The Cordova daily times., 1918-08-13
Diagram Showing How o'Brien Lost
 Precious Hours by Swimming a Rlv- CT and Later Finding That He Was on the Wrong Side and Had to Swim

CT and Later Finding That He Was
 on the Wrong Side and Had to Swim
 Back.
 too dirty and too scanty to enable me to wash of the mud with which was covered and 1t was too wet to scrape of. I just had to wait until 1t dried and scrape 1t of then.
 In many sections of Belgium through which I had to pass 1 encountered large areas Dt swamp and marshy ground and rather than waste the time involved In looking for better underfootlng-which 1 might not have found anyway-l used to pole right through the mud Apart from the discomfort of this method of travel ing and the slow time l made, there was an added danger to me in the fact that the squash, squash noise which | mnde might easily be overheard by BrIginns and Germans and give my position away. Nobody would cross q swamp or marsh In that part of the country unless he was trying to get ..way from somebody, and I realized my danger but could not get around It.
 It was common sight in Belgium to see a small donkey and q common ordinary milch COW hitChed together, pulling wagon. When l first ob- served the unusual combination. thought It was II donkey and OK or bull. but closer inspection revealed to me that COWS were being used for the purpose.
 From that I was able to observe there must be very few horses left In Belgium except those owned by the Germans. Cows and donk"ys are now horses and mules. Altogether l spent nearly eight weeks wandering through Belgium, and In all that time l don't believe 1 saw more than half dozen horses In the possession of the native population.
 One of the scarceSt things fl Ger many, apparently. Is rubber. for l notIced that their motor trucks, or Tor ties. unlike our own. had no rubber tires. Instead heavy iron bands were employed. l could hear them come rumbling along the stone roads for miles before they reached the spot where I happened to he in hiding. When I saw these military roads in Belgium for the first time, with their heavy cobbestoneS that looked Us If they would last for centuries. l real iz"d at once why 1t was that the Ger mans had been able to muk" such rapid advance into Belgium at the start of the war.
 noticed that the BelglnnS used dogs to considerable extent to pull their carts, and I thought many times that Ii 1 could have stolen one of those dogs It would have been very good companion for me and might, If | the occasion arose, help me out in il 1 fight. But l had no way of feeding It and the animal would probably have starved to death. l could live on veg etables, which I could always depend upon finding in the fields. but Il dog couldn't, and so l gave up the idea. i The knack of making fire with two pieces of dry wood had often read about. but had never put 1t to test and for various reasons l concluded that 1t would be unsafe for me to 1 build a fire even If had matches. In the first place, there was no absolute need for 1t. l didn't have anything to cook nor utensils to cook 1t in even If l had. While the air was getting to be rather cool at night. I was usu- ally on the go at that time and didn't notice 1t. In the daytime, when l was resting or sleeping. the sun was usually out.
 To have borrowed matches from a Delgian peasant xLald have been feas- 1 ible. but when I whs willing to take the chance of approaching anyone. It was just as easy to ask for food as matches.
 It the second place, 1t would have been extremely dangerous to have built fire even If had needed It. You can't build a fire In Belgium. which is the most thickiy populated country in Europe. without everyone knowing 1t. and l was far from anx- lous to advertising my whereabouts.
  gium through which was making my course were 90 close together that there was hardly ever an hour passed without my hearing some clock strike. Every village has It's clock. Many times I could hear the clocks striking in two villages at the same time.
 But the hour had very little interest to me. My program was to travel as fast as I could from sunset to sunrise and pay no attention to the hours In between. and in the daytime l had only two things to worry about: keep concealed and get as much sleep as possible.
 The cabbage that I got in Belgium consisted of the small heads that the peasants had not cut. All the strength had concentrated In these little heads and they would be as bitter as gall. would have to be pretty hungry to- day before I could ever eat cabbage again and the ss"" observation ap-