Condon globe. (Condon, Gilliam Co., Or.) 189?-1919, 1918-08-30
'' Outwitting the Hun .
From page 4
BY Pat o'BrIen

lnnded IN about two feet OF water ana
three OF mud. Getting out OF that
mess was quite o Job. The water was
too dirty and too scanty TO enable me
20 wash on the mud with which / was
covered and II was too wet 10 scrape
on. ! just had to wait until II dried
and scrape II on then.
In many sections Of Belgium through
which ! had TO pass I encountered
large areas OF swamp and marshy
ground and rather than waste the
time involved In looking for better
underfooting might not have
found anyway--I used 70 pole right
through the mud. Apart from the
discomfort Of this method Of travel
ing and the slow time I made. there
was an added danger TO me In the fact
that the squash, squash" noise which
| made might easily be overheard by
Belgians and Germans and give my
position away. Nobody would cross
swamp or marsh In that part Of the
country unless he was trying 10 get
.way from somebody, and I realized
my danger but could not get around II.
II was q common sight In Belgium
to see q small donkey and common
ordinary milch COW hitched together.
pulling q wagon. When I FIRST OBJ
served the unusual combination, ]
thought II was q donkey and OK or
bull. but closer inspection revealed to
me that cows were being used for the
purpose.
From that I was able to observe
there must be very few horses left in
Belgium except those owned by the
Germans. Cows and donkeys are now
horses and mules. Altogether ! spent
nearly eight weeks wandering through
Belgium. and In all that time l don't
believe l saw more than half dozen
horses In the possession Of the native
population.
One Of che scarcest things In Ger
many. apparently, is rubber. for /
noticed that their motor trucks, or lor-
Ties. unlike our own, had no rubber
tires. Instead heavy iron bands were
employed. l could hear them come
rumbling along the stone roads for
miles before they reached the spot
where I happened to be In hiding.
When ! saw these military roads In
Belgium for the FIRST time, with their
heavy cobblestones that looked as IL
they would last for centuries. l real
ized at once why 1t was that the Ger
mans had been able to make such a
rapid advance into Belgium at the
start OF the war.
noticed that the Belgians used
dogs to a considerable extent to pull
their carts. and thought many times
that Il I could have stolen one Of
those dogs It would have been a very
good companion for me and might. II
the occasion arose, help me out in q
! fight. But had no way of feeding 1t
and the animal would probably have
starved to death. / could live on veg
etables. which / could always depend
upon finding In the fields. but dog
couldn't. and so l gave up the idea.
The knack OF making fire with two
pieces Of dry wood / had often read
about, but I had never put 1t to test
and for various reasons I concluded
that It would be unsafe for me to
build fre, even II had matches. In
the first place, there was no absolute
need for 1t. I didn't have anything
to cook nor utensils to cook It In even
II l had. While the air was getting
to be rather cool at night, ! was usu-
ally on the 60 at that time and didn't
notice It. In the daytime, when
was resting or sleeping. the sun was
usually out.
To have borrowed matches from q
Belglan peasant would have been feas-
ible, but when / was willing to take
the chance of approaching anyone, II
was just as easy to ask for food as
matches.
1t the second place, 1t would have
been extremely dangerous to have
built q fire even II / had needed It.
You can't build q FIRE In Belgium
) which Is the most thickly populated
COuntES III huIopSs WAShoot SNSAJSAN
. knowing 1t, and / was far from anx'
ious to advertising my whereabouts.
The villages In that part Of Bel
gium through which was making my
course were so close together that
there was hardly ever an hour passed
without my hearing some clock strike
Every village has Its clock. Many
times could hear the clocks striking
in two villages at the same time.
But the hour had very little interes
to me. My program was to travel al
fast as ! could from sunset to sunrise
and pay no attention to the hours IL
between, and in the daytime ] hat
only two things to worry about: keel
concealed and get as much sleep ai
possible.
The cabbage that I got In Belgium
consisted Of the small heads that T.
peasants had not cut. All the stree ,Ut
had concentrated in these little nes,
and they would be as bitter ~ goll
would have to be pretty } unerv I
day before I could ever eat cahha
again and the same o. .ar,,..,or .