Mountain Home Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1915-1946, 1918-08-31
CHAPTER XII.
The Forged Passport.

For obvious reasons, / cannot de-
scribe the man to whom | applied for
the passport nor the house In which
he lived. While, in view of what sub
sequently happened, | would not be
very much concerned If he got into
trouble for having dealt with me, ]
realize that the nardships he had en-
dured in common with the other in
habitants of that conquered city may
possibly have distorted his idea of
right and justice, and / shall not de-
liberately bring further disaster on
him by revealing his identity.
This man-we will call him Huy-
Tiger because that is as unlike his
name as 1t is mine--was very kind to
me on that memorable night when ]
aroused him from his sleep and in a
few words of explanation told him of
my plight.
He invited me inside, prepared some
food for me and, putting on a dress
Ing gown, came and sat by me while
ate, listening with the greatest inter-
est to the short account of my adven-
lures.
He could speak English f1uently, and
he interrupted me several times to ex-
press his sympathy for the sufferings
/ had endured.
"O'Brien," he said, after / had con-
cluded my story, Il am going to help
you. 1t may take several days-per-
haps as long as two weeks-but event
ually we will provide the means to en-
able you to get to Holland"
thanked him thousand times and
told him that / didn't know how /
could possibly repay him.
Don't think of that" he replied !;
'the satisfaction of knowing that
have aided in placing one more victim
of the Huns beyond their power to
harm will more than repay me for all
the risk / shall run in helping you.
You'd better turn in now, O'Brien, and
In the morning I'll tell you what plan
to do"
AS I removed my clothes and noticed
that my knees were still swollen to
twice their normal size, that my left
ankle was black and blue from the
wrench l had given it when / jumped
from the train and that my ribs showed
through my skin, I realized what lot
had been through. AS matter of
fact, could not have weighed more
than one hundred and fifty pounds at
that time, whereas I had tipped the
scales at one hundred and ninety when
was with my squadron in France.
lost no time in getting into bed
and still less in getting to sleep. !
don't know what | dreamed Of that
night, but l had plenty of time to go
through the experiences of my whole
life, for when was aroused by
knock on the door and Huyliger en-
tered in response to my invitation to
enter, he told me that it was nearly
noon! I had slept for almost twelve
hours.
/ cannot say that the thought did
not run through my head that per-
haps after all was living in FOOLS
paradise, and that when Huyliger re-
appeared it would be with a couple of
German soldiers behind him, but dis
missed such misgivings summarily, re-
alizing that was doing Huyliger an
injustice to let such things enter my
head even for an instant. I had no
right to doubt his sincerity and it
would do me no good to entertain such
suspicious. II he was going to prove
treacherous to me, I was powerless
any way to cope with him.
In few moments my host reap
peared with tray containing my
breakfast. don't suppose I shall ever
forget that meal. 1t consisted of
cup of coffee-real coffee, not the kind
had had at Courtrai-several slices of
bread, some hot potatoes and dish
of scrambled eggs.
Every mouthful of that meal tasted
like angel-food to me and Huyliger
sat on the edge of the bed and watched
me enjoying it, at the same time out
lining the plans he had made for my
escape.
In brief, the scheme was to conceal
me in a convent until conditions were
ripe for me to make my way to the
border. In the meanwhile | was to be
dressed in the garb of priest, and
when the time came for me to leave
the city was to pretend that was a
Spanish sailor, because could speak a
little Spanish, which / had picked
up on the coast. To attempt to play
the part of a Belgian would become in
creasngly difficult, he pointed out, and
would bring inevitable disaster in the
event that was called upon to speak.
Hnyliger said / would be given suf-
Acient money to bribe the German
guards at the Dutch frontier, and he
assured me that everything would work
out according TO schedule.
"fours Is not the first case, OBrien,
we have handled successfully" he de- |
clared. only three weeks ago / heard
from an English merchant who mad |
ESCAPED frein German detention camp