Condon globe. (Condon, Gilliam Co., Or.) 189?-1919, 1918-08-09

This swim, which proved to be the
first Of series that was destined TO
make, taught me several things.
In the first place, had forgotten to
remove my wrist-watch. This watch
had been broken in my fall from the
air, but ! had II repaired at Courtrai.
In the leap from the train, the crystal
had been broken again, but II was
still going and would probably have
been Of great service to me In my
subsequent adventures. but the swim
across the canal ruined II.
Then, too. had not thought TO take
my map out Of my sock and the water
damaged that, too.
Thereafter, whenever / had amp
swimming to do, was careful to take
such matters into consideration. and
my usual practice was to make a
bundle of all the things that would be
damaged by water and tie II to my
head. In this way / was able to keep
them dry.
1t was now daylight and I knew that
II would be suicidal for me to attempt
to travel In the daytime. My British
uniform would have been fatal to me.
] decided to hide In the daytime and
travel only at night.
Not far from the canal I could see q
heavily-wooded piece Of ground. and I
made my way there. BY this time /
had discovered that my left ankle had
been strained In my leap from the
train. and when I got to the woods !
was glad to lie down and rest. The
wound In my mouth had been opened,
too, when Jumped. and 1t would have
been difficult for me to have swallowed
had not the piece Of bread, which was
to serve for my breakfast, got wet
when swan the canal found q safe
hiding place In which to spend the
day and l tried to dry some Of my
clothes. but q slight drizzling rainfall
made that out Of the question. knew
that l ought to sleep, as planned to
travel at night, but sore as I was,
caked with mud and blood, my cloth
ing soaked through and my hunger not
nearly appeased, sleep was out Of the
question. This seemed to me about
the longest day had ever spent, but
! was still to learn how long day can
really be and how much longer a night,
When night came / dragged myself
together and headed northeast.
My clothing consisted Of my Flying
Corps uniform. two shirts, no under
wear, leather leggings, heavy shoes, q
good pair Of wool socks and German
cap. had a wallet containing sew
eral hundred francs in paper money
and various other papers. ! also had
q jackknife which I had stolen one
day before from the property room at
Courtrai. where all the personal ef.
fects taken from prisoners were kept
For a day or two had carried KNAPP
sack. but as I had nothing to carry In
II discarded It.
Travelled rapidly, considering my
difficulties, and swan a couple OF
canals that night. covering in all per
haps ten miles before daylight. Then
/ located In some low bushes, lying
there all day in my wet clothes and
finishing my sausage for food. That
was the last Of my rations.
That night I made perhaps the same
distance, but became very hungry and
thirsty before the night was over.
For the next six days I still figured
that l was in Germany, and l was liv-
ing on nothing but cabbage, sugar
beets and an occasional carrot, always
In the raw state just as / got them
out of the fields. The water l drank
was often very rank. One night lay
in cabbage patch for an hour tapping
the dew from the leaves with my
tOnguel
During this period / realized that
must avoid meeting anyone at oil haz,
ards. ! was In the enemy's country and
my uniform would have been a dead
give-away. Anyone who captured me
or who gave information from which
my capture resulted might have beer
sure Of handsome reward. I knew
that 1t was necessary for me to make
progress as fast as possible. but the
main consideration was to keep out OF
sight. even II 1t took me a year to gel
to Holland, which was my objective
From my map estimated that l was
about thirty-fve miles from Strassburs
when made my leap from the train
and II / could travel In q straight line
had perhaps one hundred and fifty
miles to travel. As it was, however
was compelled to make many detours
and I figured that two hundred ant
fifty miles was nearer the extent Of the
journey ahead of me.
In several parts Of this country haG
to travel through forests Of young pine
trees about twelve feet high. They
were very close together and looked
almost as If they had been set out