Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1918-12-03
George kiarhe,~ Adams Serd<s

just quit talking and begin to sneak
around. Or he would squat down and
begin to humble. We could not tell
just when man had begun to lose
his mind. He would seem just like
the rest of us, because none of us was
much better than a beast.
We could not take turns sleeping
and standing watch against the crazy
men, because when we talked about
it, we agreed that none of US could
tell whether or not the sentries would
90 crazy while on watch and have the
rest of us at their mercy. 1t was aw-
full to talk about going crazy In this
way, and to figure that you yourself
might be the next, and that 1t was al
most sure to happen If you did not
get some sleep soon. But 1t was worse
to find man near you going, and have
to boot him out with the other insane
men.
The days passed like that, with
nothing TO do but suffer, and starve
and freeze. II got colder and colder,
and all we could wrap ourselves in
was the coal We began to speculate
on where we We're. 1t was not dill
later than an old skipper in our bunch
told us that we had rounded the north
ern coast of Iceland
Finally, one day, lad yelled down
'Land!" and we all dove for the fid-
dley like wild men, and those who
could get near enough looked out, and
sure enough! there was the coast of
Norway, very rugged and rocky and
covered with snow. We thought it
was all over then, and that we would
be landed at Bergen sure. Then there
was the usual running around and
yelling on deck. and we were not so
sure we would be landed, and very
suddenly it got colder than ever.
was in the fiddley, aching to get
out, and ready for anything that
might happen, when the door opened
suddenly and Badewitz grabbed me,
and asked me in English if / was a
quartermaster. / said yes, and he
pulled me by the arm to cabin. l
did not know what was going to hap
pen, but he took an oilskin from the
wall and told me to put it on.
There were two sailors there also.
and they put life belts on, and then
l was more puzzled than ever, and
scared, too, because / thought maybe
they were going to throw me over
board, though what that had to do
with being quartermaster l could
not see.
But they drilled me up onto the
bridge and told me to take the wheel.
What their idea was 1 do not know.
Possibly they wanted a noncombatant
at the wheel in case they were over
hauled by neutral vessel. We were
going full speed at the time, but as
soon as took the wheel she cut down
to half speed, and stayed that way for
half an hour. Then up to full speed
again.
Pretty soon there was q tramp
steamer on the starboard bow, and al
most before 1 saw it, there were two
more sentries ON each side of me,
prodding me with their revolvers and
warning me to keep on the course.
They had civilian clothes on.
Then we went through the Skager
Rack and Cattegat, which are narrow
strips of water leading to the Baltic,
and we were only mile from shore
with vessels all about us. 1t would
have been an easy thing for me to
signal what our ship was and who
were aboard, but they had six Sentries
on my neck all the time to keep me
from it. l never wanted to do any
thing worse in my life than jump
overheard or signal. But l would
have been shot down before l had
more than started to do either, so l
just stayed with the wheel.
We were nearing one of the Dan
ish islands in the Baltic when we
sighted a tug. She began to smoke
up and blow her siren. The sailors got
very excited and ran around in crazy