AMBUSHED!

Hokitika Guardian, 23 August 1921, Page 3

AMBUSHED!

(Bv 01lt 1 who has had Experience.) DUBLIN. “There were casualties on both sides.’’ I wonder how many people in England who almost daily read some such announcement as the above over their morning toast and marmalade ever try to realise what an ambush in broad daylight feels like to an ambus-bee7 These ambushes are of dally occurrence in Dublin. Eight people out of every ten have been through several <>t them. 1 was an unpleasantly close spectator of two itt one day last week. There is a recognised etiquette to he practised on these occasions. If you are near the lorry or patrol that is being bombed, you simply lie flat and breathe a prayer that the splinters may fly l*igh. Above all, you must not- run ; a man imining away is “asking lor trouble.” If you happen to be wearing flannel or if von are a girl in a new summer frock—well, you are out of luck, that’s all. But. in Dublin now clothes betraying an intimate acquaintance with the' surface of a street are no disgrace —they are merely a hall-mark ol presence of mind. The other evening 1 was dining in a smart hotel in Dublin, and just as the entree was being served a bomb exploded in the street a few doors away. The room shook and some shell fragments lodged in the walls. Everybody rushed to the windows, getting there just in time to see a tender laden with Auxiliary cadets liegoggled and with drawn revolvers, flash past'ns. As they disappeared wo got a glimpse of several figures prone on the flour. As soon as they had passed, the bystanders picked themselves up and cleared off. In half a minute the street was empty. In an astonishingly short time a tenderful of military and an arinoum ear drove up. The soldiers got dowr and scattered, advancing up the street at the double. A minute later rifle hr< - crashed out in front and we all drew oui heads in and waited further develop ments. The last scene was the arriya ot the ambulance, winch brought to wounded onlookers to hospital. The head waiter came out ot tin reverie in which be bad been adding ui a mental profit and loss account on Auxiliary killed and two woundei against four civilians suffering froji superficial scratches, and a broken platglass window. . . “Duck or roast lamb, sir? said hi. The incident was ended.