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diff --git a/25683.txt b/25683.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8850aa1 --- /dev/null +++ b/25683.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5106 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Escape of a Princess Pat, by George Pearson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Escape of a Princess Pat + Being the full account of the capture and fifteen months' + imprisonment of Corporal Edwards, of the Princess Patricia's + Canadian Light Infantry, and his final escape from Germany + into Holland + +Author: George Pearson + +Release Date: June 3, 2008 [EBook #25683] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ESCAPE OF A PRINCESS PAT *** + + + + +Produced by Sigal Alon, Jeannie Howse and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + + + + + + + + + * * * * * + + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Note: | + | | + | Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has | + | been preserved. | + | | + | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. For | + | a complete list, please see the end of this document. | + | | + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + + * * * * * + + + + +THE ESCAPE OF A PRINCESS PAT + +GEORGE PEARSON + + + + + [Illustration: CORPORAL (NOW SERGEANT) EDWARD EDWARDS, PRINCESS + PATRICIA'S CANADIAN LIGHT INFANTRY.] + + + + +THE ESCAPE OF A +PRINCESS PAT + +_Being the full account of the capture and fifteen months' +imprisonment of Corporal Edwards, of the Princess +Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, and his +final escape from Germany into Holland_ + +BY +GEORGE PEARSON + + + + +McCLELLAND, GOODCHILD & STEWART + +PUBLISHERS :: :: :: TORONTO + + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1918, +BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY + + + + +PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA + + + + +TO THE MEMORY OF +OUR COMRADES WHO FELL +THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED + + + + +PREFACE + + +In order to remove all question of doubt in the mind of the reader it +might perhaps be well to state here that the facts as given are the +bona fide experiences of Corporal Edwards, Number 39, Number One +Company, P. P. C. L. I., and as such were subjected to the closest +scrutiny both by the author and others before it was deemed advisable +to give the account to the public. In particular great pains were +taken to do full justice to all enemy individuals who figure in the +story. + +Recognizing the seriousness of the charges implied by the recital, all +those concerned with it are extremely anxious that the correctness of +the account should constitute its chief value: In short the intention +has been to make of the story a readable history. + +The main facts--having to do with the destruction of the regiment on +the eighth of May, 1915, the identity and activities of the +individuals mentioned and the more important of the later happenings, +including the final escape into Holland--are matters of official +record and as such have frequently been mentioned in the official +dispatches. The more personal details are based on the recollections +of Corporal Edwards' retentive mind, aided by his very unusual powers +of observation and the rough diary which he managed to retain +possession of during his later adventures. + +For the events preceding the capture of Corporal Edwards on the eighth +of May the author has relied upon his own recollections; as he too had +the honor of having been "an original Patricia." + + G.P. + +Sept. 1, 1917. +Toronto, Canada. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER PAGE + + I Polygon Wood 14 + + II The Fourth of May 20 + + III Corporal Edwards Takes up the Tale 23 + + IV Major Gault Comes Back 28 + + V The Eighth of May and the Last Stand of the Princess Pats 33 + + VI Prisoners 45 + + VII Pulling the Leg of a German General 61 + + VIII The Princess Patricia's German Uncle 70 + + IX How the German Red Cross Tended the Canadian Wounded 76 + + X The Curious Concoctions of the Chef at Giessen 81 + + XI The Way They Have at Giessen 86 + + XII The Escape 104 + + XIII The Traitor at Vehnmoor 115 + + XIV Away Again 123 + + XV Paying the Piper 140 + + XVI The Third Escape 158 + + XVII What Happened in the Wood 177 + +XVIII The Last Lap 185 + + XIX Holland at Last 194 + + XX "It's a Way They Have in the Army" 203 + +The Evidence in the Case 210 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +Corporal (Now Sergeant) Edward Edwards, Princess + Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry _Frontispiece_ + + PAGE + +British wounded waiting for transportation to a dressing + station 26 + +The Princess Patricias in billets at Westoutre, Belgium 26 + +German prisoners bringing wounded men down a communication + trench 42 + +Wounded Canadians receiving first aid after an attack 64 + +Recipes from Corporal Edward's Diary 84 + +Fellow prisoners at Giessen 98 + +Fellow prisoners at Giessen 98 + +Record of second escape and recapture 126 + +German prisoners at Southampton 136 + +High explosives bursting over German trenches 136 + +Salient details of the third escape 170 + +Private Mervin C. Simmons, C.E.F. 192 + +The cemetery at Celle Laager Z 1 Camp 206 + +Corporal Edwards after his escape 206 + +Homeward bound 220 + + + + +THE ESCAPE OF A PRINCESS PAT + + + + +THE ESCAPE OF A PRINCESS PAT + + + + +CHAPTER I + +POLYGON WOOD + + Ypres and Hill 60--Preparing for the Gas--Why the Patricias + Cheered--The Retirement--The Thin Red Line. + + +The Princess Patricias had lain in Polygon Wood since the twentieth of +April, mid-way between the sanguinary struggles of St. Julien and Hill +60, spectators of both. Although subjected to constant alarm we had +had a comparatively quiet time of it, with casualties that had only +varied from five to fifty-odd each day. + +By day and night the gun-fire of both battles had beat back upon us in +great waves of sound. There were times when we had donned our water +soaked handkerchiefs for the gas that always threatened but never +came, so that the expectation might have shaken less steady troops. +Quick on the heels of the first news of the gas the women of Britain, +their tears scalding their needles, with one accord had laboured, sans +rest, sans sleep, sans everything, so that shortly there had poured in +to us here a steady stream of gauze pads for mouth and nostril. For +the protection of our lungs against the poison of the gas they were at +least better than the filthy rags we called handkerchiefs. We wore +their gifts and in spirit bowed to the donors, as I think all still +do. We soaked them with the foul water of the near-by graves and kept +them always at our side, ready to tie on at each fresh alarm. + +Once there had come word in a special army order of the day: "Our +Belgian agent reports that all enemy troops on this front have been +directed to enter their trenches to-night with fixed bayonets. All +units are enjoined to exercise the closest watch on their front; the +troops will stand to from the first appearance of darkness, with each +man at his post prepared for all eventualities. Sleep will not be +permitted under any circumstances." + +The consequence had been that that night had been one of nervous +expectation of an attack which did not materialise. We always carried +fixed bayonets in the trenches but the Germans were better equipped +with loopholes, as they were with most other things, and were forced +to leave their bayonets off their rifles in order to avoid any danger +of the latter sticking in their metal shields when needed in a hurry, +to say nothing of the added attention they would draw in their exposed +and stationary position at the mouth of a loophole. The "Stand-to" had +come as a distinct relief that morning. + +And always there had been the glowering fires of a score of villages. +The greater mass of burning Ypres stood up amongst them like the +warning finger of God. Occasionally the roaring burst of an ammunition +dump flared up into a volcano of fiery sound. The earth under our feet +trembled in convulsive shudders from a cannonade so vast that no one +sound could be picked out of it and the walls of dug-outs slid in, +burying sleeping men. But like the promise of God there came to us in +every interval of quietness, as always, the full-throated song of many +birds. + +Our forces consisted of the French who held the left corner of the +Ypres salient, then the Canadian division in the centre, next the 28th +Division of the regular British Army and then our own, the 27th, with +Hill 60 on our right flank. The enemy attacked both at Hill 60 and at +the line of the Canadian Division and the French, and we held on to +the horse-shoe shaped line until the last possible moment when one +more shake of the tree would have thrown us like ripe fruit into the +German lap. + +So near had the converging German forces approached to one another +that the weakened battery behind our own trenches had been at the +last, turned around the other way and fired in the opposite direction +without a shift in its own position. For our own protection we had +nothing. And later still these and all other guns left us to seek new +positions in the rear so that only we of the infantry remained. + +Daily there had come orders to "Stand-to" in full marching order, to +evacuate; at which all ranks expostulated angrily. And then perhaps +another order--to stick it another day; at which we cheered and +slapped one another boisterously on the back so that the stolid +Germans over yonder must have wondered, knowing what they did of our +desperate situation. + +But the dreaded order came at last and was confirmed, so that under +protest and like the beaten men that we knew we were not, we slunk +away under cover of darkness on the night of the third of May to +trenches three miles in the rear, and with us went the troops on ten +more miles of British front. + +The movement as executed was in reality a feat of no mean importance +on the part of the higher command. Faced by an overwhelmingly superior +force, our badly depleted three divisions had barely escaped being +bagged in the net of which the enemy had all but drawn the noose in a +strategetic surrounding movement. + +In detail, the movement had consisted of withdrawing under cover of +darkness with all that we could carry of our trench material, both to +prevent it falling into hostile hands and equally to strengthen our +new position. A small rearguard of fifteen men to the regiment had +held our front for the few hours necessary for us to "shake down" in +the new position. Their task was to remain behind and to give a +continuous rapid-fire from as many different spots as possible in a +given time, thereby keeping up the illusion of a heavily manned +trench. Then, they too had faded quietly away, following us. + +Our new trenches were three miles behind those we had just evacuated +in Polygon Wood. Zillebeke lay just to the left and beyond that, +Hooge. We were in the open, with Belle-waarde Wood and Lake behind us. + +We continued to face vastly superior forces. To make matters worse the +trenches were assuredly a mockery of their kind and there was even +less of adequate support than before. And at that the drafts arrived +each day--if they were lucky enough to break through the curtains of +fire with which the enemy covered our rear for that very purpose, as +well as for the further one of curtailing the arrival of all necessary +supplies of food and ammunition. + +Every camp and hospital from Ypres to Rouen and the sea and from +Land's End to John O' Groat was combed and scraped for every eligible +casualty, every overconfident office holder of a "cushy" job, and in +short, for all those who could by hook or crook hold a rifle to help +stem this threatening tide. And in our own lot, even those wasteful +luxuries, the petted officers' servants were amongst us, doing +fighting duty for the first time, so that we almost welcomed the +desperate occasion which furnished so rare and sweet a sight. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE FOURTH OF MAY + + The Unofficial Armistice--The Clash of the Scouts--"Sticking It" + on the Fourth. + + +We suffered cruelly on the Fourth. The dawn had discovered two long +lines of men, madly digging in plain sight of one another. There was +no firing except that one little storm when the stronger light had +shown our rear guard ridiculously tangled up with a screen of German +scouts so that some of each were nearer to foe than to friend and so +had foes on either side. They shot at one another. Some of us in our +excitement shot at both, scarce able to distinguish one from the +other. Others amongst us strove to knock their rifles up. And the +Germans in their trenches shot too. Both of us of the main bodies +continued to respect the tacit truce imposed by the conditions under +which we found ourselves, insofar as we ourselves were concerned, and +fired only at the poor fellows in between. + +As for them, I fear the absurd nature of their tragic plight excited +more of wonder than of concern. They merged into hedges and ditches +swallowed them. Their case was only one incident of many, and what +became of them I have never heard, except that Lieutenant Lane who +commanded our rear guard was with us on the Eighth, so I presume that +some must have crawled up to us that night and so saved themselves for +the moment. Anything else would have been a great pity for so brave a +squad. + +The digging continued until the better equipped Germans had finished +their task; when they sought their holes with one accord, an example +which we as quickly followed. + +This was at nine o'clock on the morning of the fourth of May. From +then on until dusk the intensity of a furious all-day bombardment by +every known variety of projectile had been broken only at intervals to +allow of the nearer approach of the enemy's attacking infantry. The +worst was the enfilade fire of two batteries on our right which with +six-inch high explosive shells tore our front line to fragments so +that we were glad indeed to see the night come. Only once had ours +replied, one gun only. That was early in the morning. It barked +feebly, twice, but drew so fierce a German fire that it was forever +silenced. + +Some infantry attacks followed but were beaten off. Only a weak half +of the battalion was in the front line trench. The remainder were in +Belle-waarde Wood, the outer fringe of which was a bare one hundred +yards behind the front line. They were fairly comfortable in pine +bough huts which were, however, with some of their occupants, badly +smashed by shell fire that day. + +The outcome was that although all attacks were beaten off, our losses +were well on to two hundred men, most of whom were accounted for in +the more exposed front line. + +The order had been that we were to hold this front for several days +more although the regiment had been in the trenches since April the +20th, and, except for a march back to Ypres from Polygon Wood, since +early April. But after such a smashing blow on men who were already +thoroughly exhausted, the plan was changed and our line was taken over +by the King's Shropshire Light Infantry, the "Shrops" we called them, +a sister regiment in our brigade, the 80th. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +CORPORAL EDWARDS TAKES UP THE TALE + + Amongst the Wounded--Trench Nerves--Resting in Coffins. + + +It was on this day that I rejoined the regiment. I had been wounded in +the foot at St. Eloi in February and had come up in a draft fresh from +hospital and had lain in the supports at the huts all of the Fourth. + +The survivors of the front line fire joined those at the huts shortly +after nightfall. They were stupid from shell fire, too dazed to talk. +I saw one man wandering in half circles, talking to himself--and with +a heavy pack on. There were others in worse plight; so there was no +help for him. + +Myself, I was too much engrossed in a search for my comrade Woods to +bother with other men less dear, however much I might sympathise with +them. + +He and I had been "mates" since Toronto days, had made good cheer +together in the hot August days of mobilisation at Ottawa and had +rubbed mess tins together under the starry sky at Levis before the +great Armada had taken us to English camps and other scenes. + +It was he who had fetched me out of danger at St. Eloi. And now it was +my turn. They told me he was somewhere on a stretcher. + +I searched them all. I struck matches--and was met by querulous +curses; I knelt by the side of the dying; I inquired of those wounded +who still could walk, but find him I could not. It appears that a new +and heavy moustache had helped to hide him from me. I was in great +distress, but in the fullness of time and when our small circles had +run their route, I discovered him in Toronto. + +The word was that we were to go to Vlamertinghe, where the Zeppelins +had bombed us in our huts. It lay well below threatened Ypres. + +We of Number One Company passed Belle-waarde Lake, with its old +dug-outs and its smells, and struck off across the fields, the better +to avoid the heavy barrage fire which made all movement of troops +difficult beyond words. We reached the railroad up and down which in +quieter times the battalion had been wont to march to and fro to the +Polygon Wood trenches. + +The fire became heavier here and the going was rough so that what with +the burden of packs which seemed to weigh a ton and all other things; +we moved in a mass, as sheep do. When slung rifles jostled packs, good +friends cursed one another both loud and long. This was trench nerves. + +Shortly, we ran into a solid wall of barrage fire. The officer +commanding the company halted us. We were for pushing on to that rest +each aching bone and muscle, each tight-stretched and shell-dazed +nerve fairly screamed aloud for. But he was adamant. We cursed him. He +pretended not to hear. This also was trench nerves. + +It was growing late. The star shells became fewer. The search-lights +ceased altogether. In half an hour those keen eyes in distant trees +and steeples would have marked us down--and what good then the agony +of this all-night march? Better to have been killed back there in +Belle-waarde. We were still a good two miles from Ypres town. + +The officer literally drove us back over the way we had come. His +orders had anticipated this eventuality so that rather than force +the passage of the barrage fire, merely for a rest, we should rest +here where no rest was to be had. Undoubtedly, if we had been "going +up" it would have been different. We should have gone on--no fire +would have stopped us. + + [Illustration: BRITISH WOUNDED WAITING FOR TRANSPORTATION TO A + DRESSING STATION.] + + [Illustration: THE PRINCESS PATRICIAS IN BILLETS AT WESTOUTRE, + BELGIUM. ON TOP OF WAGON IN FOREGROUND IS "KNIFE-REST" TYPE OF + WIRE ENTANGLEMENTS.] + +The half hour limit brought us to a murky daylight and an old and +sloppy support trench which bordered the track and into which we flung +ourselves, to lay in the water in a dull stupor that was neither sleep +nor honest waking. + +Later, when the rations had been "dished out" we bestirred ourselves +and so found or dug queer coffin-shaped shelves in either wall. Out of +courtesy we called them dug-outs. + +I do not remember that any one spoke much of the dead. + +The rain stopped and for a time the unaccustomed sun came out. We +drove stakes in the walls above our coffins, hunted sand-bags and hung +them and spare equipment over the open face and then crawled back into +the water which, as usual, was already forming in the hollows that our +hips made where we lay. Until noon there was little heard but the +thick breathing of weary men. Occasionally one tossed and shouted +blasphemous warnings anent imaginary and bursting shells; whereat +those within hearing whined in a tired and hopeless anger, and, if +close by, kicked him. Trench nerves. + +All day the fire of many guns sprayed us. Near by, the well defined +emplacement of one of our own batteries inevitably drew to the entire +vicinity a heavy fire so that one shell broke fair amongst our +sleeping men. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +MAJOR GAULT COMES BACK + + "The King Is Dead": "Long Live the King"--Back to + Belle-waarde--The Seventh of May. + + +That was on the fifth. In the afternoon young Park came to us. He was +the Commanding Officer's orderly. There was down on his face but he +was full of all that strange wisdom of a trenchman who had experienced +the bitter hardships and the heartbreaking losses of a winter in the +cursed salient of St. Eloi, by Shelley Farm and The Mound of Death. +But just now this infant of the trenches had the round eyes of a +startled child, which in him meant mad excitement. + +"The C.O.'s hit." + +The word slid up the trench: "The C.O.'s hit." + +"Strike me! Cawn't this bleedin' regiment keep a bleedin' Colonel----? +That makes two of them!" + +"How did it happen?" + +"What the devil are we goin' to do?" + +"Who says so?" + +"The second in six weeks!" + +"Parkie." + +"By----! This mob's in a Hell of a fix, Bo'." + +Park was leaning on his rifle, trench fashion. "Oh, dry up. You give +me a pain." + +And then he launched his thunderbolt, "Gault's back." + +The chorus of despair became one of wild delight. + +"We're jake!" "He'll see us through." "Where is he?" "How's his arm?" +"The son-of-a-gun! Couldn't keep him away, could they?" + +"No fear. Not 'im. Bloody well wanted to be wiv 'is bleedin' boys, 'e +did. 'E ain't bloody well goin' to do 'is bloody solderin' in a +'cushy' job in Blighty--like some of 'em. Not after rysin' us. Do it +wiv 'is bloody self like a man; an' that's wot 'e is." + +The speaker glared accusingly; but his declaration agreed too well +with what all thought for any one to take exception to it. + +The new Commanding Officer had been wounded at St. Eloi on March 1st +and this was our first intimation of his return. + +Park took up his tale. "He's over there with the C.O. now," and +switching: "Shell splinter got him in the eye. Guess it's gone and +maybe the other one too." + +"By----!" he burst out passionately: "I hope it don't. He's been damn +good to me--and to you fellows too," he added fiercely, while his +lower lip quivered. + +I think all stared anywhere but at Park, in a curious embarrassment. + +"Got it goin' from one trench to another to see about the rations +comin' up instead of stayin' in like a 'dug-out wallah.' Got out on +top of the ground, walked across an' stopped one," he added bitterly. + +A considerable draft of "old boys," ruddy of face and fresh from +hospital, together with some more new men reached us that night. We +"went up" again with the dusk of the following night and "took over" +our previous trenches in front of Belle-waarde Wood. + +We were told that the Shropshires had been rather badly cut up in the +interval of their occupation by a further course of intense +bombardment and some fierce infantry fighting. Nevertheless, the +trenches had been put into much better shape since our earlier +occupancy of them, so that what with our work that night they were by +the morning of the seventh in fairly good shape. + +The night was not unusual in any way. There was the regular amount of +shelling, of star shells, of machine gun and rifle fire, and of +course, casualties. Those we always had, be it ever so quiet. + +Even the morning "Stand-to" with that mysterious dread of unknown +dangers that it invariably brought gave us nothing worse than an hour +of chilly waiting--and later, the smoke of the Germans' cooking fires. + +There were none for us. It was as simple as algebra. Smoke attracted +undue artillery attention--the Germans had artillery; we had not. They +had fires; we had not. + +The day rolled by smoothly enough. Except for the fresh graves and a +certain number of unburied dead the small-pox appearance of the +shell-pitted ground about might have been thought to have been of +ancient origin; so filled with water were the shell holes and so large +had they grown as a result of the constant sloughing in of their +sodden banks. + +During all these days the German fire on the salient at large had +continued as fiercely as before but had spared us its severest trials. + +The night of the seventh passed to all outward appearance pretty much +in the same manner as the preceding one. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE EIGHTH OF MAY AND THE LAST STAND OF THE PRINCESS PATS + + Morning in the Trenches--The Artillery Preparation for the + Infantry Attack--The P.P's Chosen to Stem the Tide--The Trust of + a Lady--Chaos--Corporal Dover--The Manner in Which Some Men Kill + and Others Die. + + +It seemed as though I had just stepped off my whack of sentry go for +my group when a kick in the ribs apprised me that it was "Stand-to." I +rubbed my eyes, swore and rose to my feet. Such was the narrowness of +the trench that the movement put me at my post at the parapet, where +in common with my mates, I fell to scanning the top for the first +signs of day and the Germans. + +The latter lay on the other side of the ravine from us as they had +since the Fourth, except for such times as they had assaulted our +position. The smoke of Ypres and all the close-packed villages of a +thickly populated countryside rose sullenly on every hand. + +Over everything there hung the pallor of the mist-ridden Flemish +morning, deadly quiet, as was usual at that time of the trench day +when the tenseness of the all-night vigil was just merging into the +relieving daylight. + +At half past six that stillness was punctuated by a single shell, +which broke barely in our rear. And then the ball commenced--the most +intense bombardment we had yet experienced. Most of the fire came from +the batteries in concealed positions on our right, whence, as on the +fourth, they poured in a very destructive enfilade fire which swept up +and down the length of the trench like the stream of a hose, making it +a shambles. Each burst of high-explosive shells, each terrible +pulsation of the atmosphere, if it missed the body, seemed to rend the +very brain, or else stupefied it. + +The general result was beyond any poor words of mine. All spoken +language is totally inadequate to describe the shocks and horrors of +an intense bombardment. It is not that man himself lacks the +imaginative gift of words but that he has not the word tools with +which to work. They do not exist. Each attempt to describe becomes +near effrontery and demands its own separate apology. + +In addition, kind Nature draws a veil for him over so much of all the +worst of it that many details are spared his later recollection. He +remembers only the indescribable confusion and the bursting claps of +near-by flame, as foul in color and as ill of smell as an addled egg. +He knows only that the acid of the high-explosive gas eats into the +tissue of his brain and lungs, destroying with other things, most +memories of the shelling. + +Overhead an aeroplane buzzed. We could even descry the figures of the +pilot and his observer, the latter signaling. No gun of ours answered. +The dead and dying lay all about and none could attend them: A rifle +was a rifle. + +This continued for an hour, at the end of which time we poked our +heads up and saw their infantry coming on in columns of mobs, and some +of them also very prettily in the open order we had ourselves been +taught. Every field and hedge spewed them up. We stood, head and +shoulders exposed above the ragged parapet, giving them "Rapid-fire." +They had no stomach for that and retired to their holes, leaving many +dead and grievously wounded. + +It was at this time that we saw the troops on our flanks falling back +in orderly fashion. I called that fact to the attention of Lieutenant +Lane, who was the only officer left in our vicinity. He said that the +last word he had received was to hang on. + +This we proceeded to do, and so, we are told, did the others. We +learned later that the battalion roll call that night showed a +strength of one hundred and fifty men out of the six hundred and +thirty-five who had answered "Present" twenty-four hours earlier. And +the official records of the Canadian Eye Witness, Lord Beaverbrook, +then Sir Max Aitken, as given in "Canada in Flanders," state that +"Those who survive and the friends of those who have died may draw +solace from the thought that never in the history of arms have +soldiers more valiantly sustained the gift and trust of a Lady," +referring to the Color which had been worked for and presented to us +by the Princess Patricia, daughter of His Royal Highness the Duke of +Connaught, then Governor-General of Canada. + +We were on the apex of the line and were now unsupported on either +side. It was about this time, I believe, that a small detachment of +the King's Shropshire Light Infantry, a sister regiment in our +brigade, fetched to the companies in our rear twenty boxes of badly +needed ammunition and reenforced the Princess Patricias. + +Following the beating off of their infantry attack the Germans gave us +a short breathing spell until their