Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1918-10-23

have been talking to the others In
Flemish. but at any rate, observing
that he was more interested In the
others than he was In me at the mo-
ment, / put the bottle In my pocket
and walked ON.
After walked few steps, took a
furtive glance backward and noticed
the soldier who had searched me re-
join his comrades at the curb and then
stop another fellow who had come
along, and then disappeared in the
darkness.
I cannot say that the outcome Of
this adventure left me in the same
confident frame of mind that followed
the earlier one. 1 was sure I had
come out of it all right, but could
not help thinking what terribly close
shave l had.
Suppose the soldier had questioned
me! The ruse l had been following
in my dealings with the Belgian peas
| ants-pretending / was deaf and
dumb-might possibly have worked
here, too, but a soldier-a German
soldier-might not so easily have been
| fooled. 1t was more than an even
chance that it would have at least
| aroused his suspicion and resulted I'm
further investigation. A search Of
my clothing would have revealed q
dozen things which would have estab-
lished my identity and all my sham
| ming Of deafness would have availed
me nothing.
AS wandered along knew that ]
| was now approaching the big city
| which my Belgian friend had spoken
of and which / would have to enter
if I was to get the passport, and
realized now how essential it was ia
have something to enable me to ger
through the frequent examination
to which I expected to be subjected.
While I was still debating in m3
mind whether it was going to be pos
sible for me to enter the city that
night, saw in the distance, what APP
| peared to be an arc light, and as l
neared it that was what it turned out
! to be. Beneath the light I could
make out the forms of three guards,
and the thought of having to &C
through the same kind of ordeal that
I had just experienced filled me with
misgivings, Was it possible that ]
| could be fortunate enough to get by
| again?
AS I slowed up little, trying to
make up my mind what was best to do.
was overtaken by a group of Bel
| gian women who were shutting along
the road, and decided to mingle
with them and see if couldn't convey
| the impression that I was one of
| their party.
As we approached the arc light, the
| figures OF those three soldiers with
| their spiked helmets doomed before
| like a regiment. l felt as if / were
walking right into the jaws of death.
| Rather than go through what was in
| store for me, 1 felt that I would in
| finitely prefer to be fighting again in
| the air with those four desperate
Huns VINO had been the cause Of my
present plight-then, at least, /
would have a chance to fight back,
| but now had to risk my life and
| take what was coming to me without
chance to strike a blow in my own
| defense.
I shall never forget my feelings as
we came within the shaft of light pro-
| jected by that great arc light nor the
| faces of those three guards as we
| passed by them. didn't look directly
at them, but out Of the corner of my
| eye 1 never missed a detail. / held
| handkerchief up to my face as we
passed them and endeavored to imi-
tate the slouching gait of the Belgians
as well as could, and apparently it
worked. We walked right by those
guards and they paid absolutely no
| attention to US.
If ever a fellow felt like going down
on his knees and praying did at that
| moment, but it wouldn't have done to
show my elation or gratitude in that
conspicuous way. q
1t was then well after IL o'clock and
knew it would be unsafe for me to
attempt to find lodging place In the
city, and the only thing for me to do
was to locate the man whose name the
Belgian had given me. He had given
me a good description OF the street
and had directed me how to get there,
and followed his instructions closely.
After walking the streets for about
half an hour, came upon one of the
landmarks my friend had described to
me and ten minutes afterwards / was
knocking at the door of the man who
was to make it possible for me to reach
Holland-and libertyl At least that
was what I hoped.