The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1918-08-22
CHAPTER VIII.
Nine Days In Luxembourg.

l would get out or Luxembourg ana
into Belgium, where l expected to be
n little better on, because the people
of Luxembourg were practically the
same as Germans.
One OF the experiences had In Lux
embourg which | shall never forget
occurred the first day that l spent
there. / had Travelled all night and i
was feeling very weak. l came to n
small wood with plenty Of low under
brush, and picked out thick clump
Of brushes which was not I'm line with
any paths, crawlcd In and lay down
to spend the day.
The sun could just reach me through
an opening in the trees above and i
took Off all my clothes except my shirt
and hung them on the bushes to dry
In the sun. AS the sun moved moved
the clothes around correspondingly, be-
cause tired as | was | could take only
catnaps.
That afternoon | awOke from one
Of these maps with n start There were
voices not II dozen feet from me! My
first impulse was to jump to my feet
and sell my life as dearly as l could,
but on second thought | decided to
look before | leapt. Peeplng through
the underbrush could just discern two
men calmly chopping down n tree, and
converslng as they worked. | thanked
my lucky stars that | had not jumped
up on my first impulse, for | was ap-
parently quite safe as long as / lay
where l was.
II then occurred TO me that II the
tree upon which they were working
should happen to fall in my direction
1t would crush me to death II wns
tall enough to reach me and big enough
TO kill me II II landed In my direction
and as | could only see the heads OF
the men who were chopplng It down, ]
was unable to tell which way they
planned to have II fall.
There was this much In my favor;
the chances of the tree failing In just
my direction were not very great and
there was more than an even chance
that the men would be wise enough to
fell II so that II would not, because II
Il landed In the brushes the task Of
trimming the branches from the trunk
would be so much harder.
But even without this feeling OF Sc
curlty, there was really nothing else |
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 saw II
sway and fancled II was coming my
direction, and 1t was all | could do to
keep my place, but moment later l
would hear the crash Of the mems
axes, and knew that my Imagination
had played me trick.
was muslng on the sorry plight l
was ln--weak, nearly starving to death,
refugee I'm hostile country, and
waiting patiently to see which way n
tree was going to fall, when there
came loud crack, and | saw the top
Of the tree sway and fall almost op-
poslte to the place where lay! l had
guessed right.
LATER | heard some chlldren's voices
and again peerlng through the under
brush saw that they had brought the
men their lunch. You can't realize how
| felt to see them eating their lunch
so near mt hand, and to know that,
hungry MS | was, | could have none Of
II. | was getting tempted to go boldly
up to them and take Il chance OF get
ting share, but | did not know
whether they were Germans or not, and
| had gone through too much to risk
my liberty even for food. swallowed
my hunger instead.
Shortly afterwards 1t began to rain
and about o'clock the men left, l
crawled out as fast as | could and
scurricd around looking for crumbs,
but found none, and when darkness
came went on my way once more.
That night | came to n river and as
II was the first time my clothes had
been dry In n long time, thought i
would try to keep them that way as
long MS possible. | accordingly took
Off all my things and made them into
two bundles. planning to carry one
load across and then swim back for
the other.
The river was quite wide, but am o
fairly good swimmer and l figured
could rest awhile after the first trip
before going back for the second
bundle.
The first swim was uneventful. When
landed on the other side l drank till
my thirst was quenched and then
swan back. After resting awhile !
started across third time. with my
shoes and several other things firmly
tied to my head. Just about ten feet
from the opposite bank one Of the
shoes worked Its way loose and sank
I'm about eight feet Of water. There
was nothing to do but finish the trip
and then go back and dive for the
missing shoe, rs l could not 90 on
with single shoe.
Diving In my weakened condition
was considerable strain. but l had to
have that shoe and l kept Mt II for
nearly nn hour before ! eventually
found II, and was pretty nearly all
In by that time.
Thut was the last time ! ever took
my shoes of, for my feet were becom'