OLTWITTING SX = SZ Go EL) (Concluded from last week.) SYNOPSIS. CHAPTER I—Introductory. Pat O’Brien tells of his purpose in writing the story of his adventures. CHAPTER II—Tells of his enlistment in the Royal Flying corps, his training in Canada and his transfer to France for ac- tive duty. CHAPTER III—Describes fights in which he brought down two German airplanes and his final fight in which he was brought down wounded within the Ger- man lines and was made a prisoner of ‘war. CHAPTER 1V—Discovers that German hospital staff bawrbarously neglected the fatally wounded and devoted their ener gies to restoring those who might be returned to the firing lines. Witnesses death in fight of his best chum, Lieut. Paul Rainey. CHAPTER V—He is taken to the of- peers prison camp at Courtrai. There he egan planning his escape. By great sac- rifice he manages to save and hide away two daily rations of bread. 1 plugged wearily along and about 11 o'clock, after I had covered perhaps 4} Found Myself Right in a German Back Yard.” four miles, I sat down to rest for a moment on a shock of brush which was sheltered from the drizzle some- what by other shocks which were stacked there. It was daylight when I awoke, and I found myself right in a German backyard. You can imagine that I lost no time in getting out of that neighborhood and I made up my mind right there and then that I would never give away to that “tired feeling” again. In the daytime, in my hiding place, wherever it happened to be, I had plenty of opportunity to study my map, ‘and before very long I knew it almost by heart. Unfortunately, however, it did not show all the rivers and canals which I encountered, and sometimes it fooled me completely. It must have been about the ninth night that I crossed into Luxembourg, but though this principality is officially | neutral, it offered me no safer a haven than Belgium would. The Huns have violated the neutrality of both, and dis- covery would have been followed by the same consequences as capture in Germany proper. In the nine days T had covered per- haps seventy-five miles, and I was that much nearer liberty, but the lack of proper food, the constant wearing of wet elothes, and the loss of sleep and rest had reduced me to a very much weakened condition. I doubted very much whether I would be able to con- tinue, but I plugged along. CHAPTER VIIL Nine Days in Luxembourg. I was now heading northwest and I thought that by keeping .that course I would get out of Luxembourg and into Belgium, where I expected to be a little better off, because the people of Luxembourg were practically the same as Germans. One of the experiences I had in Lux- embourg which I shall never forget occurred the first day that I spent there. I had traveled all night and I was feeling very weak. I came to a small wood with plenty of low under- brush, and picked out a thick clump of brushes which was not in line with any paths, crawled in and lay down to spend the day. The sun could just reach me through an opening in the trees above and I took off all my clothes except my shirt and hung them on the bushes to dry in the sun. As the sun moved I moved the clothes around correspondingly, be- cause tired as I was I could take only catnaps. That afternoon I awoke from one of these naps with a start. There were voices not a dozen feet from me! My first impulse was to jump to my feet and sell my life as dearly as I couly, JHE AL: LIELITENANT PAT BRIE ©, 948, by FAT ALVA OBRIEIY 9. LEN but on second thought I decided to look before I leapt. Peeping through the underbrush I could just discern two men calmly chopping down a tree, and conversing as they worked. I thanked my lucky stars that I had not jumped up on my first impulse, for I was ap- parently quite safe as long as I lap where I was. It then occurred to me that if the tree upon which they were working should happen to fall in my direction it would crush me to death! It was tall enough to reach me and big enough to kill me if it landed in my direction and as I could only see the heads of the men who were chopping it down, I was unable to tell which way they planned to have it fall. There was this much in my favor; the chances of the tree falling in just my direction were not very great and there was more than an even chance that the men would be wise enough to fell it so that it would not, because if it landed in the brushes the task of trimming the branches from the trunk would be so much harder. But even without this feeling of se- curity, there was really nothing else 1 could do but wait and see what fate had in store for me. I lay there watch- ing the top of the tree for more than an hour. Time and time again I saw it sway and fancied it was coming my direction, and it was all I could do to keep my place, but a moment later I would hear the crash of the men’s axes, and I knew that my imagination had played me a trick. I was musing on the sorry plight I was in—weak, nearly starving to death, a refugee in a hostile country, and waiting patiently to see which way a tree was going to fall, when there came a loud crack, and I saw the top of the tree sway and fall almost op- | startled by some sound in the woods, I posite to the place where Ilay! I had guessed right. Later I heard some children’s voices and again peering through the under- brush I saw that they had brought the men their lunch. You can’t realize how I felt to see them eating their lunch so near at hand, and to know that, hungry as I was, I could have none of it. I was getting tempted to go boldly up to them and take a chance of get- ting a share, but I did not know whether they were Germans or not, and