Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-04-30
Continued From Last Issus)

rigid supervision of the authorities.
Nevertheless, it was one of the prin-
cipal Vocations of the average poor
Belgian to buy potatoes out in the
country from the peasants and then
smuggle them into the large cities
and sell them clandestinely at a high
price.
To stop this traffic in potatoes, the
German soldiers were in the habit
of subjecting the Belgians to fire.
quent search, and | was Icing held
up by this soldier for no other rea-
son than that he thought / might be
a potato smuggleri
He felt of my outside clothes and
pockets, and finding no potatoes
seemed to be quite satisfied. Had
he but known who | was he could
have earned an iron cross. Or, per-
haps, in view of the fact that had
a heavy water bottle in my uplifted
hand it might have turned out to be
a wooden cross,
He said something in German.
which, of course, l did not under
stand, and then some Belgian peas
ants came along and seemed to dis
tract his attention. Perhaps he had
said: "It's all right; you may
go on" or he may have been talk
ing to the others in Flemish, but, at
any rate, observing that he was more
interested in the others than he was
in me at the moment / put the bot
tie in my pocket and walked on.
After l walked a few steps / took
a furtive glance backward and no
ticed the soldier who had searched
me rejoin his comrades at the curb
and then stop another fellow who
had come along, and then l disap-
peared in the darkness.
1 cannot say that the outcome of
this adventure left me in the same
confident frame of mind that follow
ed the earlier one. l was sure l had
come out of it all right. but I could
not help thinking what a terribly
close shave l had.
Suppose the soldier had ques-
toned me- The ruse l had been fol-
lowing in my dealings with Belgian
peasants-pretendin I was deaf and
dumb-might possibly have worked
here, too, but a soldier-a German
soldier-might not so easily have
been fooled. 1t was more than. an
even chance that it would at least
suited in further investigation. A
search of my clothing would have re-
vealed a dozen things which would
have established my identity, and all
my shamming of deafness would
have availed me nothing.
Nearing the Big City
AS l wandered along l knew that
/ was now approaching the big city
which my Belgian friend had spoken
of and which | would have to enter
If / was to get the passport, and ]
realized now how essential it was to
nave something to enable me to get
through the frequent examinations
to which / expected to be subjected.
While l was still debating in mind
whether it was going to be possible
for me to enter the city that night,
/ saw in the distance what appeared
to be an arc light, and as ineared 1t
that was what it turned out to be.
Beneath the light l could make out
the forms of three guards, and the
thought of having to go through the
same kind of ordeal that l had just
experienced filled me with m1sgiv-
ings. Was it possible that l could
be fortunate enough to get by again
AS l slowed up a little trying to
make up my mind what was best
to do, | was overtaken by a group
of Belgian women who were shut
| fling along the road, and | decided
to mingle with them and see If
| couldn't convey the impression that
l was one of their party.
AS we approached the arc light,
! the figures of the three soldiers with
their spiked helmets doomed up be-
fore me like "a regiment. felt as
| is | were walking right into the jaws
of death. Rather than go through
what was in store for me, l felt that
| / would infinitely prefer to be hight
| ing again in the air with those four
desperate Huns who had been the
cause of my present plight-then, at
least, | would have a chance to fight
back. but now / had to risk my life
and take what was coming to me
| without, a chance to strike blow in
my own defense.
| shall never forget my feeling as
we came within the shaft of light
projected by that great arc light nor
| the faces of those three guards as we
passed by them. | didn't look di-
rectly at them, but out of the corner
of my eye l never missed a detail. |
held a handkerchief up to my face as
we passed them and endeavored to
initiate the slouching gait of the Bel
gians as we'll as l could, and appar-
emily it worked. We walked right
by those guards and they paid abso-
lutely no attention to us.
If ever a fellow felt like going
down on his knees and praying l did
at that moment, but it wouldn't have
done to show my citation or gratitude
in that conspicuous way.
1t was then we'll after IL O'Clock
and | knew it would be unsafe for
me to attempt to find lodging place
in the city, and the only thing for
me do was to locate the man whose
name the Belgian had given me. He
had given me a good description OF
the street and had directed me how
to get there, and l followed his in
structions closely.
After walking the streets Tor
about half an hour, / came upon one
of the landmarks my friend had de-
scrihed to me and ten minutes aft