THE CENTRE REPORTER,
UENTRE HALL. PA.
Copyright, 1918, by
Pat Alva O'Brien
CHAPTER XVIi—Continued.
son] Jone
Kite
the
kept,
From the ‘hen
directly into
were
wilk
COW- two |
COWS
before, is
gtm®:-tion of the poore:
I co
pointed ot
uld not mal
nothing
1 hn
0 ad
At that
true today,
pe
wool
|
coul
pe
don
kind
land.
accous
told
tical
people
woode
is ons
naturally
Germans
% "ea 1
very |
poldiers were quartered
out of tion for
for food directi
imity of
h oll
the ue
in that
eye ead l
pielon and 1
gion that the
was to live on
could steal from the flelds at
I had previously done,
That night 1 survey
of the barrier in that vicinity, but it
looked just as hopeless as {t had the
J
safest thing I could
stables wo
n
raw veg
ehh
ght
as
1 made another
!
i
i
|
a
I spent the night wandering north, |
served me so faithfully Ih all my trav- |
eling. Every mile or two I would make
my way carefully to the barrier to see
if were better, but it
conditions any
p
vd ur
iber or fallen trees
one. If
something which
react
the air it
matter
h
i
a
would be
to
simple
spi
1at point over ihe ¢ lectric
re
=
}
Dd
rungs
1d climbed perhaj
I av
ny ladder when
an unlooked for difficult
he ladder was slippi
I took t}
slipped, cat
and the curr
ns 1 next ne
with
ed
we in
the live
wire,
iy. here was a blue
hoid on the ladd
heavi
Of course, g ) weelved
fal
FH
ny
wr relaxed an (ell
lous,
the
vould
ro
mo-
to
n guard and
we to me if 1 didn’t get
enled at once he would
f ately for me,
round UNnConse
for a few
to Just in time
coming,
rtun
k night.
r out of his path
vn flat on the ground not
away from his feet.
close that I could have
ladder out and tripped
assed so
unhed
im up.
It occurred to me that I could have
climbed back under the barbed wire
fence and waited far the sentry to re
turn and then felled him with a blow
on the head, as he had no idea, of
course, that there was anyone in the
vicinity, 1 wouldn't have hesitated
i
I the
h
only wasted my time there.
4
ns g as he didn't bother me |
waps the safest thing to do was not |
to bother him, but to continue my ef-
that
lon
forts during his periodic absence,
His beat at this point was apparent-
fairly allowed me more
to han I had hoped for,
'r had con-
in that way |
hock that I
i me and I
particu-
ad fared
1d hope
ir mis- |
if making |
the idea
ly and
cou
simi
r hold and I gave up
right
and
front of this
studied it I
ing by. If 1
the |
in
ns
two |
ind and, of course,
wns only
mut my plan was
and then crawl
1 ground.
dig with,
and fortu-
ry hard,
very bh
{to
] me to pull
1 a little
After
a
nt
nd the
in
ny reach,
Finally 1 figured I had en
ce to crawl through and still les
{f inches between
wire,
that
a couple of
the live
Before 1
my
under that wire I no
1
wont
ticed that the lace which
Ww on me as a souvenir
1 and lest
mi e¢ the Innocer
trocuting me by touching the |
I took it out, rolled it up and threw
| over the harrier first,
Then I lay down on my stomach and
+ he :
iL Ineans
re
with my feet first,
of my
closely as
wire
and
i ht
i
like
there
a
wasn't
snake,
any questlor
earth
igging mother
possible been
to touch the wire above me with my
back meant instant death.
% as I was to get on the other
as
Anxion
feared that there mi
detail that I had overlooked and I ex-
ercised the greatest possible care In
under, taking nothing for
granted.
When I finally got through and
straightened up, there were still sev.
oral feet of Belgium between me and
liberty, represented by the six feet
which separated the electric barrier
from the last barbed wire fence, but
before I went another step
going
pecially for this last achievement,
which seemed to me to be about all
that was necessary to bring me free
dom.
Then I crawled under the barbed
wire fence and breathed the free air of
Holland. I had no clear idea just
where I was and I didn’t care much.
I was out of the power of the Germans
and I had
per when
men
walked
I re-
that was enough.
ps a hundred yards,
bered the |
the barrier,
ized the
mined to
ated
necessit
gian soll again it seemed a
to leave the lace there, and by ex
little care I figured I could
get It easily enough,
When I came to the spot at which I
had made my way under the barbed
wire, I put my ear to the ground and
listened for the sentry. 1 heard him
Cf lay prone on the ground
he had passed. The fact that he
might observe the hole grount
, but
cising a
ming and
i
til
in the
there, and it seemed lik
fore he finally marched
shot. Thea 1 went under the
wire again, retrieved the lace
Dut
out
barbed
and once
again made to chi terri-
tory.
