DIM GHOSTS OF TARGETS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 763, 11 March 1910, Page 5

DIM GHOSTS OF TARGETS.

'...-''■"■• AND UMBRELLAS. • Ghosts of targets—ve'rv dim ghosts of -wet.- 'uncertain shapes through ' the ' rain yesterday.' Trentham ■ Range, is,never beautiful, and it is robbed of all charm when it is peopled by' sloppy riflemen—Spartans, maybe, but (indistinguishable Spartans—so thickly splashed were they with Trentham mire.- -It'chilled one even to look at them—these marksmen who lay on deplorable hiounds-and pound bullets out into/the' gloom- and mist. Mary-, men -.with-; previous, knowledge -of Trentham came.armed with gum-bootsj and pounded through -' the slush: oblivious to the weather, thinking only of the glory, honour;-and the prize. -•'■' • .;. •• •The unsoldierly .umbrella: was • everywhere to, be seen, and waterproof, sheets Hiread.on mounds,to keep ithejnr'er dry were not a' success. " They '..formed miniature tanks and'their owners, wet .to the - ; skin; lay in-'artificial' pools,-" and were *ven more deliberate than usual; although quick work meant : umbrella •' shelter or perhaps- the sanctuary, of , the .tent. -. '. "Tent-sense" is a valuable knowledge in wet weather,'-for-a'-touch', on sopping canvas brings a stream of'water .0n.,t0 a man's bunk, or one's rifle, or oneself. Then, too, there are the, periodical explosions made by the expansion of ■ the tent and the drawing of the pegs. The collapse of a tent on a sleeper who dreams of the Belt during a wet midnight is no theme for the poet; and is an. incentive- to English that knows "no dictionary. .-.-•■.. The eager ground- drinks lustily, r.nd BO' it. happens that'a straw bed drinks also.: Sleep on a. wet straw \bed l'v no training for. ai King's -prizeman. There were many "accidents." Men stnmhljn'i! along with coat-collars concealing their eyes floundered into teut ropeSj and vose decorated with'-mud, and'.one man with presence of mind enough for a Bislcv champion hooked,a boot in a guy-rope and was • shnt' inconsfqnantly, into a strange • tent through the half-opened flap. ."Ob—T beg your p.irdon!" he said, "but could Tmi-Wl me the exact time?" Competitors who had no more use for the Tanae showed some gladness when they loaded their sloppy gear and left for the railway station.- • In the afternoon the firing died down to an occasional whisper, but there was small happiness either in or out of tents. Apropos of weather, the rifleman has been reading the papers, not merely for scores,, aggregates, or shooting stories'.. He has glued his first glance,on the weather report. At the moment he is boasting that' the weather last year was perfect. The-past is always-perfect. There were "possibles" made in wet weather even in the old Martini;'days, when ventometers were only whispered; about, orthoptics were infants, and aperture sights a dream of. the future. . .

The Wellington representatives to'compete in the Logan : Campbell Shield competition for battalions, to be carried ont to-day, are:—Lieutenants 'Merrielees, Ifenderson, Mellor, and Butler; Sergeants Baker, Hugo, Joplin, Dodd,' Barcham, Russell, Jones, Tinney; Corporals Gower, Given,- Feasey; --Privates';-,W-. ■- Jackson, MTjean, and Gaiely. Emergencies ißoutiey, Hunt.-Jackson.,and'Gasauoinc.