Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1918-08-30
CHAPTER XII.


For obvious reasons, L cannon de-
scribe the man to whom / applied for
the passport nor the house in which
he lived. While, in view of what SUBJ
s%equently happened, I would not be
very much concerned if he got into
trouble for having dealt with me, l
realize that the hardships he had en-
dured in common with the other in
habitants of that conquered city may
possibly have distorted his idea of
right and justice, and 1 shall not de-
liberately bring further disaster on
him by revealing his identity.
This man-we will call him Huy-
Tiger because that is as unlike his
name as it is mine-was very kind to
me on that memorable night when !
aroused him from his sleep and in a
few words OF explanation told him of
my plight.
He invited me inside, prepared some
food for me and, putting on a dress
ing gown, came and sat by me while ]
ate, listening with the greatest inter-
est to the short account of my adven.
lures.
He could speak English fluently, and
he interrupted me several times to ex-
press his sympathy for the sCfferings
I had endured.
"O'Brien," he said, after I had con.
cluded my story, II I'm going to help
you. 1t may take several days-per-
haps as long as two weeks-but event
ually we will provide the means to en-.
able you to get to Holland"
1 thanked him a thousand times and
told him that I didn't know how !
could possibly repay him.
"Don't think of that" he replied;
'the satisfaction of knowing that !
have aided in placing n more victim
of the Huns beyond their power to
harm will more than repay me for all
the risk I shall run in helping you.
You'd better urn in now, OBrien, and
in the morning I'll tell you what I plan
to do"
AS 1 removed my clothes and noticed
that my knees were still swollen to
twice their normal size, that my left
ankle was black and blue from the
wrench 1 had given it when 1 jumped
from the train and that my ribs showed
through my skin, 1 realized what a lot
I had been through. AS a matter of
fact, / could not have weighed more
than n hundred and fifty pounds at
that time, whereas 1 had tipped the
scales at one hundred and ninety when
I was with my squadron in France.
lost No finan IN ro+tinp into hnd
and still less in getting to sleep. ]
don't know what I dreamed of that
night, but I had plenty of time to go
through the experiences Of my whole
life, for when I was aroused by a
knock on the door and Huyliger en-
tered in response to my invitation to
enter, he told me that it was nearly
noon! I had slept for almost twelve
hours.
I cannot say that the thought did
not run through my head that per-
haps after all 1 was living in a FOOLS
paradise, and that when Huyliger re-
appeared it would be with a couple of
German soldiers behind him, but / dis
missed such misgivings summarily, re-
alizing that I was doing Huyliger an
injustice to let such things enter my
head even for an instant. I had no
right to doubt his sincerity and it
would do me no good to entertain such
suspicious. If he was going to prove
treacherous to me, l was powerless
any way to cope with him.
In a few moments my host reap.
peared with a tray containing my
breakfast. I don't suppose I shall ever
forget that meal. 1t consisted of a
cup of coffee-real coffee, not the kind
I had had at Courtrai-several slices of
bread, some hot potatoes and a dish
of scrambled eggs.
Every mouthful of that meal tasted
like angel-food to me and Huyliger
sat on the edge of the bed and watched
N enjoying it, at the same time out
lining the plans he had made for my
escape.
In brief, the scheme was to conceal
in a convent until conditions were
ripe for me to make my way to the
border. In the meanwhile l was to be
dressed in the garb pof a priest, aud
when the time came for me to leave
the city I was to pretend that / was a
Spanish sailor, because I could speak a
little Spanish. which I had picked