PERSONAL EXPERIENCES

King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 670, 20 May 1914, Page 3

PERSONAL EXPERIENCES

MISTAKEN IDENTITY. I was at Bournemouth a few weeks ago, and while walking on the sands with my . brother 1 was appealed to by a distracted mother who had lost her child., On asking for particulars she told me..that 'he was twelve years old, was dressed in a light grey suit, and his name was Henry Taylor. I promised to keep my eyes open, and went on. While passing under the pier I saw a small boy dressed in a light grey suit wading in the sea, and at the cost of wet boots I walked out, picked him up and carried him to the shore.

I said "Is your name Henry Taylor ?" and he replied "Yes." "Well, your mother 'is lootoing everywhere for you. and you go off at once to find her." I called out at once to my brother, "I've got him first time," and he shouted back "Good shot!"

1 proceeded to apply a little propulsion in the right direction, but the child quite resented my action, and broke away to a woman close at hand. When I spoke to her I found that though his name was Henry Taylor and he was undoubtedly dressed in a light grey suit he was certainly not lost since j she was his mother. The coincidence seemed remarkable enough. I thought, for a place among your personal experi< ences. A CYCLING PREDICAMENT. During my holiday last year I proved the veracity of the phrase : "Necessity is the mother of invention." One morning, alone with a friend, I started l'or a cycle xun to a town 21 miles away. We arrived at our destination without anything worthy ol' note happening, and when there SQgnt a, most enjoyable day. Be lore we left the night was approaching, and we could only boast cne lamp between us. All went well till we were three miles on our homeward journey, when my friend had the 1 misfortune to puncture his back tyre. ; We had a repair outfit, and lost no t'ime in getting matters remedied. The cover happened to be a tight-fitting one, and in levering it in over the pin again the inner tube was rent about four inches. Of course we had not as much rubber as would cover that, so we were in a most awkward dilemma.

Imagine the position : tube! destroyed, too late to buy another, getting dark, only one lamp, and 18 miles from home. We were stranded indeed. Then a bright idea struck me. Bidding my friend go to a farm near by to get some hay, I took out the tube altogether. Our predicament was anything but pleasant, but when the farmer sent him back with as much as would feed a horse the humour of tha situation was exhilarating.,

We stuffed the cover with the hay as tight as it would hold, and put it on again. It acted admirably, and saved us an all-night tramp. My friend appeared to erf.ioy the novelty of ihe situation, as it was rather unique. When taken out the haj") was cut up just like chaff.

A MEMORABLE SHOOT. One November day, when I wa9 about eighteen, I met with an accident which I am not likely to forget. I had .been out shooting early in the morning, for heavy frosts had driven game of ail kinds to the neighbourhood, and in order to take full advantage v of this fact, no time was to be lost, for when the frost disappears so do most of the birds. Imagine, then, my consternation, when I broke the stock of the old muzzle-loader at both the points where it is attached to the barrel, by catching the latter in the fork of a hawthorn bush as I jumped from a fence. I was determined, however, not to be outdone, and, after binding the separate parts with copper wire I set out once more. I had gone about two hundred yards on my way, when I heard a sharp clank on the frozen ground. The barrel had become detached. and with the muzzle on the ground, was in the act of falling flat. Perhaps I might have grasped it before it could fall, but I merely looked on, fascinated, as the breech struck the ground,, the muzzle pointed straight at my'feet. Mechanically I threw my legs apart, for I knew what was coming. Crash ! A volume of smoke and flame belched forth between my lags, and a sharp sting in the flesh at the back of my left thigh told me I had not escaped. r iho horror of putting my hand Inek and feeling the torn flesh, and the scene when I went home, is not to be easily forgotten. Cur'iously enough, I felt no pain till nearly an hour after. I had escaped as if .by a miracle. Had the charge passed two inches higher I must have died within an hour, and two inches more to left or right would have necessitated the instant amputation of the shattered limb. As it was, the charge passed completely through, not a grain remaining in the wound.

