawled ‘up, but the clonds strangled the new day. It was almost as black as at midnight. Wagi, the Inky statue at the wheel. looked anxiously at me. “Bar? We find him close up now? Huh? “Yes, goon. Get a lookout aloft.” replied, and at the mate's word this and the 1 a i the | rose. | Rlack, | i so th fa [ tr ov w “a at th for 1 hi: m: sh | ers Vi by hi cot tr ja su o of thi | in: it dleg m. th M <w st on fo a ar el tr he ti ot ey wif e ened ehen swift as swift ship shot pact. | below heat and the throb of the screw were comforting. ~d for halliards and sheet was erutched, were all we had half, one and a and a firce, one-eved old villain took ahead, to port, and to starhoard. ser- ried less, awe-inspiring diapacon. Gamu, Arthur Ran fought afforded safe anchorage and from the toll of the headed the ship up the Gamu Riv trates for 300 miles into as savage an vears agon were hloody river's tribes, ples and warrior cherishes for the invader slim lad darted up the mainshrouds. | Invidious HE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C. OCTOBER 24 1926—PART 5 ft voice was chanting out pthe as the lead line whirled ! rough a sailor's fingers and | it found bhottom. thoms. ® * % % ‘OW the seas grew more hoisterous | The schooner rehed ¢ and further. “An’ a qu the' leadsman sang out just a clifflike giant lifted its head | ver the stern. trembled, and fell ith & thunderous erash while the ahead under the im We were on the ba I jumped and started the motor. Its ree, ““Take in mainsail’”" My hovs jump- and the | the heavy hoom and we raced on into water. Two fathom: under us now, and | way to one and a| quarter, maybe, be- | ré we won through. “Rao! Give a hand with the wheel'" dalled from the weather shrouds il came flapping in ill_shallower at would give s place near the struggling mate. | What a seene of desolate, churning, 2d waterg that bar afforded! Astern row on row of giant combers ot up, waversd, and toppled to eamy ruin, their resonances lend- & in a soul’shaking monady, an end- Driven mercilessly ‘out against this rk fury came the driftage of the | trees and lesser debris horne | the muddy waters from the high nterlands. ~ Cross currents and unter-currents wrestled in the hrief oughs, tossing the spume into zged wavelets which rose and fell ddenly with odd little slapping unds. Through it all. in that half light a rainy gloomy dawn. the Sir wallowed and twisted. dove, and slithered. There were athless moments when she hung sed on the very crest of a sea| it breaking, we were launched | swiftly shoreward and downw at our hearts seemed to m a while the next sea gathered ngth. 1 would look for an stant at ft= crest. look level-eved at from my perch 30 feet ahove the | ck and wonder how In the worll v fragile eraft could live through | v | o |1y | the first time, and I was not much | [ happler about it than my erew, whith . HAMMERED DOWN, HER RACER “THE SIR ARTHUR WA BOWS BOOMING UND! wood smoke still rose from heneath | | bubbling pol Half-completed tasks were in ¢ by hatred and long-cherished dreams of revenge. It is bad country and Yot it is part of the code nitercs that each one shall make oc onal trips up this river, =0 that a | couniry thiekly peopled may utimate- be opened to business. I was venturing up the G the heap of fresh, giant leaves heside | the gaping pit didn’t apprise me of the | dence on every side. In a erude gar- [ purpose of that hole and the red hot den a crndes plow stood i a fresh | stones until 1 discovered the lon furrow. A score of 1 fully finish- | quiet figure Iving nearby under ed arrows lay on the und where | shroud of prot & palm branches. some old erafteman had a seant | * * % | sirong for us. Despite the i the Sir Arthur c few minutes before, his puddle of [ = o ’ scarlet betelnut juiee still shimmered | [ SUDDENLY had an inkfing of the [ G0 5 gar the thrust of h full import of the Tmpelled ful auxiliary, she was damply Oh. for the slght of a single figure! | hy a horvid curiosity, I stepped hastily | viver too strong for her. forward. hent to look- minutes the hoys had sounded so strangely from lips. of the hore. ility of havi | Well, we'll see, | got to anchor now: this enrr no mistake, f the lahor [ mu for ne. very obviensly was ill at ease. Os. tentatinnsly 1 huckled on my e fury of the poised monster astern How those men at the wheel toiled! | uscles