I had gone through too much to risk my liberty even for food. I swallowed my hunger instead. Shortly afterwards it began to rain and about 4 o'clock the men left, I crawled out as fast as I could and scurried around looking for crumbs, but found none, and when darkness came I went on my way once more. That night I came to a river and as it was the first time my clothes had been dry in a log time, I thought I would try to keep them that way as long as possible. I accordingly took off all my things and made them into two bundles, planning to carry one load across and then swim back for the other. The river was quite wide, but I am 8 fairly good swimmer and I figured I could rest awhile after the first trip before going back for the second bundle. The first swim was uneventful. When I landed on the other side I drank till ' my thirst was quenched and then . swam back. After resting awhile I started across a third time, with my shoes and several other things firmly tied to my head. Just about ten feet from the opposite bank one of the shoes worked its way loose and samk in about eight feet of water. There was nothing to do but finish the trip and then go back and dive for the missing shoe, as I could not go on i with a single shoe. Diving in my weakened condition was a considerable strain, but I had to have that shoe and I kept at it for nearly an hour before I eventually found it, and I was pretty nearly all in by that time. That was the last time I ever took my shoes off, for my feet were becom- ing so swollen that I figured if I took my shoes off I might net be able to get them on again. This stunt of crossing the river and diving for the lost shoe had consumed about three hours, and after resting gome fifteen minutes I went on my way again. I had gone nearly a mile when I came to another river, about the same size as the one I had just crossed. I walked along the bank awhile, think- ing I might be lucky enough to find a boat or a bridge, but after walking about half an hour I received one of those disappointments which “come once in a lifetime.” 1 found that this river was the one I had just swum! I had swum it on the bend and was still on the wrong side. Had I made only a short detour in the first place I would have avoided all, the annoyance of the past three hours and saved my strength and time. I was never So mad in my life at myself as I was to | Just as well swim in them and save | | energy than I had in my present weak think that I had not paid more atten- tion to the course of the stream be- matter of fact, there was really no way of telling. The river was not shown on the map at all. Now I had to cross it, whereas be- ' fore I could have turned it. boldly into the water, not bothering to | take my clothes off this time, nor did | I ever bother to take them off after- wards when swimming canals and rivers. I found it was impossible to keep them dry anyway, and so I might time. All the next day I spent in a forest, to which my night's travel had brought me about 5 o'clock in the morning. I kept on my way through the woods ° until daylight came, and then, thinking the place would afford fairly good con- cealment, I concluded to rest until night. THe prospects of even a good sleep were dismal, however, for about the time the sun’s face should have ap- peared, a drizzling rain began and I gave up my search for a dry spot which would serve me as a bed. Some of the leaves were beginning to fall, | but of course there was not enough of them to form a covering for the ground, and the dampness seemed to have penetrated everywhore. I wandered around through the woods for two or three hours looking ! for shelter, but without any success, for, although the trees were large, the : forest was not dense, and there was practically no brush or shrubbery. Consequently one could get a fairly clear view for some distance, and I knew it would be unwise to drop off to sleep just any place, or someone ; would surely happen on to me. Once I came very near to the ends of the woods and heard voices of men driving by in a wagon, but I couldn't make out just what they were, snd instinct told me I had better not come out of the woods, so I turned back. Here and there small artificial ditches ' had been dug, which at a dry season might have cradled a weary fugitive, but now they, too, were filled with water. Once I singled out a good big tree and large branches and thought I might climb into it and go to sleep, but the longer I looked at it the more I realized that it would require more and exhausted condition, so didn’t at- tempt that. Finally I chose a spot that locked a bit drier than the rest, concluded to take a chance on being discovered and threw myself down for a nap. I was extremely nervous, though, throughout that whole day, and would scarcely get settled into a comfortable position and doze off for a few minutes when, would suddenly awake. After what seemed like a year or more, night finally came, and with a “dud” sky, low-hanging clouds and still more rain. There was not a star in the ! sky, of ccurse, and that made it very | bad, because without the aid of the stars I had absolutely no way of know- ing which direction I was going. It was just a case of taking a chance. 