The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1918-08-29

right; you may GO on" IN no nay
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, 1 put the bottle in my pocket
and walked on.
After / walked few steps. took
furtive glance backward ard noticed
the soldier who had searched me re-
join his comrades at the curb and then
stop another fellow who had come
along, and then / disappeared in the
darkness.
/ cannot say that the outcome of
this adventure left me i'm the same
confident frame of mind that followed
the earlier one. / was sure / had
come out of it all right, but 1 could
not help thinking what terribly close
shave / had.
Suppose the soldier had questioned
mel The ruse / had been following
in my dealings with the Belgian peas
/ ants-pretending / was deaf and
dumb-might possibly have worked
here, too. but soldier-a German
soldier-might not so easily have been
fooled. 1t was more than an even
chance that it would have at least
aroused his suspicion and resulted in
further investigation. A search Of
my clothing would have revealed q
dozen things which would have estab-
lished my identity and all my sham
ming of deafness would have availed
me nothing.
AS / wandered along knew that I
was now approaching the big city
which my Belgian friend had spoken
of and which l would have to enter
il / was to get the passport, and !
realized now how essential 1t was to
have something to enable me to get
through the frequent examinations
to which expected to be subjected.
While / was still debating in my
mind whether IL was going to be pos
sible for me ia enter the city that
night, l saw in the distance what APP
peared to be an arc light, and as
nehred ii that was what it turned out
to be. Beneath the light l could
make out the forms of three guards,
and the thought Of having to go
through the same kind of ordeal that
had just experienced filed me with
misgivings, Was 1t possible that !
could be fortunate enough to get by
again?
AS 1 slowed up q little, trying to
make up my mind what was best to do,
1 was overtaken by a group of Bel
gian women who were shutting along
the road and / decided to mingle
with them and see if couldn't convey
the impression that 1 was one OF
their party.
As we approached the arc light, ths
figures of those three soldiers with
their spiked helmets doomed before
like a regiment. felt as If / were
walking right into the jaws of death
Rather than go through what was IL
store for me, felt that / would in
| finitely prefer to be fighting again Ii
the air with those four desperate
Huns who had been the cause of my
| present .plight-then, at least,
would have chance to fight back
but now / had to risk my life ant
take what was coming to me without
, chance to strike q blow in my owl
defense.
shall never forget my feelings a
{ we came within the shaft of light pro
e jected by that great arc light nor TIT
O faces of those three guards as WI
u passed by them. / didn't look directl,
: at them, but out of the corner of m.
1 eye never missed a detail. held
+ handkerchief up to my face as W,
passed them and endeavored to imi
Il tate the slouching gait of the Belgian
e as well as / could, and apparently
y worked. We walked right by thos
guards and they paid absolutely N
= attention to US.
If ever a fellow felt like going dow
on his Knees and praying / did at tina
moment, but it wouldn't have done t
u show my citation or gratitude in tina
conspicuous way.
1t was then well after IL o'clock an
y / knew ii would be unsafe for me I
= attempt to find a lodging place in th
- city, and the only thing for me to d
was to locate the man whose name tn
y Belgian had given me. He had give
!, = me good description Of the stree
- and had directed me how to get there
u and followed his instructions closel,
After walking the streets for abou
= half an hour, came upon one Of tn
|, landmarks my friend had described
me and ten minutes afterwards I wa
knocking at the door of the man VIII
y :, was to make 1t possible for me to reac
= Holland-and lihertyl At least tha
was what hoped.