The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1918-10-04

some way of outwitting the Huns |
were many.
1t had occurred to me. for instance, !
that 1t would not be such difficult |
matter to vaunt over the electric fence, |
which was only nine feet high. In col |
lege, knew Il ten-foot vault Is consid- |
cred a high-school boys accomplish
ment. but there were two grea. diff |
ficulties In the way Of this solution. |
In the first place 1t would be no easy
matter to get a pole Of the right
length, weight and strength to serve
the purpose. More particularly. how
ever. the pole-vault idea seemed to me
to be out of the question because OF
the fact that on either side Of the cleo
trio fence. six feet from 1t. was a six
foot barbed wire barrier. To vault
safely over a nlnefOOt electrically
charged fence was one thing. but to
combine with 1t a twelve-foot broad
vault was q feat which even 4 college
athlete In the pink OF condition would
be apt to funk. Indeed. don't be-
lieve It IL possible.
Another plan that seemed halfway
reasonable was to build pair Of stills
about twelve or fourteen feet high and
walk over tho barriers one by one. A.
a y0ungster 1 had acquired consider
able skill In stilt-walking and l have
no doubt that with the proper equip
ment 1t would have been quite fens-
ible to have walked out Of Belgium
as easily as possible in that way. but
whether or not l was going to have .
chance to construct the necessary
stills remained to be seen.
There were a good many bicycles In
use by the German soldiers In Belgium
and 1t had often occurred to me that
| IL could have stolen one. the tires
would have made excellent gloves and
insulated coverings for my feet in
| case 1t was necessary for me to at
tempt to climb over the electric fence
bodily But as I had never been able
to steal a bicycle this avenue Of es-
cape was closed to me.
decided to wait until l arrived at
the barrier and then make up my mind
how to proceed.
To find a decent place to sleep that
night, I crawled under a barbed wire
fence, thinking 1t led into some field,
AS passed under. one Of the barbs
caught in my coat and in trying tc
! pull myself from 1t l shook the fence
for several yards.
Instantly there came out of the NIGH
the nerve-racking command: Halt 7
Again I feared I was done for
crOuched close down on the ground In
the darkness not knowing whether to
take to my legs and trust to the HUNS
missing me In the darkness II he fired,
or stay where l was. 1t was foggy
as well as dark. and although knew
the sentry was only few feet away
from me l decided to stand. or rather
lie pat. think my heart made almost
as much noise as the rattling Of the
wire In the first place. and 1t was a
tense few moments to me.
heard the German say a-few words
to himself. but didn't understand them
Of course, and then he made a sound
as IL to call dog and realized that
his theory of the noise he had heard
was that a dog had made its way
through the fence.
For perhaps five minutes l didn''
stir, and then figuring that the German
had probably continued on his beat
. crept quietly under the wire again
this time being mighty careful to hug
the ground SO close that 1 wouldn'
, touch the wire, and made Off In a diff
/ ferent direction. Evidently the barbet
, wire fence had been thrown around al
ammunition depot or something of the
kind, and 1t was not field at all tina
had tried to get into.
l figured that other sentries were
probably In the neighborhood and
proceeded very gingerly.
After / had got about a mile away
from this spot l came to an humble
Belgian house and / knocked at the
door and applied for food In my usua
way, pointing to my mouth to indi
cate l was hungry and to my ears ant
mouth to imply that I was deaf ant
dumb. The Belgian woman who livet
In the house brought me a piece O
bread and two cold potatoes and as
sat there eating them she eyed m,
very keenly.
l haven't the slightest doubt thai
she realized I was fugitive. She livet
so near the border that 1t was NOR
for that reason. l appreciated NOR
fully the extent Of the risk she ran, fol
no doubt the Germans were co..stantl,
watching the conduct of theS- Bel
CLANS who lived near the line.
My theory that she realized that
was not Belgian at all, but prot
ably some English fugitive, was con
frmed a moment later, when, as
made ready to go. she touched me o.
the arm and indicated that l was t
wait moment. She went to a burea
and brought out two pieces of fame
| Belgian lace which she insisted upo
| my taking away, although at that pal
| ticular moment l had as much use fo
] Belgian lace as an elephant for
] safety razor. but / was touched wit
i her thoughtfulness and pressed he