3: probably would have been better off if I had simply picked out a place and stayed there until the weather im- proved, but naturally I was impatient to be on my way when each day with- out food only lessened my strength and | my ultimate chances of reaching the : frontier. So I left the woods and struck off in the direction which I thought was north. I hadn’t been at all sure of my bearings the day before, and as it had rained the sun failed entirely to help me out, but I was almost sure I had the right direction and trusted to luck. That night I found more rivers, canals and swamps than I ever found in my life before, but I had.the good fortune | to stumble on to some celery, and after my diet of beets, it surely was a treat. Perhaps it’s unnecessary to add that I took on a good supply of celery and | for days I went along chewing celery like a cow -would a cud. | Along towards morning, when I sup- posed I had gotten in a fairly good lap of my journey—perhaps seven or eight miles—I began to recognize certain ob- jects as familiar landmarks. At least, I thought I had seen them before and as I traveled along I knew positively I had seen certain objects very recently. Off at my right—net over a quarter of a mile—I noticed some fairly good sized woods and thought I would go over there to hide that day, because it looked as though the sun was going to shine and I hoped te get my clothes dry, and perhaps get a decent sleep. I had this celery and a large beet, so I knew I would be able to live the day through. Finally I made my way over to the woods. It was still too dark in among the trees to do much in the way of selecting my quarters for the day and I could not go a step farther. So I waited on the edge of the forest until dawn and then set out to explore the place, with a view to finding some nook where I might sleep. Imagine my dis- gust, and discouragement, too, when an hour or so iater I came upon the exact place where I had spent the day before, and I realized that all night long I had been circling the very woods I was try- ing to get away from. I think perhaps I had gone all of a quarter of a mile in the right direction, but then had lost my bearings entirely, and daylight found me with nothing accomplished. The sun, however, did come out that day, and I welcomed its warm rays, as they, perhaps, have never been wel- comed before. 1 was very tired—just about all in—but I spent a better day in the woods than the previous one, That night the stars came out; I located my friend, the North Star, and tried to make up for lost time. But when one is making only seven or eight miles a day, or rather a night, one I walker? ! i and only a few cows. | . searched nests for eggs, but somebody night lost means a whole lot, especi- . ally when each day keeps him from fore I undertook to cross it, but as a | freedom. Such ill fortune and dis- . couragements as this were harder to i endure, | hunger, and the accompanying worry I believe, than the actual naturally reduced my weight. At times I was furiously angry with myself for the mistakes I made and the foolish things I did, but I always tried to see something funny about the situation. whatever it might be, that relieved the strain of habit and helped to pass the time away. I think if a man is overburdened with a sense of humor and wants to get rid of it, this trip I took would be an for it. Right at this time I would have welcomed anything for a compan- ion. I believe even have been a Godsend to me. With a name as Irish as mine, it is only natural that I looked for goats along the way, thinking that I might be able to milk them. There are very few cows in this country, and the op- portunities for milking them fewer than the cows themselves because they are housed in barns adjoining the homes and always alertly watched by their fortunate owners. I did hope that I might find a goat staked out . some place in the fields, but in all my travels I never saw a goat or a pig, Several times I excellent remedy | a snake would always had beaten me to it, as I never : even found so much as a nest egg. There was no chance of getting away with any “bullying” stuff in Luxem- ; bourg. and are still at home, and as they are ' decidedly pro-Germsan, it would have been pretty hard for me to demand ' anything in that part of the country. It was not like taking things away from old men and women or robbing people that could not stop me if they chose to do so. I thought at this time I knew, because the young men “have not been forced into the army that I was suffering about the worst | hardships any human being could ever be called upon to endure, but I was later to find that the best of my jour- ney was made along about this time. There were plenty of vegetables, even though they were raw, and these were much better than the things I was afterwards compelled to eat or go without. for me. I think T heard them once or twice that day, and my heart nearly dently they decided to lock in seme other direction and I was not further | molested. At the same time I figured that it was absolutely necessary for me to change my course, even at the ex pense of going somewhat out of ms: way. I decided to go due west and I kept in that direction for four days. As I was in a very weak condition, I did not cover more than five miles a I kept away from the rcads my journeying through night. and did all A Map Shewing the Progress O’Brien Made in Passing Out of Luxembcurg | The Heavy Dotted . Into Belgium. Line Shows the Course of That Part of His Journey Toward Holland. ‘ "Huns and this Pat O’Brien—this fel- ! low who keeps after me all the time stopped on each occasion, but evi- : ‘ ‘to lie down—this yellow Pat O’Brein and leans on my neck and wants me wants me to go back to the Huns!” After a spell of foolish chutter like that my senses would come back to ' me for a while and I would trudge along without a word until the fever came on me again. { , I knew that I had to have food be- | cause I was about on my last legs. I fields, beet patches, woods, swamps— : anywhere