machine guns had been trained on +our parapet and a school of light field guns dragged up into place. +The aeroplane came out again, dropping to within three hundred feet of +our trench, and with tiny jets of vari-colored smoke bombs, directed +the terribly accurate fire of the enemy guns, already so close to, but +so well insured against any harm from us that they attempted no +concealment. And the big guns on the right completed the devastation. + +This continued for another half hour, at the end of which time there +remained intact only one small traverse in the trench, which owed its +existence to the fragment of chicken wire that held its sides up. The +remainder was absolutely wiped out. This time there was no rapid fire, +nor even any looking over the top to see if the enemy were coming on. +Instead, the Germans fairly combed the parapet with their machine +guns. Each indication of curiosity from us drew forth from them such a +stream of fire that the top of the parapet spat forth a steady shower +of flying mud, and, which made it impossible for us to defend +ourselves properly, even had there been enough of us left to do so. + +The rest was chaos, a bit of pure hell. Men struggling, buried alive +and looking at us for the aid they would not ask for. Soldiers all. +And the Germans now pouring in in waves from all sides, and especially +from our unprotected flanks and rear, hindered only by the desultory +rifle fire of our two weakened companies in the support trenches. We +were receiving rifle fire from four directions and bayonet thrusts +from the Germans on the parapet. Mowed down like sheep. And as they +came on they trampled our dead and bayoneted our wounded. + +The machine-gun crew had gone under to a man, doing their best to the +last. I think Sergeant Whitehead went with them, too; at least he was +near there a short time before, and I never saw him or any of the gun +crew again. The only living soul near that spot was Royston, dragging +himself out from under a pile of debris and covered with mud and +blood, his face horribly swollen to twice its normal size, blinded for +the moment. + +To quote "Canada in Flanders" again: + +"At this time the bombardment recommenced with great intensity. The +German bombardment had been so heavy since May 4th that a wood which +the Regiment had used in part for cover was completely demolished. The +range of our machine-guns was taken with extreme precision. All, +without exception, were buried. Those who served them behaved with the +most admirable coolness and gallantry. Two were dug out, mounted and +used again. One was actually disinterred three times and kept in +action till a shell annihilated the whole section. Corporal Dover +stuck to his gun throughout and, although wounded, continued to +discharge his duties with as much coolness as if on parade. In the +explosion that ended his ill-fated gun, he lost a leg and an arm, and +was completely buried in the debris. Conscious or unconscious, he lay +there in that condition until dusk, when he crawled out of all that +was left of the obliterated trench and moaned for help. Two of his +comrades sprang from the support trench--by this time the fire +trench--and succeeded in carrying in his mangled and bleeding body. +But as all that remained of this brave soldier was being lowered into +the trench a bullet put an end to his sufferings. No bullet could put +an end to his glory." + +George Easton was firing with me at the gray mass of the oncoming +horde. "My rifle's jammed!" he cried. + +"Take mine." And I stooped to get one from a casualty underfoot. But a +moment later, as I fired from the parapet, my bayonet was broken off +by a German bullet. I shouted wildly to Cosh to toss me one from near +by. + +Just then the main body of the Germans swarmed into the end of the +trench. + +Of this Lord Beaverbrook says: "At this moment the Germans made their +third and last attack. It was arrested by rifle fire, although some +individuals penetrated into the fire trench on the right. At this +point all the Princess Patricias had been killed, so that this part of +the trench was actually tenantless. Those who established a footing +were few in number, and they were gradually dislodged; and so the +third and last attack was routed as successfully as those which had +preceded it." + +His conclusion that we had all been killed was justifiable even +though, fortunately for me, it was an erroneous one. So I am glad for +other motives than those of mere courtesy to be able here to set him +right. + +Bugler Lee shouted to me: "I'm shot through the leg." A couple of us +seized him, planning to go down to where the communication trench had +once been. But he stopped us, saying: "It's no good, boys. It's a dead +end! They're killing us." + +Cosh swore. "Don't give up, kid! We'll beat the ---- yet!" A German +standing a few yards away raised his rifle and blew his head off. +Young Brown broke down at this--they had just done in his wounded pal: +"Oh, look! Look what they've done to Davie," and fell to weeping. And +with that another put the muzzle of his rifle against the boy's head +and pulled the trigger. + +Young Cox from Winnipeg put his hands above his head at the order. His +captor placed the muzzle of his rifle squarely against the palm and +blew it off. There remained only a bloody and broken mass dangling +from the wrist. + + [Illustration: GERMAN PRISONERS AFTER A SUCCESSFUL CANADIAN + ATTACK, BRINGING WOUNDED MEN DOWN A COMMUNICATION TRENCH.] + +I saw a man who had come up in the draft with me on the 4th, rolling +around in the death agony, tossing his head loosely about in the wild +pain of it, his pallid face a white mark in the muck underfoot. A +burly German reached the spot and without hesitation plunged his +saw-edged bayonet through the throat. + +Close by another wounded man was struggling feebly under a pile of +earth, his legs projecting so that only the convulsive heaving of the +loose earth indicated that a man was dying underneath. Another German +observed that too, and shoved his bayonet through the mud and held it +savagely there until all was quiet. + +This I did not see, but another did and told me of it afterward. +Sergeant Phillpots had been shot through the jaw so that he went to +his knees as a bullock does at the slaughtering. He supported himself +waveringly by his hands. The blood poured from him so that he was all +but fainting with the loss of it. + +A big German stood over him. + +Phillpots looked up: "Play the game! Play the game!" he muttered +weakly. + +The German coolly put a round through his head. + +I was still without a bayonet, and seeing these things, said to +Easton: "We'd better beat it." + +He swore again. "Yes, they're murdering us. No use stopping here. Come +on!" + +And just then he, too, dropped. I thought him dead. There was no use +in my stopping to share his fate or worse. It was now every man for +himself. At a later date we met in England. + +The other half of the regiment lay in support two hundred yards away +in Belle-waarde Wood and in front of the chateau and lake of that +name, where my draft had lain on the fourth. I made a dash for it. +What with the mud and the many shell holes, the going was bad. I was +indistinctly aware of a great deal of promiscuous shooting at me, but +most distinctly of one German who shot at me about ten times in as +many yards and from quite close range. I saw I could not make it. I +flung myself into a Johnson hole, and as soon as I had caught my +breath, scrambled out again and raced for the trench I had just left. +I was by this time unarmed, having flung my rifle away to further my +flight, notwithstanding which another German shot at me as I went +toward him. + +As I landed in the trench an angry voice shouted something I could not +understand. And I scrambled to my feet in time to see a German +sullenly lower his rifle from the level of my body at the command of a +big black-bearded officer. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +PRISONERS + + A German Version of a Soldier's Death!--The Courage of + Cox--Robbing the Helpless--Water on the End of a Bayonet--The + Curious Case of Scott--Prussian Bullies--Why I Was Covered with a + Fine Sweat. + + +The Germans were by this time in full possession of this slice of +trench, and for the next few minutes the officer was kept busy pulling +his men off their victims. Like slavering dogs they were. + +He did not have his lambs any too well in hand, however. O.B. Taylor, +a lovable character in Number One Company, came to his end here. The +Germans ordered him and Hookie Walker to go back down the trench. He +had no sooner turned to do so than a German shot him from behind and +from quite close, so that it blew the groin completely out, making a +terrible hole. We could not tie up so bad a wound and he bled to +death. Hookie Walker remained with him to the last, five hours later, +when he said: "I'm going to sleep boys," and did so. Fortunately, he +did not suffer. And all the others except young Cox were equally +fortunate, since they were murdered outright. + +Taylor's was the most calculated of all the murders we had witnessed +and outdid even those of the wounded because the excitement of the +fight was two hours old and he was doing the bidding of his captors at +the time. The killing of those who resisted was of course quite in +order. Why he was killed while Walker was left unharmed and at his +side to the last we did not know and could only credit to a whimsy of +our captors. No punishment was visited upon his murderer or upon any +of them so far as we were able to learn. + +Upon my later return to Canada I found that Taylor's sister there had +received a letter from a German officer enclosing a letter addressed +to her which had been found on her brother's body, together with three +war medals and a Masonic ring. The latter was the key to the incident +since the officer also claimed to have been a Mason. In his letter +this officer said that her brother had met a soldier's death! + +Some said that our friendly officer was not a German but an Irishman. +I doubted that but it may have been so, for it was true that his +speech contained no trace of the accent which is usually associated +with a German's English speech. His was that of an English gentleman. +And to him we undoubtedly owed our wretched lives that day. + +I in particular have good cause to be grateful. A German, all of six +foot four, who swung a tremendously broad headsman's axe with a curved +blade, tried several times to get at me. Each time the officer stopped +him. Still he persisted. He apparently saw no one else and kept his +eye fastened on me with deadly intention in it. He pushed aside the +others, Prussians and prisoners alike; he whirled the shining blade +high above a face lit up with savage exultation, terrible to see, and +which reflected the sensual revelling of his heated brain in the +bloody orgy ahead. As I followed the incredibly rapid motions of the +blade, my blood turned to water. My limbs refused to act and my mind +travelled back over the years to a little Scottish village where I had +been used to sit in the dark corners of the shoemaker's shop, +listening to him and others of the old 2nd Gordons recount their +terrible tales of the hill men on the march to Kandahar with "Bobs." +And now I felt that same tremendous sensation of fear which used to +send me trembling to my childish pallet in the croft, peering +fearfully through the darkness for the oiled body of a naked Pathan +with his corkscrew kris. Terror swept over me like a springtime flood. +He saw no one else. His eye fastened on me in crudest hate. But as he +stood over me with feet spread wide and the circle of his axe's swing +broadening for the finale, the thread of rabbit-like mesmerism broke +and I sprang nimbly aside as the blade buried itself deep in the mud +wall I had been cowering against. I endeavoured to dodge him by +putting some of my fellow prisoners between us. No use. He followed +me, shoving and cursing his way among them, swinging his axe. My hair +stood on end and I felt rather critical of their much-vaunted Prussian +discipline. Another endeavoured to bayonet Charlie Scarfe. The officer +at last stopped them both. + +Our captors belonged to the Twenty-first Prussian Regiment and were, +so far as we knew, the first of their kind we had been up against, +all previous comers on our front having been Bavarians and latterly +of the army group of Prince Ruprecht of Bavaria--"Rupie," we called +him. They wore the baggy grey clothes and clumsy looking leather top +boots of the German infantryman. The spiked _pickelhauben_ was +conspicuous by its absence and was, we well knew, a thing only of +billets and of "swank" parades. In its place was the soft pancake +trench cap with its small colored button in the front. + +The enemy were armed for the most part with pioneers' bayonets, as +well adapted by reason of their saw edges for sticking flesh and blood +as for sawing wood; and, if for the former, an unnecessarily cruel +weapon, since it was bound to stick in the body and badly lacerate it +internally in the withdrawal; especially if given a twist. + +The trench front had been about-faced since its change of ownership +and the Germans were already casting our dead out of the shattered +trench, both in front and behind, and in many cases using them to stop +the gaps in the parapet; so that they now received the bullets of +their erstwhile comrades. + +We were ordered up and out at the back of the parapet and then made to +lie there. The German artillery had ceased. We had none. Odd shots +from the remnant of our fellows still hanging on in the supports +continued to come over, but none of us were hit. In all probability, +they withheld their fire when they saw what was afoot. Some German +snipers in a farmhouse at the rear were less considerate, but +fortunately failed to hit us. + +Later we were ordered to take our equipment off and those who had +coats, to shed them. We did not see the latter again and missed them +horribly in the rain of that day. Two of the Prussians "frisked" us +for our tobacco, cigarettes, knives and other valuables. + +This was in bitter contrast to our own treatment of prisoners under +similar conditions. True, we had always searched them but had +invariably returned those little trinkets and comforts which to a +soldier are so important. And I think our men had always showered them +with food and tobacco. + +We were then marched to the rear, with the exception of one, who, by +permission of the officer, remained with the dying Taylor. + +There were ten of us all told. I have only heard of a few others who +were captured that day. Roberts is still in Germany and Todeschi has +been exchanged and is now in Toronto. The latter lay with a boy of the +machine-gun crew for a couple of days in a dug-out, both badly +wounded. A German stumbled on to them. They pleaded for water. The +German said, "I'll give you water" and bayoneted the boy as he lay. He +raised his weapon so that the blood of his comrade dripped on +Todeschi's face. + +"All right," Todeschi cried in German, "kill me too, but first give me +water, you----" + +The German lowered his rifle in amazement: "What, you schwein, you +speak the good German? Where did you learn it?" + +"In your schools. For Christ's sake--give me water--and kill me." + +"What! You live with us and then do this? Schwein!" + +"All right, I will give you water and I will not kill you; just to +show you how well we can treat a prisoner." + +Todeschi was then taken to the field dressing station where according +to his own account his mangled leg was amputated without the use of +any anesthetic. But that may have been because in such a time of +stress they had none. Later he was exchanged. + +I met Scott in the prison camp a few days later and he told his tale. +It appears that in the confusion of the earlier fighting he had become +separated from the regiment, became lost and eventually floundered +into an English battalion. He reported to the officer commanding the +trench and told his story. The officer had no idea where the Patricias +lay and so ordered Scott to remain with them until such time as an +inquiry might establish the whereabouts of his regiment. + +They were captured, but under less exciting circumstances than +occurred in our own case. And the Germans had word that there was a +Canadian amongst these English troops. It was one of the first things +mentioned. They did not say how they had acquired their information, +but shouted out a request for the man to stand forth. When no one +complied, they questioned each man separately, asking him if he was a +Canadian or knew aught of one in that trench. + +They all lied: "No." The Germans were so certain that they again went +over each man in turn, examining him. + +Scott was at the end of the line. He began to cut the Canadian buttons +off his coat and to remove his badges. Several men near by assisted +and replaced them with such of their own as they could spare; each man +perhaps contributing a button. They had no thread nor time to use it +if they had, so tacked the buttons into place by all manner of +makeshifts, such as broken ends of matches thrust through holes +punched in the cloth; anything to hold the buttons in place and tide +the hunted Scott over the inspection. He passed. The Germans were +quite furious. + +Scott and his companions could only guess at the cause of this strange +conduct, but presumed that the Canadian was wanted for special +treatment of an unfavorable, if not of a final nature. + +To return to our own case: + +About the middle of the afternoon we were herded by our guards into a +shallow depression a short distance in the rear of the trench and +there told to lie down. The officer and his men returned to the +trench. Until we were taken back to the trench at six we were +continually sniped at by the Germans in the captured trench. We had no +recourse but to make ourselves as small as possible, which we did. And +whether owing to the fact that the hollow we were lying in prevented +our being actually within the range of the enemy vision, or whether +they were merely playing cat and mouse with us, I do not know, but +none were hit. Young Cox suffered stoically. His mangled hand had +become badly fouled with dirt and filth, and the ragged bones +protruded through the broken flesh. So, in a quiet interval between +the sniping periods we hurriedly sawed the shattered stump of his hand +off with our clasp knives and bound it up as best we could. It was not +a nice task, for him nor us, but he did not so much as grunt during +the operation. The nearest he came to complaining was when he asked me +to let him lay his hand across my body to ease it, at the same time +remarking: "I guess when they get us to Germany they'll let us write, +and I'll be able to write mother and then she'll not know I've lost my +hand." He was a most valiant and faithful soldier. + +The perpetual rain and mist peculiar to that low-lying land added to +our wretched condition and increased the pain of the wounds that most +of us suffered from. + +At six o'clock our guards returned and curtly ordered us to our feet. +We were taken back to the trench, where our officer friend had us +searched again. Here for the first time my two corporal's stripes were +noticed and a mild excitement ensued. "Korporal! Korporal!" they +exclaimed and crowded up the better to inspect me and verify the +report, and jabbering "_Ja! Ja!_" Apparently a captured corporal was a +rarity. Strangely enough, they paid little or no attention to the +sergeant of our party, although he had the three stripes of his rank +up. + +As I happened to be in the lead of our party and the first to enter +the trench, I was the first man searched and so had to await the +examination of the others. Worn out by the events of the day and the +wound I had received early in the morning from a shell fragment, I +fell asleep against the wall of the trench where I sat. + +I was awakened by a poke in the ribs from Scarfe. "Time to shift, +mate." + +I rose to my feet and, following the instructions of the officer, led +the way along the trench. The Germans had already, with their usual +industry, gotten the trench into some sort of shape again, with the +parapet shifted over to the other side and facing Belle-waarde Wood. +And everywhere along its length I noticed the bodies of our dead built +into it to replace sandbags while others lay on the parados at the +rear. + +It was not nice. The faces of men we had known and had called comrade +looked at us now in ghastly disarray from odd sections of both walls. +Already they were taking a brick-like shape from the weight of the +filled bags on top of them. In places the legs and arms protruded, +brushing us as we passed. However, this was war and quite ethical. + +Naturally we had to crowd by the other occupants of the trench. And +each took a poke at us as we went by, some with their bayonets, +saying: "Verdamnt Englaender" and: "Englaender Schwein,"--pigs of +English. Also quite a number of them spoke English after a fashion. +There was in these men none of the soldier's usual tolerance or +good-natured pity for an enemy who had fought well and had then +succumbed to the fortunes of war. Instead, a blind and vicious rage +which took no account of our helpless condition. + +They cuffed us, they buffeted us, they pricked us cruelly with their +saw bayonets and then laughed and sneered as we flinched and dodged +awkwardly aside. Then they cursed us. + +Shortly, we were led into the presence of a man whom I shall remember +if I live to be a hundred. He wore glasses and on his upper lip there +bloomed such a dainty moustache as is affected by "Little Willie" as +Tommy calls the German Crown Prince. He had the eye of a rat. It +snapped so cruel a hate that one's blood stopped. + +He seized me by the right shoulder with his left hand: "You Corporal! +You Corporal!" as though that fact of itself condemned me, and at the +same time tugging at his holster until he found his revolver, which he +placed against my temple. Then and there I fervently prayed that he +would pull the trigger and end it all. I was fed up. The all-day +bombardment, the last terrible slaughter of helpless men, the rain and +cold, combining with the pain of the raw wound in my side, had gotten +on my nerves. With the revolver still at my head I turned to Scarfe: +"They're going to do us in, Charlie. I only hope they'll do it proper. +None of that bayonet stuff. Bullets for me." Already the Prussians +were crowding round us threateningly again, with their saw-edged +bayonets ready, some fixed in the rifle, others clasped short, like +daggers, for such a butchering as they had had earlier in the +afternoon, when I had been so nearly axed. + +"Might as well kill us outright as scare us to death," complained +Scarfe bitterly. + +Nevertheless our hearts leaped when a moment later our mysterious +black officer friend hove in sight. Life is sweet. + +He asked them what they did with us. The tableau answered for itself +before the words had left his lips. And then we had to listen to our +fate discussed in language and gesture so eloquent and so fraught with +terrible importance to us that our sensitized minds could miss no +smallest point of each fine shade of cruel meaning. + +"Little Willie" thought it scarce worth their while to bother with so +small a bag; that it would not be worth the trouble to send a +miserable ten of _Verdamnt Englaender_ back to the Fatherland--Better +to kill them like the swine they were. + +Our blood froze to hear the man and to see the poison of that rat soul +of his exuding from his every pore, in every gesture and in each fresh +inflection of his rasping voice. And all his men shouted their fierce +approval and shook in our faces their bloody butcher's bayonets. It +was a bitter draught. If they had killed us then it would have had to +have been done in most cold blood, exceeding even the murder of Taylor +in planned brutality. He at least had not known that it was coming and +had not felt this insane fear which we now experienced and which made +us wonder how they would do it. Would each have to watch the other's +end? And would it be done by bullet or by bayonet? We greatly feared +it would be the latter. We pictured ourselves held down as hogs +are--our throats slit----! + +The dark officer thought otherwise and minced no words in the saying. +Our hearts leapt out to him warmly, in gratitude. + +He sharply ordered them to desist, at which they slunk sullenly away, +as hungry dogs do from a bone. + +I felt an uncomfortable physical sensation and ran my hand uneasily +beneath my shirt. I was covered with a fine sweat. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +PULLING THE LEG OF A GERMAN GENERAL + + Polygon Wood and Picadilly Again--German Headquarters--Surprising + Kitchener--"Your Infantry's No Good"--The Germans Give Us News of + the Regiment. + + +We were then escorted under heavy guard out over the fields in the +rear, past the nearby farmhouse, which was simply filled with snipers. +The latter, however, did not shoot at us, presumably because they +might have hit some of our numerous guards. We seemed to be working +right through the heart of the German Army. Everywhere the troops were +massed. Along the road they lay in solid formation on both sides. If +we had had artillery to play on them now they would have suffered +tremendous losses. The whole countryside presented a living target. +All the way they shouted "Schwein" and taunted us in both languages. +Every shell-hole, farmhouse, hut, dugout and old trench on the +three-mile stretch between the Front and Polygon Wood contributed its +quota. + +The regiment had evacuated Polygon Wood on the night of the third. +Across the old trail our fatigue parties had tramped new ones in the +mud, up past Regent Street, Leicester Square and Picadilly. We passed +them all. + +We were marched over to the little settlement of pine-bough huts which +the regiment had previously taken over from the French. The men with +me greeted them like old friends. Here was the Sniper's Hut, there the +Commanding Officer's. This was the hut in which the brave Joe Waldron +had "gone West," that on the site of one where fourteen of "ours" had +stopped a shell while they slept. Memories submerged us and made us +weak. Even the guiding rope that our men had used to hold themselves +to the trail of nights still held its place for groping German hands. + +Beside it lay the fragments of the French signboards, jocular +advertisements of mud baths for trench fever, the _hotel_ this and the +_maison_ that. One of my companions pointed to a larger hut which he +said our fellows had called the Hotel Cecil. The board was missing +now. And no German signboard took its place. Their wit did not run in +so richly innocent a channel. + +The huts lay just off the race track in front of the ruined chateau, +buried deep in the remnants of what had once been the beautiful park +of a large country estate. These huts were now the German +headquarters. + +There was as much English as German talked there that day. Everywhere +there was cooking going on, mostly in portable camp kitchens. + +As we came to a halt one big fellow smoking a pipe observed +nonchalantly: "You fellows are lucky. Our orders were to take no +Canadian prisoners." + +The man was so casual, so utterly matter-of-fact and there was about +his remark so simple an air of directness and of finality that there +was no escaping his sincerity, unduly interested though we were. + +Another officer said "Englaender?" + +The big fellow said "Kanadien." The other raised his brows and +shoulders: "Uhh!" + +A younger officer came up: "Never mind, boys: Your turn to-day. Might +be mine to-morrow." Turning to the others, he too said: +"Englaender?" + + [Illustration: WOUNDED CANADIANS RECEIVING FIRST AID IN A + SUPPORT TRENCH AFTER AN ATTACK.] + +"No! Canadian." + +"Oh!" And he appeared to be pleasantly surprised. He asked me for a +souvenir and pointed to the brass Canada shoulder straps and the red +cloth "P. P. C. L. I.'s" on the shoulders of the others. But I had +already shoved my few trinkets down my puttees while lying back of the +trench that afternoon. Scarfe, however, gave up his "Canada" straps. + +The young officer gave him in return a carved nut with silver filigree +work and gave another man a silver crucifix for the bronze maple +leaves from the collar of his tunic. And, more important still, he +gave us all a cigarette, while he had a sergeant give us coffee. + +That, the cigarette, was I think much the best of anything we received +then or for some time to come. Since the bombardment and our wounding, +our nerves had fairly ached for the sedative which, good, bad or +indifferent, would steady the quivering harp strings of our nerves. +And a cigarette did that. + +The headquarters staff appeared on the scene. They wanted information, +just as ours would have done under similar circumstances, but these +took a different method to acquire it. As before, in the trench, they +selected me for the spokesman. The senior officer, a general +apparently, addressed me: "How many troops are there in front of our +attack?" + +I lied: "I don't know." + +He shook a threatening finger at me. "I'll tell you this, my man: We +have a pretty good idea of how many troops lay behind you and if in +any particular you endeavour to lead us astray it will go very hard +with all of you. Now answer my question!" His English was good. + +I cogitated. It would not do to tell him the terrible truth. That was +certain. So I took a chance. "Three divisions." He appeared to be +satisfied. The fact was, there were none behind us. We were utterly +without supporting troops. + +"And Kitchener's Army? How many of them are there here?" + +"Why, they haven't even come over yet, sir." + +"Don't tell me that: I know better. They've been out here for months." + +"But they haven't," I persisted. I told the truth this time. + +"Yes," he shouted angrily. + +"No," I flung back. + +"Well, how many of them are there?" + +The division yarn had gone down well. And perhaps I was slightly +heated. My spirit ran ahead of my judgment. "Five and a half to seven +million," I said. + +He exploded. And called me everything but a soldier. I could not help +but reflect that I had overdone it a bit. And I certainly thought that +I was "for it" then and there. + +To make matters worse he asked the others and they, profiting by my +mistake and following the lead of the first man questioned, put +Kitchener's army at four and a half million; which was only a trifle +of four million out. So I determined to be reasonable. When he came to +me again I confirmed the latter figure, explaining my earlier +statement by my lack of exact knowledge. And so that particular storm +blew over. + +The general came back to me again. "You Canadians thought this was +going to be a picnic, didn't you?" He was very sarcastic. + +"No, we didn't, sir." + +"Well, you thought it was going to be a walk through to Berlin, didn't +you?" + +"Why, no. We thought it was the other way about, sir," I ventured. + +He shifted: "Well, what do you think of us anyhow?" + +"Your artillery was all right but your infantry was no good." I began +to feel shaky again. However, he took that calmly enough. + +"Oh! So our infantry was no good." + +"We could have held them all right, sir." + +He ruminated on that a moment, rumbled in his throat and abruptly +changed the subject, in an unpleasant fashion, however. + +"You're the fellows we want to get hold of. You cut the throats of our +wounded." + +I denied it and we argued back and forth over that for several +minutes, and very heatedly. He referred to St. Julien and said that +this thing had occurred there. I said and quite truthfully that we had +not been at St. Julien, that we were in the Imperial and not the +Canadian Army and had been spectators in near-by trenches of the St. +Julien affair. I even went into some detail to explain that we were a +special corps of old soldiers who, not being able to rejoin their old +regiments, had at the outbreak of war formed one of their own and had +been accepted as such and sent to France months ahead of the Canadian +contingent. I added that I myself had just rejoined the regiment, +having got my "Blighty" in March at St. Eloi and as proof of my other +statements I further volunteered that I was one of the 2nd Gordons and +after the South African War had gone to Canada where I had finished my +reserve several years since. + +He listened but was plainly unconvinced. Another officer broke in: "I +can explain it, sir. These men were in the 80th Brigade and the 27th +Division. Colonel Farquhar was their Commanding Officer and Captain +Buller took command when Colonel Farquhar was killed." We stared at +one another in amazement, for it was all quite true. + +This finished that examination. We did not tell them that Colonel +Buller had been blinded a few days before and had been succeeded by +that Major Hamilton Gault who had been so largely instrumental in +raising us. + +None of our wounds had received the slightest attention. Cox in +particular suffered cruelly but refused to whimper. Royston's head was +swollen to the size of a water bucket and he was in great pain. We +left them here and never saw them again. Cox died two weeks later of a +blood poisoning which was the combined result of our rough surgery and +the wanton neglect of our captors. I do not think he was ever able to +write his mother as he wished. At least she wrote me later for +information. There was no need of his dying even though it might have +been necessary to have amputated his arm higher up. Royston was +exchanged to Switzerland and recovered from his wounds except for the +loss of an eye. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE PRINCESS PATRICIA'S GERMAN UNCLE + + Roulers--The Old Woman and the Gentle Uhlans--Billeted in a + Church--Quizzed by a Prince. + + +We were marched to Roulers, which we reached well after dark. A +considerable crowd of soldiers and civilians awaited our coming. The +Belgian women and children congregated in front of the church while we +waited to be let in, and threw us apples and cigarettes. The uhlans +and infantrymen rushed them with the flat side of their swords and the +butts of their muskets; and mistreated them. They knocked one old +woman down quite close to where I stood. So we had to do without and +were not even permitted to pick up the gifts that lay at our feet, +much less the old woman. + +The church had been used as a stable quite recently and the +stone-flagged floor was deep with the decayed straw and accumulated +filth of men and horses. We lay down in it and got what rest we could +for the remainder of the night. There were about one hundred and fifty +prisoners in all--Shropshires, Cheshires, King's Royal Rifles and +other British regiments--all from our division and mostly from our +brigade. Other small parties continued to come in during the night, +but there were no more P.P.'s. In the morning a large tub of water was +carried in and each man was given a bit of black bread and a slice of +raw fat bacon. The latter was salty and so thoroughly unappetizing +that I cannot recall that any one ate his ration, for in spite of the +fact that we had been twenty-four hours without food, we were so upset +by the experiences we had undergone, so shattered by shell fire and +lack of rest that we were perhaps inclined to be more critical of our +food than normal men would have been. + +Shortly afterward a high German officer came in with his staff. He was +a stout and well-built man of middle age or over, typically German in +his general characteristics but not half bad looking. His uniform was +covered with braid and medals. Every one paid him the utmost +deference. He stopped in the middle of the room. + +"Are there any Canadians here?" + +I stepped forward. "Yes, sir." + +"I mean the Princess Patricia's Canadians." + +"Yes, sir. I am. And here's some more of them," and I pointed at the +prostrate figures of my companions, where they sprawled on the +flagstones. + +"Princess Patricia's Regiment?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Well, the Princess Patricia is my niece--awfully nice girl. I hope it +won't be long before I see her again." + +I grinned: "Well, I hope it won't be long before I see her, too, sir." + +The other fellows joined us, the straw and the smell of it still +sticking to their clothes as they formed a little knot about the +Prince and his staff. + +The scene was incongruous, the smart uniforms of the immaculately kept +staff officers contrasting strangely with our own unkempt foulness. We +occupied the centre of the stage. Around us were grouped the men of +our sister regiments, most of them lying on the floor in a dazed +condition. There were few who came forward to listen. They were too +tired, and to them at least, this was merely an incident--one of a +thousand more important ones. Odd parts of clothes hung on the ornate +images and decorations of the room. A German rifle hung by its sling +from the patient neck of a life-sized Saviour, while further over, the +vermin-infested shirt of a Britisher hung over the rounded breasts of +a brooding Madonna, with the Infant in her lap. + +At the door a small group of guards stood stiffly to a painful +attention and continued so to do whilst royalty touched them with the +shadow of its wings. + +The Prince questioned us further and I told him that I had been on a +guard of honor to the Princess when she had been a child and when her +father, the Duke of Connaught had been the General Officer Commanding +at Aldershot. + +He laughed back at us and was altogether very friendly. "You'll go to +a good camp and you'll be all right if you behave yourselves." + +Scarfe shoved in his oar here, grousing in good British-soldier +fashion: "I don't call it very good treatment when they steal the +overcoats from wounded men." + +"Who did that?" He was all steel, and I saw a change come over the +officers of the staff. + +"The chaps that took us prisoners," said Scarfe. + +"What regiment were they?" The Prince glanced at an aide, who hastily +drew out a notebook and began to take down our replies. + +"The 21st Prussians, sir." + +"Do you know the men?" + +"Their faces but not their names." + +"Of what rank was the officer in charge?" + +We did not know, but thought him a company officer of the rank of +captain perhaps. He asked for other particulars which we gave to the +best of our knowledge. + +"I'll attend to that," he said. However, we heard no more of it. We +refrained from complaining about the actual ill-treatment and +indignities we had been subjected to, the murder of our unoffending +comrades, or the lack of attention to our wounds, as we rightly judged +that we should only have earned the enmity of our guards. + +"May I have your cap badge?" the Prince asked, decently enough. + +I lied brazenly: "Sorry, sir; I've lost mine." + +The fact was I had shoved it down under my puttees while lying back of +the trench the previous afternoon. + +Scarfe said: "You can have mine, sir." + +He took it. "Thanks so much." He glanced at the aide again; rather +sharply this time, I thought. The latter blushed and hastily extracted +a wallet, from which he handed Scarfe a two-mark piece, equal to one +and ten pence, or forty-four cents. He gave us his name before +leaving, and my recollection is that it was something like Eitelbert. +Evidently he was a brother of the Duchess of Connaught, whom we knew +to have been a German princess whose brothers and other male relatives +all enjoyed high commands among our foes. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +HOW THE GERMAN RED CROSS TENDED THE CANADIAN WOUNDED + + "Come Out Canadians!"--The Crucifixion--"Nix! Nix!"--Civilian + Hate--"Englaender Schwein!" + + +We remained in the fouled church all of that day and night and until +the following morning. No more food appeared. We were marched down to +the railroad under heavy escort, crowded into freight cars and locked +in. The guards were distributed in cars of their own, alternating with +ours. Our wounds remained unattended to. + +At every station they thundered: "Come out, Canadians!" They lined us +up in a row while a staff officer put the same questions to us in +nearly every case. They were particularly interested in the quality of +our rations and asked if it was not true that we were starving and if +our pay had not been stopped. The guards invariably explained to the +civilians that these were the Canadians who had cut the throats of the +German wounded. + +We did not know how to explain the prevalence of this impression. On +the contrary, we were aware of the story of the crucifixion of three +of the Canadian Division during Ypres. The tale had come smoking hot +to our men in the Polygon Wood trenches during the great battle. It +gave in great detail all the salient facts which were that after +recapturing certain lost positions, the men of a certain regiment had +discovered the body of one of their sergeants, together with those of +two privates, crucified on the doors of a cowshed and a barn. German +bayonets had been driven through their hands and feet and their +contorted faces gave every appearance of their having died in great +agony. This story was and is generally believed throughout all ranks +of the Canadian Army. For its truth I cannot vouch. + +We knew that our own men had never mistreated any prisoners and had in +fact usually done quite the reverse. How far other regiments may have +gone in retaliation for what was known as "The Crucifixion," it is +impossible to say. That prisoners may have been killed is possible, +for such things become an integral part of war once the enemy has so +offended. But we could not believe that there had been any cutting of +throats as that would imply a sheer cold-bloodedness that we could not +stomach. + +The mob surged around and reviled us, while the guards, in high good +humour, translated their remarks, unless, as was frequently the case, +they were made to the officials in English for our benefit. The other +British soldiers were left in their cars. + +Our wounded were getting very badly off by this time. It was +impossible to avoid trampling on one another as the car was very dark +at best and the one small window in the roof was closed as soon as we +drew into a station. When taken out we were under heavy escort and +were allowed no opportunity to clean up the accumulated filth of the +car. We suffered terribly for food and water, and some of the wounds +began to turn, so that what with exhaustion and all, we grew very +weak. + +At one station the guards took us out and made us line up to watch +them eat of a hearty repast which the Red Cross women had just brought +them. And we were very hungry. When, we too, asked for food they said: +"Nix! Nix!" The crowds met us at every station and included women of +all classes, who called us _Englaender Schwein_ and who at no time gave +us the slightest assistance, but, instead, devoted themselves to the +guard. + +Other men told us later that Red Cross women had spat in their +drinking water and in their food. There was no opportunity for this in +our case as we did not receive any of either. + +We did not receive any food during this trip, which lasted from the +morning of one day until the night of the next. We had gone since the +day of our capture on the coffee received at headquarters in Polygon +Wood and the single issue of bread, water and bacon received in the +church, the latter of which we could not eat; a total of three days +and nights on that one issue of rations. + +We pulled into Giessen at eleven, the night of May tenth. The citizens +made a Roman holiday of the occasion and the entire population turned +out to see the _Englaender Schwein_. There was a guard for every +prisoner, and two lines of fixed bayonets. The mob surged around, +heaping on us insults and blows; particularly the women. With hate in +their eyes, they spat on us. We had to take that or the bayonet. +These were the acts not only of the rabble, but also of the people of +good appearance and address. + +One very well-dressed woman rushed up. Under other circumstances I +should have judged her to have been a gentlewoman. She shrieked +invectives at us as she forced her way through the crowd. "Schwein!" +she screamed, and struck at the man next me. He snapped his shoulders +back as a soldier does at attention. Then, drawing deep from the very +bottom of her lungs, she spat the mass full in his face. The muscles +of his face twitched painfully but he held his eyes to the front and +stared past his tormentor, seeing other things. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE CURIOUS CONCOCTIONS OF THE CHEF AT GIESSEN + + Oliver Twist at Giessen--Acorn Coffee and Shadow Soup--Chestnut + Soup--Fostering Racial Hatred. + + +We had a mile-and-a-half march to the prison camp. Those who were past +walking were put in street cars and sent to the laager, where upon our +arrival we were shoved into huts for the night, supperless, of course. +This was our introduction to the prison camp of Giessen. + +The next morning we each received three-quarters of a pint of acorn +coffee, so called, horrible-tasting stuff; and a loaf of black +bread--half potatoes and half rye--weighing two hundred and fifty +grams, or a little more than half a pound, among five men. This +allowed a piece about three by three by four inches to each man for +the day's ration. The coffee consisted of acorns and four pounds of +burned barley boiled in one hundred gallons of water. There was no +sugar or milk. My curiosity led me later to get this and other recipes +from the fat French cook. + +All that day and for several following, official and guards were busy +numbering and renumbering us and assigning us to our companies. They +were hopelessly German about it, and did it so many times and very +thoroughly. There were twelve thousand men in the camp and eight +hundred in the laager. The majority were Russian and French with a +fairish sprinkling of Belgians. There were perhaps six hundred British +in the entire camp. The various nationalities were mixed up and each +section given a hut very similar to those American and British troops +occupy in their own countries. A number of smaller camps in the +neighbouring districts were governed from this central one. + +For dinner we had shadow soup, so named for obvious reasons. The +recipe in my diary reads: "For eight hundred men, two hundred gallons +of water, one small bag of potatoes and one packet of herbs." + +To make matters worse the vegetables issued at this camp were in a +decayed condition and continued to come to us so. + +Another staple dinner ration was ham soup. This was the usual two +hundred gallons of water boiled with ten pounds of ham rinds, ten +pounds of cabbage and twenty pounds of potatoes. The ham rind had hair +on it but we used to fish for it at that and considered ourselves +lucky to get a piece. Oatmeal soup, another meal, consisted of two +hundred gallons of water, two pounds of currants and fifty pounds of +oatmeal; chestnut soup, two hundred gallons of water, one hundred +pounds of whole chestnuts and ten pounds of potatoes. It was a +horrible concoction and my diary has: "To be served hot and thrown +out." + +Meat soup was two hundred gallons of water, ten pounds of meat, one +small bag of potatoes and ten pounds of vegetables. This was the most +nutritious of the lot. Unfortunately for us, the small portion of meat +and most of the potatoes were given to the French, both because the +cook and all his assistants were Frenchmen and because the authorities +willed it so. + +This was usually managed without any apparent unfairness by serving +the British first and the French last, with the result that the one +received a tin full of hot water that was too weak to run out, +while the Frenchmen's spoons stood to attention in the thicker mess +they found in the bottom. This, with other things, contributed to make +bad blood between the two races. A great show was made of stirring up +the mess, but it was a pure farce. + + [Illustration: RECIPES FROM CORPORAL EDWARD'S DIARY.] + +Rice soup consisted of two hundred gallons of water, fifty pounds of +rice, twenty pounds of potatoes and one pound of currants; bean soup, +two hundred gallons of water, fifty pounds of beans, and twenty pounds +of potatoes; pork soup, two hundred gallons of water, ten pounds of +pork and fifty pounds of potatoes. Porridge was made of two hundred +gallons of water, fifteen pounds of oatmeal and two pounds of barley. +The diary states: "To be served hot as a drink." + +Once in two months a ration of sausage was dished out. For breakfast +once a week there was one pint of acorn coffee without sugar or milk +and one and a half square inches of Limburger cheese. To quote from +the diary: "Before serving, open all windows and doors. Then send for +the Russians to take it away." + +The Germans discriminated against the British prisoners. When there +was any disagreeable duty; the cry went up for "der Englaender." The +much-sought-for cookhouse jobs all went to the French, who waxed fat +in consequence. No Britisher was ever allowed near the cookhouse. The +French had for the most part been there for some time, and, their +country lying so close by; they were receiving parcels. We were not, +and this made the food problem a very serious one for us. Their +supplies were received through Switzerland which was the one anchor to +windward for so many of us in this and other respects. + +At first the French used to give us a certain amount of their own +food, but eventually ceased to do so. Most of them worked down in the +town daily and could "square" the guard long enough to buy tobacco at +twenty-five pfennigs--or two and a half pence--a package, which they +sold to us later at eighty pfennigs--until we got on to their +profiteering. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE WAY THEY HAVE AT GIESSEN + + "Raus!"--The Strafe Barracks--The Appeal for Casement--Why + Parcels Should Be Sent--A Hell on Earth--That Brickyard + Fatigue--Gott Strafe England--Slow Starvation--Merciless + Discipline--Canadian Humor--The Debt We Owe--Inoculating for + Typhoid?--Joseph's Coat of Many Colors--The Russian Who Unwound + the Rag--The Monotony of the Wire--Teaching the Germans the + British Salute. + + +Except for the starving, as I look back now, Giessen was not such a +bad camp as such places go. At least it was the best that we were to +know. The discipline, of course, was fairly severe, but on the other +hand the Commandant did not trouble us a great deal. The petty +annoyances were harder to endure. Frequently we would get the "Raus!" +at half-hour intervals by day or night; "Raus out!" "Raus in!" and so +on. + +We never knew what our tormentors wanted but supposed it to be a +systematic attempt to break our spirit and our nerve by the simple +expedient of habitually interfering with our sleep so that we would +become like the Russians. They were mostly utterly broken in spirit +and had the air of beaten dogs, so that they cringed and fawned to +their masters. + +The least punishment meted out for the most trifling offense was three +days' cells. Some got ten years for refusing to work in munition and +steel factories, particularly British and Canadians. + +There are large numbers of both who are to-day serving out sentences +of from eighteen months to ten years in the military fortresses of +Germany under circumstances of the greatest cruelty. + +The so-called courts-martial were mockeries of trials. The culprit was +simply marched up to the orderly room, received his sentence and +marched away again. He was allowed no defence worthy of the name. + +Some of the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry were "warned" for work +in a munitions factory. When the time came around they were taken away +but refused to work and so they were knocked about quite a bit. One +was shot in the leg and another bayoneted through the hip, and all +were sent back to camp, where they were awarded six weeks in the +punishment camp, known as the strafe barracks. + +This was a long hut in which were two rows of stools a few paces +apart. The _Raus_ blew for the culprits at five-thirty. At six they +were marched to the hut and made to sit down in two rows facing one +another, at attention--that is, body rigid, head thrown well back, +chest out, hands held stiffly at the sides and eyes straight to the +front--for two hours! Meanwhile the sentries marched up and down the +lane, watching for any relaxation or levity. If so much as a face was +pulled at a twinkling eye across the way, another day's strafing was +added to the penalty. At the end of the two hours one hour's rest was +allowed, during which the prisoners could walk about in the hut but +could not lie down! This continued all day until "Lights out." For six +weeks. No mail, parcels, writing or exercise was permitted the +prisoners during that time, and the already scanty rations were cut. + +During good behavior we were allowed two post cards and two letters a +month, with nine lines to the former and thirteen to the page of the +latter. No more, no less. Each letter had four pages of the small, +private-letter size. The name and address counted as a line. Mine was +Kriegsgefingenenlaager, Kompagnie No. 6, Barackue No. A. The writing +had to be big and easily read and, in the letters, on four sides of +the paper. No complaint or discussion of the war was permitted. Fully +one-half of those written were returned for infringements, or fancied +ones, of these rules. Sometimes when the censor was irritated they +were merely chucked into the fire. And as they had also to pass the +English censor it is no wonder that many families wondered why their +men did not write. + +We were there for three months before our parcels began to arrive. We +considered ourselves lucky if we received six out of ten sent, and +with half the contents of the six intact. In the larger camps the +chances of receipt were better. The small camps were merely units +attached to and governed by the larger ones, which handled the mail +before giving it to the authorities at the smaller ones. + +Thus, a man who was "attached" to Giessen camp, although perhaps one +hundred miles away from it, had to submit to the additional delay and +chance of loss and theft included in the censoring of the parcel at +Giessen as well as at the actual place of his confinement. + +This doubled the chances of fault-finding and of theft. Knowing this +to be true, I most earnestly recommend the sending of parcels. True, a +large proportion of them are not received, but those that are +represent the one salvation of the prisoner-of-war in German hands. So +terribly true is this that when we began to receive parcels at +irregular intervals, we used regularly to acknowledge to our friends +the receipt of parcels which we had never received. This was the low +cunning developed by our treatment. If advised that a parcel of tea, +sugar or other luxuries had been sent and it did not appear after +weeks of patient waiting, we knew that we should never see that +parcel. Nevertheless, we usually wrote and thanked the donor and +acknowledged the receipt, fearful otherwise that he or she should say: +"What's the use?" and send no more. And we were not allowed to tell +the truth--that it had been stolen. + +The first three months of our stay at Giessen were probably the worst +of all, including as they did the transition period to this life. It +seemed then a hell on earth. The slow starvation was the worst. Once, +in desperation, I gave a Frenchman my good boots for his old ones and +two and a half marks, and then gave sixty pfennigs of this to the +French cook for a bread ration. Again, in going down the hut one day, +I espied a flat French loaf cut into four pieces, drying on the window +sill. Seizing one piece, I tucked it under my tunic and passed on +before the loss was discovered. Some of the British could be seen at +times picking over the sour refuse in the barrels. This amused the +Germans very much. We endeavoured to get cookhouse jobs for the +pickings to be had, but could not do so. At a later date, when the +Canadian Red Cross, Lady Farquhar, Mrs. Hamilton Gault and our +families were sending us packages regularly, we made out all right. + +Some English societies were in the habit of sending books, music and +games to the prisoners but none of these ever reached the group with +whom I associated, even before our later actions put us quite beyond +the German pale. + +The appeal for Casement and the Irish Brigade was made to us. A +number of prisoners were taken apart and the matter broached privately +to them. Pamphlets on the freeing of Ireland were also distributed. I +did not see any one go over, and an Irishman who was detailed with +another Canadian and myself on a brickyard fatigue said that they had +recruited only forty in the camp. The whole thing turned out to be a +failure. + +There were twelve of us all told on that brickyard job. Three or four +shoveled clay into the mixing machine, two more filled the little car +which two others pushed along the track of the narrow-gauge railroad. +We were guarded by four civilian Germans of some home defense corps, +all of whom labored with us. The two trammers used to start the car, +hop on the brake behind and let it run of its own momentum down the +incline to the edge of the bank where it would be checked for dumping. +Sometimes we forgot to brake the car so that it would ricochet on in a +flying leap off the end of the track, and so on over the dump. The +guards would rage and swear but could prove nothing so long as our +fellows did not get too raw and do this too frequently. + +One day we shovelers decided to add to the gaiety of nations. While +one attracted the guards' attention elsewhere we slipped a chunk of +steel into the mess. There was a grinding crash, and a large cogwheel +tore its way through the roof. In a moment, the air was full of +machinery and German words. It was a proper wreck. The guards ran +around gesticulating angrily, tearing their hair and threatening us, +while we endeavoured to look surprised. It is reasonable to suppose +that we were unsuccessful, for