Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1918-09-20

go ahead and laugh !" l said. "You
can't offend me the way l feel this
blessed dayl" and he needed no second
invitation. Incidentally it gave mi a
chance to laugh at him, for I was
about as much amused as he vas
After he had laughed himself about
sick he got up and slapped me on the
back and invited me to tell him my
story.
Lieutenant" he said when I had
concluded, "you can have anything
you want. 1 think your experience
entities you to it."
well, consul" I replied, II would
ike a bath, a shave, a haircut and
some civilized clothes about as badly
as q man ever needed them, 1 suppose,
but before that 1 would like to get a
cable off to America to my mother
telling her that 1 am safe and on my
way to England
The consul gave me the necessary
information and l had the satisfaction
of knowing before l left the Office that
the cable, with it's good tidings, was
on its way to America.
Then he sent for one Of the naval
men who had been interned there
since the beginning of the war and
who was able to speak Dutch and
told him to take good ARE Of me.
After / had been bathed and shaved
and had a haircut l bought some new
clothes and had something to eat, and
] felt like a new
AS l walked through the streets of
Rotterdam breathing the air of free
dom again and realizing that there
was no longer any danger of being
captured and taken back to prison,
it was a wonderful sensation.
l don't believe there will yer be a
country that will appear in my eyes
quite as good as Holland did then. /
had to be somewhat careful, however,
because Holland was full of German
spies and l knew they would be keen
to learn all they possibly could about
my escape and my adventures so that
the authorities in Belgium could mete
out punishment to everyone who was
in any respect to blame for it. AS I was
in Rotterdam only n day, they
didn't have very much opportunity to
learn anything from me.
The naval officer who accompanied
me and acted as interpreter for me
introduced me to many other soldiers
and sailors who had escaped from Bel
GUM when the Germans took Ant
werp, and as they had arrived in Hol-
land in uniform and under arms, the
laws of neutrality compelled their in
ternment and they had been there ever
since.
The life of a man who is interned
in a neutral county, I learned, is any
thing but satisfactory. He gets n
month a year to visit his home. If he
lives in England that is not so bad,
but If he happens to live farther
away, the time he has to spend with
his folks is very short, as the months
leave does not take into consideration
the time consumed in travelling to and
from Holland.
The possibility of escape from Hol-
land is always there, but the British
authorities have an agreement with
the Dutch government to send refu-
gees back Immediately. In this re-
spect, therefore, the position of a man
who is interned is worse than that
of q prisoner who, if he does succeed
in making his escape, is naturally re-
ceived with open arms in his native
land. Apart from this restraint, how
-o- +o,1po0D% with oil &c drou--
backs, is a thousand times, yes, a mil
lion times, better than being a prisoner
of war in Germany.
1t seems to me that when the wal
is over and the men who have been
imprisoned in Germany return home,
they should be given a bigger and
greater reception than the most vic
torious army that ever marched into
a city, for they will have suffered
and zone through more than the world
will ever be able to understand.
No doubt you will find in the Ger
man prison camps n or two faint
hearted individuals with a pronounced
yellow streak who voluntarily gave
up the struggle and gave up their lib
erty rather than risk their lives or
limbs. These sad cases, however, are,
/ am sure, extremely few. Nine hun
bred and nin%ety-nine out of a thousand
of the men fighting in the allied lines
would rather be in the front trenches,
fighting every day, with all the horrors
and all the risks, than be a prisoner
Of war in Germany, for the men in
France have a very keen realization
Of what that
But to return to my day in Rotter-
dam.
After / was fixed up I returned to
the consulate and arrangements were
made for my transportation to Eng
land at once. Fortunately there was
a boat leaving that very night and l
was allowed to take passage on it.
Just as we were leaving Rotterdam,
the boat | was on rammed our own