standing out like whipeords, veat heading their faces. Wagl and | the hucking rudder, the | ern was presented fairly to each | . and the schooner drove on and | to where the smooth river ribhon respite | long night When, refreshed by sicep and hot od, we once more got under way, v, pene- broad, hurrying stream that ea As exists in New Guinea. Ten five white explorers were t upon, killed, and eaten by a Gamn ibe that lived at the river's mouth. The reprisals of the government and through enough to comé a subject of legend among the Various factors, isola- n for one, have prevented further ntact of any sort hetween these peo. the whites. Thus, where her tribes have also suffered similar prisale, vet have hecome friendly th thelr conquerors through sub- quent trade relations, the Gamu an complex of emotions, in | hail from for the sound of a voice! Rut the i shrouding walls of the fungle well yrring’ . Quivering hetween me and | Anchors over and we were w concealed its people. They were there | (11 figire, fte criel. harhed head sunk | the change in tide. il b Aith their Lale | (hree fnches in a log, was a sixfoot | The next day. a hundred et Do o ed, wore |arrow. The warning was sufficient. 1| ther inland. we caught our fi RIT IOf irhin: anil imon _\';""_'-l“ft"‘- turned and walked quickly back to the | taneous glimpse of hoth e searlet tree-creep- | hoached dinghy, feeling peeuliarly sick | banks as we fought tesnEninE men, fingening T{00ta¢ the memony of that body. eurrent, which, now hows on whose taut strings long ar-["0 {"f 0 : the recruiter rows were set, half drawn My gun, just across my chest from i v, J k Ul on the bank. just a dozen sticks of to- | had not heen easy Ins TIRht huna. ‘Seemen’ woetully fat o some’ matches, and a few | despite Wagl's warnings sheets of newspaper. Once aboard the | to push on farther at on away. Rut then! What good would it do me if I wanted it? Before T could| oo (i et no time in get- |a meeting with the bore. ting her under way | taubac even kiiow that I needed it, T would | On the Sir Arthur went up the | be i full of arrows us that luckles patrol officer who had been found not | e Gl Eoupitie long_before with his unfired gun in | Gamu. visiting village after village | it holster and 67 arrows driven |And finding each freshly deserted and through his body. That ia how the|ominously qulet like .this first one. | Papuan fights, from an ambush 1o Then, my duty wrged. we left | vards distant, from which he and hix | {hi€ “Never-Never” country and saled | | llles release thelr arrows and spears | D the va ith of the nelghboring | up. realizing, I suspect. that his pres. | simultaneously. Fly River, G s Father of | tige demanded it. But he was almost | We strolled on, trying to appear un- | Water . pale with fear. \Well he knew that if |alarmed. Wagi shouting out frequent- Wil moon tanight.” T remarked to my white skin should draw a rain of Iy a native word of greeting. which ‘L hope we:don’'t have to go rrows, neither he nor his shipmates [ was never answered. In the center of here to fill our recruiting would last an hour before the blood- | the place his sudden whimper called lusting hordes ashore. my attention to a hole 3 feet deep and | What an eerie feeling came over me | 5 feet long. the bottom of which was | the mate replied, “but you no as I landed unchallenged and walked [lined with hig cobbles. A hundred |go far up river. Pretty goon through those deserted streets, Wagl's | more similar gtones lay in the glow-|now hore him come. RBore very bloody hare feet softly padding along behind [ ing hed of 8 great fire that m-avm.-vw ad. Sink ship.” drawing not a little comfort from its friendlv grip and noticing that the hoys €eemed somewhat reassured by its presence. * K ok ok NHEN we sighted smoke arising around a hend ahead—10 minutes later the anchor rumbled out in front of a big village. But not a canoe | sped out to greet us, there was not a | he long. thatched houses. “Dinghy!” 1 ordered sharply, but my ordinarily quick-working hoys were slow in getting it over and when they had done 0. not one of them even moved toward manning it. “Huh! You boys all 'fraid this fel- low village?” 