we were hustled back to camp and drew +five days' cells each from the Commandant. There was no trial. He +merely sentenced us. + +United States Ambassador Gerard only came to Giessen once in my time +there, and that was while I was off at one of the detached camps, so I +had no opportunity of observing the result. + +We knew very little of what was going on in the outside world. The +guards were not allowed to converse with us, and if one was known to +speak English he was removed. However, they were more or less curious +about us so that a certain amount of clandestine conversation +occurred. Some were certain that they were going to win the war. +Others said: "England has too much money. Germany will never win." +They used frequently to gather the Russians, Belgians and French +together and lecture them on England's sins. They said that England +was letting them do all the fighting, bleeding them white of their men +and treasure so as to come out at the end of the war with the balance +of power necessary for her plan of retaining Constantinople and the +Cinque Ports of France. Many were convinced, and this did not add to +the pleasantness of our lot. + +The notorious _Continental Times_ was circulated amongst us freely in +both French and English editions. It regularly gave us a most +appalling list of German victories and it specialised in abuse of the +English. We counted up in one month a total of two million prisoners +captured by the Germans on all fronts. + +As I have said, Giessen was the best camp of all, barring the +starvation. But the discipline there was merciless. The laager was +inclosed by a high wire fence which we were forbidden to approach +within four feet of. A Russian sergeant overstepped that mark one day +to shout something to a friend in an adjoining laager. The sentry +shouted at him. He either failed to hear or did not understand. The +sentry killed him without hesitation. + +A Belgian started over one day with some leftover soup which he +purposed giving to the Russians. The sentry would not let him pass. He +went back and told his mate. The latter, a kindly little fellow, +thinking that the sentry had not understood the nature of the mission, +decided to try himself. The sentry stopped him. He attempted to argue. +The sentry pushed him roughly back. He struck the German. The latter +dropped him with a blow on the head, and while he lay unconscious +shoved the bayonet into him. It was done quite coolly and +methodically, without heat. He was promoted for it. We were told that +he had done a good thing and that we should get the same if we did not +behave. + +A Canadian who was forced to work in a munitions plant and whose task +included the replacing of waste in the wheel boxes of cars enjoyed +himself for a while, lifting the greasy waste out and replacing it +with sand. He got ten years for that. + +The German in charge of our laager hated the _verdamnt Englaender_ and +lost no opportunity of bulldozing and threatening us. One of the +Canadians who had been in the American Navy was unusually truculent. +The German purposely bunted him one day. "Don't do that again!" The +German repeated the act. The sailor jolted him in the jaw so that he +went to dreamland for fifteen minutes. The prisoner was taken to the +guardroom and we never heard his ultimate fate, but at the ruling rate +he was lucky if he got off with ten years. + +It is men like this to whom our Government and people owe such a debt +as may be paid only in a small degree by our insistence after the war +that they be given their liberty. A greater glory is theirs than that +of the soldier. They wrought amongst a world of foes, knowing their +certain punishment, but daring it rather than assist that foe's +efforts against their country. + +One day we were told that we must be inoculated in the arm against +typhoid. We thought nothing of that. But the next day men began to +gather in groups so that the guards shouted roughly at them, bidding +them not to mutter and whisper so. + +Where the word came from I know not. It may have emanated in the +fears of some active imagination on the chance and truthful word of a +guard, flung in derision at some desperate man, or in a kindlier mood +and in warning. The word was that we were to be inoculated with the +germs of consumption. I understand that it appeared also in the papers +at home. It seemed horrible beyond words to us. The idea appeared +crazy but was equally on a par with the events we witnessed daily. +Myself, I planned to take no chances; if it were humanly possible. + +We were all ordered to parade for the inoculation. I hid myself with a +few others and so escaped the operation. Nothing was said so I could +only suppose that they failed to check us up as it was not in keeping +with the German character as we had come to know it to miss any +opportunity of corrective punishment even though the inoculation had +been for our own good. + +It is true that some of the men so inoculated fell prey to +consumption. On the other hand one of them had had a well defined case +of it before, and it was almost certain that the living conditions +prevailing amongst us would insure the appearance of the disease so +that we had no proof that any man was so inoculated. Some of the men +so affected were sent to Switzerland for the benefit of the mountain +air through an arrangement made by the Red Cross with the Swiss +authorities. + + [Illustration: FELLOW PRISONERS AT GIESSEN. FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: + A CHESHIRE REGIMENT MAN, A SIBERIAN RUSSIAN, AN EAST YORKSHIRE + LIGHT INFANTRYMAN AND A GORDON HIGHLANDER.] + + [Illustration: FELLOW PRISONERS AT GIESSEN. THREE HIGHLANDERS + AND A YORKSHIRE LIGHT INFANTRYMAN.] + +One of our guards was subject to fits and habitually ran amuck amongst +us, abusing some of the prisoners in a painful fashion. We made +complaint of this through the proper channels, for which crime the +officer in charge stopped our fires and other privileges for the time +being. + +Most of the men wore prison uniforms or in some cases, suits sent from +England which were altered by the authorities to conform to their +regulations. These required that if one was not in a distinctive and +enemy uniform that broad stripes of bright colored cloth be set into +the seam of the trousers; not sewed on, but into the goods. A large +diamond shaped piece or else a square of such cloth was set into the +breast and back of the tunic. I preferred my uniform, dilapidated +though it was. We were permitted the choice, probably less out of +kindness than because of the saving involved. + +There was a big simple giant of a Russian here who was badly sprung +at the knees. He had been forced to work during the winter in an +underground railway station near Berlin. He had had no shoes and had +stood in the water for weeks, digging. He was very badly crippled in +consequence. + +Some four hundred Russians came to us after the fall of Warsaw. They +were mostly wounded and all rotten. On the three months' march to +Giessen the wounded had received absolutely no attention other than +their own. Here we had a crazy German doctor, a mediocre French one +and Canadian orderlies. If an Englishman went to the hospital for +treatment it was "Vick!"--Get out. These Russians were treated +similarly. The French fared better. One big, fine-looking Russian, +with a filthy mass of rags wound round his arm, reported for +attention. They unwound the rag and his arm dropped off. He died, with +five others, that afternoon, and God only knows how many more on the +trip they had just finished. + +They were buried in a piano case, together. Usually they were placed +in packing cases. We asked for a flag with which to cover them as +soldiers should be. They asked what that was for and there it ended. + +Another Russian had a foul arm which leaked badly so that it was not +only painful to him but offensive to the rest of us. Nothing was done +for him. + +They were all thoroughly cowed, as are dogs that have been illtreated. +And they jumped to it when a German spoke--excepting two of their +officers, who refused to take down their epaulets when ordered to do +so. We did not learn how they fared. These were the only captive +officers of any nationality whom we saw. + +We became sick of the sight of one another as even the best of friends +do under such abnormal conditions. For variety I often walked around +the enclosure with a Russian. Neither of us had the faintest idea what +the other said, but it was a change! + +The monotony of the wire was terrible--and just outside it in the lane +formed by the encircling set of wire, the dogs, with their tongues +out, walked back and forth, eyeing us. + +There was so little to talk about. We knew nothing and could only +speculate on the outcome of the commonest events which came to us on +the tongue of rumour or arose out of our own sad thoughts. + +The authorities were not satisfied with our recognition--or lack of +it--of their officers and took us out to practice saluting drill--a +thing always detested by soldiers, especially veterans. The idea was +to make us salute visiting German officers properly, in the German +fashion and not in our own. Theirs consisted of saluting with the +right hand only, with the left held stiffly straight at the side, +while our way was to salute with the hand farthest from the officer, +giving "Eyes left" or "Eyes right" as the case might be, and with the +free hand swinging loosely with the stride. + +So a school of us were led out to this. The very atmosphere was tense +with sullen rebellion. The guards eyed us askance. The officer stood +at the left awaiting us; beyond him and on the other side of the road, +a post. + +An _unteroffizier_ ordered us to march by, one by one, to give the +_Herr Offizier_ "Augen Links" in the German fashion, and to the post, +which represented another officer, an "Augen Rechts" when we should +come to it. + +"I'll see him in hell first," I muttered to the man next me. I was in +the lead of the party. I shook with excitement and fear of I knew not +what. + +As the command rang out I stepped out with a swing, and with the +action, decision came to me. As I approached the officer he drew up +slightly and looked at me expectantly. + +I gave him a stony stare, and passed on. + +A few more steps and I reached the post. I pulled back my shoulders +with a smart jerk, got my arms to swinging freely, snapped my head +round so that my eyes caught the post squarely and swung my left hand +up in a clean-cut parabola to "Eyes right," in good old regimental +order. + +A half dozen shocked sentries came up on the double. It was they who +were excited now. I was master of myself and the situation. The +_unteroffizier_ ordered me to repeat and salute. I did so--literally. +The officer was, to all outward appearances, the only other person +there who remained unmoved. My ardour had cooled by this time, and his +very silence seemed worse than the threats of the guard. Nor was I +exactly in love with my self-appointed task. Nevertheless, I saw my +mates watching me and inwardly applauding. I was ashamed to quit. I +did it again. That won me another five days' cells. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE ESCAPE + + Picking a Pal for Switzerland--Cold Feet--The Talk in the + Wood--Nothing Succeeds Like Success and--!--Simmons and Brumley + Try Their Hand. + + +Mervin Simmons of the 7th, and Frank Brumley of the 3rd Battalion, +Canadian Expeditionary Force were planning to escape. Word of it +leaked through to me. This added fuel to the fire of my own similar +ambition. They, and I too, thought that it was not advisable for more +than two to travel together. I began to look around for a partner. I +"weighed up" all my comrades. It was unwise to broach the subject to +too many of them. I bided my time until a certain man having dropped +remarks which indicated certain sporting proclivities, I broached the +subject to him. He was most enthusiastic. We decided on Switzerland as +our objective and awaited only the opportunity to make a break. + +There were few if any preparations to make. We were not yet receiving +parcels and our allowance of food was so scanty that it was impossible +to lay any by. We had a crude map of our own drawing. And that was our +all. + +In the interval we discussed ways and means of later travel and +endeavoured to prepare our minds for all contingencies, even capture. +We talked the matter over with Simmons and Brumley at every +opportunity, so as to benefit also by their plans. This required +caution so we were careful at all times that we should not be seen +together; rather that we should even appear unfriendly. We developed +the cunning of the oppressed. Once we even staged a wordy quarrel over +some petty thing for the benefit of our guards and others of the +prisoners whom we distrusted. At other times we foregathered in dim +corners of our huts as though by chance. We conversed covertly from +the corners of our mouths and without any movement of the lips, as +convicts do. This avoidance of one another was made the easier because +of the arrangement of the personnel of each hut. The various +nationalities were pretty well split up in companies, presumably to +prevent illicit co-operation and each company was separated from the +others by the wire. + +Our chance came at last. We were "warned" for a working party on a +railroad grade near by. As compliance would enable us to get on the +other side of the wire, we made no protest. This work was a part of +the authorities' scheme of farming prisoners out to private +individuals and corporations who required labour. In this case it was +a railroad contractor. As a rule the contractors fed us better than +the authorities, if for no other reason than to keep our working +strength up. + +We were marched out of the laager without any breakfast each morning +to the work and there received a little sausage and a bit of bread for +breakfast. At noon we received soup of a better quality than the camp +stuff. It was cooked by a Russian Pole, a civilian; one of many who +was living out in the town on parole. These had to report regularly to +the authorities and had to remain in the local area. + +We were on the job a week before things seemed favourable. We had only +what we stood in, excepting the rough map, which was drawn from +hearsay and our scanty knowledge of the country. We planned to travel +at night, lay our course by the stars and perhaps walk to Switzerland +in six weeks. + +We worked all morning, grading on the railroad embankment. At noon we +knocked off for soup and a rest. We were on the edge of a large wood. +Some of the men flung themselves on the bank; others went to see if +the soup was ready. A few went into the wood. The solitary guard was +elsewhere. We said good-bye to the few who knew of our plans. They +bade us God-speed and then we, too, faded into the recesses of the +wood. + +We had no sooner set foot in it than I noticed a curious change come +over my companion. He said that it was a bad time, a bad place, found +fault with everything and said that we should not go that day. +However, we continued, half-heartedly on his part, to shove our way on +into the wood. Occasionally he glanced fearfully over his shoulder and +voiced querulous protests. I did not answer him. A little further on +and he stopped. A dog was barking. + +"There's too many dogs about, Edwards. And just look at all those +houses." He pointed to where a village showed through the trees. + +"Sure thing, there'll be houses thick like that all the way. It's our +job to keep clear of them." + +"Yes, but look at the people. There's bound to be lots of them where +there's so many houses." + +"Of course there are," I replied: "Germany's full of houses and +people. That's no news. Come on." + +"Oh! They'll see us sure, Edwards--and telegraph ahead all over the +country. We haven't got any more show than a rabbit." + +With that I lost patience and gave him a piece of my mind. We stood +there, arguing it back and forth. + +It was no use: He fell prey to his own fears; saw certain capture and +a dreadful punishment. He conjured up all the dangers that an active +imagination could envisage: Every bush was a German and every sound +the occasion of a fresh alarm. He was like to ruin my own nerves with +his petty panics. + +It was in vain that I pleaded with him: He could not face the dangers +that he saw ahead. The laager seemed to him, by comparison, a haven +of refuge. When all else failed, I appealed to his pride. He had none. +I warned him that we should meet with nothing but scorn from our +comrades, excepting laughter, which was worse. I begged and pleaded +with him to go on with me. No use. All his courage was foam and had +settled back into dregs. + +And so we returned. I was heart-broken. But there was no use in my +going on alone. To travel by night we must sleep in the day time and +that required that some one should always be on watch to avoid the +chance travellers of the day--which was obviously impossible for any +one who travelled alone. + +We had been gone only an hour and a half and the guard was just +beginning to look around for us. Otherwise we had not been missed nor +seen, for the wood was a large one and we had not yet gotten out of +its confines. The guard was too relieved to find us, when we stepped +out of the wood and picked up our shovels, to do more than betray a +purely personal annoyance. He asked where we had been and why we had +remained for so long a time. We gave the obvious excuse. He was too +well pleased at his own narrow escape from responsibility to be +critical, so that the affair ended in so far as he or his kind were +concerned. Which made what followed the harder to bear. + +For it was not so with our own comrades. My prognostication had been a +correct one. A few of them had known that we were going; some had bade +us good-bye. They rested on their picks now and stared at us, lifting +their eyebrows, with a knowing smile for one another and a half-sneer +for us. My companion had already plumbed the depths of fear and so was +now lost to all shame. Myself, I found it very hard. Soldiers have, +outwardly at least, but little tenderness, except perhaps in bad +times, and they showed none now. Nor mercy. The situation would have +been ridiculous had it not been so utterly tragic--to have failed +without trying! Edwards's escape became camp offal. We became the butt +and the byword of the camp, so that I honestly regretted not having +pushed on alone. I felt sure that the almost certain capture and more +certain punishment would have been more bearable than this. There was +nothing that I could say in my own defense except at the other man's +expense--which would have been in questionable taste and would have +been deemed the resort of a weakling. So I kept my counsel and +brooded. The ignorance of the guards made the tragedy comic. It was +very humiliating. I gritted my teeth and swore that I at any rate +should go again in spite of their incredulous jeers. But it was all +terribly discouraging and made me most despondent. + +And that finished that trip to Switzerland. + +A few days later Simmons and Brumley disappeared. There was no +commotion. One day they were with us and the next--they were not. The +guards said nothing and we feared to ask. I longed ardently to be with +them. + +In a few days the camp was thrown into a mild turmoil. The poor +fellows were escorted in under a heavy guard. And very dejected they +looked too--in rags, very wet and evidently short of food, sleep and a +shave. Nevertheless, I envied them. + +They disappeared for a long time. We were told they got two weeks' +cells and six weeks of sitting on the stools in strafe barracks. I +remembered the Yorkshiremen and my envy was tempered. + +I spent most of my time casting about for the means for a real +escape. Quite aside from my natural desire for freedom I felt that my +good name as a soldier was at stake. However, I waited for an +opportunity to converse with Simmons and Brumley before doing anything +as I felt that their experience might contain some useful hints for +me. + +They appeared at the end of two months, quite undismayed. They told me +of what had happened to them and Simmons approached me on the subject +of making another try of it with them. I readily consented. They were +now convinced that three or four could make the attempt with a better +chance of success than two men. I would have agreed to go an army! All +I wanted was an opportunity to prove my mettle and retrieve my lost +reputation. + +They told me their story. It seems that they had been sent out as a +working party to a near by farm. They were locked in the room as usual +at nine o'clock that night after the day's work and then waited until +they had heard the sentry pass by a couple of times on his rounds. The +window was covered with barbed wire which they had no difficulty in +removing. By morning they were well on the way to Switzerland. They +figured that they, too, could do it in six weeks' of walking by +night, laying their course by the stars. They had no money and were +still in khaki. + +They were four days' out and lying close in a small clump of bushes +adjoining a field in which women were digging potatoes when a small +boy stumbled on them. They knew they had been seen the day before and +chose this exposed spot rather than the near-by wood, thinking that it +was there the hue and cry would run. But he was a crafty little brat +and pretended that he had not seen them. They were not certain whether +he had or not and hesitated to give their position away by running for +it. + +The boy walked until he neared the women, when he broke into a run and +soon all gathered in a little knot, looking and pointing toward the +fugitives. Some of the women broke away and evidently told some +Bavarian soldiers who had been searching. The latter had already been +firing into the woods to flush them out so that if the boy had not +seen them the soldiers would in all likelihood have passed on, after +searching the main wood. + +It was just four o'clock with darkness still four hours off. Simmons +and Brumley were unarmed. There was no use in running for it. So they +surrendered with what grace they could. There was the usual +_verdamning_, growling and prodding but no really bad treatment. For +this they were sentenced to two weeks cells and six weeks of strafe +barracks. + +They had been much bothered by the lack of a compass on their trip; so +when they finished their strafing and were once more allowed the +privileges of the mail, Simmons took a chance and wrote on the inside +of an envelope addressed to his brother in Canada: "Send a compass." +He was not called up so we hoped that it had gone through. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE TRAITOR AT VEHNMOOR + + The Swamp at Cellelaager--Seven Hundred Men and Two Small + Stoves--Taking the Stripes Down--The Recreant Sergeant Major--"Go + Ahead an' Shoot--!" + + +Giessen is in Hesse. Shortly after this we were all sent to +Cellelaager in Hanover. This was the head camp of a series reserved +for the punishment or the working of prisoners. Each unit retained the +name of Cellelaager and received in addition a number, as Cellelaager +1, Cellelaager 2 and so on. There were grounds here providing a lot +for football, and a theatre run by the prisoners, for which there was +an entrance fee, and other like amusements. These, however, were only +for those prisoners who were on good behaviour and who were employed +there. As such they were denied such desperadoes as ourselves. + +We remained there for two weeks and were then sent to the punishment +camp known as Vehnmoor or Cellelaager 6. This was a good day's ride +away and also in Hanover, fifteen kilometres from the big military +town of Oldenburg. Here we were turned out to work on the moors with +four hundred Russians, one hundred French and Belgians and two hundred +British and Canadians. We were housed in one large hut built on a +swamp and were continually wet. There were only two small stoves for +the seven hundred men and we had only a few two pound syrup tins in +which to cook. A poor quality of peat was our only fuel. As only five +men could crowd round a stove at a time, one's chances were rather +slim in the dense mob, every man-jack of whom was waiting to slip into +the first vacant place that offered. + +We slept in a row along the wall, with our heads to it. Overhead a +broad shelf supported a similar row of men. Above them were the +windows. At our feet and in the centre of the room, there was a two +foot passage way and then another row of men, with two shelves housing +two more layers of sleepers above them. Then another two foot +passageway, the row of men on the floor against the other wall and the +usual shelf full above them. The vermin were bad and presented a +problem until we arranged with the Russians to take one end to +themselves, the French and Belgians the middle and we the other end. +By this means we British were able to institute precautionary measures +amongst ourselves so that after feasting on the Russians and finishing +up upon the French, our annoying friends usually turned about and went +home again. + +The swamp water was filthy, full of peat and only to be drunk in +minute quantities at the bidding of an intolerable thirst. There was +no other water to be had and we simply could not drink this. The +Russians did, which meant another fatigue party to bury them. The only +doctor was an old German, called so by courtesy; but he knew nothing +of medicine. As a corporal, I was held responsible for twenty men. +That implied mostly keeping track of the sick and I have seen nineteen +of my twenty thus. But that made no difference. It was "Raus!" and out +they came, sick or well. + +Every morning an officer stood at the gate as we marched out to the +moor, to take "Eyes right" and a salute, for no useful purpose that we +could see except to belittle a British soldier's pride. As corporal I +was supposed to give that command to my squad but rather than do so I +took my stripes down, although that ended my immunity as a "non-com" +from the labour of cutting peat. Others, I am sorry to say, were glad +to put the stripes up and at times went beyond the necessities of the +situation in enforcing their rule on their comrades. It was one of +these who was found to be trading in and selling his packages to his +less fortunate comrades and who was ostracized in consequence. + +There were here at Vehnmoor, as there had been at Giessen, a certain +few of our own men who traded on the misfortunes of their own +comrades. This man was the worst of them all. He was a sergeant-major +in a certain famous regiment of the line in the British Army. He was a +fair sample of that worst type which the army system so often +delegates authority to--and complains because that authority does not +meet with the respect it should on the part of its victims. + +He excelled in all the arts of the sycophant: The pleasure of the +guards was his delight, their displeasure, his poignant grief. He +assumed the authority of his rank with us, he reported the slightest +of misdemeanours amongst us to the guards and was instrumental in +having many punished. These and other things gave him and others of +his kidney the run of the main grounds so that they could stretch +their legs and have some variety in their lives. Such liberty was +there for any man who would do as they did. + +None of us were safe from these traitors. The sergeant major in +particular, spied on us, reporting all criticisms of our guards and +other things German. We raged. He had for his virtue a small room to +himself in a corner of the hut. When parcels came from England, +addressed to the senior non-commissioned officer of his regiment, for +him to distribute; he called the guards in. Shortly they went out with +their coats bulging suspiciously. We were then called to receive ours +whilst he stood over, bullying us with all the abusive "chatter" which +the British service so well teaches. And afterward we watched +covertly, with all the cunning of the oppressed, and saw him receive +other stealthy favours from the guards that were not within his +arrangement with the Commandant. + +So one of his own men who had a certain legal learning took down all +these facts as I have recited them and calling us together, bade us +sign our names in evidence of so foul a treachery. Which we gladly +did. And it was and is the prayer of all that when the gates of the +prison camps roll back this document will get to the War Office and +there receive the attention it deserves. + +My comrades in misfortune here told me of another such a man who had +gone away just before my arrival at this camp. He, too, was a +sergeant-major of a line regiment in the old army. I had known him in +the old days in India. In his own regiment he was never known by his +own name, but instead by this one: "The dirty bad man." No one ever +called him anything else when referring to him. That was his former +record and this is what he did here to keep the memory of it green. + +He was instrumental in having fixed on us one of the most terrible of +army punishments. It appears that some time before one of our men had +broken some petty rule of discipline and the Germans had asked the +sergeant-major what the punishment was in our army for such a "crime," +as all offences are termed in the army. + +"Number One Field Punishment or Crucifixion," had been his lying +reply. That meant being spread-eagled on the wheel of a gun limber, +tied to the spokes at wrist and ankle, with the toes off the ground +and the entire weight of the body on the outraged nerves and muscles +of those members. + +Lacking a gun limber, the Germans used a post with a cross-bar for +this man's case. After that, this was a recognized mode of punishment +for many petty offences in this camp. + +It is true that this form of punishment is a part of the so-called +discipline of our army. But it was not meted out for offences of the +nature of this man's and if it had been, the obvious thing for the +sergeant-major to have done would have been to have lied like a man; +instead of which he piled horror on horror for his own countrymen. I +have the facts and names of these cases. + +There will be many strange tales to come from these camps in the +fulness of time. No doubt some will go against us, but the truth must +be told at all costs, else the evil goes on and on. + +We were sent out one day to dig potato trenches on the moors in a +terrible rain. We stuck our spades in the ground and refused. The +guards had French rifles of the vintage of 1870 which carried +cartridges with bullets that were really slugs of lead. They began to +load. A little _unteroffizier_ tugged excitedly at his holster for the +revolver. + +A big Canadian stepped up: "Wait a minute, mate." He reached down to +the little man's waist and drew the gun. + +He offered it to its owner, butt forward, "Now go ahead and shoot, and +we'll chop your damned heads off." + +The rest of us confirmed our leader's statement by gathering around +threateningly and making gruesome and suggestive motions with our +spades. There were two hundred of us and only forty guards. We meant +business and they knew it. They took us back to the laager and locked +us up. + +The following night, that of January 22nd, our guards were reinforced +by thirty more. