Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1919-02-18

Ny heart stopped beating fast-fol
a moment, I believe. It stopped beating
altogether I can't attempt to de
scribe my feelings. I thought that
the Jig was up-that all I had gone
through and all I had escaped would
now avail me nothing, mingled with
the feeling Of disgust with my
self because Of the foolish risk ]
had taken in going through the vii
lage, combined to take all the starch
out Of me, and l could feel myself
whiting as the soldier advanced to the
spot where I stood rooted In my
tracks.
had q bottle Of water in one pocket
and piece of bread in the other, and
the Hun advanced to search me
ield the bottle up in one hand and
The piece of bread in the other so that
ne could see that was all had.
1t occurred to me that he would
'frisk" me-that is, feel me over for
arms or other weapons, then place
ne under arrest and march me off to
he guardhouse. l had not the slight
est idea but that / was captured and
there didn't seem to be much use In
resisting, unarmed as / was and with
two other German soldiers within
few feet Of US.
Like fash it suddenly dawned on
me, however, that for all this soldier
could have known 1 was only Bel
gian peasant and that his object In
searching me, which he proceeded to
10, was to ascertain whether had
committed the common "crime" Of
smuggling potatoes.
The Belgians were allowed only q
certain amount Of potatoes, and 1t Is
against the laws laid down by the
Huns to deal in vegetables Of any
kind except under the rigid supervi-
sion of the authorities. Nevertheless,
it was one of the principal vocations
Of the average poor Belgian to buy
potatoes out in the country from
peasants and then smuggle them into
the large cities and sell them clan
destinely at high price.
To stop this traffic in potatoes, the
German soldiers were in the habit of
subjecting the Belgians to frequent
search, and was being held up by
this soldier for no other reason than
that he thought I might be potato
smuggler!.
He felt Of my outside clothes and
pockets, and finding no potatoes
seemed to be quite satisfied. Had he
but known who I was he could have
earned an iron cross! Or, perhaps, In
view of the fact that I had heavy
water bottle in my uplifted hand, 1t
might have turned out to be wooden
crossl
He said something in German,
which, of course, did not understand,
and then some Belgian peasants came
along and seemed to distract his atten-
tion. Perhaps he had said: "It's all
right; you may 60 on" or he may
have been talking to the others In
Flemish, but at any rate, observing
that he was more interested In the
others than he was in me at the mo-
ment, I put the bottle In my pocket
and walked on.
After walked few steps. I took
furtive glance backward and noticed
the soldier who had searched me re-
join his comrades at the curb and then
stop another fellow who had come
along, and then I disappeared in the
darkness.
cannot say that the outcome OF
this adventure left me in the same
confident frame of mind that followed
the earlier one. I was sure had
come out Of 1t all right, but could
not help thinking what terribly close
shave I had.
Suppose the soldier had questioned
me! The ruse l haG been following
In my dealings with the Belgian peas
ants-pretending was deaf and
dumb-might possibly have worked
here, too, but a soldier-a German
soldler-might not so easily have been
fooled. 1t was more than an even
chance that 1t would have at least
aroused his suspicion and resulted In
further investigation. A search OF
my clothing would have revealed
dozen things which would have estab-
lished my Identity and all my sham
ming of deafness would have availed
me nothing.
AS wandered along knew that /
was now approaching the big city
which my Belgian friend had spoken