provided 1 was not likely to be seen and captured. Food was | an important consideration to me, but it was secondary to concealment. At last I brought up at the Meuse river at a place between Namur and ' Huy, and it was here that I came near- | est of all to giving up the struggle. | The Meuse at this point is about half a mile wide—as wide as the Hud- son River at West Point. in normal condition I wouldn't have San Diego bay, California, is a mile and a half wide, and I had often swam across and back, and the San gaoquin, which is also a mile and a half wide, ; had never proven an obstacle to me. We frequently hear of men who have lived for a certain number of days on their own resources in the woods just on a bet or to prove that the “back- to-nature” theory still has the merits In the wretched shape in which 1 ! was very much tempted to lie down then and there and call it a beat. Things seemed to be getting worse for Kept Pulling and Crawling Up That Infernal Bank. me the farther I went, and all the . time I had before me the spectre of Had I been : that electric barrier between Belgium ! and Holland, even if I ever reached hesitated a moment to swim across. ' | ‘upon one bold move. then was, however, the Meuse looked | like the Atlantic ccean to me. I looked for a boat, but could find none. + I tried to get a piece of wood upon and will still work. My advice to some | was equally unsuccessful. of those nature seekers is that if in the future they wish to make a real good record, try the little countries of Luxembourg and Belgium with a slice of Germany thrown in. I suppose that during this experi- ence of mine I made many mistakes and traveled many unnecessary miles which one with a knowledge of wood- manship might have avoided and I failed to take advantage of many things which would have been quite apparent to one who knew. It must not be forgotten, however, that I did not undertake this adventure volun- tarily. It was “wished on me.” I simply had to make the most of the knowledge I had. At about this time blisters began to appear on my legs and my Knees swelled. In addition I was pretty well ; convinced that I had lost the sight of my left eye. I hadn’t seen a thing out of it since my leap from the train. When I imagine the villainous ap- pearance I must have presented at this time—my unhealed wounds, eighteen days’ growth of Dbcard and general haggard and unkept visage—I think the fear I felt about meeting strangers was perhaps unwarranted. The chances are they would have been in- finitely more scared than I! As it was, I was nearly out of Lux- embourg before I came face to face with anyone. It was about 6 o'clock in the morning and I was traveling along a regular path, Just as I was ap- proaching a cross-path, I heard foot- steps coming down it. I stopped short, stooped over and pretended to be ad- justing my shoelace, figuring that if the stranger turned into my path he | would probably pass right by me. AS luck would have it, he continued on his way and never noticed me at all. After that I frequently noticed groups of Luxembourg peasants in the distance but I usually saw them first and managed to avoid them. On the eighteenth day after my leap from the train I crossed into Belgium. It had taken me just nine days to get through Luxembourg—a distance which a man could ordinarily cover in two, but considering the handicaps under which I labored I was very well satisfied with my progress. CHAPTER IX. 1 Enter Belgium. I have said it was about the eighteenth day after my escape that I entered Belgium, but that is more or less guess work. I was possibly well into that country before I real- ized that I had crossed the line. About the third day after I figured I was in Beigium I started to swim a canal just before daylight. I was then heading due north in the direc- tion of the German lines. I was just about the wade into the canal when I heard a German yelling violently, and for the first time I knew I was being followed. I ran up the bank of the canal quite a distance and then swam to the op- posite side, as I reasoned they would not be looking for me there. I found a sheltered clump of bushes that were in a swamp near the canal and in the driest part that I could find I crawled in and made myself as comfortable as possible. The sun come up soon and kept me warm, and I planned to camp right there, food or no food, until the Hun got tired of searching which I hoped to ferry across, but I Get across I must, and I decided there was nothing to do but to swim. It was then about 3 o’clock in the morning. I waded in and was soon "in beyond my depth and had to swim. After about an hour of it I was very much exhausted, and I doubted whether I could make the opposite bank, although it was not more than thirty or forty feet away. I choked and gasped, and my arms and legs were completely fagzged out. I sank a little and tried to touch bottom with my feet, but the water was still be- yond my depth. There are times when everyone will pray, and I was no exception. I prayed for strength to make those | few wicked yards, and then, with all ' I cried aloud. ‘to Holland, don’t you? But this Pat .O’Brien—this Pat O’Brein who calls ‘trai—after the will power I could summon, struck out for dear life. It seemed a life- time before I finally felt the welcome mud of bottom and was able to drag myself up to the bank, but I got there. The bank was rather high and I was shaking so violently that when I took hold of the grass to pull myself up, the grass shook out of my hands. I could not retain my grip. I was afraid I would faint then and there, but I kept pulling and crawling frantically