New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1918-08-30
CHAPTE" VIII.


vas INV Htu'llIlS IOItllNtSl anu
thought that by keeping that cours
! would get out Of Luxembourg an,
into Belgium. where | expected to b.
n little better off. because the peOpl'
of Luxembourg were practically tn
same rs Germans.
one of the experiences I had in Lux
PmbOurg which l shall never forge
occurred the first day that l spen1
there. l had Travelled all night and
vas feeling very weak. I came to
small wood with plenty of low under
brush, and picked out a thick clumI
OF brushes which was not in line witt
any paths, crawled ia and lay dO8l
To spend the day.
Tile sun could just reach me through
an opening in the trees above and
took off all my clothes except my shirt
and hung them on the bushes to dry
In the sun. AS the sun moved l moved
the clothes around cOrrespondingly, be-
cause tired as l was l could take only
catnaps.
That afternoon 1 awOke from one
of these maps with a start. There were
voices not a dozen feet from me! My
first impulse was to jump to my feet
and sell my life as dearly as I could.
but on second thought l decided to
look before I leapt. Peeplng through
the underbrush | could just discern two
mel calmly chopping down a tree, and
conversing as they worked. / thanked
my lucky stars that l had not jumped
up on my first impulse, for was APP
parently quite snfe as long as l lay
where | was.
1t then occurred to me that If the
tree upon which they we're working
should happen to fall In my direction
it would crush me to death! 1t was
tall enough to reach me and big enough
to Kill me If it landed In my direction
and us l could only see the heads Of
the men who were chopping 1t down, !
was unable to tell which way they
planned to have 1t fall.
There was this much In my favor;
the chances OF the tree falling in jlst
my direction were not very great and
there was more than an even chance
that the men would be wise enough to
fel! it so that 1t would not, because If
1t landed in the brushes the task Of
trimming the branches from the trunk
would be SO much harder.
But v without this feeling Of &C.
curity, there was really nothing else I
could do but wait and see what fate
had in store for me. | lay there watch
ing the top Of the tree for more than
an hour. Time and time again l saw 1t
sway and fancied it was coming my
direction. and it was all | could do to
keep my place, but Il moment later l
would hear the crash Of the men's
axes, and knew that my Imagination
had played me a trick.
| was musing on the sorry plight l
was in-weak. nearly starving to death,
a refugee In a hostile country, and
waiting patiently to see which way a
tree was going to fall. when there
"A loud crack. and | saw the top
OF the tree sway and fall almost OPP
to the place where | lay! l had
guessed right.
Later | heard some children's voices
and again peering through the under
brush | saw that they had brought the
men their lunch. You cant realize how
I felt to see them eating their lunch
So near at hand, and to know that,
hungry as | was, | could have none Of
i. | vas getting tempted to go boldly
Iip to them and take a chance Of get
ing a share, but | did not know
they were Germans or not, and
had gone through too much to risk
my liberty even for food. I swallowed
NY hunger instead.
Shortly afterwards it began to rain
md about 4 o'clock the men left, 1
out as fast as | could and
>'urried around looking for crumbs.
anne l vent on my way once more.
That night I came to n river and as
I was the first time my clothes had
dry in a long time, I thought l
JUN ny W hCOp ifCih tltul WY us |
ong as possible. l accordingly took
If all my things and made them into
wo bundles. planning to carry one
Dad across and then swim back for
he other.
The river was quite wide. but l am .
airly good swimmer and l figured I
rest awhile after the first trip
'efore going back for the second
The first swim was uneventful. When
landed on the other side l drank till
ny thirst was quenched and then
wan back. After resting awhile I
across a third time, with my
hoes and several other things firmly
led to my head. Just about ten feet
rom the opposite bank n of the
hoes worked its way loose and sank
D about eight feet of water. There
nothing to do but finish the trip
nd then go back and dive for the
Missing shoe, as 1 could not 60 on
nth a single shoe.
Diving in my weakened condition
a considerable strain, but l had to
ave that shoe and / kept at 1t for
early an hour before l eventually
Dund it, and I was pretty nearly all
4 by that time.
That was the last time l ever took
~ shoes off. for my feet were becom-
,g SO swollen that l agured II l took