TOO REALISTIC MANOEUVRES

The following incident happened some years ago during manoeuvres in a Southern county. We were having a divisional field day on some ridges, my regiment being on the left flank, and holding some ridges slightly in advance of the main line of defences. To the right the field artillery had several guns hidden in the trees, which here crowned the ridge. Our position was not a remarkably '/ocd one for defcr.ce, as a rather •ow-iyiu-j ridpe in the ground ran to nni' fmr*' sffordinc ex-

cellent cover under which an enemy could have crept up, but wc had stationed half a dozen men to keep a lookout and to report r.ny advance on the part of the enemy. After a time a number of the opposing force were seen on the open ground about half a mile to our front, slowly advancing, and our artillery opened fire.

Soon afterwards the men whom wa had sent to watch from the ridge came in and reported that a considerable party of the enemy were behind the ridge, having crept up by way of the hedge, which had effectually concealed their movements. Just then from the ridge came a tremendous yell, and the enemy came over towards our position at "the charge." It is always the custom to cheer when making a bayonet charge at close quarters. It is strictly forbidden to fix bayonets when charging a position on manoeuvres, the troops simply holding the rifle at "the charge" and being stopped by their officers when within six paces of their goal. Judge of our surprise, thsn, when we noticed that the L —s, a regiment of good-natured, but wild Irishmen, carried away by enthusiasm, had fixed bayonets and were almost out of the control of their officers.

At once our fighting blood was up. and, ignoring our officers, we all as one man, fixed bayonets, broke cover, and advanced to meet the L s. It is hard to imagine what would have happened had we met, but just then, and not a bit too soon, a staff officer, acting as umpire, galloped up between us. Not twelve paces separated the two lines, but his mad gallop broke the spell, and we fell back to our ox'iginal position, and declared the L. s "out of action," deciding that they would—in actual warfare—have been decimated by the artillery when creeping up by the hedge, for it was at them that the artillery had been firing. But for his opportune arrival things would have been very serious, and it goes to show how an interesting fieldday will make a man get over-enthu-siastic an<V> lose his head.

THE PHANTOM SNAKE. The following amusing incident happened many years ago to my parents, and was related to me by my father in after years. ■ During summer, in some parts of India., most people sleep with all doors and windows open on account of the very sultry hot nights experienced, and many sleep outside in the open, or under tents. My parents slept inside with every door and window thrown open, but for all that my lather couH not sleep well one night on account of the oppressive heat. He was lying on his left side watching the stars, counting imaginary sheep, etc., to induce sleep, but of no avail. Then he thought, a turn over on the right side might be better, and over he went, but in doing so something dark curled upon mother's pillow caught his eye, and in a flash he realised that it was a snake.

It was no unusual thing in those days: to have these unwelcome intruders invade a bungalow, especially at night. Knowing that 'if mother moved the snake would dart at her, he lay watching it, and puzzling his brain how best to save his wife, not thinking of his own danger. Then he remembered having heard that a snake will always dart at a light if suddenly flashed near it. He crept quietly out of bed, stole round to mother's side and awoke her gently, whispered to her to lie still till he brought a lamp up. Then he tiptoed into the dining room got a lamp, turned it very low, and brought it into the bedroom, took it near his side of the bed and turned it up quickly as high as he could, fully expecting to see the snake dart at the lamp—but where was the snake ?

Mother was safely out of bed, and no snake was to be seen. Then began a most careful and anxious search for the reptile, as they knew full well that they would get no further sleep till it was destroyed. Blankets and sheets were examined carefully, bed and pillows were turned over, but there was no sign of the snake, and they began to despair of ever finding it, when mother happened to turn her back to father, and there was the ugly long beast hanging down her back ! Was the old man frightened ? Just one gasp ! and then peal after peal of laughter that made mother think the excitement had sent father mad for the moment. Still he kept it up till she got cross, and said it was no laughing matter to have a sna'ce hiding in the room.

Then he told her the snake was on her back, and ere shs had time to get frightened, he went to her and gave her long black hair a tug mother teing in the habit of plaiting her abundance of hair every night before retiring.! then both sat down, laughed, and quite enjoyed the relief after the excitement of a snakf scare. —"Weekly Telegraph."