1 askédd sarenstically. Rare toes traced invisible outline the deck. but no one answer “I go taubada.” Wagi finally spoke to secur A », three days come We walt one week, th an all right."” the middle of th fiver hetween Canoe Island n New the Spi hove every fortnight ng tides come sweeping “Listen! Wag Wagi co | far I up. me. Shouting fo my 30 recruits were nervous| ing, 1 sought earnestly to that something which Wagl electrically from his optimism and at his | nap on deck. I heard no got 'em hoy. all right, tau- THE IMPACT OF TUMBLING TONS OF WATE | en the pile of yams and taro and | use of the English epithet, which 1 did not smile at his mention No one smiles at ng to face that. 1 rejolned. “we've i1d do a good nine finding gotten on against confined within v offering. according to | closer limits, gave the river < code, 1 left behind me | ing appearance of a vast rapids. Boys * Wagi made one final plea. But two days later we had won to long stretch D'Albertis Fairfax group, where rages You hear ‘em, tau ed his head to one side, lis- | gleaming links came clinking m tening intently as he put the query to | v onto the decks. stlence forwar@ where | against had arousea | the hissing of the current as it slap- ped past our sides, nothing hut tne cries of a couple of hornbille nest- building in a hollow tree nearby. If ever there was a scene of prime- val peace, it was afforded by that jade-green jungle on which the sun had condescended to shine far a time. I heard no sound but the er=omary little, restful jungle noises. Every one was sitting quietly, at- tentive'y, now. Roys looked from one to another anxiously, with sudden rollings of their siartled eves. Was there a tremor in the air? Was that & new and strange note or just a minor motif in the river's ev singing_voice? Kven my eare now picked up a definite new murm that dominated. in its deep and grow- ing_intensity, the rivers sibilancies “T'he b He come, come fasi’ | Wagl volced my thought. “How soon will it he here? 1 asked, | “One hour,” | swered. “Drive those hoys helaw!" I order- ed, and my crew herded the recruits below so expeditiously that thex hardly realized what had happened hefore the hatch covers were siapped into pace and hattered down. Then shoute and yells of fear arose, weére muffied suddénly. and hande ham- mered against the sealed venta. “Roye very fright!” Wagi exclaim- ed to me ax we put extra grips on the dinghy. Yes, poor devils, they know the hore and they had reaso to be frightened: But had that panic which now raged heneath our feet broken loose on the deck, those swift, seamanly efforts we were now hend- Ing to meet the impending crisis would have heen out of the question. ook HR roar was very distinet now. The quiet air trembled with it. Kwiftly my hove and I pnt the Sir Arthur in battle trim, passing more lashings about the deck water tanks, unhending Jih and stayline, tricing up the coi’éd running rigging, screw- ing down the enginé room skylight. “Life-helts!” 1 commanded, and Rao appeared with an armful of one for each of us. 1 glanced down the 4-mile stretch of river hetweén us and the next wide bend. “At her 20-mile-an-hour clip. it will take about 12 minutés for the bore to cover that atretch.” 1 calculated. “Guess I'd better heave short now rather than wait longer.” “Heave shor called, The hove ran forward and the rhythmic clickety-clank-click of the capstan told off the fathoms as the chain came aboard. The river pull jerked the anchors from the mud. and the schooner hegan dragging ve slowly downstream, stern firat The minutes dragged along. It seemed to me I'd been hearing that everlouder growl that now drowned out all other sounds for days, weeks. | Would it never come? Oh, the sus- | pense of that waiting, the strain of | inaction! Ashore, as we brought a village abeam. we saw canoe fleet had been hauled high and dry onto the. lofty stagings in the The usually busy water front | was deserted. And then, not deigning to hide | from us longer. the hoys swept | glorfously, terribly around the dis- tant bend. Transfixed. I stood look- ing at it, wanting desperately to utter the commands 1 knew 1 should give the Melanesian an- his thick both anchors!™ 1 the ent s too fact that er powe the In a few hoth aiting for miles fur- simul- blue a Jow the boil- re. and 1 etermined big fellow en can go awful majesty of that spectacle, The of | sensation lasted but an instant, for d and the > . some one else shouting. “Up ar and aft with ‘em! Look alive nov Feverishly the boys threw their weight on the capstan bare and the deal The roar of a vASt ocean was in our ears, pulsing ne with waves one thought i1 bhe tangible, =0 heavy weré hors when the inland. 