quarters of a mile north and a quarter of a mile east of Ypres, and about a thousand yards from the German trenches. We

, their sisters having been smashed and the crews bayoneted, including their commanding officers, and like friend

pon us to continually assume a stooping position when walking, involving a crick in the back for a goo

air with sweet nectar. To our right was a large farmhouse, of two stories and a gable roof, and the nearest gun to the

l. He would stand in the doorway, watching us continually, as if he feared we were going to steal his house from over his head, and about the only thing he woul

ey were veterans of the finest order, the very cream of the French artillery service, and their Captain was an educated gentleman, speaking English as fluently as his native

zed when informed that they were the famous .75's that had made the work of the French guns ring throughout the world; we couldn't at first bring ourselves to believe that these were

y are just as ready to discharge another 24 as when they started, while in the case of our pieces we have to let them cool, and 15 or 18 per min

ossibility for the horses to bring up sufficient ammunition for the guns during the night, and they had to make the perilous trip many times during the day, and with the German shells pounding the road every foot of the way, their fire being guided by the wireless directions from their planes, the nu

of the house. He could speak some English and seemed to spend most of his time cleaning his

rian-Afri

the trenches," I said. "A

e replie

ou wou

N

u not with your

n the retreat

ou go and lo

t I can't

if we were gett

lots of it

you goin

tty soon

going to shoot

had orders to blow them up as they were filled with machine guns. He grinned from ear to ea

olish and his big white teeth were exposed in anot

gh the glasses to see the gray-clad inmates popping out of the doors and windows. Judge of my astonishment! Not a solitary soul left the building my gun had destroyed. I watched each one

sness. Another thing that set me thinking was what seemed to me to be an undue familiarity between this Algerian trooper and our farmer; he had the entree of the house, apparently could go and come as he p

re both tired out; we were dead beat and looked around for a quiet spot where we

the bush into which we both crawled. It requires no effort for a man who has been sustaining the sound, shock

arn. We found the Old Man there with a lantern and told him we were going up in the loft, but he scowled and said we were not to go. "To hell with you!"-and up we went, finding five or six

d not hear. One of our fellows, as we later learned, came running up

led, "there a

to see that a pretty thorough strafing had been going on, yet so dead be

were you fello

he barn," said I; "wh

blank and he told me he hadn't see

re up there, because we told him we were g

d down." Following this we went through the usual routine of cleaning up our pet and making her ready for the next visitation, and while working away, friend farmer came along with one of his cows, a large white animal, leading it with a rope and pe

ter. We were all dirty, thirsty, greasy and tired, and I offered to go. I ambled over to the farmhouse, stopp

de for the guns. They were hammering our batteries thoroughly now and I was told to take shelter. I ran over to the farmhouse and asked the farmer's wife for a cup of coffee,-to sell me a cup, which she refused; in fact, her husband would not permit any of us to enter the house again. Then a smothering f

noticed he had taken his white cow out in front of our batt

stop in front

ed before each

d at ours

d a complete telephone apparatus; there was also in his stove a system that had been inaugurated for forcing up a shower of sparks; this apparatus had been found in the houses of a number of spies who had paid the penalty for their work. Then they made a se

children and placed in the coop, and there the traitorous co

d that they had taken stuff that had been purloined from other units as far back as three months before. After a thorough ransacking and a feed that filled us to our heart's content, we made

e barn, took a couple of wagons, taking off the wheels and the poles, and made up three dummy guns and placed them in the spot we had

t was that the disadvantageous side of our good work with the dummy guns was exemplified; just as I was stepping out

d threaten them with instant demolition by their guns if they did not furnish the information sought for, and thus did Fritz make good his promise to the farmer. By reason of our dum

hat peculiarly; it would flare up and down oddly and seemed to be in a farmhouse straight at our rear, but not much attention was paid to it at the time. Next morning Munsey and I were in the cookhouse, trying to moisten a couple of hardtack biscuits with what juice we could extract from a piece of bacon rind, when an airplane hummed overhead and the attention of one of our anti-aircraft guns was immediately diverted to the bird. The cookhouse had formerly been a French dressing station,

e somebody giving our battery away," said Munsey. A number of our men had been wounded at this time

ffee. "Never mind the coffee," said Munsey; "we have come to examine the house." The old man seemed quite willing to have us do so and pointed the way upstairs, starting himself to go out the door

