The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon., 1918-09-12
CHAPTER VII.
Nine p.y. in Lvxembouro.

Il Was now ut5ulug nOftnWeSt ana
thought that by keeping that course
i would get out of Luxembourg and
into Belgium, where / expected to be
a little better OF. because the people
of Luxembourg were practically the
same as Germans.
One of the experiences had in Lux
embourg which i shall never forget
occurred the first day that l spent
there. j had travelled all night and
was feeling very weak. j came to a
small wood with plenty of low under
brush, and picked out q thick clump
Of brushes which was not in line with
my paths, crawled in and lay down
to spend the day.
The sun could just reach me through
an opening in the trees above and 1
took off all my clothes except my shirt
and hung them on the bushes to dry
In the sun. As the sun moved i moved
the clothes around correspondingly. be-
cause tired as i was i could take only
catnaps.
That afternoon ] awoke from one
Of these maps with start. There were
voices not dozen feet from me, Ny
htbt iftBuirc war " ~ IuN IttL
and sell my life as dearly AS / couId,
but on second thought l. decided to
look before j ieapt. Peeping through
the underbrush could just discern two
men calmly chopping down a tree. and
cOnversing as they worked. j thanked
my lucky stars that had not jumped
up on my first impulse. for i was sp-
parently quite safe as long as l lay
where ] was.
il then occurred to me that II the
tree upon which they We're working
should happen to fall my direction
1t would crush me TO tn! 1t was
tail enough TO reach me a.id big enough
to kill ME If il landed in my direction
and ss. could only see the heads of
the men who were chopping 1t down, I
WINS unable TO tell which way they
planned to have IL fall.
There was this much in my favor !;
the chances of the tree falling in just
my direction We're not very great and
there was more than an even chance
that the men would be wise enough to
fell il so that il would not. because II
1t landed in the brushes the task OF
would be so much harder
But even without this feeling of Sc
curity, there was really nothing else
could do but wait and see what fate
had in store for me. lay there watch
ing the top of the tree for more than
an hour. Time and time again i saw it
sway and fancied il was coming my
direction, and it was all could do to
keep my place, but a moment later /
would hear the crash of the mems
axes, and knew that my imagination
had played me a trick.
was musfng on the sorry plight
was in-weak. nearly starving 10 DEATH
n refugee in a hostile country. and
waiting patiently to see which way a
tree was going to fall, when there
came loud crack, and ] saw the top
of the tree sway and fan almost op-
posite to the place where Iayl had
guessed right.
Later / heard some children's voices
md again peering through the under
brush ] saw that they had brought the
men their lunch. You can't realize how
i felt 10 see them eating their lunch
SO near at hand. and TO know that.
hungry as / was, could have none Of
if. i was getting tempted to go boldly
up to them and take a chance of get
ting a share, but j did not know
whether they We're Germans or not, and
j had gone through too much to risk
my liberty even for food. swallowed
my hunger instead.
Shortly afterwards 1t began to rain
and about o'clock the men left,
crawIed out as fast as i could and
lscurried around looking for crumbs.
but found none. and when darkness
came went on my way once more.
That night ] came to river and as
1T WAS the first time my clothes had
been dry in long time, / thought
would try 10 keep them that way as
long as possible. j accordingly took
on all my things and made them into
two bundles, planning to carry one
load ac-oss and then swim back for
the other.
Tae river was quite wide, but am .
fairly good swimmer and ! figured I
could rest awhile after the first trip
before going back for the second
bundle.
The FIRST swim was uneventful. When
i landed on the other side drank till
my thirst was quenched and then
swam back. After resting awhile
started across a third time. with my
shoes and several other things firmly
tied to my head. Just about ten feet
from the opposite bank one of the
shoes worked Its way loose and sank
in about eight feet Of water. There
was nothing to do but finish the trip