1y fabber- | shoy pick up | th lancing down the sunlit water, 1 afternoon | watched the shore endt of the charg. thing but [ ing water wall as it rioted along. them, | any | the | snatching great treas from the shore line here and there. ripping like a vast saw Into the soft, vielding mud banks.. Clickety-clank, clickety.clank® much more chain? Quick! Get_those anchore aft! The mud-caked flukes hroke water; the sweating. naked hove jerked the hooke on deck and started after on the run. Wagi, hammer in hand. ex- pertly knncked out the atock pins and lashed the crossarms to the <hanke. We wanted the anchors to drag. not to hold, thie time. Splash! Splash! Over they and the snaky chalns slithered How Quick! went out | like lightning. At once, held aft. the schooner cung her how dawnetream. howsprit pofeed squarely At the shesr brown wave now so near. Thus, dragging slowly downstream. granted stesrage way by the current. we rode, walt- ng. holding eur breaths. Downstream. back of that mad wave, the whole Fly River was at a level 15 feet higher than that on which' we were riding. The Pacific's “king tide” had heen staved tempo- rarily by the vehemence of the river current —staved, until. reaching its full strangth. it had at last asserted itself and come howling up the river, re. storing in ene hurst of fury the bal ance in water levels that Nature or Aains shall always he kept. We wers witnessing the humbling of the river. * ok seampered aloft in‘n the Wagi and | etond braced life- HE boy rigging. on opposite sides of the wheel lines about our waists, Now, 200 yards distant. the jagged crest broke for an instant tumbled himgrily ahead and creamed down the steep, hrown face of the wild mea. The current whisked from onr side and <lid into the foot of the hore. leaving nne the mpression that it had roliad under rather than amalgamating with the wave, In & trice it had eut the interval in two! Fifteen feet high, did I sav® Tt looked like 50 to the edze of fhat rumpled head. At last! There was a pounding and roaring In my head. a gagging con striction ahout my chest, and 1 saw the gleaming howsprit plunge fts sleek length into the wave: o Nightmare: A strip of photo-lika pictures reel hefore me when | recall, or_seek to recall, what happened The Sir hne was hammered down. her r. & hows hooming under the impact of tumbling tons of water The stern pushed hard agninst my heels. In a flash 1 the fors- | shronds—then water hid their turf buckles. Sharp against the hrown of the hearding water. the white hutts of the masts stoad outlined for a sec. |ond—and then they too were wrapped In solid water. Water blinded me. filled my month and nostrils, ernshed the hreath from hody, fought me until my lost sensation Then Wagi's head Iudicrously draped with fibrous wreckage hung on him by the focose flond which had swept his fest from under him And then things grew rent. The ship was spilling the water from her scuppers and riding serenely on a current that now flowed up- stream. The bovs were dropping soft Iy from the ratlines and. under Rao's able directions, taking In the anchors wave's turhmlent A s more cohe | and yet held spellbound by the rave, . heard myself as though it had been | again. Wagi was grinning, “We hur ry like devil now, huh? or mavhe vou want see ‘nother fella tonight. huh In another five minutes he had his answer as the Sir Arthur. under the full drive of her motor, raced down stream intent v g the st ing place of the hore. Canoe lsland, | before another one was formed. | at night, when the next flaed tide came in. we were riding anietix |on untroub’ed wate and, 1 listened 10 the roar.of the hore as it stampered on Inte the jungle ahove ns. I thanked my stars I _wa& not obliged to face It in the evfl dark of a New Guinea night. (Canerieht 1076 “Start the lead.> In a moment a|which respect is scarcely outweighed “Fix Bayonets!”