At the front in a flivver (1917) (14786166673)

Identifier: 01120440R.nlm.nih.gov
Title: At the front in a flivver
Year: 1917 (1910s)
Authors: Stevenson, William Yorke, 1878- author
Subjects: Stevenson, William Yorke, 1878- Voluntary Workers Ambulances World War I
Publisher:
Contributing Library: U.S. National Library of Medicine
Digitizing Sponsor: Open Knowledge Commons, U.S. National Library of Medicine



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LIVVER impression at the start. The thing reallydeveloped into a race. Claxon horns, extratires, and all sorts of loose objects fell off,and I think we got even some of the sol-diers nervous. I had two bottles of beerlying between the fender and the bodyof the car, which Baylies had asked me tocarry the previous day, and in the hurryof the moment and the dark I forgot aboutthem. As we beat it along at sixty kilo-meters an hour, I began to hear a newknock in my engine. I thought thewretched old thing had every knownknock already from piston slap to mainbearing bang, but this clink was a newone. It got no worse nor less, whether upgrade or down, and I thought, Well, asever, a Ford is full of infinite resources forsurprise! When we got to Verdun I be-gan oiling up, and there were the twobottles and the explanation of the knock.Believe me, we did nt do a thing to them!The funny part of it was the boys thoughtI had great foresight in bringing themalong. To-day we are taking things easy and
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ILS NE PASSERONT PAS 109 awaiting orders. The man who sat be-side me told me that the reason they gotcaught by the gas was that they had takentheir masks off in order to see more clearly,as the ground was treacherous and full ofshell-holes, and some of the gas was stilllurking in the low places. We all wentto bed at 7 a.m. and slept until Roche wasawakened by something licking his face.Thinking it was one of the dogs, he justgave it a slap, and then the whole tentnearly collapsed! A stray cow had driftedin and tried to get acquainted! The riotthat followed set all thought of furthersleep at an end, so we started in tinkeringwith the cars and generally shaking down.Temporarily, our camp is pitched on thegrounds of an old chateau at a little placecalled Veel, just out of Bar-le-Duc. June 27. No rest for the wicked. We hadonly just got thoroughly repaired andstraightened out after our first trip, whenwe were called out again: this time to alittle east of Verdun at 3 a.m. Well, wegalloped