Payette enterprise. (Payette, Canyon Co., Idaho) 1909-1935, 1918-08-15

charge might possibly come to the cor
clusion that he had arrived at tn
house too late-that the bird ha
flown.
My position in that wine cellar wa
anything but comfortable one. Rat
and mice were scurrying across tn
1loor and the smashing and crashing
going on overhead was anything bu
promising. Evidently those soldiers
imagined that l ought to be hiding II
the walls, for it sounded as though
they We're tearing off the wainscotting
the picture mClding and, in fact
everything that they could tear or pull
apart.
Before very long they would finish
their search upstairs and would come
down to the basement. What they
would do when they discovered the
WINE L had no idea. Perhaps they
would let themselves loose on 1t and
give me my chance. With a bottle of
wine in each hand figured 1 could put
up good fight in the dark, especially
as l was becoming more and more ac-
customed to it and could begin to dis
tinguish things here and there, where
as when they entered the pitchy dark
ness of the cellar, they would be as
blind as bats in the sun.
Perhaps it was twenty minutes be-
fore l heard what sounded like my
death-knell to me; the soldiers were
coming down the cellar steps! ]
clutched a wine bottle in each hand
and waited with bated breath.
Tramp! Tramp! Tramp! In a mo-
ment they would be in the cellar
proper. | could almost hear my heart
beating. The mice scurried across the
floor by the scores, frightened no
doubt by the vibration and noise made
by the descending soldiers. Some of
the creatures ran across me where 1
stood between two wine cases, but 1
was too much interested in bigger
game to pay any attention to mice.
Tramp! Tramp! "Haltw Again
an order was given in German, and al
though l did not understand it 1 am
willing to bless every word of it, be-
cause it resulted in the soldiers turn
ing right about face, marching up the
stairs again, through the hall and out
of the front door and awayI
1 could hardly believe my ears. 1t
seemed almost too good to be true that
they could have given up the search
just as they were about to come upon
their quarry, but unless my ears de-
ceived me that was what they had
done.
The possibility that the whole thing
might be German ruse did not escape
me, and l remained In the cellar for
nearly an hour after they had appar-
entity departed before 1 ventured to
move, listening intently in the mean
while for the slightest sound which
would reveal the presence of a sentry
Upstairs.
Not hearing a sound began to feel
hat they had indeed given up the hunt,
or l did not believe that a German
officer would be so considerate of his
men as to try to trap me rather than
AIRY the cellar by force if they had
he slightest idea that 1 was there.
I took off my shoes and crept softly
nd slowly to the cellar steps and then
tep by step, placing my weight down
radually so as to prevent the steps
ohe sight that met my eyes as
lanced into the kitchen told me the
yhole story. The water faucets had
cen ripped from the sinks, the water
ipes haveing been torn off, and
as fixtures, cooking utensils and +.
else which contained even
ne smallest proportion of the metals !
ne Germans so badly needed had been
lken from the kitchen. l walked up
tairs now with more confidence, feel
lg tOlerably assured that the soldiers '
admit been after me at all, but had
cen merely collecting metal and }
Their materials which they expected '
n elaborate dwelling house like the d
ne in which was concealed to yield. J
Later l heard that the Germans have =.
ken practically every ounce of brass, r
)pper and wool they could lay their :,
Illus VII LII DelSlulu ENeu the DTdSS g.
1t of pianos has been ruthlessly re- :.
owed, the serious damage done to y
lluable property by the removal of
lily an insignificant proportion of
etal never being taken into consid-
alton. l learned, too, that all dogs Is
'er fourteen inches high had been &
lied by the Germans. This furnished 4:
is of speculation among the Belgians /,
to what use the Germans were put s
lg the animals to, the general i'm e
ession apparently being that they &
ere being used for foodl E
This, however, seemed much less &
rely to me than that they were being &
lployed as dispatch dogs in the Il
enches, the same as we use them on &
r side of the line. They might pos Il
,ly kill the dogs and use their skins Il
r leather and their carcasses for tai E.;
", but ! feel quite sure that the e.
ms are by no means so short of food s.
ut they have to eat dogs yet awhile. 81
Indeed, l want to repeat here what Is