Sunday Washington globe., 1902-03-30


tried to get to the hospital iel9nd but the
doctors refused to declare me ill., There
was nothing for me to do but to swim for II.
81 rather hated to leave all my friends
there. It seemed like going back on them.
In spite of all our sufferings we were
Jolly lot We used to play hopscotch and
have potato races, and we formed glee
club and sang songs for the tourists when
they were a little more generous 'and
slipped us a shilling. 1t is piuaoe thing
down there to see the little boys, 10 and -
years old, prisoners of war, vino have been
rounded up by the British and carried into
captivity. The British officers would go
about offering candy to these little fellows
if they would say God Save the King
But the little fellows were game and would
refuse all such advances. Often of a starry
night have I sat there with the planets
hanging low in the sky and heard the little
fellows say: Oh, l only wish ! was grown
up aud could get back to take a shot at the
Britishp These children are more stubborn
than we are. This spirit of hostility 10 the
English is growing up with them They
are going to live in spite of detention
camps, and when they are free-as they
must be some time-they will carry that
hatred of England with them nation,
however big and powerful, cannot afford to
make enemies of boys 10 and II years old.
our tents there on the island were prac.
tically shelter tents, without sides though
sometimes il was cold 1t was always damp.
Sometimes the little fellows suffered griev-
ously As far as am concerned, il was the
fortunes of war which brought me to
Bermuda. But why do the British make
,r Tf f- II 8
little fellows had been out shooting. They
were literally infants in arms. As infants
they liked sugar plums, but as Beers they
refused them. You can't tempt boy who
had been out shooting the enemies of his
country; you cannot buy his allegiance
with sugar plums That is not warfare
it is not even good policy / think the
children got along with the food better than
we older people did, for they were always
raveuously hungry except when the British
officers came along offering them sugar
plums Then they had no appetites. Most
Of the British officers were fairly decent to
US, except that they absolutely refused to
allow US to be clean. But no one of them
ever would treat us as an equal-as honorable
foes who had been cast into their net bv the
chances Of a great conflict. Those little
things hurt more than the rifles In the
course of my career as a Boer soldier had
been on guard over many British, but /
never treated them as they treated me when
II came to their turn. The British subaltern
has more swagger when he struts about a
detention camp than he has in the veldt II
is safer.
From Darrell Island could see every
night where the steamers anchored in the
harbor, at least a mile away It was a ter
rible long swim. But one night l resolved
to make the attempt. I saw a steamer an
chOred of there, and knew she went to
New York, Stripping myself Of what
miserable rags ! had, / crawled from tent to
tent until was able to make a break for
the water. IL was easy until got into the
sea. Although Bermuda is washed by the
waters Of the Gulf Stream, the water seemed
deadly cold It was also phosphorescent
and every wave of my arms made a light
which I thought must surely call the at.
tentiOn of the guards. The place swarms
with sharks. As / got further and further
out in the harbor all these things came to
my mind. / could see the lights of the
steamer, and, looking back / could see the
lights of the camp They seemed to remain
in their relative positions for so long that it
struck me that l was not making any pro-
gress-was motionless on the surface of
that phOsphorescent water. II was not a
pleasant feeling l have been shot many
times-I have faced danger as / shouldn't
tell you / was never so scared as l was
when finally, chilled. exhausted and naked
! grasped the rudder of that ship, and
climbing up. stood a moment on the pro-
peller blades TO get my breath
las soon as got my breath l got my
nerves back and felt confident I swan
around to the steamers bows and tried to
/ climb up the anchor chain. I climbed up
the chain all right but the hawser hole was
too small for me to get through and the
bows were too far above the hawse hole for
me to climb up. So / swan back 10 my old
friends, the rudder and the propeller, again.
"As soou as had firm hold on the pro-
peler began to cry out, Man overheard
Man overheard Then a deckhand came
to the taffrail and threw me a rope. Be
tween his hauling and my climbing up the
rope got on deck. did not stop 10 ex-
change compliments with him or even to
thank him. / ran for where I saw a light
glowing from the engine room. Down
went, past the astonished engineer on
watch, into the fre.room and hugged my.
self before the glowing hre there There
I was one fireman there. He was as
touished, as we'll he might be. Before
had we'll done shivering an officer in uni
form appeared on the scene. Who are you,
he said and where did you come irom7
He was the second engineer, who had
seen me go like Cash through the engine
room. / explained matters to him, told
him frankly my situation. As you New
| Workers say, it was up to him.
Well, said he, you had better clean
/ yourself hrst-yOu are dirty was. Be
tween my filth which had accumulated on
the island and that which I had acquired in
my descent into the hold was a sighc
"'Get some waste, said he
Where will get it2" said /.
Look in the waste locker. said he
II found the waste locker and swabbed
myself of as well as / could.
Now, then said he, crawl into that
waste locker It is soft billet, and we are
soon going to sea. These fellows will be
looking Tor you pretty soon
Did that man wear the uniform Of an
American merchant officer or Of an English
merchant officer? / refuse to say. but he
made good for his uniform He sent the
fireman somewhere to get me pair of over