Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1919-03-18

had learned in the course Of my walks
at night, having frequently travelled
to the city limits with the idea Of
finding out just what conditions I
would have to meet when the time
came for me to leave.
A German soldiers uniform, how.
ever, no longer worried me as 1t had
at first. had mingled with the Huns
so much in the city that / began to
feel that was really Belgian, and /
assumed the Indifference that they
seemed to feel.
I decided, therefore, to walk out Of
the city in the daytime, when the sen.
tries would be less apt to be on the
watch. It worked, fine. was not
held up moment, the sentries evil
dently taking me for Belgian peas
ant on his way to work.
Travelling faster than had ever
done before since my escape, was
soon out in the open country, and the
first Belgian I came to approached
for food. He gave me half Of his
lunch and we sat down on the side OF
the road to eat 1t. OF course, he tried
to talk to me, but I used the old ruse
of pretending I was deaf and dumb
and he was quite convinced that 1t was
so. He made various efforts to talk
to me in pantomime, but I could not
make out what he was getting at, and
I think he must have concluded that !
was not only half starved, deaf and
dumb, but "looney" in the bargain.
When night came I looked around
for a place to rest. I had decided to
travel In the daytime as we'll as night.
because understood that 1t was only
q few miles from the frontier. and
was naturally anxious to get there at
the earliest possible moment, although
I realized that there would encounter
the most hazardous part Of my whole
adventure. To get through the heavily
guarded barbed wire and electrically
charged barrier was problem that
hated to think Of even, although the
hours I spent endeavoring to devise
some way of outwitting the Huns
were many.
It had occurred to me, for instance,
that 1t would not be such a difficult
matter to vault over the electric fence.
which was only nine feet high. In COL
lege, knew q ten-foot vault Is constd-
cred q high-school boys accomplish
ment, but there were two great diff
lculties in the way Of this solution.
9, IN" frs; Mace Il vii he NO ensr
matter to get a pole Of the right
length, weight and strength to serve
the purpose. More particularly, how
ever, the pole-vault idea seemed to me
to be out of the question because OF
the fact that on either side Of the elec-
trio fence, six feet from 1t, was q six
foot barbed wire barrier. To vault
safely over q nine-foot electrically
charged fence was one thing, but TO
combine with it twelve-foot broad
vault was q feat which even college
athlete in the pink Of condition would
be apt to funk. Indeed, I don't be-
lieve it is possible.
Another plan that seemed halfway
reasonable was to build pair OF stilts
about twelve or fourteen feet high ana
walk over the barriers one by one. As
a youngster / had acquired consider
able skill in stilt-walking and I have
no doubt that with the proper equip
ment it would have been quite feas-
ible to have walked out Of Belgium
as easily as possible In that way, out
whether or not was going to have
chance to construct the necessary
stills remained to be seen.
There were good many bicycles IN
use by the German soldiers in Belgium
and it had often occurred to me that
If l could have stolen one. the tires
would have made excellent gloves and
insulated coverings for my feet IN
case 1t was necessary for me to at
tempt to climb over the electric fence
bodily. But as had never been able
to steal bicycle this avenue OF es'
cape was closed to me.
1 decided to wait until arrived at
the barrier and then make up my mind
how to proceed.
To find decent place to sleep that
night, I crawled under barbed wire
fence, thinking 1t led into some field.
AS I passed under, one Of the barbs
caught in my coat and in trying to
pull myself from it I shook the fence
for several yards.
Instantly there came out Of the night
the nerve-racking command: Halt"
Again I feared I was done for. l
crouched close down on the ground In
the darkness, not knowing whether to
take to my legs and trust to the Huns
missing me in the darkness II he fired,
or stay where was. It was foggy
as well as dark, and although I knew
the sentry was only q few feet away
from me I decided to stand, or rather
lie, pat. think my heart made almost
as much noise as the rattling Of the
wire In the first place, and 1t was
tense few moments to me.
heard the German say few words
to himself, but didn't understand them,
Of course, and then he made a sound
as If to call dog, and realized that
his theory of the noise he had heard
was that a dog had made Its way
through the fence.
For perhaps five minutes didn't
stir, and then figuring that the German
had probably continued on his beat l
crept quietly under the wire again.
this time being mighty careful to hug
the ground so close that wouldn't
touch the wire, and made on In DIFF
ferent direction. Evidently the barbed
wire fence had been thrown around an
ammunition depot or something OF the
kind, and 1t was not field at all that
l had tried to get into.
I figured that other sentries were
probably In the neighborhood and ]