The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1918-09-26

ever, no longer worried me as 1t had
at first. had mingled with the Huns
so much I'm the city that ] began 10
feel that was really Belgian, ana
assumed the Indifference that they
seemed to feel.
decided, therefore, to walk out OF
the city In the daytime, when the SEN
tries would be less apt to be on the |
watch. 1t worked fine. l was not
held up n moment, the sentries evil
IDENTIFY taking me for a Belgian peas
ant on his way to work.
Travelling faster than had ever
done before since my escape. l was
soon out in the open country, and the
first Belgian came to l approached
for food. He gave me half OF his
lunch and we sat down on the side OF
the road to eat 1t. or course. he tried
TO talk to me, but used the old ruse
Of pretending l was deaf and dumb
and he was quite convinced that 1t was
80. He made various efforts to talk
TO me In pantomime, but l could not
make out what he was getting ut, ana
think he must have concluded that
was not only half starved, deaf and
dumb, but "looney" in the bargain.
When night came / looked around
for n plnce to rest. l had decided to
travel In the daytime as well as night,
because / understood that 1t was only
n few miles from the frontier. and
was naturally anxious to get there at
the earliest possible moment, although
I realized that there would encounter
the most hazardous part OF my whole
adventure. To get through the heavily
guarded barbed wire and electrically
charged barrier was problem that 1
hated to think Of even, although the
hours / spent endeavoring to devise
some way Of outwitting the Huns
were many.
II had occurred to me. for instance,
, that II would not be such difficult
, matter to vault over the electric fence,
which was only nine feet high. In col
, lege, knew ten-foot vault is consid-
, cred high-school boys accomplish
ment. but there were two great diff
. flculties in the way Of this solution.
In the first place 1t would be no easy
y matter to get pole Of the right
!. length, weight and strength to serve
. the purpose. More particularly, how
o ever, the pole-vault Idea seemed to me
to be out Of the question because oil
7 the fact that on either side OF the cleo
!. trio fence, six feet from 1t. was SIX
q foot barbed wire barrier. To vaul'
v safely over nlne-foot electrically
,. charged fence was one thing, but tc
h combine with It a twelvefoot broad
n vault was a feat which even college
r. athlete In the pink Of condition woulc
y be apt to funk. Indeed, don't be
n lieve 1t Is possible.
/, Another plan that seemed half-wa!
r reasonable was to build pair OF stllt'
"a about twelve or fourteen feet high ant
walk over the barriers one by one. Al
IN n youngster had acquired consider
a. able skill in stllt-walklng and l have
10 no doubt that with the proper equip
v. ment IL would have been quite feaS
" ible to have walked out Of Belgium
ly rs easily as possible In that way, bu
10 whether or not was going to have
" chance to construct the necessar!
as stilts remained to be seen.
There were n good many bicycles II
70 use by the German soldiers In Belgium
r. and It had often occurred to me tina
ly if | could have stolen one, the tire
ID would have made excellent gloves an
ed insulated coverings for my feet Il
Dis case 1t was necessary for me to al
Ms tempt to climb over the electric fenc
re bodily. But as l had never been abl
nt to steal bicycle this avenue OF e'
en- cape was closed to me.
he decided to wait until l arrived
uh the barrier and then make up my min
how to proceed.
To find decent place to sleep thi
night crawled under barbed wir
fence, thinking II led into some felt
AS passed under, one Of the bari
be caught In my coat and In trying
J, l pull myself from 1t shook the fenC
ks for several yards.
ed Instantly there came out Of the nigl
of the nerve-racking command: Halt
II Again | feared / was done for.
me crouched close down on the ground
the darkness, not knowing whether
W. take to my legs and trust to the Hun