New Mexico state record., 1918-09-13

ALARM "'
had proceeded perhaps mile
along the main street when | noticed
ahead Of me three German soldiers
standing at the curb. A."
Again my heart started to beat fast.
must confess, but l was not nearly
so scared as l had been an hour or
so before.
l walked ahead, determined to fol.
low my previous procedure In every
particular.
had got to about fifteen feet away
from the soldiers when one of them
stepped onto the sidewalk and
shouted:
"Halt!"
My heart stopped beating fast-fOr
n moment. l believe, 1t stopped beating
altogether! I can't attempt to de-
scribe my feelings. l thought that
the Jig was up-that all l had gone
through and all l had escaped would
now avail me nothing, mingled with
the feeling of disgust with my
self because of the foolish risk l
had taken in going through the vii
lage, combined to take all the starch
out Of me, and l could feel myself
whiting as the soldier advanced to the
spot where l stood rooted in my
tracks.
had bottle of water in one pocket
and piece Of bread in the other and
as the Hun advanced to search me |
held the bottle up in one hand and
the piece Of bread in the other SO that
he could see that was all l had.
1t occurred to me that he would
"frSk' me-that is, feel me over for
arms or other weapons, then place
me under arrest and march me off to
the guardhOuse. l had not the slight
est idea but that / was captured and
there didn't seem to be much use in
resisting, unarmed as was and with
two other German sOldiees within a
few feet of us.
Like a flash it suddenly dawned on
me, however, that for all this soldier
could have known was only Il Bel
gian peasant and that his object In
searching me. which he proceeded to
do, was to ascertain whether l had
committed the common "crime" Of
smuggling potatoes.
The Belgiuns were allowed only a
certain amount of potatoes, and it Is
against the laws laid down by the
Huns to deal in vegetables of any
kind except under the rigid supervi-
sion Of the authorities. Nevertheless,
it was one of the principal vOcatiOns
Of the average poor Belgian to buy
potatoes out in the country from
peasants and then smuggle them into
the large cities and sell them clan
destinely at high price.
To stop this traffic in potatoes, the
German soldiers were In the habit of
subjecting the Belgians to frequent
search. and was being held up by
this soldier for no other reason than
that he thought / might be potato
sInuggler!
He felt Of my outside clothes and
pockets, and finding no potatoes
seemed to be quite satisfied. Had he
but known who | was he could have
earned an iron cross Or, perhaps, in
view Of the fact that I had a heavy
water bottle in my uplifted hand. 1t
might have turned out to be q wooden
cross.
He said something in German,
which. of course, l did not understand.
and then some Belgian peasants came
along and seemed to distract his atten-
tiOn. Perhaps he had said: "It's all
right; you may go on" or he may
have been talking to the others In
Flemish, but at any rate, observing
that he was more interested In the
others than he was In me at the mo-
ment, I put the bottle In my pocket
and walked on.
After walked a few steps, I took
furtive glance backward and noticed
the soldier who had searched me re.
Join his comrades ut the curb and then
stop another fellow who had come
along. and then disappeared In the
darkness.
l cannot say that the outcome Of
this adventure left me in the same
confident frame of mind that followed
the earlier one. was sure l had
come out Of 1t all right but l could
not help thinking what terribly close
shave had.
Suppose the soldier had questioned
me! The ruse | had been following
in my dealings with the Belgian peas
ants-pretending l was deaf and
dumb-might possibly have worked
here, too, but sOldier-a German
soldler-might not so easily have been
fooled. 1t was more than an even
chance that 1t would have ut least
aroused his suspicion and resulted In
further investigation. A search of
nv clothing would have revealed
dozen things which would have estab-
lished my identity and all my sham
ming of deafness would have availed
me nothing.
As I wandered along l knew that
was now approaching the big city
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