The Morgan City daily review. (Morgan City, La.) 1916-1920, 1918-07-08
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ahead of me three German soldiers
standing at the curb.
Again my heart started to beat fast,
I must confess, but I was not nearly
so scared as I had been an hour or
so before.
I walked ahead, determined to fol-
low my previous procedure in every
particular.
had got to about fifteen feet away
from the soldiers when one of them
stepped onto the sidewalk and
shouted:
'Halt ~
My heart stopped beating fast-for
a moment, believe, it stopped beating
altogether! | can't attempt to de-
scribe my feelings. l thought that
the jig was up-that all 1 had gone
through and all I had escaped would
now avail me nothing, mingled with
the feeling CT disgust with my
self because of the foolish risk /
had taken in going through the vii
lage, combined to take all the starch
out of me, and / could feel myself
willing as the soldier advanced to the
spot where / stood rooted in my
tracks.
had bottle Of water in one pocket
and piece of bread in the othery and
as the Hun advanced to search me |
held the bottle up in one hand and
the piece of bread in the other so that
he could see that was all / had.
1t occurred to me that he would
''frisk" me-that is, feel me over for
arms or other weapons, then place
me under arrest and march me off to
the guardhouse. l had not the slight
est idea but that | was captured and
there didn't seem to be much use in
resisting, unarmed as / was and with
two other German soldiers within a
few feet of us.
Like a flash it suddenly dawned on
me, however, that for all this soldier
could have known / was only Bel
gian peasant and that his object in
searching me, which he proceeded to
do, was to ascertain whether l had
committed the common "crime" Of
smuggling potatoes.
The Belgians were allowed only
certain amount Of potatoes, and it is
against the laws laid down by the
Huns to deal in vegetables of any
kind except under the rigid supervi-
sion of the authorities. Nevertheless,
it was one of the principal vacations
of the average poor Belgian to buy
potatoes out in the country from
peasants and then smuggle them into
the large cities and sell them clan
destinely at high price.
To stop this traffic in potatoes, the
German soldiers were in the habit of
subjecting the Belgians to frequent
search, and was being held up by
this soldier for no other reason than
that he thought I might be a potato
smuggler!
He felt of my outside clothes, and
pockets, and finding no potatoes
seemed to be quite satisfied. Had he
but known who I was he could have
earned an iron cross! Or, perhaps, in
view of the fact that I had heavy
water bottle in my uplifted hand, it
might have turned out to be wooden
cross!
He said something in German,
which, of course, did not understand,
and then some Belgian peasants came
along and seemed to distract his atten-
ton. PERHAPS he had said: TITS all
right; yuu nav so en- or he may
have i;avn t4i.i1g to the others in
Flemish, bat - any rate, observing
that he was more interested in the
others than he was in me at the mo-
ment, l put the bottle in my pocket
and walked on.
After walked a few steps, L took
furtive glance backward and noticed
the soldier who had searched me re-
join his comrades at the curb and then
along, and then I 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. I was sure I had
come out Of it all right, but I could
not help thinking what terribly close
shave had.
Suppose the soldier had questioned
me! The ruse I had been following
in my dealings with the Belgian peas
ants-pretending I was deaf and
dumb-Inight possibly have worked
here, too. but q soldier-a German
soldiar--might not so easily have been
fooled. 1t was more than an even
chance that it would have st least
aroused his suspicion and resulted in
further investigation. 4 search Of
my clothing would have revealed
dozen things which would have estab-
lished my identity and all my sham
ming Of deafness would have awaited
me nothing.
AS I wandered along / knew that
was now approaching the big city
which my Belgian friend had spoken
of and which l would haye to enter
if | was to get the passport, and |