The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1918-10-17

WCIc
1t had occurred to me. for Instance.
that II would not be such a difficult |
matter to vault over the electric fence.
which was only nine feet high. In col
legc, knew Q ten-foot vault Is consld.
cred q high-school boys accomplish
ment. but there were two great diff
flculties In the way Of this solution.
In the FIRST place It would be no easy
matter to get pole Of the right
length. weight and strength to serve
the purpose. More particularly. how
ever. the pole-vnult Idea seemed to me
to be out Of the question because OF
the fact that on either side Of the elecI
trio fence. ak feet from It. was a six
foot barbed wire barrier. To vault
safely over q nine-foot electrically
charged fence was one thing. but to
combine with II .welvefoot broad
vault was feat which even a college
athlete In the pink of condition would :.
be apt to funk. Indeed, don't be-
lieve It Ii possible.
Another plan that seemed halfway
reasonable was to build pair Of SALTS
about twelve or fourteen feet high and
walk over the barriers one by one. Az
a youngster had acquired consider.
able skill in stilt-walking aud have
no doubt TINT with the proper equip
ment II would have been quite feas-
ible to have walked out Of Belgium
rs easily as possible In that way. but
whether or not was going to have .
chance to construct the necessary
stills remained to be seen.
There wcro good many bicycles in
use by the German soldiers In Belgium
and It had often occurred to me that
II could have stolen one. the tires
would have made excellent gloves and
insulated coverings for my feet In
case 1t was necessary for me to at.
tempt to climb over the electric fence
bodily. But as had never been able
to steal a bicycle this avenue Of e.
cape was closed to me.
I decided to wait until arrived at
the barrier and then make up my mind
how to proceed. j
To find decent place to sleep that
night, crawled under a barbed wire
fence. thinking 1t led into some field.
As I passed under. one of the barbs
caught In my coat and In trying to
pull myself from It shook the fence
for several yards.
Instantly there came out of the night
the nerve-racking command: "Halt !"
Again I feared I was done for.
crouched close down ON the ground In
the darkness, not knowing whether tc
take to my legs and trust to the Huns
missing me In the darkness II he fred,
or stay where was. 1t was foggy
as well as dark. and although ! knew
the sentry was only few feet away
from me l decided to stand, or rather
lie, pat. I think my heart made almost
as much noise as the rattling Of th'
wire In the frst place. and It was Z
tense few moments to Inc.
Iheard the German say a few word,
to himself. but didn't understand them
of course. and then he made sount
as II to coll dog. and realized tina
his theory Of the noise he had heart
was that a dog had made Its wa!
through the fence.
II For perhaps five minutes ] didn'
stir. and then figuring that the German
had probably continued on his beat
crept quietly under the wire again
, this time being mighty careful to hui
|, the ground SO close that wouldn'
, touch the wire, and made OF In dlf
| ferent direction. Evidently the barbet
, wire fence had been thrown around al
, ammunition depot or something Of tn
kind, and It was not field at all tina
I had tried to get into.
! figured that other sentries wer
probably In the neighborhood and
proceeded very gingerly.
After had got about a mile ava,
from this spot l came to an humbl
Belgian house and l knocked at tn
door and applied for food In my usua
way, pointing to my mouth to Ind
cate was hungry and to my ears an
mouth to imply that / was deaf an
dumb. The Belgian woman who live
In the house brought me a piece Q
bread and two cold potatoes and as
sat there eating them she eyed IN
very keenly.
/ haven't the slightest doubt tina
she realized was fugitive. She live
SO near the border that 1t was NOR
for that reason, appreciated NOR
fully the extent of the risk she ran, 10
no doubt the Germans were CONSTANT
watching the conduct of these Be
CLANS who lived near the line.
My theory that she realized that
was not Belgian ut all. but pro'
sby some English fugitive, was col
firmed moment later. when. as
made ready to 60. she touched me o
the arm and indicated that / was
walt moment. She went to burea
l and brought out two pieces Of fame
Belgian lace which she insisted upo
1 my taking away. although at that pa
\ ticular moment l hpd a much use ft
Il Belgian lace a. en elephant for