september - october - Fort Sill

GUNS ON THE MOUNTAIN
was all that connected the two peaks. The men essayed to cross it. It
offered a hazardous passage to individuals; to the passage of guns it was
impregnable.
The men stood among the guns and cast about for means to traverse it.
The serrated edge defied them. It was as if the mountain, driven to its lair,
were showing its teeth—grinning evilly at their discomfiture.
After a while a few shrubs were discovered, growing hardily inside the
crater. Some men descended, gingerly using the roots of these shrubs as
precarious footholds. Working delicately, they managed to connect these
roots with bits of rope so that in time a sort of trough was formed across the
inside of the crater. One side of the trough was a network of hemp; the
other, the inside of the mountain.
As they worked, an eagle soared in diminishing circles about the
mountain top, regarding their activity with a fierce, bright eye. The men
called the eagle "The Guard of the Mountain" and shouted at him with
derision.
When the trough was finished they hastened to throw into it the limbs of
trees to form a footing. They ran to and fro like flies on a wall. Some of
them scrambled to the top of the mountain and began to cut it off. They
were preparing a throne for the guns.
In the meantime the drizzle ceased. The mountain lost its ally in the
hour of its defeat. It drew about it a curtain of clouds, hiding its head in its
shame.
It was clear to the men that their tribulations were almost done. They
strove feverishly to complete their work. When they had done so, they
dropped their tools and went back for the guns. They bore these across the
abyss and up to the peak. There they set them on their throne. The curtain
of vapor lifted and dispersed and the world was disclosed, spread out below
like some vast tapestry.
The men were, however, oblivious to this sight. They centred their gaze
on the guns which, in turn, attentively regarded the horizon.
Suddenly the guns spoke. The mountain top was enveloped by white
thunderheads of smoke. The sound rolled, reverberating, among the
mountain peaks.
It was then that the men looked shyly at each other and permitted
themselves slow smiles of satisfaction.
The guns had conquered the mountain.
Editor's Note.—The Pinatubo Expeditionary Force left Camp Stotsenburg,
Pampanga, on March 18th of this year. There were three officers and sixty men
of the 24th Field Artillery, accompanied by Major White, M. C., and medical
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