e the rockets at Weewillo Park that spit out long snakes of gold
fire like a broom when they bust. The nearer that barrage came to the
Fritz trenches the faster they went up all along the line.

We lay there a few minites till everybody came up. The thing that
struck me now was that I wasnt scared. Id been more afraid of bein
scared than anything else. Then the Major got up an started on with
everybody else taggin along with him. It was to foggy to see what was
happenin on each side. We went down a hill. It got swampy an we struck
some duck boards. Somebody must have been over before us an put them
down. If they could get around as easy as that it beat me what they
were makin all this fuss for.

All around us was big shell holes filled with water. They gave the
Americans a second hand battle field to begin on. The French had used
it lots of times before. Once I lost sight of the Lootenant an stepped
off the duck boards to pass some doboys. It was like steppin into a
well. There didnt seem to be any bottom to it. I grabbed hold of a
doboy that was goin by but he pushed me back agen an says "Who the
this an that do you think your mawlin around here?" Then somebody gave
me a hand. What I needed more than a tin derby was a pair of water
wings. I didnt feel cold any more tho.

Something happened to the duckboards an we was wadin in mud to our
knees. Every once in a while Id slip into a shell hole an then Id have
to run to catch up agen. That Major must have been brought up in
Indiana the way he got thru the mud. My rapped leggins began to shrink
an the cavs of my legs hurt something awful. But we kept goin an goin
without ever gettin to the Fritz trenches.

After a while we came to a little creek about ten foot wide with
bushes along each side. The Major an a couple of the oficers just
jumped right in an waded across. It wasnt much over there waste but it
looked awful cold an black slippin along thru the fog. The doboys
stood for a minit on the bank shivering like a dog when you throw a
stick he wants in a pond he knows is cold.

I wish you could have heard the Major cuss. He had a line that would
have driven a team of mules without reins or a whip. Naturally havin
gotten all wet he couldnt see callin the battle off there. Pretty soon
some doboy jumped in right where hed gone over. Then it seemed like
the whole army was fightin to get across in that one place. Of course
they had the whole creek to pick from but somehow