The World. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1912-1921, 1918-07-09
CHAPTER XVII.



made my way carefully through a
field and eventually came to the much
dreaded barrier.
1t was all that l had heard about 1t.
Every foot of the border line between
Belgium and Holland is protected in
precisely the same manner. 1t is there
to serve three purposes; first, to pre-
vent the Belgians from escaping into
Holland second to keep enemies, like
myself, from making their way to free
dom; and third, to prevent assertions
on the part of Germans themselves.
One look was enough to convince any
one that it probably accomplished all
three objects about as well as any con-
trivance could, and one look was all
got of It that night. for while l lay
, on my stomach gazing at the forbid
ding structure | heard the measured
towards me and l crawled away as
fast as / possibly could, determined
to spend the night somewhere In the
| fields and make another and more
careful survey the following night.
The view / had obtained, however,
was sufficient to convince me that the
pole-vault idea was out of the ques-
ton even If / had pole and was a
| proficient pole-vaulter. The three
'ences covered span of at least twelve
feet and to clear the last barbed wire
fence it would be necessary to vault
not only at least ten feet high, but at
least fourteen feet wide, with the cer-
tain knowledge that to touch the cleo
trically charged fence meant instant
death. There would be no second
chance if you came cropper the first
time
| The silt idea was also impractical
bic because of the lack of suitable
timber and tools with which to con-
struet the stills.
! 1t seemed to me that the best thing
/ % do was travel up and down the line
q bit in the hope that some spot might
be discovered where conditions were
more favorable, although don't know
Just what l expected along those
/ lines.
! 1t was mighty disheartening to real
ize that only few feet away lay GER
tain liberty and that the only things
preventing me from reaching it were
three COMPOUNDED fences. / thought of
my machine and wished that some
kind fairy would set it in front of me
for just one minute.
q l spent the night in clump OF
bushes and kept in hiding most of the
next day, only going abroad for an
hour or two in the middle of the day
to intercept some Belgian peasant
and beg for food. The Belgians in this
section were naturally very much
afraid of the Germans and / Jared
badly. In nearly every house German
soldiers were quartered and it was
out of the question for me to apply
for food in that direction. The prox-
unity of the border made everyone
! eye each other with more or less sus-
picion and I soon came to the conclu-
| sion that the safest thing l could do
was to live on raw vegetables which l
could steal from the fields at night as
I had previously done.
That night / made another survey
of the barrier in that vicinity, but 1t
looked Just as hopeless as it had the
night before and / concluded that /
only wasted my time there.
/ spent the night wandering north,
guided by the North Star which had
served me so faithfully in all my trav-
cling. Every mile or two would make
my way carefully to the barrier to see
if conditions were any better. but 1T
seemed to be the same all along. felt
like wild animal in a cage, with
about as much chance of getting out.
The section of the country in which
| was now wandering was very heavily
| wooded and there was really no very
great difficulty in keeping myself con-
cealed, which / did all day long, striv-
ing all the time to think of some way
in which l could circumvent that
cursed barrier.
The idea of huge stepladder oc-
Cured to me, but / searched hour after
hour in vain for lumber or fallen trees
out of which l could construct one. IL
| could only obtain something which
would enable me to reach point
about nine feet in the air it would be
comparatively simple matter to
jump from that point over the electric
fence.
Then l thought that perhaps could
construct a simple ladder and lean II
against one of the posts upon which
the electric wires were strung, CLIMB 10
the top and then leap over, getting
over the barbed wire fences in the
same way.
This seemed to be the most likely
plan and all night long sat construct
ing ladder for this purpose.
l was fortunate enough to find q
number of fallen pine trees from ten
to twenty feet long. I selected two OF
them which seemed sufficiently strong
and broke off all the branches, which
used as rungs, tying them to the