— BY JOHN W. THOMASON, JR. Captain. T". S. Marine Corps. THE STORV %0 FAR. Aftar intenaive fightine at the Roie de Belleay and in the’ wonds near M e Sth Regiment of the Man Division was_ordersd to rt the Champakna front to assist the Frénch D a terrific drive againat the heights of la5e Mont. | Aftar receiving final orders the Tegiment marched up to the battle line A0 were Dassing 3 b ahall screamed own just CH ‘\i’:l‘AHl( vir Furlous Fighting by the Essen Hook. HE gen moved swiftly and witheut disorder to the ditch, which was s dren cating trench paraileling the | shell came as and road. Another they moved. falling to the left then another closer. this time be- tween the road and the trench. A mule or tws reared and plunged. stricken: a Marine whose head had been unduly high elumped silently down the &ide of the trench with most of his héad gone More shells came. landing along the road. between the road and the trench, and one or two of them in the trench iteelf. Cries and groans came from the héad of the colum stretcher bearers hurried In that di- rection; the battalion lay close and waited. Theén the sheliing stopped. Up forward the mnajor drew a long | breath. “Just harAssin’ five on these crossroads. I was afraid we were spotted. Now, those guldes A little group of Frenchmen arrive panting. at the head of the column and the men were quickly on the move again. “If Rrother Roche had kept flingin' them seabags around here he'd a-hurt somebody. Where d6 we go trom here Said the major. coming to the head of the 43th with a French guide “Francis. we'ré takin' the reximental tront—Aivigion's putting four battal fons in the line. The Ath will he on our left. infantry brigade on the right. Let me know how yéur sector lotks—my P. O. will he—T'A hetter send a runner with vou. Hére’s your gulde.” The cémpan other companies going into position in communi- | | “LORDY, AIN'T WE EVER GOIN' TO (¢ Yayonet almost in the emplacement|down among the companies, whole where the Boche guns had been. squads were blotted out, and men The company, which had learned | choked and coughed as the reek of the its own bitter lesson in frontal at-|high explosive caught at their wind tacks on machine guns, gave passing | Pipes. A 4 tribute. “Them Krogs, they eat ma.| ‘“lardy, ain't we ever goln® to get hine guns up. MiEhiin' men, they |outa this dam’ place an' get at are. Wonder if any chow ix comin’ | em-— A shell with a driving i foda They made themselves [Dand lvose “came with a banchee comfortable among the dead and [Screnm, and men and pleces of men X v v et nim. | Were blown in the air. ““That was in ysltsdntnSinext moven MR INE fojel ARt itoon, sainkilicisecanIv command, shaking the dirt off his gas mask. “Something ought to be done about that gumner, el captain!” An other landed in the opposite lip of the trench where the two officers crouched, urying them hoth. My € You killed!” “Hell, no! @ me! The blue columns of mangrove [and snapped hefore us. ‘wo hundred and thirty-one men, reported the second-in-command, sliding into the shallow dugout where the captain was holed up. “Mighty lucky so far. I'm goin’ to sleep. There's some shellin’, especially toward the left, but most of the out- fit_is pretty well under cove Gouraud's battle roared on to the left with swelling tumult. The Amer- icans, in thelr sector, passed the day in ominous quiet. They wondered what the delay was, speculated on the strategy of attack— which is a matter always sealed from the men ar * the major Fsent word. “We will wait here. The th leads- we're the last hattalion in support toda COM[XH from the maze of trenches in the rear, the assault regiment OUTA THIS PLACE AND °GET | 9" AT 'EM th | Américan. | “When it is light you will see, M. le ward bo; chi m nights we have | th | tire | tu the Boche yonder. mi Such a one finished ta ch: marked the eaptain. th ha el to trench? | see how the land lies.” moved oft and the T'H ontal assault.” growled the is Essen trench by “Why can't we Capitaine. You can only get for- by hombing your way in the| vaux. They ave too strong in ma-| ine-guns, the Boche. Now 1 take v men and go. Seven days and been on our feet— ofe of us who are left are very! ed. It is well that you be watch-| 1 in this place, but do not stir up | They shoot with newerfera when you frighten them. - pauvre capi- ine and six men with him. Bon ance. mon capitaine! Bon jour!" “Cheerful bird, wasn't he’' re. “Wonder if that ing I stepped on just outside his le was his captain? John, hefore it ts good dayvlight, don't you want| take A look-see at this Kssen | Take whoever you want and | I | E Essen trench had heen very active when the