The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1918-09-05
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10 mySen tne uOeb uav0 ouV
closed down the window agnln5
As soon as the window was closed,
the noise Of the train naturally SUBJ
sided and its speed seemed to dimin-
ish, and my plan appealed to mo
stronger than ever.
! knew the guard in front Of mo
didn't understand word Of English.
and SO. In quiet tone Of voice. con-
fided to the English officer who sat
next me what I had planned to do.
"For Gods sake. Pat, chuck I'll" he
urged. Don't be lunatic! This rail.
road ID double-tracked and rock-bal.
lasted and the other truck Ii on your
side. You stand every chance In the
world Of knocking your brains out
against the rails, or hitting bridge or
whistling post. and II you escape
those you will probably be hit by an
other train on the other track. You
haven't one chance in q thousand to
make itw
There was q good deal Of logic In
what he said, but figured that once I
was in that reprisal camp might
never have even one chance In thou
sand to escape. and the idea Of re-
naming a prisoner of war indefinitely
went against my grain. resolved to
take my chance now at the risk Of
breaking my neck.
The car was full Of smoke. looked
across at the guard. He was rather an
old man, going home on leave. and he
seemed to be dreaming Of what was In
store for him rather than paying any
particular attention to me. Once In q
while had smiled ut him, and figured
that he hadn't the slightest Idea Of
what was going through my mind all
the time we had been travelling.
began to cough as though my throat
was badly irritated by the smoke and
then opened the window again. This
time the guard looked up and showed
his disapproval. but did not soy any.
thing.
It was then 4 o'clock In the morn
ing and would soon be light. knew
had to do II right then. or never. a.
there would be no chance to escape In
the daytime.
had ON a trench coat that I had
used as q flying coat and wore my
knapsack. which had constructed
out Of gas bag brought Into Courtrai
by a British prisoner. In this had
two pieces Of bread, a piece Of sau-
sage and pair Of flying mittens. All
Of them had to so with me through the
window.
The train was now going at a rate Of
between thirty and thirty-five miles an
hour, and again It seemed to admonlsh
me as II rnttled along over the ties.
you're fool II you do--you're a fool
II you don't. You're fool II you don't
you're fool II you do. You're fool
II you DON'T"
! waited no longer. Standing upon
the bench as II to put the bag on the
rack and taking hold of the rack with
my left hand and q strap that hung
from the top Of the cor with my right
I pulled myself up, showed my feet and
legs out of the window and let go.
There was prayer ON my lips as
went out, and expected q bullet be-
tween my shoulders. but It was al
over In an instant.
landed on my left side and face
burying my face In the rock ballast
cutting It open and closing my left
: eye. skinning my hands and shins and
straining my ankle. For a few mo
ments was completely knocked out
and II they shot at me through the
window. In the flrst moments after my
escape. Ihad no way of knowing.
OF course. II they could have stopped
the train right then. they could easily
have recaptured me. but ut the speed Il
was going and in the confusion which
must have followed my escape. they
probably didn't stop within half Of {
mile from the spot where lay.
came to within few minutes and
when examined myself and found M
bones broken. l didn't stop to worry
about my cuts and bruises, but jumped
} up with the idea Of putting as great I
} distance between me and that track Al
possible before daylight came. Still be-
ing dazed. I forgot all about the barbel
wire fence along the right Of way and
ran full tilt into II. Right there lost
, one Of my two precious pieces Of bread
which fell out Of my knapsack. but
, could not stop to look for It then.
The one thing that was uppermost "a
: my mind was that for the moment ]
! was free. and II was up to me now to
! make the most Of my liberty.