"THAT A MAN SHOULD LAY DOWN HIS LIFE"

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 90, 9 January 1918, Page 4

"THAT A MAN SHOULD LAY DOWN HIS LIFE"

A SACRIFICE IN THE DESERT. (By Second Lieutenant F. J. Sleath.) A few years ago tho world was thrilled by tho story of the heroic death of Captain Oates, a member of tho illfated Scott Expedition to the Antarctic, who walked out into the midst of a winter blizzard aiid died, that his comrades might have his 6hare of the dwindling supplies. Tho records of the war havo shown that this glorious incident was no mere accidental episodo in the talo of the achievements of our race; that wherever the sacrifice is demanded Britons will lay down their lives for the sako of their kin. This is the story of a British officer, an airman, who died by his own hand that his comrade might live. Ho was on a long-distance reconnaissance over the African desert, when a, mishap" to his engine forced him to descend. A mechanic was with him as observer, and for hours the two airmen laboured to make good the de j feet in their machine. But tho damage proved irreparable. They had at' length to give up the task,' and set themselves down to wait for succour. On these fronts, when an aeroplane fails to return, a, second machine is sent out to search for its overdue sister. As ft, rule the rescue of the missing airmen is easily effected, though sometimes there are tragedies. In this case the approach of hostile tribesmen compelled the airmen to abandon their machine, and after" destroying it they slipped away into such hiding-nlaces as the desert in that part afforded. No- British soldier willingly falls into the hands of these desert allies of tho Germans. The atrocities which they have been known to perpetrate on their unfortunate prisoners, even when German and Turkish regular officers have been with them, are all against the desirability of self-surren-der.. In any case, the sporting instinct of the average Briton leads him to snatch at any chanco of escape, however desperate it may be. The plight of this pilot and his mechanic was desperate enough; no food, vory little' water, and a journey of several days, over country of the most difficult description, between them and their friends. Yet they coolly planned their course by the air of a prismatic compass, and sot out on tho long tramp to safety ._ For three days they journeyed on, drinking their precious water drop by drop. Their supply could not be replenished. Nor did tho desert afford them any food: Its sole vegetation was the little, stunted, thorny shrub which flourishes there despite all laws of normal growth. Occasionally their path was traversed by the dried-up channel of a long-dead stream. Tho suggestion of tho life-giving rivers once flowing there only increased their misery. Sometimes, hoivever, these inullahfl gave them shelter while eagle-eyed tribesmen swept over the horizon. As far as tho eyo could reach stretched . golden, undulating sand, with here and there a hugo grey boulder to add to tho aridness .of the scene. By day tho pitiless 6uu, by night tho cold, ghastly moon, and the glittering stars watched the madness of the desert steal over them. At the end of the third day the officer dispassionately summed up the situation. Barely half of the distanco had been covered. Nearly all tho water was gone. One man might complete tho journ'ey on the remaining supply. Two men could not possibly do so. His companion was lying asleep by Mb Bide. The officer did not rouse him to discuss the situation. Comrade though this man was in a desperate adventure, he was a private. It was for tho officer to decide who should go on, and who should stay behind.: i When.the mechanic awoko tho officer had disappeared. A note was lying beside him. In it his 'superior had or-' dored him to tako tho remaining water and proceed on his journey. There was nothing sentimental about the epistle. It was couched' in tho ordinary, mat-tor-of-fact language with winch, an English officer addresses a man $ his command. But after writing it tho English officer had gone out into tho desert and blown his brains out. He died to give his man a better chance of life. It was his privilege to to do so. Nor was his sacrifico in vain. _ After days of almost incredible suffering the mechanic was saved, and with him the story. On all the fronts of Britain's far-flung armies men aro whispering the tale to each other; and history will take it as a very precious leaf, and add it to the glorious wreath of solf-sacrifice which the years have woven to the honour of the British ' soldier.