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| OVER THE TOP. (Continued from page 3, column 3.") be holding their originar position. *T have seen an officer who wouldn't -aay d n for a thousand quid spend iflve mlnntes with the old boy, and >when he returned the flow of language jfrom his lips would make a navvy blush for shame. i "What I am going to tell you is how %wo of us put it over on the old scamp, and got away with it. It was a risky Ithinc. too. hecanse Old PeDDer WOUl/dn't \ " O' - ~ ? 7 - ? ? liave been exactly mild with us if he mad got next to the game. j I "Me and my mate, a lad named Harjry jCassell, a bombardier in D 238 bat- I ^:;S^fS^^^Sr|T[)JJ"" fl One of the Big tery, or lance corporal, as you call It r 4n the infantry, used to relieve the ' . .telephonists. We would do two hours on and four off. I would be on duty in the advanced observation post, > while he would be at the other end of the wire in the battery dugout signaling station. We were supposed to send through orders for the battery to fire when ordered to do so by the observation officer in the advanced post. But very few messages were sent It was only in case of an actual attack that ' we would get a chance to earn our two and six' a day. You see, Old Pepper had issued orders^ not to fire exTT*V?r>r, fhji nrHaro r>amo frnm him And with Old' Pepper orders is orders, and made to obey. "The Germans most have known j about these orders, for even in the day their transports and troops used to expose themselves as If they were on i parade. This sure got up our nose, | sitting there day after day, with fine ! targets in front of us but unable to 1 send over a shell. We heartily cussed i Old Pepper, his orders, the govern- ! ment, the people at home, and everything in general. But the Boches didn't mind cussing, and got very careless. Blime me, they were bally insulting. Used to, when using a certain road, throw their caps into the air as a taunt at our helplessness. "Cassell had been a telegrapher in civil life and joined up when war was s < declared. As for me, I knew Morse, learned It at the signalers' school back in 1910. With an officer in the observation post, we could not carry on the kind of conversation that's usual between two mates, so we used the .Morse code. To send, one of us would tap the transmitter with his finger * nails, and the one on the other end would* get it through the receiver. Many an hour was whlled away in this manner passing compliments back and forth. "In the observation post the officer used to sit for hours with a powerful pair of field glasses to his eyes. Through a cleverly cbncealed loophole he would scan the ground behind the German trenches, looking for targets and finding many. This officer, Capf tain A by name, had a habit of talking out loud to himself. Sometimes he would vent his opinion, same as a common private does when he's wrought up. Once upon a time the captain had been on Old Pepper's staff, so he could cuss and blind in the most approved style. Got to be sort of a habit with him. "About six thousand yards from us, behind the German lines, was a road ? : in plain view of our post. For the last < 'three days Fritz had brought companies of troops down this road in broad daylight. They were never shelled. Whenever this' happened the captain would froth at the mouth and let out Ia volume of Old Pepper's religion |f which used to make me love him. "Every battery has a range chart on which distinctive landmarks are noted, with the range for each. These land- i f marks are called targets, and are numbered. On our battery's chart, that j road was called 'Target 17, Range 6000, 3 degrees 30 minutes left.' D 238 j battery consisted of four '4.5' howitzers, and fired a 35-pound H. E. shell. As you know, H. E. means 'high explosive.' I don't like bumming up my own battery, but we had a record in the division for direct hits, and our boys were just pining away for a I . chance to exhibit their skill in the f eyes of Fritz. "On the afternoon of the fourth day of Fritz' contemptuous use of the road mentioned the captain and I were at our posts as usual. Fritz was strafeing us pretty rough, just like he's doing now. The shells were playing leapfrog all through that orchard. "I was carrrine on a conversation in our 4tap' code with Cassell at the J other end. It ran something like this: ! " 'Say, Cassell, how would you like ! to be in the saloon bar of the King's j A/rms down Rye lane with a bottle 011 Bass in front of you, and that blonde barmaid waiting to fill 'em up again? "Cassell had a fancy for that particular blonde. The answer came back in the shape of a volley of cusses. I j changed the subject. "After a while our talk veered round to the way the Boches had been exposing themselves on the road down on the chart as Target 17. What he said about those Boches would never liave passed the reichstag, though I believe it would have gone through ??1 Iliii * Guns Barking. our censor easily enough. "The bursting shells were making such* a din that I packed up talking and took^to watching the captain. He was fide-ptiner around on an old sand bag with the glass to his eye. Occasionally he would let out a grunt, and make some remark I couldn't hear on account of the noise, but I guessed what it was all right. Fritz was getting fresh again on that'road. "Cassell had been sending in the 'tap code' to me, but I was fed up and didn't bother with It Then he sent O. S., and I was all attention, for this was a call used between us which meant that something important was on. I was all ears in an instant Then Cassell turned loose. 1 '"You blankety blank dud, I have been trying to raise you for fifteen minutes. What's the matter, are you asleep?' (Just as if anyone could have slept in that infernal racket!) ' 'Never mind framing a nasty answer. Just listen.' "'Are you game for putting something over on the Boches and Old Pepper all in one?' "I answered that I was game enough when it came to putting it over the Boches, but confessed that I had a weakening of the spine, even at the mention of Old Pepper's name. "He came back with, 'It's so absurdly easy and simple that there is no chance of the old heathen rumbling it. Anyway, if we're caught, I'll take the blame.' "Under these condition I told him to spit out his scheme. It was so daring and simple that it took my breath away. This is what he proposed: "If the Boches should use that road again, to send by the tap system the target and range. I had previously told dim aoout our captain taming out loud as if he were sending through orders. Well, if this happened, I was to send the dope to Cassell and he would transmit it to the battery commander as officially coming through the observation post. Then the battery would open up. Afterwards, during the investigation, Cassell would swear he received it direct. They would have to relieve him, because it was impossible from his post in the battery dugout to know that the road was being used at that time by the Germans. And also it was impossible for him to give the target," range and degrees. You know a battery chart is not passed around \among the men like a newspaper from Blighty. From him the investigation would go to the observation post, and the observing officer could truthfully swear that I had not sent the message by 'phone, and that no orders to fire had been issued by him. The investigators would then be up in the air, we would be safe, the Boches would receive a good bashing, and we would get our own back on Old Pepper. It was too good to be true. I gleefully fell in with the scheme, and told Cassell I was his meat. "Then I waited with beating heart and watched the captain like a hawk. "He was beginning to fidget again r and was drumming on the sandbags with his feet. At last, turning to me, he said: " t1TTilftrv? n T*mrr ic? Q hlfinVofT >* 11SU11, lun dl iuj 10 u uiiiuuv?.t> blank washout. What's the use of having artillery if it is not allowed to fire? The government at home ought to be hanged with some of their red tape. It's through them that we have no shells.' "I answered. 'Yes, sir,' and started sending this opinion over the wire to Cassell, but the captain interrupted me with: "'Keep those infernal fingers still. What's the matter, getting the nerves? When I'm talking to you, pay attention.' (To be continued next week.) '} H PEACE TO YOUR FEET. 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