Payette enterprise. (Payette, Canyon Co., Idaho) 1909-1935, 1918-07-18
CHAPTER VIII.
Nine Days In Luxembourg.

/ 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 I spent
| there I had travelled all night and I
/ was feeling very weak. / came 70 a
small wood with plenty Of low under
| brush, and picked out a thick clurnp
/ 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 I
took of 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 correspondingiy, be-
cause tired as / was l could take only
catnaps.
That afternoon / aIoke from one
of these maps with start. There were
voices not dozen feet from me- Ny
first impulse was to jump to my feet
and sell my life as dearly as I coulc,
but on second thought ! decided 10
look before / leapt. Peeping through
the underbrush could just discern two
men calmly chopping down a tree, and
conversing as they worked / thanked
my lucky stars that / had not jumped
up on my first impulse, for l was ap-
parently quite safe as long as l lay
where / was.
II then occurred TO me that If the
tree upon which they were working
should happen to fall in ny direction
IL would crush me TO DEATH II was
tall enough to reach me and big enough
to kill me IL II landed in my direction
and as I could only see the heads of
the men who were chOpping it down, ]
was unable TO tell which way they
planned to have IL 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 than an even chance
that the men would be wise enough 10
fell Il so that II would not, because If
1t 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. lay there watch
ing the top Of the tree for more than
an hour. Time and time again / saw il.
sway and fancied il was coming NY
direction, and il was all could do to
keep my place, but a moment later l
would hear the crash Of the mems
axes, and I knew that my imagination
had played me a trick.
was musing on the sorry plight 1
was in-weak. nearly starving 10 death, !
a refugee in q hostile country, and !
waiting patiently 10 see which way q Z
tree was going TO fall, when there |
came q loud crack, and / saw the top /
Of the tree sway and fall almost op- !
posite to the place where layl l had !
guessed right.
Later I heard some children's voices /!
and again peering through the under 4
brush l saw that they had brought the /
men their lunch. You can't realize how 4
/ felt TO see them eating their lunch 4
80 near at hand, and TO know that,
hungry as / was, could have none OF 1
il, ! WAS getting tempted 10 go boldly 1
up TO them and take a chance Of get /
ting q share. but / did not know .
whether they were Germans or not, and 4
| had gone through too much 10 risk +
my liberty even for food. swallowed .
my hunger instead.
Shortly afterwards Il began to rain I
and about o'clock the men left, l
crawled out as fast as ! could and
scurried around looking for crumbs,
but found none. and when darkness
came / went on my way once more.
That night came TO a river and as
il was the first time my clothes had
been dry in long time, / thought
would try 10 keep them that way as
long as possible. I accordingly took
of ali my things and made them into
two bundles, planning 10 carry one
load across and then swim back for
the other.
The river was quite wide, but am 3
fairly good swimmer and l figured /
could rest awhile after the first trip
before going back for the second
bundle
The first swim was uneventful. When
/ landed on the other side drank till
my thirst was quenched and then
swan back. After resting awhile l
started across 8 third time, with my
shoes and several other things firmly
tied to my head. Just about ten feet
from the opposite bank one Of the
shoes worked its way loose and sank
in about eight feet Of water. There
was nothing to do but finish the trip
and then so back and dive for the
missing shoe, as l could not 90 on
with a single shoe
Diving in my weakened condition
was a considerable strain. but had TO
have that shoe and l kept at IL for
nearlv an hpur before / eventually