Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-06-25

The Hun
The Wars Greatest Story
by Lieut.. Pat O'Brien
Continued from Last IssueJ
by Lieut.. Pat O'Bricn

CHAPTER XIII.
Five Days in an Empty House.
THE five days l spent in that house
seemed to me like five years. Dur
ing ali that time / had very lit
tie 10 eat-less, in fact, than l had
been getting in the fields. l did not feel
il so badly, perhaps, because of the
fact that / was no longer exposed TO
the other privations which before had
combined to make my condition so
wretched l now had a good place to
sleep, at any rate, and I did not awake
every half hour or so as 1 had been
accustomed tod in the fields and
woods, and, of course, my hunger was
not aggravated by the physical exer-
lions which had been necessary be-
fore.
Nevertheless, perhaps because | had
more time now to think of the hunger
pains which were gnawing at me all
the time, I don't believe I was ever
so miserable as l was at that period
of my adventure. 1 felt so mean to-
wards the world 1 would have commit
ted murder, think, with very little
provocation.
German soldiers were passing the
house at all hours of the day. 1 watch
ed them hour after hour from the key
hole of the door-to have shown my
self at the window was out of the
question because the house in which
I was concealed was supposed to be
untenanted.
Because of the fact that 1 was unable
to speak either Flemish or German l
could not go out and buy food, although
I still had the money with which to
do it. That was one of the things that
CALLED me-the thought that l had the
wherewithal in my jeans to buy all
the food 1 needed and yet no way Of
getting il without endangering my lib
erty and life.
Porages fo= Food at Might
At night, however, after it was dark
would steal quietly out of the house
to see what I could pick up in the way
of food. BY that time, of course, the
stores were closed, but / secured the
streets, the alleys and the byways for
scraps of food and occasionally got up
courage enough to appeal to Belgian
peasants whom L met on the streets,
and in that way 1 managed to keep
body and soul together.
II was quite apparent to me, how
ever, that 1 was worse off in the city
than / had been in the fields, and 1
decided to get out of that house just
as soon as 1 knew definitely that Huy-
Tiger had made up his mind to do moth
ing further for me.
When 1 was not at the keyhole of
the door 1 spent most of my days on
the top floor in a room which looked
out on the street. BY keeping well
away from the window 1 could see much
of what was going on without being
seen myself
In my restlessness l used to walk
back and forth in that room and I
have kept 1t up SO constantly that 1
believe 1 must have worn a path in
the floor. 1t was nine steps from one
wall to the other, and as 1 had little
else to amuse me 1 figured out one day
after / had been pacing up and down
for several hours just how much dis
lance l would have covered on my way
to Holland if my footsteps had been
taking me in that direction instead of
Just up and down that old room.
1 was very much surprised to find
that in three hours 1 crossed the room
no less than 5000 times and the dis
lance covered was between nine and
ten miles. 1t was not very gratifying
TO realize that after walking all that
distance 1 wasn't step nearer my goal
than when 1 started, but l had to do
something while waiting for Huyliger
to help me and pacing up and down
was a natural outlet for my restless
ness.