JOKING WHI E UNDER FIRE.

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4511, 20 June 1883, Page 2

JOKING WHI E UNDER FIRE.

In, th« indßt of dMfer soldiers are sometimes, ptfafevfo jet*,**! Wh, and eeenplay^ietTe-kl jokes on each other, r.a toe following anecdotes will aW:— I firing the trench work before Sevastopol there was a certain man in tile regiment who disliked being on dutyin the trencher, and who always got into what hoconai.dered the safest corner of the trench, and remained there as lon* as he could. The hugler of bis company, a malicious urchin, oooa found this out, and was constantly in ibe.habit of playing tricks to frighten bis cautious cotnrado. He wonld peep over the parapet and call oat "A shot! a ul ihrn tara rouud to his . friend who woald roll hiaiself together like a ball. At other times he would cdl out " 4 shell.'" of which he knew the man h«d a mortal dread; and when he aw him throw himself flat on the ground, he would tcke a. piese of earth or stone and throw it c<ose o his recumbent, friend's need, i.Kd then run up and comfort him by ' showing him a bit of an old shell which he had picked up. for the parpose, rem&rk'ng at the same time, " That was s near thing, mr.n." AH tke men knew aud enjoyed the joke; mm! sometimes roared with , lau4ltsr;J but it wn9 w«ll , for the urchm that his fr.eud never found him oat.' Tfiis attr man was really wounded afterwards, aad while I was removing the billet from beneath* the skin^oF his back the same urchin was standing by, and the moment I had extracted (he ballet—a small spherical one—tbe-boy held ooMo bis I rieud a 61b cauaqa ball, sayiluK "*♦ See what the doctor has cut out o' yeT Thi» occurred while my b^qk was turned; but on hearing the remark I looked round and siw tbe boy holding ous. the allot, and the bystanders eouvulsed with kn«hter r and quite regardless of the bearf Hre going on aronod »s.—Ohambse's Jturoal.