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +AWAY AGAIN + + Why the Prisoners Walked--Cold Feet Again--The Man Who Turned and + Fled--Brumley's Precious Legs--The Wait in the Wood--The Cunning + of the Hunted--Bad Days in the Swamps--Within Four Miles of + Freedom--The Kaiser's Birthday--Another Trip to Holland. + + +Simmons and Brumley, together with my companion of the first escape, +had determined to make a break for it with me. And although we were +not quite ready at this time the addition to the guards forced our +decision. We had a scanty supply of biscuits saved up and I had +wheedled a file from a friendly Russian; Simmons got a bit of a map +from a Frenchman; and we secured a watch from a Belgian. With this +international outfit we were ready, except that we lacked a sufficient +store of food. However, there was no help for that. + +The laager was a twelve-foot-high barbed wire enclosure, eighty feet +wide by three hundred long, with the hut occupying the greater part of +the central space. There was sufficient room below the bottom wire to +permit the trained camp dogs to get in and out at us. + +They patrolled the four-foot lane that enclosed the laager and +wandered up and down it, their tongues out, always on the alert. They +were as well confined as we were, since the outer wall of wire was +built down close to the ground. They were very savage and seemed +instinctively to regard us as enemies; as all good German dogs should. + +The sworn evidence of prisoners exchanged since my escape mentions +that in one case an imbecile Belgian was daily led out to the fields, +wrapped up in several layers of clothes and then set upon by the dogs +under the guidance of their guards; this was for the better +instruction of the dogs. + +At each corner of the laager there hung an arc light. The sphere of +light from those at the end did not quite meet and so left a small +shadow in the center of the end fence. + +As soon as night came we arranged that six other men should walk to +and fro from the end of the hut to the shadow at the wire, as though +for exercise. Others, ourselves included, clustered round the end of +the hut. I watched my chance, and when the moment seemed favorable, +fell into step beside the promenaders. + +We swung boldly out, intent apparently, on nothing. Our arrival at the +inner wire synchronized with that of one of the guards beyond the +outer wire. We turned about without appearing to have seen him. Still +walking briskly, we reached the hut and turned again. The guard's back +was now turned; he was walking away. At his present rate of travel he +should be twenty yards off when we next reached the wire. We dared not +chance suspicion by slackening our gait. My heart stopped. + +As we reached the shadow I fell prone and lay motionless. No dogs were +in sight. Niagara pounded in at my ears but no hostile sound indicated +that I had been observed. I dragged myself carefully through and under +the clearance left for the dogs, until my cap brushed the lower wires +of the main and outer fence. My feet still projected beyond the inner +wire into the main enclosure so that on their next trip one of my +comrades inadvertently touched my foot, startling me. + + [Illustration: RECORD OF SECOND ESCAPE AND RECAPTURE.] + +I held the strand in my left hand and fell to filing with my right so +that at the snap there should be no noisy rebound of the spring-like +wire. A post was at my right, and, the wire having been nailed to it, +I was safe from this danger on that side. + +The sound of the tramp of those faithful feet receded but the sound of +them came strongly back to me like a message of hope. + +By the time they were back once more I had cut through three strands +and was crawling cautiously toward my objective, a pile of peat two +hundred yards distant, which seemed to offer cover as a breathing spot +and starting point. On the signal from the promenaders that I was +through the wire, Simmons followed, and after him, Brumley. The other +man lived up to the example he had previously set himself. He drew +back in alarm and refused to make the attempt. + +With twenty-five guards all about and some only thirty feet away, the +very impudence of the plan offered our only hope of success. I still +lacked fifty yards of the peat heap when I heard three shots, next +the dogs, and then the general outcry which followed the detection of +Brumley. + +I rose to my feet and ran. We had already mapped out our course in +advance by daylight, for just such a contingency; so I struck boldly +out. I was still in the swamp to my knees, and under those conditions +even the short start we had might prove sufficient, since our pursuers +would also bog down. The swamp was intersected by a series of small +ditches and scattered bushes, which added to the difficulty of the +passage. I heard Brumley floundering and swearing behind and went back +to pull him out of a bottomless ditch. Simmons joined us while I was +still struggling with him. In another hour Brumley's legs played out. +We could still make out the lights of the laager. It was vitally +necessary to push on; so we encouraged him as best we could and +managed, somehow, to reach the edge of the swamp by daylight. We put +ourselves on the meagre rations our store allowed, one biscuit for +breakfast and another for supper, with a bit of chocolate on the side. +We had apparently outdistanced the pursuit. We prayed that our friends +might not be too severely punished for their part in our escape. + +We lay in the heather all day, soaked to the skin with the brackish +water of the swamp, the odor of which still hung to our clothes. It +was January and very cold and sleep was impossible under such +conditions. We nibbled our tiny rations and struck out as soon as +darkness came. Our plan was to go straight across country, but Brumley +could not navigate the rough going of the fields; although on the +level roads he made out fairly well. So we chanced it on the latter. + +Brumley was struggling along manfully but his legs caused him great +suffering. At about two o'clock in the morning we lay to in the shadow +of a clump of trees at the roadside, thinking to ease him a bit. He +flung himself down. Simmons massaged Brumley's legs whilst I watched. + +We had just said: "Come on," and they were rising to their feet, when +another figure stepped off the road and in amongst our trees. It was +so dark where we stood that he probably would not have seen us had not +Brumley at that very moment been rising to his feet. He appeared as +much surprised as we were and started back as though in amazement. And +then without more ado, he turned and fled the way we had come whilst +we made what haste we could in the opposite direction, all equally +alarmed. + +Who he was or what he wanted, we could only surmise. If he was not +also an escaped prisoner then he must have been badly wanted by the +authorities to have been travelling in such a fashion at such an hour; +and above all, to have been so alarmed by this chance meeting with +fugitives. In any event we wished him luck and promptly forgot all +about him. + +Later on in the night our road led us directly into a village. We +hesitated as to what we should do. Brumley was for pushing through. +The alternative was to go round and through the fields, lose valuable +time and play out Brumley's precious legs. It was past midnight, so we +decided on the village route, and started on. + +We passed through without being molested, but just as we were leaving +the other side some civilians saw us and shouted "Halt!" and other +words meaning "to shoot." We paid no attention. Espying a wood in the +distance, we struck out for it. Brumley was in misery and threw up the +sponge. We stopped to argue with him, at the same time dragging him +along, and while doing so saw two more civilians rushing up and +shouting as they came. Lights began to spring up all over the village. +Brumley stopped dead and refused to go farther. We had previously +agreed that if anything should happen to any one of us the others were +to push on, every man for himself. No good could be gained by fighting +when we were so hopelessly outnumbered, so Simmons and I rushed into +the wood, swung around and out again and lay down on the edge of it, +in time to see them take Brumley and come sweeping by us in hot +pursuit. The main body stopped only a moment to inspect their capture, +gathering around poor Brumley so that we could not at first see what +had happened to him. Then several of them started back toward the +village, with him limping along at their side. Ten yards away a knot +of them gathered and assisted another up into a tree to watch for us. +One handed him a rifle and the pursuit went on into the wood. +Occasionally we heard the sentinel stirring. + +We scarcely breathed. It seemed impossible that he could not hear the +pounding of our hearts. We grew quite stiff in our cramped positions, +but feared to shift a limb and waited for three-quarters of an hour +before we dared to worm our way cautiously in the other direction. The +snap of a twig was like that of a rifle on the stillness of the night. + +Once we stopped, thinking that certainly he had heard us. It was only +the beat of a night bird's wings. We dared take only an inch at a +time, sliding forward on our bellies and then--waiting. + +We met another sentry farther up, but worked around him in safety and +with more of ease, as we were by this time on our feet. + +Arriving at the end of the small wood, we walked boldly across the +intervening fields to another one, large enough to afford cover for an +army corps, and there felt comparatively safe. + +We were, however, very wet and cold and altogether miserable, buoyed +up only by the liberty ahead. As it was only two o'clock, we pushed on +for several hours before stopping to lie by for the day. + +For days we carried on thus without discovery. Each night was a +repetition of the preceding one, an interminable fighting of our way +through dark forests, into and out of sloppy ditches, over fields and +through thorny hedges, dodging the lights of villages. + +We went solely by the stars, which Simmons understood after a fashion, +and, aided by our map, we held fairly well to our general direction. +We had no other sources of information than our own good sense. We +watched the sky ahead at night for the glow which might indicate to us +the size of the community ahead; and aided by a close observation of +railroads, telegraph wires and the quality of the wagon roads and the +quantity of travel on them, were able to form fairly accurate +estimates of where we were and which places to avoid. Except on +unfrequented byways we travelled by the fields, hugging the road from +a distance. This made travel arduous but safer. + +At that, we were sometimes spoken to in neighborly greeting. We +grunted indifferently in reply, as an unsociable man might. When, as +sometimes happened, people rose up in front of us from gateways or +hidden roads, it was very disconcerting. On such occasions only the +darkness saved us, for we took no chances, wherever there were lights. + +It was really harder in the day time; when, try as we might, we could +not count on avoiding for our hiding place the scene of some +labourer's toil or perhaps the covert of some child's play. We slept +by turns with one always on guard. It was difficult indeed for the +guard not to neglect his duty, so utterly weary were we. The lying +position we needs must retain all day long aided that tendency, and +yet we were always so wet and cold that real sleep was difficult to +secure. + +In this district the swamps were numerous and difficult to cross. The +small ditches and canals that drained them or the almost equally +swampy fields added to our grief. The feet slipped back at each muddy +step: We fell into ditches: Dogs barked: And we almost wept. + +Once a dog helped us by his barking. It was night and we were crossing +a very bad swamp, an old peat bog which was full of the ditches and +holes that the peat had been taken from. These were full of black +water which merged so naturally into the prevailing darkness that we +repeatedly fell into them. We floundered out of one only to fall into +another, uncertain where we were going and lost to all sense of +direction. There was no vestige of track or road. It was then that +the dog barked. We stopped to listen, conversing in low tones. +Certainly, we thought, the dog must be near a house and that meant dry +land and a footing. So we advanced in the direction of the sound, +stopping to listen to each fresh outburst so as to make certain that +we should not approach too closely. Apparently he had smelt us on the +wind. + +Before we reached the dog we felt the solid ground under foot and were +off once more at a tangent from the sound of his barking. + +The swamps were a great trouble to us, as were also some of the +fields, so cut up by ditches and hedges were they, and yet, in order +to avoid the roads and the wires, we frequently had to lay a +circuitous route to avoid these obstacles or else chance the road, +which we would not do. Often, when we could see our course lying +straight ahead on the road, we put about and tacked off and away from +it because a parallel course was impossible on account of the swampy +nature of the ground. With these bad places passed we could perhaps +pull back to our true course again, but only after double the travel +that should have been necessary. + +However, we did not mind that so much. Nor did we greatly mind the +short rations we were on. The other privations were too severe for us +to notice these minor ones. + +The worst was the continual state of wetness and the resultant +coldness of our bodies. It was not so bad at night when we were +walking and so kept our blood circulating, but by day it was very bad. +We used to pray for night and the end of our enforced rest. We were +never dry or warm but were always very cold and miserable. The sun, on +those rare occasions when it came forth, did not appear until ten or +eleven in the morning. By mid-afternoon it was again a thing of the +past. At best it was very weak and we had to hide in the bushes where +it could not reach us. All we could do was to take off one garment at +a time and thrust it cautiously out near the edge of our hiding-place +to some spot on which the sun shone. Under these conditions we grew +steadily weaker on our allowance of two biscuits a day; for the time +of year precluded the possibility of there being any crops for us to +fall back upon for food, and it was too risky a proceeding to attempt +to steal from the householders. + + [Illustration: GERMAN PRISONERS MARCHING THROUGH GOOD NATURED + ENGLISH CROWDS AT SOUTHAMPTON.] + + [Illustration: HIGH EXPLOSIVES BURSTING OVER GERMAN TRENCHES. + BRITISH DEAD IN FOREGROUND.] + +On the eighth day we reached the River Ems. We had no difficulty in +recognising it, as it was the only large one on our map that lay on +the route we had chosen, and we had passed nothing even faintly +resembling it, with the exception of some large canals, which were +easily recognizable as such and which we had swum. We made out trees +which appeared to be on the other shore. + +We regretfully decided that it was too late to attempt the crossing +that night. The daylight proved the line of trees to be merely the +tops of a flooded woodland. The shore was a good quarter of a mile +away. It was January; the water was cold and full of floating ice, and +very swift. Fording was out of the question. For two days and nights +we wandered up and down the bank, vainly seeking a boat or raft with +which to make the crossing. We finally discovered a large bridge, +which was submerged except for its flood-time arches. There was no +sign of life and it looked safe, so we proceeded to cross. We +discovered, however, that we had not reached the bridge proper, but +were merely on the approach to it. We dropped off onto the main steel +portion. The wind beat the cold rain against us so that we could +neither see nor hear. However, we went on and were nearly across when +suddenly a light flashed on us and we heard a startled "Halt!" + +We could barely make out the mass of buildings that indicated the line +of the shore. It seemed too bad to throw up the sponge so easily. + +I said under my breath to Simmons: "We'll push right on," and loudly: +"Hollander!" thinking we might perhaps get far enough away to make a +run for it. But there was no show: It was too far to the shore. + +There was a shouted command and the clatter of rifle-bolts striking +home. It was no use. We stopped and shouted that we would not run, and +then waited while they advanced toward us. + +The elderly Landsturmers guarding the bridge gathered us in and took +us over to their guardroom at the hotel. We judged the incident to be +an epoch in the monotony of their soldierly duties. They were very +good to us. Two of them moved away from the fire to make room for our +wet misery and they gave us a pot of boiling water, two bivouac cocoa +tablets and a loaf of black bread. The news spread, and civilians +dropped in to stare at and question us. In the morning the entire +population came to see the _Englaender_ prisoners. We learned that we +were only four miles from Holland, and cursed aloud. The town was +Lathen and when, the next morning, we discovered that it was gayly +bedecked with flags and bunting we decided that we were indeed +personages of note if we could cause such a celebration. However, it +was only the Kaiser's birthday. + +In the afternoon they took us by rail to Meppen and shoved us in the +civilian jail, where we were allowed a daily ration of two ounces of +black bread, one pint of gruel and three-quarters of a pint of coffee +for two days, until, on January thirtieth, an escort came from +Vehnmoor. They roped us together with a clothes-line, arm to arm, and +marched us through the principal streets by a roundabout route to the +station so that all might see. + +We were unwashed, unshaven and so altogether disreputable as to +satisfy the most violent hatred--such for instance as we found here. +It did not require our pride to keep our hearts up or to keep us from +feeling the humiliation of so cruel an ordeal. We simply did not +experience the painful sensations that such a proceeding would +ordinarily arouse in the breast of any man; just as after heavy +shell-fire no man feels either fear or courage; he is too dazed and +stupid for either. Many spat at us and good old _Englaender Schwein_ +came to us from every side. It seemed like meeting an old friend, +after our few days away from it. The faces of these people were +different from those we had left at camp but their hearts were the +same. They lined the streets and jeered at us. But we were too tired +and hungry to care. + +And that ended that trip to Holland. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +PAYING THE PIPER + + Sheer Starvation--Slipping It Over the Sentry--The Court + Martial--Thirty Days Cells--No Place for a Gourmand--In + Napoleon's Footsteps--Parniewinkel Camp--"Like Father, Like + Son"--The Last Kind German--Running Amuck--The Torture of the + Russians--The Continental Times--"K. of K. Is Gone!" + + +Upon arrival at camp, we were put in cells for eleven days while +awaiting our court-martial. + +During that period we suffered terribly from sheer starvation. The +daily rations consisted of a poor soup and a small quantity of black +bread. Hungry though I was, there was only one way by which I could +eat it--hold my breath and swallow. I am aware that the Germans +consider this food quite palatable but that may be because they are +accustomed to it. It was to us the resort of starving men. The cells +were quite dark--four-by-eight-foot wooden boxes. The confinement and +short rations on top of our arduous journey, during which we had had +nothing but the two biscuits a day, caused us to grow weaker daily. + +Our friends, however, contrived occasionally to get portions of their +food to us. They maintained a sentry of their own, whose duty it was +to watch for and report our trips to the latrine. It was unsafe for us +to ask for this permission more than once a day with the same guard. +As the latter was frequently changed, however, we were enabled to work +the scheme to the limit. + +At the worst, this let us out of our cells for a few minutes; and, if +we were lucky, enabled us to get a handful of broken food. Seeing us +come out, the prisoner on watch would stroll into the hut and pass the +word. Shortly, another would come out to us and in passing frequently +manage to slip us something. On one long-to-be-remembered occasion, a +man of the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, managed to "square" +the guard, a pleasant-faced young German, in some manner we could +never fathom, so that the latter actually brought to us two spoons and +a wash basin full of boiled barley, which we ate in the latrine. That +was the most humane act experienced from German hands during my +fifteen months' sojourn in Germany. + +On the eleventh day we were marched out to what would be the Germans' +orderly room. A Canadian who had picked up a smattering of German +acted as interpreter. He did what he could for us, which was little +enough. + +Asked why we had tried to escape, we feared to tell the truth, that we +had been forced to it by ill-treatment; so merely stated that we were +tired of Germany and wanted to go home. The presiding officer said: +"Well, you fellows have been a lot of trouble to us. I've been told to +tell you that if you give us any more; we'll have a little shooting +bee." We were sentenced to thirty days' dark cells. That was our +court-martial. + +One lucky thing happened to us here: When they took our map away it +fell in two, as a result of having been folded in our pockets. The +officer crumpled one piece up, made a handful of it and tossed it +away, at the same time shoving the other half at me, which I eagerly +clutched. That piece showed the portion of Germany adjoining the +Holland border. + +Our thirty days' dark cells were spent in the military prison at +Oldenburg. As before, they were four-by-eight feet in size, but with a +high ceiling which gave me room to stand on my hands for exercise. +Each of us was confined alone. The walls and floor of the cells were +of stone; the shutters, of steel which were always closed. There was +no furniture other than the three boards which served as the mockery +of a bed and which were chained up to the wall every morning. A small +shelf which held the water pitcher was the only other furnishing. No +ray of light was permitted to enter the place. The month was February +but there were no blankets, and the place was unheated. The rations +consisted of half a pound of black bread and a pitcher of water, which +were thrust in to us every morning, so that except for the guard who +unchained the boards at night we had no visitation in the twenty-four +long, long hours. + +I cannot remember that I brooded much. Rather, I let my mind run out +as a tired sleeper might, which was no doubt fortunate for me. My +family were greatly in my thoughts. I wondered how my wife was making +out and if she was receiving her separation allowance all right, for +I had heard of many cases where the reverse had happened; and whether +the boys were well and going to school. I hoped that all was well with +them and that they did not worry too much over my lot. + +As I was not permitted either to send or receive letters during the +period of my trial and incarceration, my wife was in fact in great +distress of mind about me as she received no word for many weeks and +imagined the worst. And when at last I could write it was only to say +that although I had been well I had been unable to write, leaving her +to draw her own conclusions. + +The cell door opened promptly at five o'clock every morning. We were +allowed ten minutes in which to clean our cell, go to the lavatory and +wash up, all under guard. These were the only occasions during which +we had an opportunity of seeing one another or the other prisoners. +These rites were all performed in silence, and communication of any +description was forbidden and so keenly watched for as to be +impossible. However, Simmons and I got what small comfort we could out +of seeing one another frequently, and by this time there had grown up +between us such a mutual respect as to make us value this highly. The +other prisoners included Germans as well as our allies and there were +some civilian German prisoners. The German soldier prisoners were +mostly in for committing the various crimes of soldiering which in the +British Army would have put them under the general head of defaulters. +That classification, however, had been done away with in the German +Army. The slightest infringement of discipline was punished with +cells. Noncommissioned officers received the same punishment as the +men, without, however, losing their rank, as would have been the case +in our army. + +Upon finishing the ten minutes allotted to us we were forced to +re-enter our cells and stand against the wall, at the back, so that we +could neither see nor communicate with one another until the guard got +around a few minutes later and looked in to see that all was as it +should be before slamming the door. + +There was no use in trying to stretch the ration out for two meals. I +tried to and gave it up. And after that I ate the bread, filled up on +water and sat down on the cold stone floor for another twenty-four +hours of waiting. + +My thoughts dwelt greatly on food. We were supposed to receive soup +every fourth day, but we did not. The prisoners of other nationalities +did, and in addition were exercised regularly. At least we could hear +the rattle of their spoons against their bowls and the tramp of their +feet. The slow starving was, to my mind, the worst. And after that the +loss of sleep. If one did drop off, the cold soon caused a miserable +awakening. I tried not to think, and did all the gymnastic drill I +knew, even to standing on my hands in the darkness of the cell. I knew +that if I gave up it would be all off, for I could daily feel myself +getting wabbly as the confinement and starvation, added to my already +enfeebled and starved condition when I entered, began to tell on me. +It must be borne in mind that I had already served eleven days' +solitary confinement on insufficient food, after several days of jail +on ditto, and eight days while escaping, during which I had been +continually wet and without food, other than the two biscuits daily, +before beginning to serve this sentence. Simmons, of course, was in +the same plight. + +The last day, that of February 22nd, rolled around finally. We were +taken from our cells at nine o'clock and marched out for an unknown +destination which we knew only as a stronger punishment camp than the +others we had been in. Ahead of us we saw poor