Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1918-09-06

Copyright, 1918, by Pat Alva o'Brien
Continued from page 8

for 1 did not believe that a German
officer would be so considerate of his
men as to try to trap me rather thar
carry the cellar by force if they had
the slightest idea that l was there.
I took off my shoes and crept softly
and slowly to the cellar steps and then
step by step, placing my weight down
gradually s. as to prevent the steps
from creaking, l climbed to the top.
The sight that met my eyes as 1
glanced into the kitchen told me the
whole story. The water faucets had
been ripped from the sinks, the water
pipes haveing been torn off, and
gas fixtures, cooking utensils and
everything else which contained even
the smallest proportion of the metals
the Germans SO badly needed had been
taken from the kitchen. l walked up
stairs now with more confidence, feel
ing tolerably assured that the soldiers
hadn't been after me at all, but had
been merely collecting metal and
other materials which they expected
an elaborate dwelling house like the
one in which / was concealed to yield.
Later l heard that the Germans have
taken practically every ounce of brass,
copper and wool they could lay their
hands on In Belgium. Even the brass
out of pianos has been ~ruthlessly re-
moved, the serious damage done to
valuable property by the removal Of
only an insignificant proportion of
metal never being taken into consid-
Grafton. / learned, too, that all dogs
over fourteen inches high had been
seized by the Germans. This furnished
lots of speculation among the Belgians
as to what use the Germans were put
ting the animals to, the general i'm
preston apparently being that they
were being used for food!
This, however, seemed much less
likely to me than that they were being
employed as dispatch dogs in the
trenches, the same as we use them on
our side of the line. They might pos
sibly kill the dogs and use their skins
for leather and their carcasses for tai
low, but I feel quite sure that the
Huns are by no means so short of food
that they have to eat dogs yet awhile.
Indeed, / want to repeat here what
/ have mentioned before If anyone has
the idea that this war can be won by
starving the Huns, he hasn't the slight
est idea how well provided the Ger
mans are in that respect. They have
considered their food needs in connec
ton With their for several
years to come and they have gone at
1t in such a methodical, systematic
way, taking into consideration every
possible contingency, that provided
there Is not an absolute crop failure,
there isn't the slightest doubt in my
mind that they can last for years, and
the worst of it is they are very cock
sure about 1t themselves.
1t is true that the German soldiers
want peace. AS 1 watched them
Through the keyhole in the door /
thought how ~unfavorably they COM
pared with our men. They marched
lalong the street without laughter, with
tout Joking, without singing. 1t was
lquite apparent that the war is telling
on them. / don't believe I saw a single
German soldier who didn't look as If
he had lost his best friend-and he
probably had.
At the same time there is q big diff
ference-certainly a difference of sew
eral years-between wishing the war
was over and giving up, and I don't
believe the German rank and file any
more than their leaders have the slight
est idea at this time of giving up at
all.
But to return to my experience
while concealed in the house. After
the visit of the soldiers, which left
the house in q wretched condition, !
decided that I would continue my jour-
ney towards the frontier, particularly
as l had gotten all l could out IF Huy-
Tiger, or rather he had gotten all he
was going to get out of me.
During my concealment in the house
I had made various sorties into the
city at night, and l was beginning to
feel more comfortable even when Ger
man soldiers were about. Through
thC hCyhOlC 4 Adu Sluuftu very
closely the gait of the Belgians, the
slovenly droop that characterized most
of them, and their general appearance,
and l felt that in my own dirty and I'M
shaver condition I must have looked
as much like the average poor Belgian
as a man could. The only thing that
was against me was my height. 1 was
several inches taller than even the
tallest Belgians. 1 had often thought
that red hair would have gone good
with my name, but now, of course, /
was mighty glad hat I was not so
endowed, for red-haired Belgians r
about as rare as German charity.
There are many, no doubt, who will
wonder why 1 did not get more help
than 1 did at this time. 1t is easily
answered. When a man is in hourly
fear of his life and the country is full
of SpieS. as Belgium certainly was. he