The state herald., 1918-08-09

tnreW myself down Tor nap. was
extremely nervous, though, throughout
that whole day, and would scarcely get
settled Into a comfortable position and
doze of for few minutes when,
startled by some sound In the woods,
would suddenly awake.
After what seemed like a year or
more. night finally came, and with n
"dud" sky, low-hanging clouds and still
more rain. There was not star in the
sky, OF course, and that made it very
bad, because without the aid of the
stars had absolutely no way of know
Ing which direction / was going. 1t
was just case Of taking n chance. I
probably would have been better of II
had simply picked out place and
stayed there until the weather i'm
proved, but naturally was inpatient
| to be on my way when each day with
out food only lessened my strength and
my ultimate chances of reaching the
frontier.
So left the woods and struck off in
the direction which l thought was
north. hadn't been at all sure of my
bearings the day before. and us it had
Pained the sun failed entirely to help
me out. but l was almost sure I had
the right direction and trusted to luck.
That night found more rivers, canals
and swamps than I ever found in my
life before. but I had the good fortune
to stumble on to some celery, and after
my diet Of beets II surely was treat.
Perhaps It's unnecessary to add that ]
took on a good supply Of celery and
for days went along chewing celery
like COW would a cud.
Along towards morning, when I sup
posed had gotten In a fairly good lap
Of my journey-perhnps seven or eight
miles-I began to recognise certain OBJ
jects as familiar landmarks. At least,
/ thought had seen them before and
as travelled along I knew positively I
had seen certain objects very recently.
on at my right-not over n quarter of
n mile-I noticed some fairl y good
sized woods and thought / would go
over there to hide that day. because 1t
looked ms though the sun was going to
shine and / hoped to get my clothes
dry, and perhaps get decent sleep.
I had this celery and large beet, so
! knew would be able to live the day
through.
Finally ! made my way over to the
woods. It was still too dark In among
the trees to do much In the way of
selecting my quarters for the day and
/ could not go step farther. So !
waited on the edge Of the forest until
dawn and then set out to explore the
place. with view to finding some nook
where might sleep. Imagine my dis
gust, and Encouragement. too. when an
hour or 80 Inter came upon the exact
place where had spent the day before.
and realized that all night long had
been circling the very woods was try
Ing to get away from. think perhaps
I had gone all OF quarter Of mile In
the right direction, but then had lost
my behring's entirely. and daylight
found me with nothing accomplished.
The gun. however. did come out that
day, a.,d I welcomed Its warm rays.
as they, perhaps, have never been well
coined before. was very tired-just
about all in-but I spent better day
In the woods than the previous one,
That night the stars came out: I
located my friend. the North Star. and
tried to make up for lost time. But
when one In making only seven or eight
miles day. or rather night. one
night lost means whole lot. especi-
ally when each day keeps him from
freedom. Such Ill fortune ind dis
couragements as this were hnrder to
endure. ! believe. than the actual
hunger. and the accompanying worry
naturally reduced my weight. At times
I was furiousiy nngry with myself for
the mistakes ! made and the foolish
things did. but always tried to see
something funny about the situation.
whatever II might be. that relieved
the strain Of habit md helped TO pass
the time AWAY. think II man is
overburdcned with sense OF humor
and wants to get rid OF II. this trip
took would be nn excellent remedy
io' ". uakHt Ut thIn tiHc i Wuuiu
have welcomed anything for compnn-
ion. I believe even n snnkc would
have been n Godsend TO me.
With n name as Irish ns mine. Il is
only natural that looked for goats
along the wny. thinking that ! might
be able to milk them. There are very
few cows In this country. md the op-
portunitics for milking them fewer
than the cows themselves because they
nrc housed In barns adjoining the
homes md always alertly watched by
their fortunate ow0crs. did hope
that ] might md gont stnkcd out
some plncc In the fields. but In nil my
travels ! never saw n gont or n pig.
md only few cows. Several times
searched nests for eggs. but somebody
always hnd bcntcn mo 10 II, ns I never