University of Santa Clara - Redwood Yearbook (Santa Clara, CA)

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THE REDWOOD It was cold, unimaginably cold and dark and the driving storm was at its height. Thickening into an avalanche it gained impetus every second and drove on as of some malign spirit having at its disposal only a brief space in which to wreck and destroy. Jack drew his coat tightly about him and bent his head to the fury. Progress was low, even painful through the con- coction beneath his sodden foot-gear. A pocket flashlight beaconed him on, deflecting sullen gleams from the inky mass of slushy melting snow. At reg- ular intervals were stationed coated figures with faces steadfast to loop holes in the parapet, seeking out, if possible, through that shifting white wall, any foe who might be wandering aimlessly about in the two hundred yard ribbon of earth that separated the combatants. Now and again he passed narrow rifts in the walls of the trenches, en- trances to dug-outs, betrayed by glim- mers of candle light through the cracks of makeshift doors or the coarse mesh of gunny-sack curtins. Many too, with their bare hands, had patiently dug little alcoves and shelves; these niches contained their most precious belongings, a picture of mother or sweetheart. In these men who lived but to kill there was still left a touch or two of tenderness. The fire along the line swelled to an uproar, augmented by the hellish gib- bering of machine guns. Somewhere back of him a huge gun came into play, barking viciously. Shells whined and shrieked overhead, as a pack of hungry wolves eager for prey. To Jack this was nothing, merely a weird music to which his ear had grown ac- customed, and he moved on as if noth- ing were happening. Coming to a halt in front of his own little alcove, he patiently dug with his hands, — the only tools to be afforded. It had but one possession, a picture of his mother. He flashed his little light in upon it. To look upon those well- loved features, strengthened him and the thought of the millions of other mothers, like his own would have been, mothers whose future happiness de- pended on the outcome of this war, kept his spirits high. It reminded him also of his duty and of his unpaid debt to Elaine. He handled the little card- board square affectionately, kissed it and then tenderly, as if he might in- jure it, put the portrait into the pock- et of his blouse nearest his heart. Well, Jim, old man, said Jack, slapping the shoulder of the man he had come up to relieve, have you found Fritz very inquisitive to-night? No, he ' s been too durned quiet; it sort o ' makes me feel creepy. And with that the doughboy stalked off, melting into the blackness, for he was tired, almost spent, as were all those brave warriors who stood post that day. Propping his rifle against the wall of the trench, its butt on the firing step just out of water, Jack proceeded painstakingly to fix its bayonet. Then

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THE REDWOOD it gently past Jack. The girl attempt- ed its recovery, but always out of reach it was wafted gently on. Only fleeter feet could overtake it, ere it plunged over the ship ' s side. Jack volunteered chivalrously. Good morning, said Jack, ap- proaching the girl, here is your hand- kerchief, Miss — Miss. He hesitated oddly. Tevis, added the girl, thanking him. Delighted to know you Miss Tev- is, returned Jack. My name is Sel — er, I mean Miller, Jack Miller. It was so kind of you, Mr. Miller, she said with easy naturalness that made Jack feel perfectly at home. Her voice was of uncommon quality, deep and bell-sweet. Isn ' t it a perfectly wonderful day? ventured Jack. Grand, isn ' t it, just the kind that is especially adapted to steamship flir- tations. Jack smiled. The charming manner of his new friend tempted him to be- come inquisitive. Do you intend travelling abroad in these troublesome times? He put the question as a ground breaker and then was startled by his own temerity. Well, not exactly, she answered, I am going to live in England with my Uncle, who has charge of a con- valescent hospital there. You know there is a demand for nurses now that so many are needed at the front. How loyal you are to your profes- sion, to go so far from home to do your bit. No sacrifice is too great, she con- tinued, when the precious right of freedom is at stake. Quite true. And now, Mr. Miller, may I ask your destination? Her interrogation was natural and an inquisitive sparkle shone in her eye. Over there, ' Jack answered. You know I have a dear sister of whom you remind me so much and it is just the likes of you both, that we able- bodied men must defend. Several days passed. Jack ' s ac- quaintance with Miss Tevis became more intimate and he concluded at length that the sweet little nurse was one he could really learn to like with an affection above ordinary friendship. Their meetings were numerous and frequent. In the twilight, as the baby stars, remote impersonal things, would creep out to their watches in the sky, and as the moon checkered the sea with a restless pattern of black and silver, they would sit and converse upon the deck. So the voyage grew from one of cas- ual friendship into one of love, pure love. It is often said that steamship romances are never sincere, but to see Jack and his sweetheart at parting time, would have changed the skeptical into the most credulous. Ill Six months had flitted by and their passing, found Jack on the firing line.

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THE REDWOOD he assumed his position at the loophole in the sand-bag parapet. The night filled with so much driving snow had become less penetrable than the dark- ness itself. Only that shifting while wall met his gaze. Even the perennial roar of shrieking shells had ceased. The feeling of something sinister and uncanny, something vast and mighty came over him. Man had made war for ages but never before on such a huge scale. Then suddenly a blinding white glare cut through the gloom. The blaze played for a few minutes over the trenches, sweeping to right and left and back again, dying away at a far distant point. After it came the same white gloom and deep silence. To the watchers along the line this betokened but one necessity and that to prepare for a massed attack. But the storm was now letting up and with its abatement came an order for volunteers to go over the top, on listening duty. To Jack this afforded a novelty too good to let by and he was lured by the thought of its romantic danger. That their persons might blend the more perfectly with the surrounding snows, fifty grimly determined men, shroudded in white, clambered out of the trenches into No Man ' s Land. All was still and they advanced rap- idly fifty yards or more. Almost at the same instant, warned by a trail of sparks rising in a long arc from the German trenches, the little party dropped flat and lay moveless. The star-rocket paled and winked out in mid-air. Jack noticed in the flare that the weary land was flecked with what he concluded to be poor, dead, broken bodies of men who had fallen days or months, hours or weeks before in the grim contests that were waged for a few yards of that debatable char- nel ground. Two lay so close to him that he could have touched eit her by slightly moving his hand. But he was at pains to do nothing of the sort; he desired to clench his teeth against their chattering, even to hold his breath and regretted that he might not mute the thumping of his heart. In a semi-crouching posture the troupe slipped forward again, ready to flatten themselves to earth when an- other trail of sky-spearing sparks warned them. Then a strange coinci- dence occurred. With the brave little band from the British side, there also ventured out into that waste of littered and inde- scribable abominations a listening par- ty of Germans. Thus had Fate de- cided. In the middle of that desolation they met. They needed no urging; they al- most flew to their task. Foe met foe, amid the din of clashing bayonet. Shrieks of the dying pierced the start- led night ; a mortally wounded comrade here, a dying foe there and all muffled to insignificance by the rasps of strik- ing steel. Neither side dared fire, lest in doing so they mow down their own men. Only the mere handful must