Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1918-09-27

u Kept Pulling and Crawling uE
That Internal Bank.
me the farther went, and all the
time / had before me the spectre OF
that electric barrier between Belgium
and Holland, even II ever reached
there alive. What was the use OF
further suffering when would prob
ably be captured In the end anyway
Before giving up, however. decided
upon one bold move. would ap
proach one of the houses In the vi
cinity and get food there or die In
the effort.
/ picked out q small house because
/ figured there would be less llkeli'
hood Of soldiers being bllleted there.
Then wrapped stone in my khaki
handkerchief as u sort Of camOufaged
weapon, determined to kill the Occu'
pant Of the house, German or Belgian,
II that step was necessary in order
to get food. ! tried the well In the
yard, but It would not work, and then
/ went up to the door and knocked.
II was / o'clock in the morning. An
old lady came to the window and
looked out. She could not imagine
what was, probably, because / was
still attired in that old overcOat. She
gave q cry and her husband and a
boy came to the door.
They could not speak English and l
could not speak Flemish, but / pointed
to my flying coat and then to the sky
and said "Fleger" (flier), which /
thought would tell them what ] was.
Whether they understood or were
inundated by the hard.lOOking APP
pearance, l don't know. but certainly
II would have to be II brave old man
and boy who would start an argument
with such vlllalnOus looking char
acter as stood before them that night !
I had not shaved for a month, my
clothes were wet, torn and dirty, my
leggings were gOne-they had gotten
so heavy l had to discard them-my
hair was matted and my cheeks were
flushed with fever. In my hand l
carried the rock in my handkerchief
and / made no effort to conceal Its
presence or Its mission.
Anyway. they mOtiOned me Indoors,
gave me my first hot meal In more
than month! True. 1t consisted only
of warm potatoes. They had been
previously cooked, but the old woman
warmed them up In milk In one OF the
dIrtiest kettles / had ever seen.
asked for bread, but she shook her
head, although think 1t must have
been for lack Of 1t rather than be-
cause she begrudged 1t to me. For
II ever man showed he was finished,
I did that night. / swallowed those
warm potatoes ravenOusly and drank
four glasses Of water, one after an
other. 1t was the best meal l had had
since the banquet" in the prison at
Courtral.
The woman Of the house was prob
ably seventy-five years old and had
evidently worn wooden shoes all her
life, for she had a callous spot on the
side Of her foot the size Of half dol
lar and It looked so hard that l doubt
whether you could have driven q nail
isto II with hammer!
As sat there drying myself-fOr l
was in no hurry to leave the first
human habltatIOn / had entered In
four. weeks-I reflected on my un-
happy lot and the unknown troubles
and dangers that lay ahead OF me.
Here, for more than a month, / had
been leading the life Of a hunted
animal-yes, worse than q hunted
animal, for nature clothes her less
favored creatures more appropriate
" for the life they lead than I was
clothed for mine-and there was not
the slightest reason to hope that con-
dltlons would grow any better.
Perhaps the first warm food had
eaten for over n month had released
unused springs Of philosophy In me.
as food sometimes does for a man.
l pointed to my torn and water
soaked clothes and conveyed to them
as best ! could that / would be grate-
full for an old suit, but apparently
they were too poor to have more than
they actually needed themselves, and
] rose to 60. had aroused them out
of bed and knew ! ought not to keep
them up longer than was absolutely
necessary.
As ! approached the door ] got q
glance at myself In a mirror. i was
the awfulest sight 1 had laid eyes on !
The glimpse l got Of myself startled
me almost as much as II ] had seen q
dreaded German helmetl Ny left eye |
was fairly well healed by this time |
and ! was beginning to regain sight |
Of II, but my face was 90 haggard and |
my beard 50 long and unksmpt that !
looked Ike Santa Claua On a hatl