companies were * X ox % the battered Prussian trench facing belng posted: staccato hursts of ma The there work found the formidahle Estén French rifiémén thev were hanging on in the v of the enemy been hastily constructed a few davs before by the hard.preased Roche and wae a_mere selection from the abun- dant shell cratérs connectéd by shallow digging. The Marines stumbled and slipped through ita windings. It wasg oluttered up with dead men. for it had been strongly heid and dearly won, The 49th took over the part allotted to it from some 10 platoons of Frenchmen, & or 10 men to & latoon, under command of a first ieutenant. It was what was left of a full battalion Courteous and suave, although he ewayed on hic fect from weariness and hie ‘evellds cronpsd from loss of cleep, the Frenchman summed up the situation for the Marine captain. “We hold this fire trench. In your eector are four communication trenches running to the Essen wark, which is about & hundred meters di¢ tant. We hold most of thé boyau cn thé extreme right. the others we baye ch v teeth | Their pesition had |is | men for long periods at a time pe! a ship will give a still the extent to which the batt sel {on | | pu | en | or | wi cov as est S ! the busiest. hours of the forenoon. Her tilled side. You cannot take | water, ine-gun fire had ripped across the Our “Floati RY compact and comomdious is a | battleship. It must be so. for it the only home of several hundred But | ripiion of such learer tdea of ship s a while it is rhape this brief des ¢ sustaining community ise, When one of the great battleships te out to sea she is wholly depend t upon her own supplies. She is an derly, self governing community, 1 th her own pollee force and her own 10t of justice, which rewards as well | punishes. She is one of the clean. | and most sanitary establishments be found anywhere. She gets her ring cleaning evéry day and hefore | aple drink germless water, dit- | rom the salt water over the 8he has her own ice plant, ice coldnunn‘ouu tubular fire j evening bhefore to cross the scant dis. who deliver the aitack and wore intervening dark, and Springfields had | through to the evening of *October 2 answered. There had hbeen some| At dark, food came up in marmite hombing around traverses in the |cans-heef and potatoes and a little bovaux. But when, in the creeping |coffee. “Put ours on that mess tin grayness of the dawn, the lieutenant | there,” directed the second-in-com from the 49th ventured across to it |mand, as his orderly slid in with his with his orderly and a sergeant, he|and the captain's rations. The cap. found the Boche retiving. Filing | tain sat up in his corner a little late quickly through the communication when the atiack orders came up trenches, the battalion occupied it| There were a ef penciled ¢ without difficulty, and, looking around | from the major and maps. The tw them, were very glad they hadn't had | officers bent over them eagerly. | ,ce and crackling in the air—a cor- to take it by storm. | “Runner—platoon commanders re- | oy wpun around and collapsed limp- And the captain understood why the [ POTL right away——-% “What do you |y “while his blonse turned ved under French lieutenant had said it eouldn’t | MAke of it, John? - Looks like (en the man heside him he stormed. The French had tried the | leleune was goin’ to split his divi-{ and went down, swearing j sion _and reunite it on the fleld through gravish lips at a_shattered tance and get into it. Most of those Im'mm: Ain't that the stunt knee - the mon flattened and all faces who had charged iay as the Horche| CIRIM only Robert 1. Lee and turned toward the flank. poleon could get away with ALl " “Machine guns on the leftt"— Hell: Maxims had cut them down. In one P Place, between two hogaux that form.