middle of the room I pulled over to the chimney, tugged at some of the brick that I had noticed, and the whole thing caved in, part of a heliograph outfit falling out. The old fellow made a dart for the door, but was peremptorily intercepted

ox against the wall and I heard a funny noise from it as if it contained somethin

ier left them the

was the consensus of opinion that the spy was the farmer himself, and that the Algerian uniform was a blind. We were chatting away, discussing the matter, when the shells commenced flying as thick as peas in a pod; so swift a

the fellows unanimous that his information came from the fa

of the boys, Boxer, noticed that the mill was going around in an irregular fashion,-going first one way and then another, and then stopping, and he called our attention to it and we all noticed it, and almost simultaneously with our

o the windmill and a phenomenon indeed met our eyes,-the wheel was turning in the opposite direction from that in which the wind was blowing. We started up the steps and-Ping! Ping! and Boxer f

was brought back to the dressing station, where he had

n I went to the French battery and told the officer commanding of my suspicions about the windmill. A smile of intelligence and gratefulness lighted up his fine face. "Monsieur, we shall see what we shall see," and he ordered a shell into t

ace and streaming eyes he told the French Captain of the gendarmes that this man had come to him and told him that if he didn't permit him to go into his home, he would instantly signal for the shells and he and h

d to us not to come upstairs," went on the old man. "Shortly afterwards a man dressed in the uniform of a British soldier came, and he too went upstairs; he was carrying a bag. When he came in he asked if I wanted coffee and I answered 'No.' When he came in the Algerian called down to send him up, and he too went up.

icate with you; my life would have been the price, and what would have become of my family? If there had been anything I could have done, Messieurs

on edge and we were suspicious of everybody; trickery, deceit, traitor-work seemed to be in the very air itself, and we made a resolve that we would shoot anybody, man, woman or child, whom we

! My children are gone! And for what?"-wringing her hands and gesticulatin

mewhat calming the poor creature, and

ork. My husband ran for a gun and warned him off. He said, 'You had better think it over; if you don't let me use your house you have not another day to live!' In spite of th

m, and they made off in the direction of your battery. Then, then-Mon Dieu! How can I t

ition, moaning aloud in the despair of her misery. Her little daughter was screaming in terror at the plight

each us, and the order is issued from headquarters that we may use them. These rations are 16 ounces of bully beef, two hardtack biscuits, some tea and sugar in small wax envelopes. Each man must carry his own iron rations at all times and the penalty for eating them without orders is 28 to 90 days, first field pu

d, the poor creature with an expression in her eyes that plainly

ands of blasted and stricken homes and families, resultin

dose by Fritz. "His aim the nicht was damn puir, however," said one of the Scotch drivers; "he never gave us a scratch; but I noticed on the road a woman wi' a little bairn, a

for whom I had taken the risk of punishment, and I could not help thinking what a blessing i

wagons were loaded up at the wagon lines, someone undid the locks of the wagons and on the way to the guns the shells dro

behind us, the horse kicked one shell that we dropped, and I'm damned if it did na' explode and blaw the puir

table object there was the town clock, and he had not been looking long before he noticed the hands moving this way and that; he watched closely and then called, "Come here, fellows, quick. Come and watch the clock!" We all jumped to a point of vantage and watched, and in few minutes we were satisfied that the shell fire that was raining upon us was being directed by the hands of the clock. We observed that when the long hand moved right, the rain of fire would increase; when it moved left, it decreased; each jump of the hand five minute

e of our pieces and two of the French battery. Another battery observer had noticed the clockwork at the same time that we were watching it, and the gendarmes were notified; they made a trip to the top of the tower in double quick time, fi

certain Algerian Regiment was lying and I directed them, after giving them a drink of water and a biscuit. They also asked me what those headquarters were, and a number of other questions. However, no suspicion of there being anything wrong entered my mind, as they spoke perfect

me were the two prisoners who had been taken in the clock tower at Ypres, as I heard subsequ

ted a farmhouse, the occupants of which had been shelled out because they would not comply with the orders of a German agent, and had lost their home in consequence. They went in and helped themselves to straw and came out loaded down with armfuls of it. I decided to follow suit and went over, just reaching the barn, when Kr-kr-kr-p!-the first shell that