Adventure Magazine Cover, June 20, 1925 — page 29: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

A Sergeant. of Cavalry In a little while the men stopped calling and. now another sound, that had been un- heard before, began to make itself audible. There was a tremendous mess on the road. There were dead and wounded horses, dead | and wounded men, trucks with their motors still running and the hind end of them in kindling wood. “1” muttered Nell, “can’t we do something for those guys out there?”’ “The stretcher bearers’l! look after ’em,”’ said some one. ‘‘They’ll all be took care of.”’ “It’s kinda tough on ’em, aint it,’’ spoke another man, ‘‘to be knocked off just when we was goin’ out to rest billets? If we was goin’ up to the front now, it would be a blessin’ to get a little skin knocked off and get sent out right at the start.” There was a command irom the head of the column. “Forward!” A mad scrambling ensued as every one reached out to take hold of his neighbor. Squads and platoons were intermixed, men seized each other and as they started to move out many found they were going in circles. “Hey!”’ cried several. “We aint gettin’ anywheres! Whose the head o’ this line? Which way do we go?”’ A sharp voice rose above all the others, not loud or bellowing, but crackling like a whip, a voice whose sound was distinguish- able above the clamor in much the same fashion that a one-pounder gun can be clearly heard above all the racket of a bat- tle. “Straighten out here, men! my soul, we’re not playing ring around a rosie! You’re worse than the militia! First squad, where are you? Good, move out. Second squad, second squad, where the ’s the second squad? Second squad! Is that the second squad? What are you doing over there? Lying down? Who told you to lie down? Corporal, you're a private, compree that? You’re a private! Mulkern, you take charge of the squad. Remember ser- geant, Mulkern’s a corporal if I’m a casu- alty. Move out now. Third squad all right? Fourth squad. Come, come, let’s get going; we can’t stay here all night.” As they hurried along the edge of the field, Nell felt a surge of fear. The men were being hurried as fast as possible from the scene of the bombing, jor there is noth- ing that will wreck the morale of even II veteran troops so quickly as a black night and the presence of a great number of wounded calling for first aid. It was strange, though, that the men about Nell should have been affected: so suddenly. A few minutes before they had been fairly calm, a little breathless, a little jumpy till they found who had been hit, but not more than mildly excited. On the tick of a second it had all changed. Breath whistled through teeth, men panted and coughed, and all hurried, hurried, crowding and shoving, and the atmosphere was charged with terror. “What the struck all this gang so quick?”’ asked Nell over his shoulder. He was not answered, but from the dark- ness beside him came excited whispers. _ ‘“?’Juh hear what the old man said? ‘If I’m a casualty,’ he says. We’re goin’ back to the front!” “Shut up, you!” ordered the corporal. “You got another one o’ your coke jags. Why mightn’t the old man be a casualty? Think that’s the only Boche plane that’s out tonight?” ‘That was one o’ our planes.” “Wasn’t no such a thing! Our planes got a light on ’em. That’s a Boche. An’ he never knew what luck he had, I betcha. | How could he tell there was a road there and it rainin’ soup and stones to splash it? He was huntin’ for a dump or a hospital or somethin’ in them woods, an’ let them bombs go for luck.” There was a thud from in front and a smothered curse. On the heels of it a clat- ter and another thud. “For ’s sake, pick up your feet,” pleaded some one. “You shoved that —— rifle halfway through me.”’ ‘There’s a ditch here,” called some one, “look out for it!” ‘We must be gettin’ back to the road,” observed the corporal. ‘‘We’ll soon enough see if we’re goin’ back to the front. Fat chance. We done all our front stuff last week.”’ The column was back on the road, cha could tell that by the feel of the ground under their feet, and by the roar of the mo- tors. ‘There were not so many here, they were lighter cars, by the sound, probably ambulances. “Tf we could see some trucks,”’ observed an invisible speaker, ‘“‘we could tell which way they was goin’ and then we’d know ) comiclboooks CO