e many windmills to signal
messages across the line. They did this by stopping the sails of the
mills at certain angles and moving them about from time to time. When
this was discovered the orders went out for all windmills to be
stopped in such a position that the arms should always be at an exact
forty-five degree angle whenever the mill was not running, with the
understanding that failure to observe this regulation would result in
our artillery in the immediate vicinity turning their guns on the
offending mill. At one place we discovered a large periscope with a
heliographic attachment by which a seemingly inoffensive Belgian
peasant kept in constant communication with the boche. This periscope
was concealed in the chimney of a partially ruined farm building
within our lines. At other places underground cables were discovered,
with telephones or field telegraph instruments concealed in cellars or
old buildings. Carrier pigeons were also much used and, without a
doubt, many men passed back and forth between the lines, some of
them, as we learned from time to time, regularly enlisted in our
armies. At several places we had men shot down and killed by snipers
masquerading as farmers, behind our lines. Needless to say, such
affairs were promptly attended to, on the spot, "_tout de suite_" as
the French say.

So, although that part of the line had been very quiet for a long
time, they began at once to give us a reception. While the shelling
was as nothing compared to bombardments we went through later, still
it gave us an opportunity to make the acquaintance of the various
kinds of shells from "whizz-bangs" up to something of about eight-inch
caliber.

The first casualty in the battalion was a scout named Boyer who was
killed on his initial trip into No Man's Land the first night in the
trenches. Next day Starkey decided he could not see enough with a
periscope, so took a look over the parapet. Both men are buried in the
garden back of the St. Quentin Cabaret together with many from the
best and most famous British Line Regiments.

The Emma Gees came out pretty lucky, having but one man seriously
wounded. His name was Mangan, a Yankee, who had served in the U. S.
Army in the Philippines. He was badly wounded by shrapnel and was sent
back to England. We used to hear from him occasionally until about a
year later the letters stopped.

After eight days we were relieved by the Twentieth Battalion and went
back to Dranou