MAN WITH THE DONKEY.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 November 1915, Page 5

MAN WITH THE DONKEY.

RESCUE WORK UNDER FIRE. HOLDS MEN SPELLBOUND. Dealing with the heroism of Private W. Simpson, who, as a member of the Third Field Ambulance, rescued many wounded soldiers at Ciallipoli with the aid of a donkey, an English paper gives a graphic account of the work of the. Queenslander, who lias ■become, famous. There are very many wounded Australian soldiers in this country (gays tlie English journal), but not one whose face does not soften when von speak to him of the Man with the Donkey. INTO THE VALLEY Oh DEATH. The broad outlines of his story were related ihy Private Currie, 3rd Field Ambulance, Australian Army 'Medical Corps, and some details have' been supplied by a few of the many men who were carried to safety .by liim and his faithful little servant. ''Two chances out on Plugger's Point for the Man with the Donkey," was the signal passed by vhe fluttering flags from crag to cr.-.g of the rugged hills of Sari Bair till' it reached the dressing station on Brighton Beach. 'Without a moment's delay the man and the donkey responded to the call and swung round the sharp turn that led from' the beach to tin? Valley of Death. , The donkey seemed to know as well as the man that awav through the awful gullies above them'there were two chances of saving wounded soldiers from a lingering death: and twentv chances of sharing it with them. They were a quaint couple. The man was a fitt. Australian, bard-bitten and active. His gaunt profile'spokc of wide experience of hard struggle in roush places. The donkey was a little mousecolored animal, no taller than a Newfoundland dog. His master called him Abdul. The man seemed to know by intuition every twist and slope of the tortuous valleys of Sari Bair.' The donkey was a. patient, sure-footed ally, with'a eapacity for hearing loads out of all proportion to his size. Some days they would bring in as many as twelve or fifteen men, gathered at infinite risk in the dangerous broken country around far-out Quinn's Post. Every trip saw them face the terrors of the Valley of Death; here all day and all night the air rang with the millets from the Turkish snipers hidden on Dead Man's Ridge. Their partnership began on the seeor.u" day of occupation of the Anzac zone of Gallipoli. The man had carried two heavy men in succession down the awful slopes of Shrapnel Cullv and throuaii the Valley of Death. His eve lit on the donkey. "11l take that c'hap with me next trip." be said, anil from that time the pair were inseparable. When the enfilading (ire down the valley was at its worst, and orders were posted that the ambulance, men must not go out, the Man and the 'Donkey continued placidly at their work. "HANDS LIKE ,\ WOMAN'S." At times they held trenches of hundreds of men spellbound, just to see them at their wor!.. Their quarry lay motionless in an open patch, in easy range of a dozen Turkish rifles. Patiently the little donkey waited under cover, while the man crawled through the thick scrub until he got to within striking distance. Then n lightning dash and he hud the wounded man idi bis back, and was making for cover again. In those fierce seconds he always seemed to bear n charmed life. Once in cover, he tended his charge with quick, skilful movements. "He had hands like n woman's," said one who thinks be owes his life to the man and the donkev.

Then the limp form was balanced ueros9 tlii* back of the patient animal, and, with a slap on its back and the Arab donkey-hoy's cry of "Rep," Ihe man started off for the bench, the donkey trotting unruffled by his side. For a. month and more tliey continued their work. Xo one kepi count of the nunilxT of wounded men they brought back from the firing line. One morning the dressers at the station near the. dangerous turn in the valley called "The Pump," saw them go past anil shouted a warning to the man. DONKEY KETURXS ALONE. The Turks up on Dead Man's Ridge were very busy that day; moreover, a machine-gun was turned on a dangerous part of 'the valley path. The man replied to the warning with a wave of his hand. Later lie was seen returning, the donkey laden with one wounded man and the man laden with another. As they reached the dangerous turn the machine-gun rattled out, and the man fell with ii bullet through his heart. The donkey walked unscathed into safety. • There was a hush through the Australian trenches that night when the news went round that the Man with the Donkey had "got it." There was a reverent silence, too, when they buried him next day. His grave bears the rough inscription: "Sacred to the memory of Private YV. Simpson, of the Third Field Ambulance, Queensland." But if you wish an Australian to tell you his story, you must ask for tin* ,3i,nii with the Donkey.