Brumley; but were +unable to communicate with him, and I do not know whether he saw us or +not. That was all we ever learned directly of his fate. His wife, in +Toronto, has since informed me that he is still in Germany and has +only lately been recaptured after another attempt at escape. + +At eleven that night we arrived at our destination. This was the +strong punishment camp of Parniewinkel, in Hanover, on the road over +which Napoleon had marched to his doom at Moscow. We wondered if we, +too, were going to ours. + +We had had no food that day, nor did we get any that night, but were +shoved into a hut full of Russians, who did not know what to make of +us. We were so long of hair and beard, so ragged, so emaciated and so +altogether filthy that they must have thought us anything but British +soldiers. + +Later we found that there were, in all, between four and five hundred +Russian, eighty French and Belgian, and, including ourselves, eleven +British prisoners, of whom Simmons and I were the only Canadians, all +shoved into two huts in the middle of the usual barbed-wire laager. + +As Giessen was the best camp, so this one was the worst of all those +we were to know. It was not so wet as the swamp at Vehnmoor, but the +drinking water was even worse than the brackish, peat-laden water +there. The general sanitary arrangements were terrible and the food +was worse than at Giessen, the camp in which that lack had been the +worst feature among many bad ones. And on top of it all the treatment +was very bad, much worse than any we had previously known. + +A soup, made from a handful of pickled fish roe and a few potatoes, +was a stock dish, and terrible to taste. On one night a week we +received a raw herring fresh from the brine barrel, which we were +supposed to eat raw and uncleaned, but could not. On one day in seven +there was a weak cabbage soup and of course, a small daily ration of +potato-and-rye bread. Fortunately, our parcels were beginning to +arrive by this time, so that, in fact, we fared better than at any of +the better camps, in the matter of food. With the Russians it was +different, and we used to give our soup to them in exchange for their +share of boiling water, which we used in conjunction with the contents +of our parcels and which they had no use for anyway, especially for +washing purposes. + +It was difficult to get an opportunity to boil water for the making of +tea or cocoa, even when parcels furnished the essentials, as there +were so many men and so few stoves that it was a constant struggle to +get near the latter. + +However, as we had refused to work, we did not require very much food. +We used also to give our black bread to the Russians, for which they +insisted on doing our washing, though it was little enough of that +they did for themselves. They were very good and simple men. + +Ours was a good bunch of fellows and gave freely to one another and to +the unfortunate Russians, who rarely received parcels. There was no +selling or trading on misfortune here, as in some of the other camps +we had been in. The Germans themselves were short of necessities here. +They hated to come to the _Englaenders_ to buy, so used to send the +Russians to beg for soap which they would not use in any event, and in +this case simply sold to the guards. Discovering this, we shut down on +indiscriminate giving. Soap or any other fatty substance was by that +time very scarce in Germany, amongst the lower classes at least. I was +the only "non-com" in our lot, and so put up the stripes I had taken +down to avoid giving _Augen Rechts_ at Vehnmoor. I used that authority +now to persuade my fellow Britishers to give to the unfortunate +Russians rather than to the French, who, like ourselves, were +receiving parcels. + +A boy of five years or thereabouts used to come regularly to the wire, +upon which he would climb and hang like some foul spider on its web. +Grasping it in both small hands and kicking vainly at it and us, he +would scream: "Englaender Schwein," and I know not what other names, +spitting venom like a little wildcat. This was not the riffraff of the +camp. The boy was the son of the camp Commandant, and the apple of his +father's eye and the thing was often done under that eye and amid the +vicious applause of the young father and his terrible crew. + +The Commandant was a young chap, a lieutenant. What he lacked in years +he made up in hate. He was known as an England hater. We were poison +to him. The latrine, a mere shallow pit, was just outside the door of +our hut and the Commandant saw to it that the latrine fatigue was +always wished off on to the British. We were made to bail it out daily +with buckets, which we then carried to the surrounding fields, on +which we spread the contents while the Commandant and guards laughed. +The _unteroffizier_ in immediate charge of us, if left alone would not +make us do this. He was the last kind German I remember, and I have +mentioned all whom I can recall as having performed the slightest act +of kindness to us, even of the most negative quality. He used to say +that it was a pity to treat us so; that such a job was good enough for +the Russians, who were no soldiers, anyhow, and who smelled bad and +would not wash; but for us who were soldiers it was a great shame. + +The vermin were so bad here that we chanced further trouble by writing +on post cards as though to friends in England, and complained. We knew +that they would be intercepted and go to the Commandant. They did. We +were marched to Cellelaager to go through the fumigating machine. We +went into a large hut, stripped, tied our clothes in a bundle and +shoved them into the large oven to bake for five hours while we sat +round with nothing on but a smile. In the interval we were made to +run the clippers closely over our heads and bodies. There were sores +on some of the Russians as big as a hand, eaten deep into by the +vermin and the bones threatened to break through the skin of some as +we sat about naked, shivering. Uncleanly at best and denied soap here, +the lower class of them neglected all the rules of cleanliness. Their +"non-coms" were the reverse, being almost without exception men of +some education and general attainments. + +Upon our return to this camp we were told by a friendly Russian in the +orderly room that the post cards were being held there as evidence +against us. We begged him to give them to us. He did so, and we had +barely finished destroying them when a German officer, accompanied by +a file of men, entered and demanded them. We explained that they had +been destroyed. He would not believe us. We pointed to the charred +ashes. He searched our bodies, our beds and the scanty furnishing of +the hut, naturally without avail. The Russian orderly was severely +admonished and our fire was cut off as punishment. + +The treatment at this camp was uniformly bad. The next morning the +_Raus_ blew at four-thirty instead of five, as was customary. While we +were still engaged in dressing the guards rushed in, some with fixed +bayonets, others with them gripped short, as with daggers. The leader +wore a button, the insignia of non-commissioned rank. He gave a +berserker roar of rage and charged furiously at an inoffensive Russian +and stabbed the poor fellow in the neck; while his victim lay back in +pleading terror, with outstretched arms. And then, still roaring, he +slashed a Frenchman who was walking past, on the back of the head. +Going down the hut, he espied Harckum, of the East Lancashire +Regiment, tying his shoes. Without warning he plunged at him, and, +striking, laid open the entire side of the man's face, splitting the +ear so that it hung in two pieces. This was all quite in order because +we were slow in dressing. + +The Russians, with the exception of a lucky few who received some from +a Russian society in England, got no parcels, and suffered +accordingly. They were more amenable to discipline than we were, and +perhaps because of their hunger used to go out daily to work on the +moors from daylight until dark. They were a cheerful lot, considering +everything, little given to thinking of their situation and not +blessed by any great love of country nor perhaps the pleasantest +recollections of it; and to that extent at least appeared to be +comparatively satisfied, even under ill treatment. Ill fed as they +were, they used frequently to fall out at their work from sheer +exhaustion, which the Germans said was only laziness and malingering +and for which they would be returned to a point near the laager, where +we were, for their punishment. By the Commandant's orders this +consisted of forcing them to run the gauntlet of two lines of soldiers +who jabbed them with bayonets if they fell into a walk--until the +victims could run no more and dropped in their tracks. The Germans +would then roll their eyelids back for signs of shamming, and if any +such indications were shown, they were jabbed again--and usually were, +anyhow--until their failure to respond proved that they were really +unconscious. + +This happened with alarming frequency on a regular schedule, forenoon +and afternoon, to all Russians who refused to work. On one occasion we +saw six or eight of them laid out unconscious at one time in this +manner. We wished to do something for them, but were refused +permission, and one man who was thought to be a ring leader was +selected to make an example of; he was awarded seven days' cells. + +We had previously agreed that if we were awarded this punishment; we +should refuse to run the gauntlet and should let them do their worst. +There was no more heard of all this, but after that the Russians were +punished on the other side of a belt of trees just outside the laager, +where we could not see them, though their piteous cries could plainly +be distinguished. + +Three of the Russians broke away from this camp, and finding +themselves near the stores, crawled in the window and stole a half of +a pig. They were recaptured, and, after doing thirty days' cells, were +forced to work out the price of the pig at the rate of thirty +pfennigs--or six cents--a day, which ordinarily would have been +credited to them for the buying of necessities. And pork came high in +Germany. + +There was one kind of pill for all ailments. That however, may have +been only stupidity. At least the practice is not confined to the +prison camps nor the army of Germany, as all British soldiers know. +But even these were not for the British. + +On another occasion a party of Russians arrived from another camp +twelve miles away. + +They said that some Englishmen there who had refused to work had been +shot at until all were wounded in the legs. + +We continued to receive our old friend, the _Continental Times_, here, +and through it first learned of the Skager-Rack or Jutland battle, in +which, the paper claimed, over thirty major British ships had been +sunk, in addition to a larger number of smaller ones. The _Times_ said +it was a great victory for the Germans. The last we doubted and the +first we knew to be untrue, since some of the ships they claimed to +have sunk had been destroyed previous to our capture, nine months +before. It was in the _Times_, too, that we first heard of Kitchener's +end. We could not believe it, and for a month laughed at the guard's +insistence on the story, until one day a post card arrived from +England, saying: "K. of K. is gone." That was a terrible blow to us, +for to the British soldier; Kitchener was the tangible expression of +the might of his Empire. + +Some of our party of eleven British had been prisoners since Mons and +they were in a very bad way. The poor food, the lack of the +fundamental necessities of the human frame, the terrible monotony of +the continual barbed wire, the same faces round them, mostly +unfriendly, all combined to have a most depressing effect, not only +upon their bodies, but upon their minds. Many of them will never be of +any use again. Compared to Ladysmith, when that place was besieged in +the South African War, the latter, terrible though it was, was far and +away better than this, even if we did live on horse meat at the last +in Ladysmith. + +There was a certain amount of vice here, induced by the life. A kilted +Highlander was accused of having fathered a child in a German family, +where he had been employed. We did not learn the facts of the case; +but such, at least, was camp gossip and it served to detract +materially from the habitual despondency of our lot. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE THIRD ESCAPE + + Saving Up for the Day--A Special Brand--Watchful Waiting--Off + Again--Why the Man in the Moon Laughed--A German Idyll--The + Narrow Escapes. + + +Simmons and I had been planning on another escape ever since our +recapture. So we kept on our good behaviour, while we saved up food +for _Der Tag_. We had hitherto refused to work, as had the remaining +Britishers, but in order to keep ourselves fit; we finally volunteered +to carry the noon ration of soup out to the Russians who worked on the +moor. Our job consisted of carrying an immense can of soup, swung high +on a pole from our shoulders, out to the workers, under guard of +course. Starting at eleven each day and, by permission of the guard, +occasionally resting, we were usually back by one o'clock. Each day we +saved a portion of our food. We wanted twenty days' rations each, +estimating that it would take us that long to walk to Holland. We +specialised on concentrated foods from our parcels--biscuits, tinned +meats, and so on. We had our cache in a hole, dug under cover of +night, under the flooring of the hut. It was unsafe to keep food on +our bodies or near our beds, as the guards were in the habit of +calling the _Raus_ at all hours, and sometimes, several times during +the night. It might be at twelve, two or four, although it was never +alike on any two nights in succession, except that they always +searched us. We could see no reason for this; other than to break our +rest and perhaps our spirits, as at Giessen Camp. Certainly, no one +would carry any forbidden thing on his person, under such +surveillance, and they well knew we could hide anything we wished in +other places; as we did. + +Each Saturday morning, Simmons and I paraded for paint. We stood, +while a big Russian, with a brush and bucket, painted large red and +green circles on our breasts, backs and knees. Thin stripes were also +painted down the seams of our trousers and sleeves and around the +stiff crowns of our caps. This was to mark us as dangerous characters. +As such we received more of the unwelcome _Raus_ attentions than the +others and were the more wary in consequence. + +We were busy opening our mail on one of those rare occasions, when +Simmons gave a startled exclamation. I looked up and saw him gazing +curiously at a small cheese which he turned slowly around in his hand. +As I stepped to his side, a guard came in. He hastily shoved the cause +of the strange behaviour into his pocket. When the guard had gone; he +passed me a letter to read. It was from his brother in Canada. "I +received your letter all right and am sending you a special brand of +cheese," I read--and understood. + +We waited on tiptoe until night, to open the cheese. It was one of the +cream cheeses, so popular in Canada, no bigger than my closed hand. We +gingerly unwrapped the tin foil and broke it open. To our great joy, +in the hollow heart of it there was tucked away the tiny compass +Simmons had written for from Vehnmoor just before our second escape. +With it were four American quarters. + +Not anticipating this good luck, we had exercised our ingenuity to +construct a rude compass of our own out of a safety-razor blade and an +eyelet from my boot. It was within fifteen to twenty degrees of the +true north. In addition we had a safety lamp, which one of the guards +had long been looking for under the impression that he had lost it. + +We now had our twenty days' rations saved up and so took turns sitting +up at night, awaiting our chance. We spent two months in this watchful +waiting, watching the wire and the sentries. But no opportunity +offered. We took turn about, one man on watch all night long, every +night. He could not seem to watch but must lie in his place, observing +all movement in the hut and listening carefully for any indicative +noises outside. Occasionally, he might step outside and ostentatiously +walk about as though sleepless, and, if spoken to, say that he was not +well. + +But always there were the shining eyes of the watching dogs, growling, +if one came too near, and outside the stodgy sentries; and above all, +much light. + +So we determined to volunteer for work, figuring that they were so +short of men that they would not lightly refuse us. It so happened +that ten men were asked for that Saturday to hoe turnips on a near-by +farm. The pay was thirty pfennigs--or six cents--a day. We +volunteered and were accepted without cavil. They thought our spirit +gone and that we had accepted the inevitable. We reasoned that if we +worked hard while we studied the lie of the land we might be asked for +again, could go prepared, and make a break for it. + +And so it fell out. We worked hard all that day, at the same time +impressing the topography of the country upon our minds. At the close +of the day we were taken to the farm for our supper of potatoes and +buttermilk and then marched off to the laager, four miles distant. On +the following Monday we were ordered to go out to the same place. +Unfortunately we could not take our store of food as its bulk would +have meant our detection. In addition to the equipment already +mentioned I carried two packages of tobacco, a shaving brush and a box +of matches. Simmons had a terrible razor which would not shave, four +boxes of matches and a small piece of soap. These were all our worldly +possessions. It will be seen that, true to our British tradition, the +shaving outfit constituted the most formidable part of our +impedimenta. + +We worked all day. And so did the rain. We knocked off for supper at +eight o'clock. The three guards escorted us to the farmhouse, but +after locking the front door, went into an adjoining room with the +farmer for their own meal. The back door was forgotten. We were +famished, so fell to on the supper of buttermilk and potatoes. I +finished first and strolled lazily over to the door. Besides Simmons, +there were seven Frenchmen and an Englishman, all of whom were still +at table and none of them aware of our plans. I carelessly opened the +door and stood on the sill a moment. Still pouring. "Come here, +Simmons, and see this. We're going to get wet before we get back." +Simmons shoved his chair back and joined me. We both stepped outside +and gently shut the door. + +Once more we were on our way! We found ourselves at the edge of the +village in which the farmers hereabouts had their homes. We worked our +way carefully round the outskirts and made for a bit of a wood a mile +and a half away. We were only half way to our objective when the +village bells began to ring. Once more the hue and cry was on! + +When the deep baying of the dogs joined in we said "Ataboy!" cast +aside all concealment and began to run for it. We reached the wood +safely enough, but it turned out to be only a thin fringe of trees, +offering no concealment whatever. We dashed through them. On the other +side a village opened up. Back to the wedge of wood we went. A +good-sized ditch with a foot or so of water in it ran along the edge +of the wood. Its sides were covered with heather, which drooped far +down into the water. We flung ourselves into it, after first shoving +the tin box containing our precious matches into the heather above. +Pitch darkness would not come until ten o'clock. During the +intervening two hours we lay on our backs in the water with only the +smallest possible portion of our faces projecting. Once the guard +jumped over the ditch less than four yards away. We suffered +intensely, for, although it was late August, the water was very cold. + +When things had become quiet and daylight had passed we withdrew +ourselves from the muck, and after rubbing our numbed bodies to +restore the circulation, struck out across the country, intent on +shoving as much distance as possible between ourselves and the camp +before another day rolled round. We knew that the alarm would be out +and the whole country roused, with every man's hand against us. We +were getting used to that. I, for one, had determined not to be taken +alive this time. But I certainly did not want to be put to the test. +So we plowed our way through oat and rye fields and over and through +ditches--many of them. Once we stripped our soggy clothes off to swim +a river that faced us. In no place did the water come above our knees; +but what it lacked in depth, it made up for in coldness. We saw none +of the humour in that, so we cursed it and stumbled on, two very tired +men. We pulled handfuls of oats and chewed dryly on them as we plunged +up to our waists through the crops. We reckoned that we had made +thirty miles by morning and apparently had outdistanced our pursuers. + +One night early in our pilgrimage, we espied some cows in a field. +Simmons had been a farmer in Canada and so was our agricultural and +stock authority here. He plunged through the hedge to see if he could +not capture a hat full of milk whilst I stood guard outside. I stepped +into the shadow of some trees, and occasionally I could hear a +guarded "Soo--Cow!" footsteps--and then as like as not, a muffled +curse. I smiled. + +Two figures came hurriedly down the road. I pressed back against the +hole of the tree, holding my breath. It was fairly light on the road +and to my amazement I saw two men who wore French uniforms. Also they +had heavy packs on their back. That last meant but one thing--food. + +I rose to my feet: "Kamerad!" + +One of them stopped short. The other pressed on. He muttered something +under his breath and the other broke into a trot to catch up. + +I edged along, trying desperately to be friendly. That made them the +more timid. They would have none of me. No further word was exchanged +just then except for a repetition of my "Kamerad." + +I whistled softly to Simmons. That alarmed them the more. They +lengthened their stride. So did I mine. + +One said something I could not catch. They half halted and made a +brave attempt to pose as Germans, to judge by their guttural talk and +brassy front. + +I could not explain, although I tried in the half light to show my +friendliness, and Simmons, now a few rods away, did likewise. I +endeavoured to address them in French--and could not. I tried German. +That was worse and the final result--chaos. + +All I could think of was "Kamerad." I kept on like a parrot, foolishly +repeating it. + +All this took but a moment and then they were gone and we after them. + +So there were they, walking hurriedly, fearful of us for Germans no +doubt and casting uneasy glances back. I followed slowly, at a loss to +know what to do, my eyes glued on the inviting squareness of their +heavy packs. Simmons jogged behind, endeavouring to catch up. The moon +laughed at all four of us. + +"Come on," I said. "They're Frenchmen. We'll follow them. They have +two packs on their backs! Grub! And maybe we can bum them for a bit." + +Simmons needed no second invitation but set out as eagerly as I in +cautious pursuit; so fearful were we of alarming our quarry. Our eyes +were glued on their packs. + +Just then the road opened up into a broad expanse of heather. And +there we lost them. We beat about in the heather for a long time, and +called loudly, but without avail. They were no doubt lying down, +hiding. + +We found some potatoes in a field that night, dug them up with our +bare hands and ate them raw. We were very sad when we thought of those +packs. + +It was, I remember, on the day following that we saw some of the +lighter side of German life. The woods thereabouts were cut up into +big blocks, as city streets are. We were laying to in one of them, +thankful for the thickness of our shelter when we heard laughing +voices and then a gust of laughter as a flying group of girls and boys +romped past. They played about for half an hour, causing us great +alarm by their youthful fondness for sudden excursions into unlikely +spots, after nothing in particular. The oldest of the group, a sizable +boy of seventeen or thereabouts and a pretty girl of near that age, +hung back long after the younger children had passed on. We had little +to fear from them. They were quite evidently engrossed in one another. +He argued earnestly, while she listened with a half-smile. Once, he +made as if to take her hand but she drew back and stiffened. He +ignored the rebuff. A moment afterward he said something that pleased +her so well that the last we saw of them his arm was about her waist +as they went down the path together. + +Parniewinkel lay forty to fifty miles northeast of Bremen, which in +turn was one hundred and fifty miles from the Holland border. We +reckoned on having to walk double that in covering the stretch, and +figured on twenty-one days for the trip. + +My diary for that day, August 22, 1916, reads: "Still raining. Soaked +and cold. Breakfast, dinner and supper: turnips and oats." The night +was a repetition of the preceding one, and made worse by the number of +small swamps we had to struggle through. The next day's diary reads: +"Rain stopped and not so cold. Fair cover; still soaked but +confident." + +We had our first narrow escape that day. We were lying in the corner +of a hedge. It was so misty as to give almost the effect of night, but +so long past day as to make travelling unduly dangerous. When the mist +lifted we found ourselves within fifty yards of a thickly populated +village with just a narrow strip of field between. We could hear +all the early morning bustle of any village, the world over. This was +about three o'clock. An old man followed by a dog made straight for +us. I had just come off the watch, which we took turn about. Simmons +whistled cautiously to me, the very sound a warning to be quiet. + + [Illustration: SALIENT DETAILS OF THE THIRD ESCAPE.] + +I looked up. The old man wandered along the hedge and stood over him +for several minutes. + +It was very trying but he lay motionless, for fear of the dog. A blow +would have sufficed for the old man. The latter remained so for a +couple of minutes, standing over him, busy. + +The meals for that day were peas and oats. It was a slow way of making +a meal. We liked the oats the best and pulled some whenever we came to +them, if our pockets were not already full, so that they should always +be so. We ate them as we went, from the cupped hand, spilling some and +spitting out the husks of the others which sometimes stuck in our +throats, making them very raw. + +For August twenty-fourth the diary reads: "Very hard night. Crossed +about five kilometres of swamps and numerous canals. Bad accident. +Clothes went to the bottom, but recovered. We are soaked, as usual, +and only made about eleven kilometres. Are outside town of Bremen. +Cover very poor. Meals for the day: Nix. Still confident." The cover +ranked before the food as an item of interest to us. Knowing the +general direction of Bremen from the camp, and that it was much the +largest town in the vicinity, we experienced no difficulty in locating +it by the reflection of its lights against the sky. + +"August twenty-fifth: More rain and cold. Hiding on the bank of the +Weser. Better going last night. Going to look for boat to-night. River +two hundred yards broad. Socks played out. Made pair out of a shirt. +Met a cow. Meals for day: turnips, carrots and milk." + +"August 26th: More rain. Found boat and crossed river. Hedges grown so +close and so many of them, we have to go around them. Takes a lot of +time. Otherwise going good. Meals for the day: turnip, peas and oats. +Met another cow. Frisked her. Cover none too good. Trying to dry our +clothes in sun. More confident." We always became more confident at +the slightest semblance of warmth. + +The socks we made out of a shirt which came from the clothes-line of +some _haus-frau_. We made "dutch" socks in Western fashion by cutting +out large diamond shaped pieces of the cloth, which when the foot was +placed on it, folded up nicely into a sock of a kind. + +The cow, or rather, her milk, was the greatest treat of all. + +It required some searching before we found a boat. We finally +discovered a boat house which we broke into and by great good luck +found inside it a boat which answered our purpose. Our chief concern +was lest the owners might raise a hue and cry against the theft. +However, when we reached the further shore we gave the boat a good +push out into the stream so that if they attempted to follow our trail +they might find the boat a long ways down stream. + +"August twenty-seventh: Rain left off. Trying to dry ourselves in sun. +Had a hard night keeping clear of town. Good cover in a wood. Meals: +turnips and another obliging cow. Feet pretty sore. No socks. Still in +the best otherwise." + +The town in question was the second one we passed after leaving +Bremen. We saw the reflection of its lights in the sky and thought +that we should easily miss it. But suddenly from some high ground we +found ourselves working directly down on the streets so close below us +that we could discern people going to and fro. We turned and fled. + +Swinging well round to the south we thought at last to clear the town +easily, instead of which we again came up against it, in the outskirts +this time. And we repeated that disheartening performance a couple of +times before we cleared the obstacle and once more swung on our way. + +It was such occurrences as this that disheartened us more than +anything else, even the great hardships. To labor and travail, to do +the seemingly impossible, night after night and then in the snap of a +finger to find all our pains, all our agony gone for nothing, reacted +on us terribly at times. + +On the following morning we met with our second narrow escape, under +much the same circumstances as the first. We had crawled into a hedge +toward the heel of the night, and rather earlier than usual on account +of a thick mist which prevented us from holding to our course. When it +lifted we made out the slope of a house roof shoving itself out of +the grey fog directly in front of us. Our hedge divided two fields, +in both of which labourers were already cutting the crops. In this +hedge, on each side of us, were gateways so close together that when, +as occasionally happened, people passed through one, we were forced to +crawl up to the other to avoid detection. We had done so again when, +without warning, a drover came plodding up behind his sheep. We had no +time in which to go back up the hedge. The sheep crowded from the rear +and overflowed at the narrow gateway into the hedge where we lay and +so ran over our bodies. We remained quiet, thinking he would pass on; +but what with the frightened actions of his sheep and the yelping of +the dog his attention was inevitably attracted to the spot where we +lay. He came over, looked down at us, but said nothing and stalked on. +We were uncertain as to whether he had seen us or not. Numerous +incidents of a similar nature had made us overconfident. We had +previously escaped detection in some very tight corners by simply +lying quiet. Casual travelers had all but walked on us upon several +occasions, and at night we ourselves passed many people and thought +nothing of it. + +A moment later the shepherd walked off directly toward the labourers, +glancing back over his shoulder at us as he did so. We struck out at +once, before the crowd could gather. We had, at the beginning of this, +our third escape, agreed not to be taken alive to go through a +repetition of the torture of mind and body which we had already +undergone, and, perhaps for this time, worse. And it was understood +that if one played out the other should carry on. Each of us had a +stout club and could have made a tidy fight. + +Concealment was useless and, furthermore, impossible. We passed close +by a group of the harvesters and headed for a wood that lay on the +other side of them. They could not mistake either the vermilion +circles on our khaki tunics, faded though they were, nor our wild and +dilapidated appearance, which was not made more reassuring by the +clubs we carried. Glancing back, we saw them gathering hurriedly in +little knots. + +We reached the wood, flung ourselves down and watched them until dark, +during which time they made no attempt to follow us. Nor did we see +any sign of other pursuers, though we kept on the _qui vive_ all +night, as we trudged through the interminable fields, forcing our way +through tight hedges and plunging waist deep into the water of small +canals. