The Lamar register., 1918-07-10
CHAPTER VII.
Nine Days In Luxembourg.


was now heading northwest and
thought that by keeping that course
would get out of Luxembourg and
into Belgium, where expected to be
a little better off. because the people
of Luxembourg were practically the
same as Germans.
One of the experiences had In Lux
embourg which / shall never forget
occurred the first day that l spent
there. I had Travelled all night and I
was feeling very weak. came to Il
small wood with plenty Of low under
brush. and picked out thick clump
of brushes which was not In line with
any paths. crawled in and lay down
to spend the day.
The sun could Just reach me through
an opening in the trees above and 1
took on all my clothes except my shirt
and hung them on the bushes to dry
in the sun. As the sun moved ! moved
the clothes around correspondingly. be-
cause tired as l was 1 could take only
catnaps.
That afternoon / awoke from one
of these maps with start. There were
voices not u dozen feet from me! My
first Impulse was TO jump to my feet
and sell my life as dearly as I couid.
but ON second thought I decided to
look before | leapt. Peeping through
the underbrush | could just discern two
men calmly chopping down u tree, and
conversing as they worked. | thanked
my lucky stars that had not jumped
up on my first impulse. for l was APP
parently quite safe as long as l lay
where | was.
II then occurred to me that II the
tree upon which they were working
should happen TO fall ~ direction
II would crush me 20 hi IL was
tall enough to reach III, Il big enough
to Kill me II IL landed la my direction
and us could only see the heads OF
the men who We're chopplng It down.
was unable to tell which way they
planned TO have It fall.
There was this much In my favor:
the chances Of the tree falling In just
my direction were not very great and
there was more thun an even chance
that the men would be wise enough TO
ltli IL 81 lliul ~ NAhAh hpAs bfNahoF a.
Ii landed in the brushes the task of
trimming the branches from the trunk
would be so much harder.
But even without this feeling OF Sc
curity, there was really nothing else L
could do but wait and see what fate
had In store for me. 1 lay there watch
ing the top OF the tree for more than
an hour. Time and time again | saw 1t
sway and fancied 1t was coming my
direction. and II was all could do to
keep my place, but a moment later L
would hear the crash of the mems
axes, and | knew that my Imagination
had played me II trick.
| was muslng on the sorry plight l
was in-weak. nearly starving to death,
a refugee in a hostile country, and
waiting patiently TO see which way
tree was going to fall, when there
came "a loud crack, and / saw the top
of the tree sway and fall almost op-
posite to the place where layl had
guessed right.
Later l heard some children's voices
and again peering through the under
brush | saw that they had brought the
men their lunch. You can't realize how
| felt to see them eating their lunch
so near at hand, and to know that.
hungry as | was. could have none OF
1t. | was getting tempted TO go boldly
up to them and take chance OF get
ting n share but l did not know
whether they were Germans or not. and
had gone through too much to risk
my liberty even for food. swallowed
my hunger Instead.
shortly afterwards II began to raip