It does not
events
my way
take long to describe the
but the
consumed several
the hole must
referred to, inci
dents elves
hours
than two hours
ntly to hide
ive me more
a ar
17. wh
wa
Heard the German Guard Coming.
leap from the train on
Altogether, therefore,
had elapsed
Ir 1
live te
expect
ensy
nother sgov-
two days so crammed full of in-
cident and hazard and lucky escape.
CHAPTER XVIIL
Experiences in Holland.
But I was not quite out of the
o
| I now knew that I was in Holland,
j&t where I had no idea. I walked
thirty minutes and came to
right, and I had
t but a few hundred
in front of me a
the one I had
{| for about
{ a path lea y the
| Saceden slong }
i
f¢
yards whet
for
Cre
"Tr
¢ exactly
ed.
his is funny,” I said to myself. “1
i didn't know the Dutch had a fence,
| ton.” 1 advanced to the fence and
examined it closely, and judge of my
astonighment when I saw beyond it a
foot fence apparently holding
live wires exactly like the one which
{ had nearly been the death of mel
I had very little time to conjecture
what it all meant, for just then 1
heard a guard coming. He was walk-
ing so fast that I was sure it was a
Duteh sentry, as the Huns walk much
slower,
I wns so bewildered, however, that
I decided to take no chances, and as
the road was fairly good I wandered
down it and away from that mysteri-
ous fence. About half a mile down I
nine
could see the light of sentry sts
and I thought I would go there
and tell my story to the sentries, real-
that as I was unarmed it
perfectly safe for me to announce
to the Dutch authorities 1
be interned I entered
d under arms,
approached
ava
three 1
a
tion
izing
myself
could if
Hollar
As 1
only
in
Dute
h
ie Geriatr
and I had
ns and too
color
tio
Jumping
I had
’ ir feud
1CK 103
Just turne
0
arly
arin:
man commana:
“Hait! Halt!"
He didn't need to
I heard another man
and there
but wil
Holla
evident:
other side
Finall
v
oe
ining up.
¢
te
1irt
KIN
ermans or
of the
I heard
Ww
J
pe
the landsca
way of a
For once mj)
North Star, had fai
pitch black
in the heavens,
at about
three mil
turned out to be
guide
friend
' ariel
i8 ana
stance,
be
a brits
]O0US
and once I
troubles would
Knew
my
nerhan
aps three hours to
and
the
of
the commotl
it re
€3¢ rine
Some the
about,
while
Dutch
wus
atch
good
Ord
ail
ed
been embarrass
'
¢
» compartment
th wil
the vi
a mile of
st that i
to my
thy.
fa 3
bright 1
Rat
u
must
arently
There three men
engaged in making wooden shoes,
It wasn't necess for me to ex-
plain to them that I wa refugee,
even if I had been able to speak the
i with
d
Just wor
ting
quit
were and two
ary
f 8 A
was caked mud
ersand 1 sup;
must have recorded som
periences I had gone
memorable night,
“l want the British cons
em.
Apparently they didn’t understand,
but one of them volunteered to con-
duct me to the village. They seemed
to be only too anxious to do all they
could for me; evidently they realized
I was a British soldier,
it was very late when my compan-
fon finally escorted me into the vil
lage, but he aroused some people he
knew from their beds and they
dressed and came down to feed me.
The family consisted of an old lady
and her husband and®a son, who was a
soldier in the Dutch army. The cold
shivers ran down my back while he sat
beside me, because every now and
again I caught a glimpse of his gray
language.
fa
to my shoul se my
¢ of the ex-
through that
vel 19%
ull
I told
t!
consul-—Brit
consul--French ©
ping that if he didn’t under
d one he might recogn an-
”
ms
“ne
jon and mo-
drove off. I
vas taking me,
'® ride he
» British
so glad
He eyed me wi ;
ioned in
wd no idea where
ut after a quarter of an
up in front
wo $ ¢*
me to get
yu
tt
of
u .
1
gE CONTINUED.)
When a Prisoner ls Exchanged.
Ivan Rossiter, captured by the Ger
exchanged, says in the
i “Then 1 lay down,
but to think. 1 thought
when I enlisted in Canada,
home, the training camps,
the trip overseas England, the
training in England, going across the
channel to Flanders, the terrific fight.
ing at Ypres, of the many friends who
of leaving
to
o
wag wounded and capiured, the Inhtu-
man treatment 1 received at the hands
of the German surgeons, who had four
husky Germans hold me down while
they cut five bones out of my wrist
and amputated fy middie finger at the
gecond joint when 1 was wounded in
the palm of the hand, the kicks and
the cuffs from prison guards and the
terrible stuff the Germans called food
in the prison camps.”
W—————
el
Enough matches to light all its con
tents are attached to a recensly ie
| vented cigarette bok