up that infernal bank and finally made it. : Then for the first time in my life I fainted—fainted from utter exhaus- tion. It was now about 4 o’clock in thc morning and I was entirely unpro- tected from observation. If anyone had come along I would have been found lying there dead to the world. Possibly two hours passed before I regained consciousness, and then, no doubt, only because the rain was beating in my face. I knew that I had to get away, as it was broad daylight. Moreover, there was a tow-path right there and any minute a boat might come along and find me. But it was equally dangerous for me to attempt to travel very far. Fortunately I found some shrubbery near by and I hid there aH day, without food or drink. That night I made a little head- way, but when day broke I had a dreadful fever and was delirious. I talked to -myseif and thereby in- creased my chances of capture. In my lucid intervals when I realized that | I had been talking, the thought sent a chill through me, because in the silent night even the slightest sound carries far across the Belgian country. I began to fezr that another day of this would about finish me. I have a distiret recollection of a ridiculous conversation I carried on with an imaginary Fat O'Brien—a sort of duplicate of my=o't. I argued with him as I marched drem:lly along and he answered me back in kind, and when we disagreed, I called upon my one constant friend, the North ‘Star, to stand by me. “There you are, you old North Stat” “You want me to geu himself a soldier—he’s got a yellow streak—North Star—and he says it can’t be done! He wants me to quit .—to lie down here for the Huns to find me and take me back to Cour- all you've done, North Star? I don’t want to follow him—I just want to follow you—because you —you are taking me away fsom the ) there alive. What was the use of further suffering when I would prob. ably be captured in the end anyway! Before giving up, however, I decided I would ap: proach one of the houses in the vis cinity and get food there or die in the effort. I picked out a small house because I figured there would be less likeli hood of soldiers being billeted there. Then I wrapped a stone in my khaki handkerchief as a sort of camouflaged weapon, determined to kill the occus pant of the house, German or Belgian, if that step was necessary in order to get food. I tried the well in thg ! yard, but it would not work, and then 'I went up to the door and knocked. | It was 1 o'clock in the morning. An old lady came to the window and looked out. She could not imagine what I wus, probably, because I was still attifed in that old overcoat. She (gave a cry and her husband and a ‘boy came to the door. They could not speak English and I could not speak Flemish, but I pointed ‘to my flying coat and then to the sky ‘and said “Fleger” (flier), ‘which I ‘thought would tell them what I was. ! Whether they understood or were intimidated by the hard-looking ap- ‘pearance, I don’t know, but certainly {it would have to be a brave old man ‘and boy who would start an argument ‘with such a villainous looking char- ‘acter as stood before them that night! ‘I had not shaved for a month, my fAothes were wet, torn and dirty, my leggings were gone—they had gotten -so heavy I had to discard them—my hair was matted and my cheeks were flushed with fever. In my hand I carried the rock in my handkerchief and I made no efiort to conceal its presence or its mission. Continued next week) . The Jordan. The Jordan has nothing to make it specially attractive beyond the histor- ical associations connected with it. But as the stream that is woven in so freely with the thread of the Bible narrative, it will always retain the place it has held so long in the esti- mation of christians who visit the Ho- ly Land. It is the only river of any importance in all that part of the country which the Jews occupied. And yet there is a great deal of truth in the description which one has thus given of it: “For all practical purposes to which a river is ordinarily applied, the Jordan is useless; so rapid, that its course is to a great extent a contin- ued cataract; so crooked, that in the whole of its lower and main course it has hardly half a mile straight; so broken with rapids and other impedi- ments, that no boat can float for more than the same distance continuously; so deep below the surface of the ad- jacent country, that it is invisible, and can only be approached with dif- ficulty; resolutely refusing all com- munication with the ocean, and end- ing in a lake, the peculiar conditions of which render navigation impossi- ble.” With all these characteristics, the Jordan, in any sense we attach to the word “river” is no river at all. Alike useless for irrigation and nevi- gation, it is, in fact, what its Arabic name signifies, nothing but a “great watering place.” The plain of Jericho, owing to the want of culture and the neglect of ir- rigation, has lost very greatly in its former fertility. We found the ride across, hot and uninteresting, and were not sorry when we reached the banks of the sacred stream, and got our first view of its rapidly flowing waters, which are invisible till that position, is gained. The banks of the river are fringed with broad belts of tamarisk, oleander, and willow trees, among which reeds and underwood spring up so as to form impenetrable jungles. These offer secure dens for the wild boar and the leopard, and from these in former times, as the prophet says, “the lion would come up from the swellings of Jordan.”— From “Rambles Through Bible Lands,” by Richard Newton, D. D. -
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