|Nere? Get around--th= map's about <en Hook we've got to pass | oriented fod, it's long range! Come ed with the opposed lines a rough square of perhaps 100 yvard he | b And the battalion siipal iUt ol SR e | went on. enduring grimly. Finally, Corr “Thick mear the M of theis | the left to here—and the Sth and 234 | when well past its front, which ran own trench, the bodies formed a sort | MOVe to the right—to here. diagonally to the line of advance, the of wedge, thinning toward the point | Pencil lines show the direction of at-| 17th Company, that had the left.turned as they had heen decimated. and that | [Ack—then we jump off. angling a|savagely of the Fisen Hook and ot point was one great bearded French-|little to the right, compass hearing— | & foothold in its rear. A one-pounder Tian. his hods All & mass of hondy | ANd the infantry outfits point about |frem the regimental headquarters Tage. who my with his eves fiervely |A% much to the left. That hrings us|company was rushed up to assist hpen to the enemy and his outthiust | {OKEther un here about three kilo-| them. and the men velled with delizht 3 | meters, and we gn on straight, a little | A% the vicious little cannon got in at | west of north from there, to Blanc rect hits on the Roche emplacements. | Mont—— Hopelessly eut off, the large body of | - The morning of Gctober 3. (191%), | Getmans In this formidable work sut | gray and misty. From midnight untij| rendered atter o few sharp and biondy dawn the front had been quiet at that | Minutes, and the 17th, seb@ng back o k Ll (s prisoners, refoined the battalion. Sither salt D trenn wator 'She has neo | Point—comparatively, Then all the Lkl o o v «alt or fresh water. She has no | ol CORRRTE R guns opened Prisoners bhegan to ream huck sewer gas. She has laundrymen. tal- | vorid-s| o “neC| trom the front of the attack, telling lors, stewards, cooks and attendants “h‘:"r"’:’" ‘:;:r'f},,"",‘;":':finzl’"fi;";p" ::‘"‘"\" of the success of the 6th. Wounded Her hospital and pharmacy are up. | 28 Gt ICECE (1 BERING TR AWAS | came with them. some walking, some to date, and éven her canteen, while of | {GE (T 1RRC TG TOTE ROPC ATOUS | carried on mprovised stretchers by | the “dry” order, of course. poseases | [l L cllh I LS O e Boia dr | the Boche “kamarads.” Most of them sonie of the combined qualities of a | '\v;yp. " IR WG IS IR S | were grinning. “Goin® fine up there, cigar shop, notion coun onfection- | (v, kilometers north. Peeving from goin' fine “Lookit, fellers! ery and delicatessen st With her olr shelters, the battallon saw al'| a bon blighty —we'll give ‘em havdware utensils and mechanical ad- | nie ground swept by a huteieane of ¢ regards in s uncts she could stock A gigantic | delifire, ! hardware estabiishment on shore. R N e e e em for in- | came the order. The battailon moved and a wireless outfit for ex- | filing around {he tEaverses with i ternal communication. She is heated ! qicions intervals hotween men, so that by steam an ted hy electrieity. | the Roche sheiie might not inciude 1o and she has scores of electric motors. | many in their radigs of death. For Her turreis are operated by electric- | Heinia was beginning to shoot back. | i her guns are fired by electricity. | He had the rangé of his vacated With her po ful electric plant she | trench pérfectly, And, holding the high would provide for the needs of a eity | ground, he could what he was of more than 50,000 people. { shooting at. Shell legan to pAss through the ath. bat talion following battalion at 500 yard | distatess. A number of French “baby” tanks started with the as | saulting wa t it was an evil place for tani nk traps, trenches s0 wide that the little fellows went | nose down into them and stuck, and divect fire from Boche artillery stop. ped the most of thew. The battalion was out of the trench now, and going forwnrd, regulating jts you ank ( ‘Here we are, in the Essen trench— | on. you seems that the Marines move down to| BRINGING IN GERMAN ng Cities.” mains, a flushing system, hot and cold water supply and shower baths of companies were likewise Only the 49th lay perforce In fiving Roche plane spotted & columns, a_ sprawl 80 cr apart on the chalky grou good,” said the second in flat helmet, damn thing tors have gone hom is goin’ to com | to lun. { the sky Far bac + railroad vom the wheeling vulture. nee from the unit | iq tha captain, “listen to he men lay @n_ the sonable v Schnareds T”ER « circled slowly abo of the Hoche lines 3 gun that 1 nt? Heilt aps ain’t supposed to eat! Officers | cast anxions glances towasd the uttar- | the 75s Iy exposed left. The French attack | Boche had failed to keep abreast of the American. r the long tearing the ecoarser "Is replying, and heé: hut most of it was breaking in front of the battalion. THFE FIELD. BY CAPT THOMASON.) cocking his head gander-wise In his guess all our nohle avia- plane, high and small and shining in took a wirel