re comes a whole
series of 'wireways,' as the Italian soldiers call them. Steel cables
slung from hill to hill, from ridge to ridge, span yawning depths and
reach almost vertically into the clouds. Up these cables go guns and
food, as well as timber for the huts in which the men live, and
material for intrenchments. Down these come the wounded. The first
sensation of a transit down these seemingly fragile tight ropes is
much more curious than the first trip in a submarine or aeroplane, and
tries even the strongest nerves.

"Man is not fighting man at these heights, but both Italians and
Austrians have been fighting nature in some of her fiercest aspects.
The gales and snowstorms are excelled in horror by avalanches. Quite
lately the melting snow revealed the frozen bodies, looking horribly
lifelike, of a whole platoon which had been swept away nearly a year
ago.

"While there have been heavy casualties on both sides from sniping,
bombing, mountain and machine guns, and heavy artillery, there has
been little sickness among the Italians. The men know that doctors'
visits are practically impossible. Therefore they follow the advice of
their officers. Yet the men have all the comforts that it is humanly
possible to obtain. The cloud fighters are extremely well fed. Huts
are provided, fitted with stoves similar to those used in Arctic
expeditions.

"Higher yet than the mountain fighting line stand the vedettes,
sentinels and outposts whose work resembles that of expert Alpine
climbers. They carry portable telephones with which they can
communicate with their platoon. The platoon in turn telephones to the
local commander."

Of some of the fighting and of life in the Dolomites he says:

"Of the three peaks of the Colbricon only the third, known as the
Picolo Colbricon, remains to the enemy. The action which is now being
developed on the Colbricon is especially interesting from the fact
that the Italian advance there is not due to trained mountain troops,
but to the light arm of Bersaglieri, who have there proved themselves
equal to their best traditions. In the advance from the first to the
second summit of Colbricon the Bersaglieri had to climb a gully at an
angle of 70 degrees. At two points the wall rises perpendicularly, and
the enemy was able to defend his positions by simply rolling down
rocks, which carried in their train avalanches of pebbles.

"In no region of the Italian front is there greater difficulty in t