Evening star., 1943-10-11
Henry
Continued From First Page )

but might make one in acute need
for the services of physician
We got away shortly after noon
on perhaps the weirdest trip I have
ever known. Around the Gulf of
Ajaccio the country has the aspect
Of the Scottish moors. the rather
barren hills covered with heather,
blueberry bushes. broom and a tall,
yellow blooming mint which has a
strong. permeating odor in the rain
1t is partly responsible for Corsica
being known AS the scented isle"
But within a few miles Scotland
changed into New Hampshire, with
a constant succession of scenery like
that of Franconia Notch with its
gigantic, fantastically carved cliffs.
dark. cool forests f1oored with pine
needles; swift mountain streams
which afford some Of the best trout
fishing in Europe. and country folk
by the roadside not unlike New Eng
land country folk.
There was an enormous profuSion
of chestnuts, the burrs still green
waiting for the first killing frost to
open them. New Hampshire had
such chestnut groves 80 years ago
until the chestnut blight wiped them
out from Maine to Georgia along
the Appalachians. and left noun
tainsides covered with ghost forests
There was the nip of early fall in
the air. The sky was black with rain
n1n1l1S Thu how'd
tain road was about as good as could
be found in New Hampshire itself.
| Corte was reached after succession
OF summer resort villages and there
came our first contacts with a group
Of men of whom much more must
be written later-"the patriots
Mr. Beretti's presence was a suf-
flcient introduction to these members
of militant secret organization and
we were taken in tow by George
Albertini. the local leader, a native
Corsican who escaped from Paris at
the time of the fall of France. For
the time being Mr.. Albertinis chief
contribution was some excellent
cognac and the rallying song OF the
patriots"
Here Mr.. Beretti was supposed to
leave us to hitchhike ride to Porto
novo. about 20 miles ahead, where
the front had been the last the
lieutenant had known about it. But
the hotel proprietor had no inten-
ton of stopping.
l hope Nine. Beretti never reads
this, because he had to lie to her
most magniflcently over an Italian
army field telephone a few hours
later and she thinks he was the hap
less victim of very bad luck. The
spirit of war and adventure was in
his Corsican blood and overcame
any idea he ever may have had of
keeping out of danger Hell or
high water" he would get us to
the front that night, wherever 1T
might be. The only mishap for the
next hour was being pushed off the
road by truck full of Italian SOL
diers. The car would have somer-
saulted over cliff had not Beretti
been an extremely skillful driver.
dk A1Cnu4udIGNISs
Then came the rain and the dark
ness. At the little railroad town OF
Pontonovo we stopped at the home
of French colonel where head
quarters had been up to the day
before when apparently the plan
of the campaign suddenly had
shifted. The colonels wife prepared
! dirroor for l,,,o
German deserter-that is 21-year-
! old AlsacIan boy who had been i'm
pressed into the German Army and
had taken the first opportunity to
go over the hill when his regiment
was sent to Corsica. He was a re-
markably clean-cut, honest-appear-
ing youth. He had wanted to join
the patriots" something obviously
quite impossible considering the ma
ture of rhe organization, without a
long per'oo of probation. He was
serving this as the colonel's house.
man.
The dinner was magnificent and
intefest'ng-the two chief dishes
being prescott" which is the nearest
approach to Virginia ham I have
seen outside Virginia, and "cres-
boni," a goal milk cheese which
tastes and smells like combination
of roquefort and limberger and
which is characterized by tiny live
worms running through it. It is
delicious, once one overcomes a first
slight repulsion at sight of the
worms. The cheese wouldn't be
cresboni without them.
Corsica, by the way, has ambitions
to export real roquefort to America
after the war. 1t used to supply
much OF the goat milk paste" be-
fore the war. This was sent to the
caves OF Roquefort for curing with
! a tyne Of mould Mhieh sainnosAdlxl