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +WHAT HAPPENED IN THE WOOD + + Weather Bad but Hopes High--Primitive Dressmaking--The Woman at + the Farm--The Zeppelin--The Fight in the Wood. + + +The only roads we habitually used were side ones, and especially did +we avoid any with telegraph wires which might be used against us. It +was a flat and swampy country, full of mist, and the nights were few +in which it did not rain. And we were always very wet and very cold. +The latter was worse than the lack of food. Sometimes we struggled for +hours at a time, knee-deep in desolate stretches of mist-covered +morasses which gave no promise of firm footing but which often dropped +us in to the waist instead. In addition, the country was cut up by +numerous small ditches, six to eight feet wide, which along toward +morning presented so much of an effort in the jumping that we usually +plunged into the water by preference. Our feet were adding to our +misery by this time. On one occasion, as we dragged ourselves out of +the water, two dogs came rushing at us and then followed, yelping. It +was nearly daylight and a woman came down to see what was going on. We +remained motionless near a hedge. She failed to see us, which was +perhaps good luck for both her and us. + +The diary for that period reads: "August 28th: Rain worse than ever. +Not a piece of our clothes dry and too much water to lie down. Good +going last night. Cover in a wood outside village. Good. Meals: Nix. +Ought to reach the Hustre river to-night. In good spirits." + +"August 29th: Rain stopped and a bit of sun came out. Feeling much +more cheerful. Just had a shave and clean-up. Going last night very +bad. Swamps and canals. Had to leave our course. Feet feeling better. +Meals for the day: turnips, peas and green apples. Did not reach the +river. All's well. No complaints." That shave was a terrible torture. + +"August thirtieth: Rain, thunder and lightning most of last night. Got +a bit of shelter in a cowshed in a field. We are wet and cold as +usual, with no sun to dry. Fair cover in a small wood. Going good +last night. Haven't struck the Hustre yet. Meals: green apples and +brambles. Feet pretty sore. Made a needle out of wood and did a bit of +sewing. Best of health." + +We had been ploughing through the mist, confused by it and the +numerous hedges, when at the side of a small field we had run into +this cowshed, a tumbledown affair of sods, caved in at the sides and +partly covered by a thatched roof. We built up the side from which the +wind came the worst, hung a rotting canvas we found at the other end +and then snuggled up together to exchange warmth. + +The mist had scarcely lifted when we heard a slight noise. We looked +up. A woman was at the entrance to our hovel, looking down full at us. +She turned and walked away. We rose, still dazed with sleep, and found +that we were quite close to a farmhouse which owing to the mist we had +failed to observe before, and from which our visitor had evidently +observed the result of our building operations. "She saw us," I said, +and we regretted not having seized her. She appeared to be signalling. + +A good-sized wood lay well up ahead. "Come on," I said. "Let's beat +it. We can handle a few of 'em better than the whole mob." We could +see the farm labourers gathering in a knot. The rain came on just then +and perhaps assisted in dampening their ardour. At any rate they did +not follow us into the wood. We spent rather an uneasy time though, +when, late that day, some men approached our hiding place in a clump +of bushes and for half an hour shot their fowling pieces off all +around where we lay. + +They did not seem to be after us; more likely they were hunters. The +same thing had happened in a lesser degree several times before. None +the less it was very uncomfortable to have the buckshot rattling all +around us in the bushes where we lay and we felt much better when they +had gone. + +As for the wooden needle: That was of course the result of our +necessity. It was a long thorn--first, a punch in the cloth and like +as not a stab in the finger in the bargain, then a withdrawal of the +crude needle and a careful threading of the hole with our coarse +string, after the fashion of a clumsy shoemaker. Some sewing! Some +needlewoman! + +The green apples and the berries which we got here proved a most +welcome change in our diet. + +"August thirty-first: Not much rain but very cold. Too dark to travel +last night. No stars out to go by. Crossed the river this morning, at +last. Good cover in bushes. Feet are badly peeled. Hope for better +luck to-night. Meals: apples and turnips. Cold and rain are putting us +in bad state. But still confident." We were daily growing weaker and +prayed only that our strength would last to put us over the border. + +"September first: No rain and a little sun. Feeling much better. Going +last night much the best we have had. Good cover in a thicket. Will +soon be going over the same country we did last time we escaped. +Meals: peas and beans. Still in good health." + +"September second: No rain, but cold out of the sun. Pretty fair going +last night. Feet still sore. Cover on straw stack in middle of field. +Warmer than the woods. Zeppelin just passed overhead going north. +Meals: turnips, carrots, apples and peas." + +"September third: Fine weather. Good going last night. Feet still +pretty bad. Had to cut my boots. Fine cover in the wood. Meals: baked +potatoes. Feel fuller." This was our first cooked meal and the +pleasure it gave us was beyond all words. We lit it under cover of +night so that by the time day had come there was nothing but glowing +coals in which the potatoes roasted while we slept. + +My feet were badly swollen by this time so that I was faint with the +pain of them. + +The Zeppelin, strange though it was under the circumstances, was only +a small incident in many others of vaster importance which were +happening daily to us but it was flying so low that we deemed it best +not to move until it had passed. We wondered if it were going to +England, and envied it. + +"September fourth: More rain. Hard going half the night. Crossed large +peat bog and wet to the waist. Very cold. Cover in wood. None too +good. Got scared out of our first cover. Meals: Milk, apples and peas. +Feet not so sore. Still raining and cold. We should soon be at the +River Ems." + +On the evening of this day we walked out to the edge of the wood we +were in and stood there sizing up the near-by village. It was about +seven o'clock and wanted about an hour to darkness and our usual time +for hitting the trail. Without any warning, a burly farmer confronted +us. He was as badly startled as we were. Our remnants of painted +uniforms and our ragged, soaked and generally filthy condition no +doubt added to our terrible appearance. We had long since lost our +caps and our hair was matted like a dog's. The German was armed with a +double-barreled shotgun, and at his heels a powerful-looking dog +showed his teeth to us, so that I marked the red of his tongue. If he +raised the alarm we were done for. We still had our cudgels. + +I do not know whose was the offensive. But I do know that the three of +us came together with one accord in a wild and terrible medley of +oaths in two languages and of murderous blows that beat like flails at +the threshing. Simmons and I struggled for the gun which he tried so +hard to turn on us, the dog meanwhile sinking its teeth deep in our +unprotected legs and leaping vainly at our throats; while we felt with +clutching fingers for his master's, intent only that he should not +shout. + +In those mad moments there sped through our brains the reel of that +whole horrid film of fifteen months' torture of mind and body; the +pale, blood-covered faces of our murdered comrades of the regiment, +the cries of the patient Russians behind the trees, and our own slow +and deadly starvation and planned mistreatment. All these, and God +only knows what else, should be ours again if we should be recaptured. + +We were near to Holland. In fancy and by contrast we saw the fair +English fields and the rolling beauty that is Ontario's; we heard the +good English tongue and beheld the dear faces of our own folk. We bore +that farmer no ill will. And his dog was to the last a very faithful +animal, as our clothes and limbs bore true witness. We had no ropes. +And we were two very desperate men, badly put upon. + +We dropped his gun in the bushes, together with the body of his dog; +and passed on. It had not been fired and we had no desire to have the +charge of carrying firearms added to the others against us if, in +spite of all, we should be so unfortunate as to be recaptured. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE LAST LAP + + Crossing the River--The Terrible Swamp--Valuable Apples--Safe + Across the Border--Real Walking at Last--Barbarous Barbering. + + +"September fifth: Stopped raining and a little warmer. Got our clothes +dry once more. Cover in a wood outside a small town. Going last night +good, after we had crossed another peat bog. Meals: milk, baked +potatoes and apples. Hope to reach the river to-night. Bad feet. Best +of health otherwise." + +"September sixth: No rain and warmer. Heavy dew. Fairly good going. +Best of cover. Had a fire. Pretty comfortable. Milk, potatoes, +apples." + +"September seventh: Still fine weather. Very poor cover in a hedge. +Good road to go on. Made pretty good time last night. Feet feeling +better. Running out of tobacco. Otherwise in the best and still hope +the same. Meals: potatoes and beets." + +We spent a great deal of time discussing ways and means of adding to +our stock of tobacco. Any smoker knows what it is to want the weed. +Consider then our half famished, wet and utterly weary condition. It +was a real necessity to us. We discussed waiting at the roadside until +a man with a pipe appeared; when we should rob him. We dismissed that +as too hazardous. It would be necessary to kill him and that seemed a +bit thick for a pipe of tobacco. So we did the only thing that was +left to do--cut down our already scanty rations of tobacco and took +scrupulous care to smoke to a clean ash every vestige of each heel of +old pipe, but in spite of that our supply became exhausted. + +"September eighth: Lovely weather to-day. Good going last night in +small swamp. Good cover in a forest on the banks of the Ems. We will +try to cross to-night. Meals: potatoes and mangels. Our final try for +liberty. Feel good for it." + +We had arrived at the river at two o'clock that morning, too played +out to attempt the crossing then. We retraced our steps to a potato +field, dug some of the tubers and, when daylight came, lit a fire and +roasted them. We were in a dense forest of young trees, so that by +lighting the fire before the mist lifted, the latter hid our smoke. +We remained unperceived, though we could hear voices and footsteps on +every side. + +"September ninth: Swam the river and two canals. Crossed a large +swamp. No rain but very cold. Think we are over the border. Very poor +cover in a hedge. Wet to the skin. Clothes got soaked but in best of +spirits and confident." + +We went down to survey the river shortly before dusk and found it both +broad and swift. We went back again and tore a gate from its hinges, +carried it the five hundred yards down to the river and then stripped +for the crossing. The gate was not big enough to carry us but answered +for our clothes. Simmons swam ahead, guiding it, while I shoved from +behind. We made the crossing without mishap but straightway fell into +one of the worst experiences of the entire trip. We plunged into a +swamp which took us five hours to get through. There were moments when +we all but gave up and thought we should never get out. At times we +sank in it up to our waists, particularly after leaping at the +numerous tufts of grass which seemed to promise a footing that they +never realised and which sometimes sent us in it to the armpits, so +that we were sure we were doomed to be sucked down for good in the +filthy mess. + +The fearful odour that our plunging around stirred up, naturally aided +our nervous imaginings and it was undoubtedly the worst trial we had +yet met with on the journey. I cannot convey the black despair which +took possession of our hearts at the seeming hopelessness of all our +efforts to find firm footing or a break in the landscape which might +indicate a change in the nature of the country, a light, a voice, +anything that would help to lift from our hearts the feeling of utter +isolation from all human assistance and the seeming certainty that a +few bubbles would be the only indication that we had struggled there. +The darkness of the night intensified these thoughts. The rain did not +matter. In fact it helped; for we were covered with the worse than +water of the morass. + +We looked at one another. We dared not speak. Anyhow, to do so was not +our custom at such times as these. But each knew. A dull anger took +possession of us at the thought of so inglorious an end after all that +we had suffered to attain our freedom. With a prayer in our hearts we +cast ourselves forward and somehow, sometime, found at last that we +were safe and so flung ourselves down in our stinking clothes to lie +like dogs in a drunken stupour that recked not of time or of our +enemies. + +We discovered an apple orchard here, in which the fruit was ripe. All +the apples we had had up to date had been of the small and green +variety. And even they, with the occasional milk, represented our all +of luxury, so that these seemed indeed the food of the gods. We +proceeded to fill up and after eating all that we thought we could, +filled our pockets until they bulged, and started off, each carrying +an armful of the fruit. At every step we dropped some. We stopped +again and ate our surplus to make room. We refused to lose any of +them. We came to a river, stripped, tied our clothes up in a bundle +and proceeded to swim across, shoving the clothes ahead. I lost +control of mine and they sank. I dived repeatedly in the darkness +before I found them. The cargo of apples in the pockets made a bad +matter worse. I should rather have drowned than have lost my apples. +The possible loss of the clothes worried us very little. We had +already decided in that event to waylay some German Michel rather +than to go naked into Holland. However, by alternately dragging the +bundle behind and swimming on our backs with it held high on the chest +with one hand, we made the crossing, apples and all. + +We were sitting in the shadow preparing to dress and wondering whether +we were really over the border and if we could safely walk abroad, +when we heard men walking toward us. We knew them to be Germans by the +clank of the hobnailed boots which all our guards had worn. We had not +a stitch on and our hearts were in our mouths. The patrol of six men +stopped within five yards of us and then passed on within five feet +and did not see us. We dressed quickly and went on, only to find a +canal, for which we had to strip again. + +Arriving at the other side; we dressed in the shadow of the bank, +crawled to the top and plunged through the heather on to a road which +we had almost crossed, when there came a cry of "Halt!" The patrol +must have been standing in the trees where we had broken out from the +heather, and very quietly, too, for we had lain for five minutes to +make certain that all was safe. Evidently we were on or near the +border if the number of patrols was any indication. We were not +certain whether these were Hollanders or Germans. We made one big buck +jump. "Fire, Gridley, when ready!" I left the entire knee of one +trouser leg on a clutching thorn. But the patrol did not fire. + +And then another canal. "I'm fed up with swimming to-night." + +"So am I," agreed Simmons. "There are houses over there. There must be +a bridge." + +We slunk along the bank and to our joy found a small bridge. We dashed +across it and debouched safely into a tiny village. Here we saw a +difference, especially in the houses and the roadway. It was in the +very atmosphere, a result no doubt of instincts made keen by the +hunted lives we had led. On either side the fields stretched out, +criss-crossed by a perfect network of small canals and ditches, which +also served as fences. + +We knew we were in Holland. + +We deemed it unwise to show ourselves as yet, distrusting the +sympathies of the Hollanders and fearful that they might give us up; +and continued this policy until the next day. However, we took a +chance and stuck to the road, a treat, indeed, to feel a firm footing +after our weeks of travelling across country fields. This enabled us +to shove thirty miles between us and Germany by morning. + + [Illustration: PRIVATE MERWIN C. SIMMONS OF THE 7TH BATTALION, + 1ST DIVISION, CANADIAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE.] + +It was not quite daylight when we espied a cow in a field at the +roadside and gave chase. There was no other food in sight, so when our +quarry threw up its tail and bounced off; we set out grimly to run our +breakfast down. It was half an hour later that we corralled it in a +corner between two broad ditches and were already licking our chops in +anticipation; when we discovered that our cow was only a big heifer. +Twenty-four hours earlier it would have been a tragedy. As it was, we +only laughed. Such is liberty. + +At this distance from the border we felt that we were safe from the +Germans but were very much afraid that we might be interned. So we +holed up in a farmhouse which had been partly burned down and built a +roaring fire out of the remains of the charred furniture, placed some +of the potatoes that were lying about in the fire, made a rough bed +and went to sleep. Awakening later in the day, we raked the blackened +potatoes out of the ashes and filled up on them. We were a fearful +team; absolutely filthy, uncombed, unwashed, unshaven, and with the +Russian's paint still thick upon us. Afterward we went down to the +canal and endeavoured to knock the worst of it off. All danger was +past now. We seemed to walk on air. We were once again British +soldiers. And so fell to abuse of one another, finding fault and +grousing; as all good British soldiers do when they are well off. I +made out to shave Simmons. The terrible razor had never been sharp and +lately had rusted from its travels. Simmons swore lustily and +threatened me, ordering me at the same time and in no uncertain terms; +to desist from the torture. + +"Well, we want to go into Holland lookin' respectable. What'll they +think of British soldiers if they see us? Have a heart!" I +expostulated. + +"Don't give a damn! I've had enough for being a Canadian; but I won't +stand for this." I left him with his beard still on in patches and the +bare spots bleeding angrily. As I had already committed myself, I had +to bear in silence his purposely clumsy handling of that hack-saw. It +was terrible, and Simmons, the scoundrel, laughed like a demon. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +HOLLAND AT LAST + + "No Intern"--Real Bread--Tipperary--A Real Time--The Splendid + Hollanders--The Hague. + + +The diary summarizes the later events of that day: + +"September tenth: Fine weather and in Holland. All our troubles are +over. We struck a small town called Alboom where the people did +everything they could for us. Plenty of food. Slept in a house!" + +A man smoking a big pipe and wearing baggy breeches and wooden shoes +came up and surveyed us with kindly amusement, as Simmons scraped at +me with infinite gusto. He was a Hollander; not a "Dutchman." We soon +learned that the latter was a term of contempt applied by the former +to the Germans. + +I asked him for some tobacco, which he readily gave to us from a +capacious pouch. He waved his pipe at us in friendly fashion and said +something which we took to be a question as to our identity. + +"English," we said, and in desperation turned to our scanty stock of +French: "_Soldats; prisoniers._" + +"Engelsch!" he boomed. We nodded. He simply threw his arms round first +one and then the other, so that I wiped the ashes from his pipe out of +my eyes. He lumbered off and shortly returned with a counterpart of +himself. He talked rapidly to his companion and waved his pipe. We +made out the words "Duitsch," "Engelsch," and enough of others to know +that he was telling our tale as he imagined it. + +Our fears coming uppermost, we gave voice to them: "Intern?" + +"No intern. Engelsch." The other took up the cry: "Engelsch goot! +Frient." However our suspicions would not down. + +The first man pointed out to the canal where a barge lay and made us +understand that it was his. He wanted us to work our passage on it +down the canal with him. They invited us by signs to go on board the +barge for breakfast, an invitation which we joyfully accepted. We +rowed out to the barge and sat down in the tiny cabin. The meal was +plain. On the centre of the table was a loaf of brown bread, quite +good enough it was true, but so reminiscent of the perennial black +ration of the Germans that my gorge rose at the sight. Out of the +corner of my eye I saw a white loaf on the shelf, the first in fifteen +months. I caught Simmons eyeing it. We exchanged guilty looks but were +ashamed to ask for it. They offered us the brown loaf and delicious +coffee. I thought perhaps that if we exhausted the brown loaf the +other might be forthcoming. I kicked Simmons on the shins and fell to +on it, and, as opportunity offered, thrust pieces in the pockets of my +tunic until, to our relief, they brought out the white bread, which we +devoured to the last crumb. It was very good. + +We filled our pipes in high contentment and went ashore, where a +procession of enthusiastic villagers waited to escort us to the +village. Men, women and children, wooden shoes and all, there were +four hundred of them. The men all shook hands and pressed money on us. +The women cried and one white-haired old lady kissed us both. The +quaint little roly-poly children ran at our sides, a half dozen of +them struggling to hold our fingers in their chubby fists. + +The procession started off, the burgomaster leading, the two sailors +and ourselves coming next. Some one behind dragged out a mouth organ +and struck up Tipperary, and men, women and children all joined in. It +was glorious. We sang, too, in English, and they in their tongue. The +result was so ridiculous a medley that I smiled myself; but it made no +difference. The spirit was there; we were happy. + +Arriving at the village the burgomaster took us to his home and sat us +down to a steaming breakfast, while a few of the chosen were invited +in to watch us polish it off. The crowd remained outside, choking the +road. Some of the bolder of the children crept slyly in the door, +others peered shyly at us from the crack of it. And one little chap, +braver than his comrades, clumped sturdily up to my knee, where he +stood clutching it in round-eyed wonder and saying never a word for +the rest of the meal, envied of his mates. + +Not until we had leaned back, not contented, but ashamed to ask for +more, did our hosts give vent to the curiosity that was eating into +their vitals. An interpreter was found and they led us out to the +road so that all might hear. The crowd flocked around while the +officials questioned us. Many were the smothered interjections that +went up from the men and exclamations of pity from the women as our +tale unfolded. And the warm sympathy of their honest faces warmed our +hearts like a good fire. + +We started off on our triumphal course again. We were repeatedly +invited into houses for something to eat. We accepted seven such +breakfast invitations during the next two and a half hours and stopped +only out of shame. We were still hungry. Every one gave us cigars, +immense things, which projected from every pocket and which we carried +in bundles under our arms. There was no refusing them. They were the +insignia of the entente. And the coffee! The good, honest, Holland +coffee with no acorns in it! I doubt if our starving bodies could have +carried us many days more on the uncooked roots we had been living on. +The motherly housewives, in their Grecian-like helmets of metal and +glass that fit closely over their smoothed hair like skull-caps, +bustled merrily about, intent only on replenishing our plates and +cups, full of a tearful sympathy which was as welcome as their food. + +Later in the day the officials took us to the police station at ----. +We became very much alarmed again. They read our thoughts and a +subdued murmur of: "No intern, no intern," swelled up. The local +burgomaster came to us. His first words, and in good English, too, +were: "Have something to eat." We did. And then more cigars. The +police were a splendid lot of men. They loaded us down with gifts and +asked perfunctory questions for their records. One of them, H. Letema, +of ----, took us to his home, where his comely wife and daughter +loaded the table with good things; while he brought out more cigars. +He showed us to a bed-room before we understood where he was taking +us. We refused, for reasons of a purely personal nature. "Nix," we +said, and when he would not accept our refusal we tried it in +Niederlaender. "No, no." Still he persisted, and his good wife too. So +we led him firmly aside and showed him the indescribably verminous +condition we