The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1918-09-19
CHAPTER XIII.
Civ, DAYS In an Empty House.


php five days | spent in that house
,oomed TO me like five years. During
al that time / had very little to eat
lace in fact than had been getting In
mo fields. / did not feel 1t so bad, per-
hans because Of the fact that was no
longer exposed to the other prlyations
mbIch before had combined to make
mv condition so wretched. now had n
GOOD place to sleep, at any rate, ana l
Aid not wake every half hour or so IS
I had been accustomed TO do In the
0elds and woods, and, Of course, my
hunger was not aggravated by the
nbyslcal exertlons which had been
necessary before.
Nevertheless, perhaps because ! had
more time now to think Of the hunger
Mains which were gnawlng at me all
the time, don't believe / was ever so
miserable as / was at that period OF
nv adventure. felt so mean towards
the world | would have committed
murder, think, with very little prov
OcatlOn.
German soldiers were passing the
house mt all hours Of the day.
watched them hour after hour from the
keyhole of the door-to have shown
myself at the window was out Of the
question because the house In which
was concealed was supposed to be
untenanted.
Because Of the fact that / was un-
abe to speak either Flemish or Ger
man | could not go out and buy food,
although | still had the money with
which to do 1t. That was one Of the
things that CALLED one-the thought
that had the wherewlthal In my
Jeans to buy all the food | needed and
yet no way of getting 1t without en-
dangerlng my liberty and life.
At night. however, after 1t was dark,
would steal quietly out Of the house
to see what | could pick up In the way
Of food. BY that time, Of course, the
stores were closed, but | secured the
streets, the alleys and the byways for
scraps Of food and occasionally got up
courage enough to appeal to Belgian
peasants whom / met on the streets,
and in that way / managed to Keep
body and soul together
II was quite apparent to me, how
ever that | was worse off In the city
than had been In the fields, and
decided to get out Of that house Just
as soon as ! knew definitely that Huy-
Tiger had made up his mind to do moth
Ing further for me.
When | was not ut the keyhole OF the
door ! spent most OF my day on the top
floor in room which locked out on the
street. by keeping well away from the
window could see much of what was
going on without being seen myself.
In my restlessness, used to walk back
and forth In that room and kept II up
so constantly that believe must have
worn a path In the floor. 1t was nine
steps from one wall to the other, and
as had little else to nmuse me / fig
urcd out one day after ] had been
pacing up and down for several hours
Just how much distance ! would have
covered on my way to Holland II my
footsteps had been taken In that direc-
ton instead Of just up and down that
old room. was very much surprised
to find that I'm three hours | crossed
the room no less than 5000 times and
the distance covered was between nine
and ten miles. II was not very gratl-
flying to realize that after walking nll
that distance ! wasn't step nearer my
goal than when started, but had to
do something while waiting for Huy-
Tiger to help me, and pacing up and
down was n natural outlet for my
restlessness.
While looking out Of the top floor
window one day, noticed n cat on q
window ledge Of the house across the
street. ] had n nice piece Of broken