Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1918-09-20

WHlle on my way 10 Engldnu dlteI
having successfully outwitted the
Huns. But my luck was with me to
the last, and while the accident re-
suited in some delay u boat was not
seriously damaged and made the trip
over In schedule time and without fur
Their accident, another destroyer hav-
ing been assigned to escort us through
the danger zone in place of the one
which had been put out of commits
sion.
When / arrived in London, the re-
action from the strain ! had been
under for nearly three months imme-
diately became apparent. My nerves
were in such a state that it was abso-
lutely impossible for me to cross the
street without being in deadly fear
Of being run over or trampled. / stood
at the curb, like an old woman from
the country on her first visit to the
city, and / would not venture across
until some knowing policeman, recog-
nizing my condition, came to my as
sistance and conveyed me T
Indeed, there was a great number OF
English officers at home at all times
getting back their nerves" after a
long spell of active service at the
front, so that my condition was any
thing but novel to the London bob
bies.
1t was not many days, however, be-
fore / regained control of myself n
felt in frst-class shape.
Although the British authorities In
Holland had wired my mother from
Holland that 1 was safe and on my
way to England, the first thing 1 did
when we landed was to send her a
cable myself.
The cable read as follows:
"Nrs. N. J. O,Brien, Momence, H., q.
S. A.
"Just escaped from Germany. Let
ter follows"
AS I delivered it to the cable dis
patcher I could just imagine the ex-
ultation with which my mother would
receive it and the pride she would
feel as she exhibited 1t among her
neighbors and friends.
/ could hear the volley of 81 told
you sos that greeted her good It'd
ings.
"It would take more than the kaiser
to keep Pat in Germany" l could hear
one of them saying.
"Knew he'd be back for Christmas,
anyway" I could hear another re-
mark.
81 had an idea that Pat and his
comrades might spend Christmas in
Berlin" I could hear another admit
ting, but l did not think any other
part of Germany would appeal to him
very much"
"Mrs. O'Brien, did Pat write you
how many German prisoners he
brought back with him?" 1 could hear
still another credulous friend inquir'
ing.
1t was all very amusing and graft
flying to me and / must confess I felt
quite cocky as ] walked into the wal
department to report.
For the next five days 1 was kept
very busy answering questions put to
me by the military authorities regard
ing what I had observed as to condi-
lions in Germany and behind the lines.
What l reported was taken down
by a stenographer and made part OF
the official records, but l did not give
them my story in narrative form. The
information / was able to give was
naturally Of interest to various
branches of the service, and experts
in every line of government work took
it in turns to question me. One morn
ing would be devoted, for instance,
to answering questions of a military
nature-German methods behind the
front line trenches, tactics, morale of
troops and similar matters. Then the
aviation experts would taxi a whack
at me and discuss with me all l had
observed of German flying corps
methods and equipment. Then, again,
the food experts would interrogate
me as to what l had learned of food
conditions in Germany, Luxembourg
and Belgium, and as / had lived pretty
close to the ground for the best part
of seventy-two days / was able to give
them some fairly accurate reports as
to actual agricultural conditions,
many of the things 1 told them prob
ably having more significance to them
than they had to me.
There were many things I had OBJ
served which I have not referred to in
these pages because their value to us
might be diminished If the Germans
knew we were aware of them, but
they were all reported to the authori-
ties and it was very gratifying to me
to hear that the experts considered
some of them of the greatest value.
One of the most amusing incidents
of my return occurred when I called at
my bankers in London to get my per-
sonal effects.
The practice in the Royal Flying
corps when a pilot is reported mis-
sing is to have two of his comrades
assigned to go through his belongings,