Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1919-04-01

tUO NOtNu0t SSase SSt''os
proceeded along it but few hundred
yards when I saw In front Of me
fence exactly like the one I had
crossed.
"This Is funny" I said to myself. u
didn't know the Dutch had a fence,
too" I advanced to the fence and
examined 1t closely, and Judge Of my
astonishment when I saw beyond 1t
ninn fnn, f:'nre apparently holding
live wires exactly like the one which
had nearly been the death Of me!
had very little time to conjecture
what 1t all meant, for just then
heard guard coming. He was walk
ing so fast that I was sure 1t was q
Dutch sentry, as the Huns walk much
slower.
was so bewildered. however, that
/ decided to take no chances, and as
the road was fairly good I wandered
down 1t and away from that mysteri-
Gus fence. About half mile down ]
could see the light Of sentry sta
ton and I thought I would 60 there
and tell my story to the sentries, real
izing that as was unarmed 1t was
perfectly safe for me to announce
myself to the Dutch authorities. /
could be interned only II I entered
Holland under arms.
AS I approached the sentry box
noticed three men in gray uniforms,
the regulation Dutch color. was on
the verge of shouting to them when
The thought struck me that there was
just a chance I might be mistaken,
rs the German uniforms were the
same color, and I had suffered too
many privations and too many narrow
escapes to lose all at this time by
jumping ct conclusions.
had just turned off the road to go
hack into some bushes when out Of
the darkness I heard that dread Ger.
man command:
"Halt! Haiti"
He didn't need to holler twice. !
heard and needed the first time. Then
| heard another man come running up,
and there was considerable talking,
but whether they were Germans or
Eollanders I was still uncertain. He
evidently thought someone was on the
other side Of the fence.
Finally / heard one Of them laugh
and saw him walk back to the sentry
station where the guard was billeted,
and crawled little nearer to try to
make out just what 1t meant. I had
begun to think 1t was all night
mare.
Between myself and the light In the
sentry station, I then noticed the
STOPPING figure of q man bending over
as II to conceal himself and on his
head was the spiked helmet Of a Ger
man soldier!
I knew then what another narrow
escape had had, for am quite sure
he would have shot me without cere-
mony If I had foolishly made myself
known. would have been buried at
once and no one would have been any
wiser, even though, technically speak
ing, was on neutral territory and i'm.
mune from capture or attack.
This new shock only served to be.
wilder me more. was completely
lost. There seemed to be frontier be-
hind me and frontier In front Of me.
Evidently, however, what had hap
pened was that I had lost my sense
of direction and had wandered In the
arc Of a circle, returning to the same
fence that I had been so long in get
ting through. This solution Of the
mystery came to me suddenly and at
once searched the landscape for some
thing in the way of landmark to
guide me. For once my faithful
friend. the North Star, had failed me.
The sky was pitch black and there
wasn't star In the heavens.
In tho distance. at about what ap-
peared to be about three miles away,
but which turned out to be six. ! could
discern the lights Of a village, and !
knew Il. must bsIa Dutch HlllEa d