E were lote of shells passing voices of The left company, the 17th, was in lroof of ssund eame & Aecper note—a began to crash|a cover of urubby'u-ou. The other faroff rumble that mounted to an dewn to u‘ Quivering earth. A PRISONERS AT ST. MIHIEL. (DRAWN ON | conceaYed. | énormons, shattering roar, the open, | freight train on a down-gradé. |like partridges. and the world shook |and reeled under them as a nine.inch hell crashed into the earth 50 yards ahead, exploding with a cataclysmic detonation thal rocked their senses. An_appalling geyser of black smoké And torn earth leaped skyward, jagged splinters of steel whined away. and stonéa and clods showered do: Be- | fore the smoke had, lifted from the there was | monstrous crater the devastating « | rumble came again, and the second | shell roared down 50 yards to the rear. “Oh, Lowdy! They've got us hrack & I wiw that one 1 saw | right where the next one’s gonna hit, whine of | an “Look where It gzonna thé | hit! Lawd, if T jegt knew it wasn't avy &tuff, | gonna hit me—ahh $ behind or | The third shell fame, and men who 1nto this | risked an eye could 844 it—a dark, tre- mendous streak, shooting straight & platoon 100° yards nd. ~ “No command, pe of that ch.” The ove them, LA th en, et it look like & | The | oh a bleak, sheli-packed sloge. A high: | commany flationéd against the ground | erease up to the hi Critical War Struggle yawning hole opened with thun fairly between two platoon columns. and the earth vomited. . . . It was wonderful shooting. the shells that followed dropped the columns, of prone men-but not man was hit. ‘The heavy project sank far Into the chalky soil. and the explosions sent the deadly fragmenis outward and over the company. More than a dozen shells were fired in all the high. sinister plang wheeling ov head the while. Then the company went forward with the battalion, very glad to move. Any one of those nineinch hahies would have blotted out 20 of us.” mar veled a lleutenant. leadng hix platoon around & 30-foot er that still smoked. “Or ripped the heart out of any concreteandstesl fortifieation ever buili- the good lLawd was cer tainly with us To the company commanders. gath ered at dark In a much disfignred Boche shelter in the Wood of Somme Py. the major gave information. “The | 6th took Blanc Mont, and they are holding it against heavy counter attacks. Priconere say they were or dered to hold here at anv cote they're fighting damned well. tan’ The infantry regiments piped down the | Bots de Vipre. just as we did the | Essen Hook. ‘The division is group ing around the Ridge, but we'rs prett\ well isolated from the Frénch. To. night we are going on up and take the front line. and attack toward 2t Ktienne-a-Arnoa—town north of the Ridge and a littie west. Get on up to Blane Mont with vour com- panies—P. . will he thers. along the road that runs across the Ridge.” (Consright. 18981 Al hetween Equatorial Cold. French meteoralogist Teinse gives a remarkahle record of temperature observed hv | means of aeronautical researches in the upper alr over the equatoria gions of the Atlantic. Good r were obtained by _an expedition by himself and Mr. Rotch in thess re- gions, ‘And, contrary to sxpactations, it wak found that at high levels in the equatorial Alr much lower fempera- tures werk recordsd than at eorre | aponding heightk in the temparate | latitudes. Over the Equator the is thermal zone seemed to he Ahsant But the temperaturs continued to de. hest point reachad. and at altitudes nfu miles or mors it was found as low as 112 degrees he- low zero of Fahrenheit's &cale. This intense cold in the high air over the equatorial Atlantic. on which | the mun exerts ita greatest heating | power, seems myaterious, indeed, though there fa no reason whatever | to question the accuragy of the re- | cording instruments. 11§ explanation !is, perhaps, to be found in the exiat- ence of a_broad atmosapheric current | traveling with enormous vélacity from eant to west at altitudes from 5 to % | miles above the equatorial iona and v cireling the glohe, " | srems probable that on surfaces of { such a current, from whith masses " of ‘air have heen vialently &parated &8 lateral oftshoot<, ths resulting end- den diminution of préssurs and expan- sion of the air would Account far an immense reduetion of the temparature below zero. HE renc de Bort