Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-12-04
Copurioht, 1873, By the Public Ledger Co.
COPYRIGHT by Robert h. Mcbride e Co.
CHAPTER XVI-(Continued)

yX1ELL. the long and short OF It was that
w my suggestion was carried, and we re-
solved 10 set out for Bellevue that very night.
NV brother declared he would not return to
the cafe; with the present shortage Of mon.
such desertions were by no means uncom-
mon. and II he were to give notice formally
It might only lead to embarrassing eXplana-
tions.
So we stroiled back to tho city in the
gathering darkness, bought map or 'he
Rhine and q couple Of rucksacks and laid
in a snail stock OF provisions at great
department store, biscuits, chocolates, some
hard sausage and two small hasks OF rum
Then Francis took me to little restaurant
where, he was known and introduced me 10
the friendly proprietor a very 1oLy olo
Khinelander, as his brother just out OF nos
n,tal. did my country good service, thlhK'
bv giving a most narrowing account OF the
torr9hIe efIciency of the British army on
the Sonrle!
,r,an we dired and over our meal consulted
the map. .r,.u.,,,,o cbo,,,d ba
about fifty miles from here. Ny idea is tiAH
wo should walk only at night and lie up
sw-,na the day. as room Is out Of the
question for mo without any papers thin,
we should keep away from the Rnlne, don
,,ou9 a. otherwise we shall pass through
Wesel, which Is a fortress. and. consequently
devilish unhealthy for poth OF US
Francis nodded with his mouth fulL
"At nresent we can count on about twelVe
hours of darkness" I continued. so ieav-
ing a margin for the slight detour we snail
make for rests and for losing tne way l
think we ought to be able 10 reacn Sas',e 10
Tho weather holds up, 1t won't be too bad,
but iS IL rains it will be helnsh. now
have you any suggestions
NV brother acquiesced, as, indeed. he had
IN everything had proposed since we met
poor fellow he had had roughish time ;
ha seemed glad to have the direction OF
AFFAIRS taken out of his hands for a bit
Az half-past seven that evening our
nacks on our backs, We stood on the out
skirts of the town where the road branches
~, 70 Crefeld In the pocket OF tho over
rot had flched from Haases l found an
outonatic pistol fully loaded (most OF our
customers at the beer-cellar went armed
you've got the document. Francis" I
said You'd better have thls' too'' ana l
passed him the gun
Francis waved 1t aside.
you keep it." he said grimly at may
serve you instead of passport"
So l slipped the weapon back into my
| pocket.
"Oh, hell!" 1 cried, ITS beginning to
| ran!"
And thus We set out upon our journey.
1t was a nightmare tramp. The rain never
| ceased By day we lay in icy misery, chilled
| 10 the bone in our sopping clothes, In some
dank ditch or wet underground, with ach-
ing bones and blistered feet, fearing detection,
| but fearing. even more. the coming Of night
| and the resumption of our march. Yet we
stuck to our program like Spartans. and
about eight O'Clock on the third evening hob
bling painfully along the road that runs from
Cleves to Calcar, were rewarded by the
| sight of long massive building, with tur-
rets at the corners, standing back from the
highway behind a tall brick wall.
"Rellevue" said to Francis. with point
| ing finger.
We left the road and. climbing wooden
| palisade. struck out across the fields with the
idea of getting into the park from the back
| We passed some black and silent farm build
| ings. went through a gate and into a pad
| dock. on the further side of which ran the
| wall surrounding the place. Somewhere be-
| yond the wall fire was blazing. We could
| see the leaping light of the flames and drift.
/ ing smoke. At the same moment we heard
/ voices. loud voices disputing In German.
1 We crept across the paddock to the wall
| gave Francis back, and he hostee him
| self to the top and looked over. In mo-
ment he sprang lightly down. fAnEer "a
| his lipa. n
| sr@o15f>r. rc,,nd !. ryen IA .rh,s,e,ss