The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1918-11-16

uAu CdIue 10 me Tor assistance ant
whom had been able to get through
the lines. His message telling me o
: his safe arrival In Rotterdam came t,
me In an Indirect way, Of course, blu
l the fact that the plans we had mad'
carried through without mishap makes
me feel that we ought to be able to d.
as much for you"
told Huyliger was ready to follow
his instructions and would do any
thing he suggested.
Il want to rejoin my squadron as
soon as I possibly can" 1 told him
but l realize that it will take q Ger.
tin length Of time for you to make the
necessary arrangements, and I will be
as patient as can"
The first thing to do, Huyliger told
me, was to prepare passport. He had
blank one and 1t was comparatively
simple matter to fill In the spaces, u.s.
ing genuine passport which Huyliger
possessed as a sample of the hand
writing of the passport clerk. My &C.
cupation was entered as that of a
sailor. My birthplace we gave as
Spain, and we put my age at thirty.
AS matter of fact, at that time I
could easily have passed for thirty
five, but we figured that with proper
food and a decent place to sleep at
night, I could soon regain my normal
appearance, and the passport would
have to serve me, perhaps, for several
| weeks to come.
Filling In the blank spaces on the
passport was, as have said, a COM
paratively easy matter. but that did
not begin to fill the bill. Every genu-
inc passport bore an official rubber
stamp. something like an elaborate
postmark. and was at loss to know
how to get over that difficulty.
Fortunately, however, Huyliger had
half Of rubber stamp which had evil
IDENTIFY been thrown away by the Ger.
mans, end he planned to construct the
other half out Of the cork from q wine
bottle, He was very skillful with
penknife, and although he spoilt a
score or more Of corks before he sue
ceeded in getting anything like the
result he was after, the finished article
was far better than our most sanguine
expectations. Indeed, after we had
pared 1t over here and there, and re-
moved whatever imperfections our re-
peated test disclosed, we had stamp
which made an impression so closely
resembling the original that without a
magnifying glass, we were sure, it |
would have been impossible to tell
that 1t was a counterfeit.
Huyliger procured a camera and |
took a photograph Of me to paste on |
the passport in the place provided for
that purpose, and we then had a pass
port which was entirely satisfactory
to both Of us and would, we hoped,
prove equally SO to our friends the
Huns.
1t had taken two days to fix up the
passport. In the meanwhile Huyliger
Informed me that he had changed his
plans about the convent and that in
stead he would take me to an empty
house, where I could remain in safety
|
me to proceed to the frontier.
This was quite agreeable to me, as
had had misgivings as to the kind
If priest would make and it seemed
% me to be safer to remain aloof from
in a deserted house than to
nave to mingle with people or come in
contact with them, even with the best
# DISCUSSES.
That night accompanied Huyliger
o fashionable section Of the city,
where the house in which I was to be
was located.
This house turned out to be four
tory structure Of brick. Huyliger told
ne that 1t had been occupied by a
wealthy Belgian before the war, but
ince 1914 1t had been uninhabited save
or the occasional habitntion of some
efugee whom Huyliger was befriend-
ng.
Huyliger had q key and let me In,
ut ne did not enter the house with
ne, stating that he would visit me in
he morning.
L explored the place from top to bot
om as well as I could without lights.
he house was deliberately furnished,
Ut OF course, the dust lay q quarter y
an inch thick everywhere. 1t was
lrge house, containing some twenty q
ooms. There were two rooms in the =
asement four on the first floor, four .
the second five on the third and five =,
the top. In the days that were to h
ome was to have plenty of oppor- 81
unity to familiarize myself with the
)ntents Of that house but at that time
did not know it and 1 was curious :,
1ough to want to know just what the -
Duse contained. :.
Down in the basement there was a ~
lge pantry but 1t was absolutely bare. =,
lcept Of dust and dirt. A door which -
'idently led TO a endorsement at =
acted my attention and I thought 1t
light be good idea to know Just =,
here 1t led to in case it became neces- y,
~ for me to elude searchers. "
In that cellar found case after case ey