CARRYING THE DISPATCHES

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2348, 2 January 1915, Page 5

CARRYING THE DISPATCHES

One of the British Army automobile drivers has given;the following account of recent adventure. He was' driving through a dangerous zone a car in which was an English colonel carrying dispatches, with his French interpreter. They lost their way, and in a village the Colonel ordered his interpreter to go into a house and ask the .direction. The interpreter disappeared ,_ and a minute later Toappeared shouting for aid. Germans were in tho honse, and had seriously wounded him. He fell on to the road, and dragged himself along until he fell into tho ditch. At that moment the German', appeared at the door of the house. "The Colonel." said the chauffeur, "was perfectly calm. 'I have no rifle,' he remarked, 'you are a good shot; cover the Germans while I get out and bring in the wounded man. If I fail, hand over the dispatches yourself.'" ■ . ' The Colonel jumped out, and the chauffeur opened fire. He could not, he remarked, very well miss, as the Germans were all together in a body near the door. They could not see him, and when the shot rang out they were seized with panic. The chauffeur kept on firing steadilv until not a man was left. Then the Colonel reappeared from the little wood in which the motor had stopped, and a volley was fired from the first storey of the house. He threw himself flat on the ground and crawled along until he was; near the wounded man. Then he made a tremendous bound, seized his interpreter, and literally threw him unde rco/erof a tree. A vollev was fired a second time, but in vain. The chauffeur was at his wheel; the' interpreter was hoisted into the car. and a minute later they sot off at full speed. "That is the' concluded the English chauffeur, "why we are fond of our officers." •