The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1918-08-23
opyriaht. 1918. by Pat Alva o'Brien)

sSSSVoSNeSSSSSSSSSV VSSSSSSVSSSSSSS~~
| warm potatoes ravenOuSly and | drank
| four glasses of water, one after an
other. 1t was the best meal l had had
since the ''banuuet" in the prison at
! COurtrai.
The woman of the house was prob.
| ably seventy-five years old and had
| evidently worn wooden shoes all her
life, for she had a callOus spot on the
| side Of her foot the size of half 4 dol
lar and it looked so hard that l doubt
! whether you could have driven nail
| into it with a hammer!
AS l sat there drying myself-for
was in no hurry to leave the first
| human habitation l had entered in
! four weeks-I reflected on my Un-
| happy lot and the unknown troubles
and dangers that lay ahead Of me.
Here, for more than 4 month, | had
been leading the life of a hunted
animal-yes, worse than hunted
animal, for nature clothes her less
| favored creatures more appropriate
| ly for the life they lead than l was
clothed for mine-and there was not
| the slightest reason to hope that con-
ditions would grow any better.
Perhaps the first warm food l had
eaten for over q month had released
unused springs of philosophy in me,
as food sometimes does for man.
l pointed to my torn and water
soaked clothes and conveyed to them
| as best l could that | would be CRATE
full for an old suit, but apparently
they were too poor to have more than
they actually needed themselves, and
l rose to go. 1 had aroused them out
of bed and 1 knew l ought not to keep
them up longer than was absolutely
necessary.
AS l approached the door 1 got
glance at myself in a mirror. l was
the awfulest sight had laid eyes on!
The glimpse l got of myself startled
me almost as much as if l had seen
dreaded German helmet! My left eye
was fairly well healed by this time
and l was beginning to regain sight
of it, but my face was so haggard and
my beard so long and unkempt that L
AS they let me out of the door l
pointed to the opposite direction to
the one l intended taking and started
off in the direction 1 had indicated.
Later l changed my course completely
to throw off any possible pursuit.
The next day was so worn out from
exposure and exhaustion that | threw
away my coat, thinking that the less
weight l had to carry the better it
would be for me, but when night came
I regretted my mistake because the
nights were now getting colder. L
thought at first it would be better for
me to retrace my steps and look for
the coat l had so thoughtlessly dis
carded, but l decided to go on with
out it.
l then began to discard everything
that l had in my pocket, finally throw
ing my wrist watch into a canal. A
wrist-watch does not add much
weight, but when you plod along and
have not eaten for a month it finally
becomes rather heavy. The next
thing 1 discarded was a pair of flying
| mittenS.
These mittens I had gotten at Camp
Borden, in Canada, and had become
quite famous, as my friends termed
them "snow Shoes In fact, they
were a ridiculous pair of mittens, but
the best pair l ever had and l really
felt worse when l lost those mittens
than anything else. l could not think
of anybody else ever using them, so
dug q hole in the mud and buried
! them and could not help but laugh
at the thought if my friends could see
! NE burying my mittens, because they
were a standing joke in Canada, Eng
land and France.
| had on two shirts and as they were
always both wet and didn't keep me
warm it was useless to wear both.
One of these was shirt that | had
! bought in France, the other an Amer
lean army shirt. They were both
khaki and one as apt to give me away
as the other, so l discarded the French
shirt. The American army shirt l
brought back with me to England and
it is still in my possession.
When l escaped from the train I still
had the Bavarian cap of bright red in
my pocket and wore it for many
nights, but 1 took great care that no
one saw it. It also had proven very
useful when swimming rivers, for |
carried my map and a few other be-
longings in it and l had fully made
up my mind to bring it home as a
souvenir. But the farther l went
the heavier my extra clothing became,
so l was compelled to discard even
the cap. l knew that it would be a
tell-tale mark if l simply threw it
away. so one night after swimming Il
river, dug a hole in the soft mud on
the bank and buried it, too, with con
sidCrably less ceremony than my fly
ing mittcnS had received perhaps; SO
chat Was the end of my Bayarian hat.
Ny experience at the Belgian 5
house whetted my appetite for more
food and l figured that what had been
done once could be done again.
Sooner or later, l realized l would
probably approarh a Belgian and find
Il German instead, but in such q con
tingency l was determined to meas
ure my strength against the Huns if
necessary TO effect my escape.
AS it was, however, most of the Bel
gians to whom | applied fer food gave
it to me readily enough, and if some
of them refused me it WIS only be-
cause they feared l might be a SPY
or that the Germans would shoot them
if their action we're subsequently
found out.
About the fifth day after 1 had en-
tered Belgium | was spending the day
as usual in Il clUmp of bushes when
dfsccrncd in the distance what ap-
-, peared to be something hanging on Il
, line All day long | strained my eyes
trying to decide what it could be and
, arguing with myself that it might be
something that l could add to my in
, adequate wordrobe, but the distance