Evening star., 1942-08-11

We lost count of them after while.
They we're the bodies of our own
men who had been killed in the hill
fighting They had been lying there
for more than month.
One night we came across 20
corpses huddled together. In the
moonlight we could see the rope
which held their hands together be-
hind their backs They had been
bayoneted to death.
Night after night we came across
the bodies of those the japanese
had not bothered to take prisoner
or to bury. The japanese do not
take. prisoners during the fighting
They are very proud of that. They
will tell it to any one.
The fifth night was cold and
rainy. We lay shivering and ex-
hausted in a now-deserted house on
the coast of Hong Kong Island
Our feet were masses of blood and
sores. I began to wonder if we had
gone through all this for nothing
for death.
Along this section of the island
there are many small Chinese fish
ing settlements. ! will not give
the exact location, because If did
I believe that the japanese would
kill every human in it.
At dusk of the sixth day we
crawled down to one of these set
Elements on the beach. There were
! 3y,
the dusk out of the cold and the
rain in a small hut on the water
front. I had lived in Hong Kong
for 20 years. and I could talk the
curious mixture of English and
Chinese which most of the Hong
Kong Chinese understood
I asked one of them if he had a
boat in which he could row us to
the mainland. He said that he did
have and said it would take about
three hours.
First Price $500.
How much will you charge?" I
asked.
The Chinese looked at us for
full minute and then he said:
Five hundred dollars"
The Chinese are nice people, but
they love to bargain. He knew that
we had just escaped from the Japa-
nese and that we could not possibly
have any money with us, but I knew
that he liked to bargain anyway.
After about half an hour he
agreed to $500. Among the papers
which the Japanese had not both
cred to take away were few blank
checks on Hong Kong bank. Bor-
rowing pencil from the Chinese. I
wrote out check for $780, It was
part of the insanity Of the moment
that signed the check Adolf Hit
ler."
Take this to the Hong Kong &
Shanghai Banking Corp. after the
war" I said to him, land they will
cash it."
That was quite all right with him.
He nodded gravely, put the check
away and motioned us to his sam
pan. The two Dutch officers and
myself sat down in the bottom of
the boat. The Chinese manned the
oars.
At the first good stroke he took
the water around the boat seemed
to light up with PHOSPHORUS. l
knew that even on a dark night like
this the strange light could be seen
for at least two miles. I thought
that the light would certainly bring
up the Japanese patrol boat, but
there was nothing we could do
about it.
After that we ran out of the
PHOSPHORUS water and kept on
toward the blackness of the Chinese
mainland. Fifty yards from shore
our sampan struck rock and
tipped over. But the water was
shallow 1t was a good thing, for I
don't think I could have swum 10
yards
Sleep Behind Rocks.
The three of us dragged ourselves
to the shore and folded up behind
two great rocks about a hundred
yards from the waters edge. We
lay there and slept. When we
awoke the sun was hot on our
swollen feet and faces. I tried to
close my eyes again, then I saw
faces close to me. They were Chi