were in. That convinced him. They appreciated that little +touch and gave us a deep pile of blankets, flung down on three feet of +sweet-smelling straw in an outhouse, where we slept as we had not +slept for many months. + +In the morning Letema escorted us down to Aaschen, which was the +nearest large town. A Belgian and a Holland lady, hearing of the +escaped English prisoners, met us within twenty minutes of our +arrival, took us in hand and loaded us down with kindnesses. We ate +only five full sized meals that day, not counting the extras we +absorbed between them. And there were more cigars. The raw oats and +potatoes seemed a long way off. + +Our day at Aaschen was a repetition of the previous one at Alboom and +Borger, but on a grander scale. The ladies took us down to Rotterdam +and did not leave us until they had turned us over to the British +consul there, whose name I have forgotten but who, with the vice +consul, Mr. Mueller, was very kind indeed; in fact, all whom we met, +irrespective of their nationality, age or sex placed us under eternal +obligations to them. In particular Mr. Neilson, the rector of the +English church and in charge of the Sailors' Institute there, seemed +to live only for us. + +Mr. Henken at the American consulate was equally kind. They lodged us +at the Seaman's Rest, took our painted rags away and clothed us in +blue "civvie" suits which seemed to us the height of sinful luxury. +We were shaved, clean and could eat everything in sight, at any time +of the day or night. And did so. The meals we used to shift! We were +very glad to get rid of our waterproof suits--for that is what they +had become, from the paint. + +Mr. Neilson took us sight seeing every day. Once we went out to Mr. +Carnegie's Peace Palace which had been closed on account of the war +but which we were permitted to inspect. I had not thought such +buildings were done, except in dreams. It made our own bitter past +seem unreal. The Italian room, in particular, seemed like a delicate +canvas in marble and done in a fashion the memory of which gripped me +for days and still haunts me. We spent days thus; supremely happy. + +We were joined here by Jerry Burke of the 8th Battalion of Winnipeg. +He was a nephew of Sir Sam Hughes, the then Canadian Minister of +Militia and had just made his escape from some other camp. + +We were to have left on the fifth with a fleet of boats which sailed +then. By the time we had got on board, however, the sailors from the +first boat were returning. They had been torpedoed. And that stopped +us. + +We got away on the S.S. _Grenadier_ on the sixteenth, and after +hugging the length of the English Coast, arrived safely at +Newcastle-upon-Tyne on the eighteenth. + +Here our troubles began! + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +"IT'S A WAY THEY HAVE IN THE ARMY" + + Red Tape in the Army--A Disgruntled Soldier--"Old Soldier, Old + Fox"--A Touch for Twenty Quid--_Augen Rechts_ at Seaford--Canada! + + +My family in Canada have since remarked that although my letters had +invariably been cheerful throughout my imprisonment, from the time I +set foot on English soil they reflected the deepest despondency. That +could be explained in part by the fact that uncheerful letters could +not pass the German but could pass the British censor. But more +particularly it was due to the fact that I became entangled in the +interminable red tape of the army system, and, instead of meeting with +the warm sympathy that an exile longs for, met, on the part of the +army, with cold suspicion; however kind some individuals were to me. + +Simmons and I were not permitted to leave the boat until the military +came for us. So far so good. We were taken to the headquarters of the +General Officer Commanding that district. He briefly examined us and +good-naturedly gave us some money out of his own pocket and tickets to +London, where we were ordered to report at the War Office. + +Arriving in "The Smoke," as the army has named that city, we proceeded +the next morning to 14 Downing Street and sent our names in to the +official we had been directed to by the general. He was in mufti, +whoever he was, and received us kindly enough. We were closely +questioned about our experiences, particularly in relation to our +guards, food, treatment, and so on. He also asked us as to the amount +of sickness among the prisoners, the condition of the country, and so +on. + +Dismissed, we made a dash down past Big Ben and the Parliament +Buildings for the Canadian Pay and Record Office, where at Millbank it +overlooked the Thames. A sergeant took our names and after a time took +us, too, in to the paymaster. Simmons drew his money without +difficulty but I found that I was fifteen months dead and was told +that I could get no money until my identity was reestablished. I +protested; so much so in fact that I fully expected to land in the +"clink." No use. I was sent out on the street talking to myself. + +We next called on Lady Rivers-Bulkeley and Lady Drummond to thank them +for the very great kindness of themselves and the Canadian Red Cross +in sending us our parcels regularly, and without which we would +assuredly have been too weak to have made our escape. Lady Farquhar, +the wife of our late commanding officer, was out of town, so we did +not see her, much as we desired to thank her for similar kindnesses. + +Simmons was single. He was sent to Canada at once and was promptly +discharged. I had a wife and family awaiting me there and I wanted +badly to go to them by the next boat. My wife had been receiving +letters from me during my fifteen months' imprisonment; she had +regularly received her separation allowance; the Canadian Red Cross +and many kind friends in London had been sending me prisoner-of-war +parcels for a year; the authorities admitted my identity and my former +comrades recognised me; I had fifteen months' pay at $1.20 a day, +besides a subsistence allowance of sixty-five cents a day, coming to +me; but could not draw a cent of it. I was dead. And continued so +for three months. There is no explanation. "It's a way they have in +the Army"; or so the army says. + + [Illustration: THE CEMETERY AT CELLE LAAGER Z 1 CAMP.] + + [Illustration: CORPORAL EDWARDS (SECOND FROM LEFT) AFTER HIS + ESCAPE. THE TWO GOLD BARS ON HIS LEFT COAT SLEEVE INDICATE THAT + HE HAS BEEN TWICE WOUNDED.] + +In the end it was only through the active intervention of Sir George +Perley, the Canadian High Commissioner in London that my case was +righted. He, I believe, cabled the Ottawa authorities, who in turn got +in touch with my wife, who produced the necessary documentary evidence +to prove that I had been alive and a prisoner all this time. + +I went to the depot at Seaford. I borrowed from my old friends. I hung +round the pay office. The paymaster said I was not on the strength of +the regiment. I was old soldier enough to profit by that calamity at +least. The bitter injustice of such miscarriage of justice blinded me, +as I think it eventually does most soldiers, to the accepted code of +civil life. I refused to attend roll call or do drills, fatigues, or +any other part of my regimental duties other than certain interesting +and thrice-daily rites not unconnected with the kitchen. + +It is the commonness, the constant repetition of such stupidity and +such lack of action that so much injures the reputation for +intelligence of the army in the minds of those who have served in it; +so that those who know it best, like it least--and put up with it only +because it is the poor instrument of a good cause. + +The paymaster fell sick. A young subaltern was acting for him. My +sergeant pal tipped me off. As I have said, I was an old soldier with +all that that implies. He marched me up to the officer, already more +or less at sea about his new duties. I asked for money. He was aware +of my history but not of the tangle I was in: + +"How much?" + +I wondered how much the traffic would bear. + +"Twenty quid, sir," I ventured. He went up in the air. + +"Impossible! I'll give you ten." + +I O. K'd that while the words were yet warm on his lips. Fifty dollars +is a great deal of money to a soldier. He gave it to me with a pass +for Scotland--where I had relatives--to which I had long been entitled +but which had been useless to me as long as I had no money. + +I quickly gathered my cronies together and we packed into the canteen +to celebrate the occasion fittingly, in the only fashion a good +soldier knows, in army beer so thick and strong that the hops floated +on the tops of the mess-tins. While searching for the bottom of one of +these I heard the orderly shouting: "Corporal Edwards! Corporal +Edwards!" The other men gathered round me in the corner, drinking, +while I scrunched down so that the orderly passed on and out still +shouting my name. + +I fled to the tent and was hastily getting my things together when a +corporal came hot-foot saying that the officer wanted me at once. I +went in, gave him my very best regimental salute and stood at +attention. + +"I find that you are not on the strength, corporal, and are not +entitled to any money, so I'll trouble you to return that money I gave +you." + +"I'm sorry, sir," I said sadly, "but it's gone." + +"Gone? How?" + +"Debts, sir," I said firmly. "My mates have been keeping me going." + +"Well, you must get it back from them at once and return it to me. +It's most irregular. Push on now and see that you're back here in an +hour's time with that money before those fellows spend it all in the +canteen." + +"Very good, sir." I gave him a smashing good _Augen Rechts_ to cheer +him up against the time he should discover that I was well on my way +to Scotland. + +And I remained there until I received notice that my regimental bones +had been officially exhumed; after which I had no difficulty in +getting my back pay and three months' furlough for Canada and home! + + + AUTHOR'S NOTE.--An amusing and at the same time gratifying + sequel to this story developed immediately upon the heels of its + publication in a considerably smaller form in the _Saturday + Evening Post_. Sergeant Edwards, who had not previously been + consulted by the authorities, was at once offered his choice + between doing "duty" in Canada or taking a discharge from the + army, instead of going overseas again. He chose the discharge. + + An interesting fact in connection with Brumley, the man who was + the first to be recaptured on the second attempt to escape, is + that according to a post card received from him by his wife, he + has since made two other unsuccessful attempts at escape. + Scarfe, who was exchanged to Switzerland, reports that he has + married a Swiss girl there. Stamper, another Patricia who was + captured at the same time as Edwards, has recently been + exchanged and is now in England. Scott, who was captured with + the men of an English regiment, was exchanged to Switzerland + and recently returned to Toronto and has been in hospital, in a + serious condition, ever since. The fate of the others is + unknown. + + + + +THE EVIDENCE IN THE CASE + + +In order to remove any vestige of doubt in the reader's mind as to the +authenticity of Corporal Edwards' tale, it has been deemed advisable +to present reproductions of certain newspaper articles and +correspondence which bear directly on some of the points touched upon +in the story. + +It will be noticed that quite aside from the major fact of the escape +itself having been brought out here, there is the equally important +one of the bringing out of a great number of lesser points which tally +to a hair with such references to them as are made in the story, such +for instance as the references to the delay in England, the references +in their post cards of those fellow-prisoners who remain in Germany +and other facts of a similar nature. + +The following are exact reproductions in every case, except for the +explanatory note which prefaces each item. + + +_Extract from Toronto Daily Star, May 30, 1915._ + +WAS BACK ONLY THREE WEEKS + + CORP. EDWARDS, REPORTED MISSING, WAS WOUNDED SHORT TIME AGO. + + Lance-Corp. Edward Edwards of the Princess Pats who is reported + missing to-day, has only been back at the trenches for three + weeks, after having been wounded and in England for a month with + a bullet in his foot. He lived at 70 Standish Avenue, Rosedale, + where his wife and three young sons now live. He is 38 years of + age and has been in Canada ten years. Previous service in Africa + and India with the Gordon Highlanders is to his credit. + + +_Letter from Corporal Edwards to His Wife in Toronto._ + + + Mon Adress exacte: + GIESSEN (Allemagne) +Compagnie No. 6 Baraque No. A. +Nom et Prenom: E. Edwards. Oct. 2nd, 1915. + + MY DEAREST EM: A few more lines, hoping they find all in the + best of health and everything going on all right. I received + your parcels all right. They were a treat and came in good + condition. How are the boys getting along? Awfully sorry about + Hector but hope he is all right again, poor chap's been having a + hard time of it. How are Gordon and Frank. Tell them I was + asking for them. I guess the Beastie has grown quite a big chap. + Thanks for J. Birnies' address. I will drop him a card some time + but you see I can only send two letters a month. Jack wanted me + to write to the lodge but I can't see how I can manage it. Em, + lass, don't send me any clothing as I will manage all right. + Col. Farquhar's wife is going to send me out some and Major + Gault is sending tobacco and cigarettes so I will be all right. + I had a parcel from Bob with a shirt and some eatables; also one + from Jean at Blacktop and one from home. We are always on the + lookout for them. Have you had any word from Mina? I've had + letters from them all. We are having rather cool weather. I sent + a post card to G. Nelson; I don't know if he ever got it but you + can ask him when he comes up. Em, what are you doing about the + house? Are you getting it fixed up or are you coming over home? + It would be rather late this year to come over but please + yourself; only let me know what you are doing. Is George still + in Canada? Jean was expecting him to drop in any time. He has + been very good to me ever since I landed first in England. I + will never be able to pay her back. I can't give you any news + as I don't know it myself. Don't wait on a letter from me before + you write but write often and tell me all about yourself and the + boys. Tell Jack to write and I will drop him a card when I can. + Keep your heart up and look after yourself. Tell Miss Holmes I + was asking for her; also Mrs. Arlow. Tell her I got her letter; + also tell all my friends I was asking for them. If Mr. Skerrow + comes up again tell him I am doing fine but would sooner be + working up in N. Toronto--but am making the best of it. I think + I will stop Em; I have really nothing to tell you, only write + soon and often. Give the boys a tight one for me. Best love to + you all. Good bye. + + Your Affect. Ed. + + 149 Corpl. E. Edwards, + Barrack A., + Company 6, + Prisoner of War. + Giessen, Germany. + + P.S. Just received your letter Sept. 3rd. Tell Mrs. Bownie not + to bother sending anything. I have got all I want. Can't send a + long letter. This is all we are allowed. Ed. + + +_Extract from Montreal Gazette, Sept. 21, 1916._ + + EDWARD EDWARDS ESCAPES FROM FOE + + TORONTO SOLDIER WITH TWO OTHERS MAKE GET-AWAY. WANDER FOR THREE + WEEKS. + + BRASS BAND ESCORTS THEM TO MAYOR OF TOWN IN HOLLAND. + + London, Sept. 21.--Registered as dead by the Canadian Pay and + Record office, which was about to authorise distribution of + their effects, Lance-Corp. Edward Edwards of the Princess + Patricias, 70 Standish Avenue; Pte. James Jerry Burke (1216) + Eighth Battalion, Winnipeg and Pte. M.C. Simmons (23445) of + Seventh Battalion, Port Arthur, have arrived in London after + having escaped from a German prison camp. They experienced some + strenuous adventures. For three weeks they were at large; slowly + and cautiously wending their way to the Holland frontier, they + covered the distance of 150 miles. In Holland the fugitives to + their surprise, found a warm welcome. In fact, a local band + headed them in procession to the Mayor, who in turn communicated + with the British Consul, with the result that they were shipped + to England. + + +_Extract from Toronto Daily Star, Sept. 22, 1916._ + + MRS. EDWARDS IS REJOICING + + CAN HARDLY BELIEVE THAT HUSBAND ESCAPED FROM GERMAN PRISON. + + HEARD SO MANY DIFFERENT TALES. + + COMRADES WHO HAVE RETURNED ASSURED HER HE WOULD GET AWAY. + + "I cannot believe it until I hear from him. But I do hope it is + true. I am glad I never kept him back, and never told him not to + go. He is a soldier to the backbone." + + Mrs. Edward Edwards, 70 Standish Avenue, Rosedale, was + discussing the report that her husband, Lance-Corp. Edward + Edwards of the Princess Patricias, had escaped from a prison + camp in Germany and after travelling over 150 miles of country + arrived with two others on Dutch territory whence they were + shipped to England after being feted by some of the people in + Holland. + + "I have heard so many different stories. At first I was told he + was killed, but later he sent me a letter from Germany telling + me he was in a prison camp there. Only last Saturday I had a + letter from him in which he asked me to send him on a box of + soap to wash his clothes. He said in that letter that he had + enough tobacco, cocoa and coffee to last him for some time but + he needed soap." + + Lance-Corporal Edwards, who was connected with the Royal + Grenadiers, in Toronto, was formerly a member of the Gordon + Highlanders, and fought with the 2nd Battalion of that regiment + throughout the South African War. Stationed in India at the + outbreak of that war the regiment was sent to South Africa and + was shut up in Ladysmith. He is the possessor of three medals + and five clasps. He took part in the great Delhi Durbar. + + "Over a year ago my husband was shot in the foot," said Mrs. + Edwards. "He returned to the trenches and was just three weeks + back when he was posted as missing. That was a year ago last + May. For a long time I had no word of what had happened to him + until I had a letter from him." + + + VISITS FROM COMRADES. + + "Many of the returned Princess Patricias come to see me. Only + last Sunday one of them said to me when talking of my husband: + 'He will be escaping from the Germans some of these days.' And + it is just like him to do that. But he and the two with him must + have suffered terribly in the time they were hiding through 150 + miles of the enemy's country. I wish I had him home now." + + "I heard from him regularly every six weeks by letter. + Occasionally he would send me a postcard between the letters. He + never discussed the war, except in the phrase that it could not + last for ever. He always wrote bright and cheerful letters." + + At No. 68 Standish Avenue lives the widow of Private Percy + Edwards, brother of Lance-Corporal Edwards. Private Edwards was + a reservist of the Gordon Highlanders and at the outbreak of the + war was called home to join his regiment. He was killed in the + first action in which the Gordons were engaged. His widow and + three young sons live next door to Mrs. Edwards, who also has + three young sons. Both of the Edwards brothers and their wives + are natives of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. + + +_Postal Card to Mrs. E. Edwards, 70 Standish Ave., N. Rosedale, +Toronto, Ont., Canada._ + + 12th Sept. 1916. Assen, Holland. Dear Em: I guess you will get + my letter along with this card explaining things. You will know + that I have escaped from Germany and am on my way to England but + will write you every chance I get. Give my love to the boys and + I hope all is well at home. I am feeling pretty good. This is + where I am just now. Yours ever, Ed. + + +_Postal to Mrs. E. Edwards, 70 Standish Ave., N. Rosedale, Toronto, +Canada._ + + Sept. 8th, Newcastle-on-Tyne, England. + + Dear Em: Hope you have received all my letters that I have + written you from Holland. They will tell you all about my + escape. I leave here for London to-night. Will write you from + there. Love to the boys. Write me Bulter address. Ed. + + +_Postal Card to Mrs. E. Edwards, 70 Standish Ave., N. Rosedale, +Toronto, Canada._ + + Sept. 22nd, 1916. Folkestone, England. Dear Em: Hope you got the + cable all right, also some of the letters and cards I sent you. + What do you think of my escape? Not so bad, eh? Write me at + Bulter. How are the boys? Give them my love. Am back at + Shornecliffe with the regiment. Will be going on leave. Trying + to get over to see you. Will write you to-morrow. Write as soon + as you can. Ed. + + + [Illustration: HOMEWARD BOUND. CORPORAL EDWARDS IN CENTER.] + + +_Post Card to Cpl. E. Edwards, 7 St. Mary's Place, Cuttor, +Aberdeenshire, Scotland, from Cpl. E. Hardy, a fellow prisoner._ + + +Mon Adress Exacte: +Nom et Prenom: Cpl. E. Hardy +No. matricule: 1906 +No. de la Compagnie: 8 +Lettre de la baraque: "E" + GIESSEN (Allemagne) + + Giessen, le 25-9-1916. + + Dear Ted: I received your P.C. quite safe. I did a little dance + on my own. Charlie Walker is away somewhere. How are Dennie and + Nobler going on. You may be sure I was pleased to hear of you + getting in port safe. Sorry to hear you got wrecked on your + first trip but you have no worry now. Good Luck. Ted. + + +_Post Card to Cpl. E. Edwards, Number One Company P. P. C. L. I., St. +Martins Plains, Shornecliffe, England. Via Holland, from Hookie +Walker, a fellow prisoner._ + + +Mon addresse exacte: +Nom et prenom: C. Walker, +No. matricule: +No. de la compagnie: 6, Baraque: B. +No. du detachement: 1 + Giessen (Allemagne) Oct. 1st, 1916. + + Dear Old Ted: I received your P.C. God Bless you and good Luck + be with you always. I have been on the water and got wrecked + also but I have not given up by any means. I am in the best of + health. Remember me to all and God be with you. Hookie. + + +_Undated Post Card to Mr. E. Edwards Jun, 7 St. Mary's Place, Cutter, +Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Via Holland, from Cpl. Hardy._ + + + Mon Adresse exacte: +Nom et prenom: Cpl. E. Hardy +No. matricule: 1906 +No. de la compagnie: 8, Baraque "E" +No. du detachement: + + Giessen (Allemagne) + + Dear Ted: I am very glad everything went on A1. I am sorry I was + not with you. I am not wanting anything, thanks. I hope you have + a good time when you go to Canada. I have not seen anything of + Hookie for about 12 months, nor Stamper. I have still got a few + things safe for you when I come home. I will close with best + respects, Ted. + + +_Undated Card to Mrs. Edwards, Rotterdam, Holland._ + + Dear Em. Hope you are getting my letters all right and that all + is well at home. I am still feeling and getting treated pretty + good and will be in England in two or three days. Since it all + goes well write me c/o of Bulter address and I will be sure to + get them. How are the boys? Is the wee chap still holding my + place? Tell Gordon when I get to England I will help him get a + bicycle so that he can be the same as Hector. This is where I am + just now but will be on my way in a few hours. I have sent you + Tinnie's photo. How will she do? It might be all we can get. Ed. + + +_Postal to Mrs. Edwards, 70 Standish Ave., N. Rosedale, Toronto, +Canada._ + + +26-10-16. From Folkestone. + + Dear Em: Arrived back in Folkestone all right. Called on Mrs. + Cawthra. Had a long talk with her. Can't get any word of when I + am to get over to Canada but will let you know as soon as + possible. Might be some time yet. Got the letter with Hector's + and will bring the things with me when I come home. How are the + boys getting along? Wish I was there. Good-bye. Ed. + + +_Extract from Toronto Daily Star, December, 1916._ + + HOME ON LEAVE AFTER ESCAPE FROM THE HUNS + + SGT. EDWARD EDWARDS TELLS GRAPHIC STORY OF 100 MILE FLIGHT. + + WIFE HAD TO PROVE HUSBAND WAS ALIVE. + + SENT HIS PHOTO AND LETTERS BEFORE WAR OFFICE WOULD BELIEVE IT. + + No bands played and no Reception Committee extended the welcome + hand to Sergt. Edward Edwards when he stepped off the train at + the Union Station and walked to the home of his wife and family + one day last week, after two years and seven months' absence at + the front with a storehouse of thrilling experiences that rival + even the exploits of the Three Musketeers. That he was one of + only 49 left of the crack Princess Patricias who were mown down + at the Ypres Salient on May 8, 1915, was wounded twice, missing + and officially declared dead and escaped twice from German + prison camps in company with two companions are only incidents + in a long chapter of events which surpass in thrilling interest + Dumas' most daring fiction. Tom Brumley, another member of a + Toronto regiment, and Mervin Simmons, a Canadian from Trail, + B.C., were the two friends of the modern D'Artagan, but + unfortunately Brumley was recaptured by the Huns during the + first escape and Sergt. Edwards has not heard from him since. + + Sergt. Edwards is now on ten weeks' furlough and is due to + report in England on May 10, when he expects to go into the + fighting again. "We went to the Ypres salient in May. I was one + of ten in my company to get through," said he. + + + TRIBUTE TO COL. BULLER + + Here Sergt. Edwards paid a tribute to his late commanding + officer, Col. Buller, who was killed on the 2nd of June of this + year. "It was the Germans, too, who told us of our old Colonel's + death. They knew everything, it seemed, about our commanders and + could tell the regiment and division that we belonged to." + + We were taken to Roulers, Belgium. After a brief stay there we + were taken to Giessen. There were 1,200 prisoners, mostly + Russian and French. The food we got was awful. + + + REFUSED TO WORK + + "After a stay here of about six months I was sent with my two + friends, Brumley and Simmons, to a punishment camp for refusing + to work in a steel factory to make munitions. Three hundred + British and Canadians also refused in spite of threats, and + ill-treatment, and all were sent on to Celle Laager, the main + punishment camp. We were there two weeks and then we were split + into small parties and I was slated with my two friends for a + place called Oldenburg. Here they wanted us to go into a moor + and drain the place to grow potatoes. It was from this place + that we made our first serious attempt to escape. + + We made a dash for the shelter of the moor. In a few minutes we + heard the baying of a vicious pack of dogs they had sent in + pursuit, but we managed to elude them and struck out for the + Dutch border more than 100 miles distant. We came to the River + Ems four miles from the border of Holland. We could not find a + boat or raft and were recaptured." + + + MADE FINAL ESCAPE + + After undergoing this sentence, Sergt. Edwards and Simmons were + taken to another punishment camp at Salsengen and it was from + here that they made their successful escape on August 21. + + The British Consul at Rotterdam arranged the wanderers' passage + to England, where they arrived on the 18th of September. When he + reported in London, Sergt. Edwards had to prove he was alive, + because the records of the War Office had him marked up as dead. + A lot of red tape had to be untangled before the gallant soldier + could be officially brought back from the dead, but at that time + he was still writing to his wife, so that, when she saw her + husband's name in the casualty list, she at once contradicted + the officials by sending her husband's letters and his pictures. + + +_Postal card to No. 39 Cpl. E. Edwards, P. P. C. L. I. Depot, South +Camp, Seaford, Sussex, England, from Charles Scarfe, who was also +captured on May 8th._ + + Manor Farm, Interlaken, Switzerland, Jan. 3rd, 1917. + + Dear Old Pal Teddy: + + Just a card hoping to find you well as it leaves me A-1. Hope + you had a good Christmas. Had a fairly good one myself but hope + we are in Canada next one. Have had enough of being a prisoner + of war. Remember me to all the boys and write soon. From your + old pal, Charlie. + + +_Postal card to 39 Cpl. E. Edwards, P. P. C. L. I. Depot, South Camp, +Seaford, Sussex, England, from his comrade in the escape._ + + + * * * * * + + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + | Typographical errors corrected in text: | + | | + | Page xi: Geissen replaced by Giessen | + | Page 63: Piccadily replaced with Picadilly | + | Page 99: GEISSEN replaced by GIESSEN (captions) | + | Page 161: Simonds replaced by Simmons | + | Page 184: liks replaced by like | + | Page 221: prenom replaced with prenom | + | | + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + + * * * * * + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Escape of a Princess Pat, by George Pearson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ESCAPE OF A PRINCESS PAT *** + +***** This file should be named 25683.txt or 25683.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/6/8/25683/ + +Produced by Sigal Alon, Jeannie Howse and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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