The state herald., 1918-08-23

right; yuS nay 20 on Or BE- may
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, I put the bottle In my pocket
and walked on.
After walked a rev steps, took q
furtive glance backward and noticed
the soldier who had searched me re-
Join bis comrades at the curb and then
stop another fellow who had come
along. and then disappeared In the
darkness.
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 l had
come out Of 1t all right, but I could
not help thinking what terribly close
shave / had.
| Suppose the soldier had questioned
me! The ruse ! had been following
In my dealings with the Belgian peas
ants-pretending was deaf and
dumb-might possibly have worked
here. too, but soldier-a German
soldier-might not 20 easily have been
fooled. 1t was more than an even
chance that 1t would have at least
aroused his suspicion and resulted In
further investigation. A search Of
my clothing would have revealed a
dozen things which would have estab-
lished my identity and all my sham
ming Of deafness would have availed
me nothing.
As wandered along I knew that
was now approaching the big city
which my Belgian friend had spoken
Of and which l would have to enter
If was to get the passport, and /
realized now how essential 1t was to
have something to enable me to get
through the frequent examinations
to which 1 expected to be subjected.
While / was still debating in my
mind whether it was going to be pos.
sible for me to enter the city that
night. saw In the distance what ap-
peared to be an arc light. znd as ]
neared II shat was what u turned out
TO be. Beneath the Hight / could
MAKE out the forms of three guards,
and the thought of having to 20
through the same kind of ordeal that
l had just experienced filed me with
misgivings. Was 1t possible that ]
could be fortunate enough to get by
again?
As l slowed up little. trying tc
make up my mind what was best to do,
was overtaken by group of Bel.
gian women who were shuffling along
the road, and l decided to mingle
with them and see if couldn't convey
the impression that / was one OF
their party.
As we approached the arc light. the
figures of those three soldiers with
their spiked helmets loomed before
like regiment | felt as II l were
walking right into the jaws of death
Rather than go through what was In
store for me, I felt that l would In.
finitely prefer to be fighting again iu
the air with those four desperate
Huns who had been the cause Of my
present plight-then, at least,
would have chance to fight back.
but now l had to risk my life and
take what was coming to me without
a chance to strike blow In my own
defense.
l shall never forget my feelings AZ
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. I didn't look directly
at them. but out Of the corner of my
eye never missed detail. l held q
handkerchief up to my face as we
passed them and endeavored to ini.
tate the slouching gait OF the Belgians
as well as I could. and apparently II
worked. We walked right by those
guards and they paid absolutely nc
attention to us.
II ever fellow felt like going down
on his knees and praying / did at that
moment. but 1t wouldn't have done to
show my elation or gratitude In thai
conspicuous way.
II was then well after II O'Clock and
l knew II would be unsafe for me to
attempt to find lodging place In the
city, and the only thing for me to dc
was to locate the man whose name the
Belgian had given me. He had given
me good description OF the street
ANA had directed me how to get there
ana followed his instructions closely
After walking the streets for about
half nm hour. came upon one OF the
landmarks my friend Ind described to
me ana ten minutes afterwards i was
knocking Mt the door Of the man who
was to make II possible for me to reach
Hollnnd-and libertyi At least. tina,
was whnt hoped.
O'Brlen 10 promised help In