| Show outwitting THE HUN by lieutenant pat obrien copyright IBIS by pat alv DRIVEN TO desperation BY HUNGER OBRIEN GOES BOLDLY TO A BELGIAN HOUSE AND ASKS FOR FOOD pat obrian cn a resident of momence Mo mence HL after seeing service in the american corps on the mexican border in 1910 joins the british royal flying corps in canada and after a brief training period Is sent to france ne Is assigned to a squadron in active service on the front lie engages in several hot fights with german flyers from which he emerges victorious finally in a fight with four german flyers 0 arlen Is shot down lie falls 8 feet and escaping death by a miracle awakes to find himself a prisoner in a german hospital with a bullet hole in his mouth after a few days in tho hospital he Is sent to a prison camp at Conr trat after a short stay there he Is placed upon a train bound for a prison camp in germany he decides to taace a desperate chance for liberty he leaps through the open window of the car while the train Is traveling 85 miles an hour his wounds reopened by the fall 0 arlen almost literally crawls through germany and luxembourg traveling at night and bleeding bleeping Ble by day living on garbage and raw vegetables stolen from gardens CHAPTER IX continued I 1 ran up the bank of the canal quite a distance and then swam to the opposite side as I 1 reasoned they would not be looking for me there I 1 found a sheltered clump of bushes that were in a swamp near the canal and in the driest part that I 1 could find I 1 crawled in and made myself as comfortable BS possible the sun come up soon and kept me warm and I 1 planned to camp right there food or no food until the aun got tired of searching for me I 1 think I 1 heard them once or twice that day and my heart nearly stopped on each occasion but evidently they decided to look in some other direction and I 1 was not further molested at the fame time I 1 figured that it was absolutely necessary for me to change my course even at the expense of going somewhat out of my way I 1 decided to go due west and I 1 kept in that direction for four days As I 1 was in a very weak condition I 1 did not cover more miles a night I 1 kept away from the roads and did all my journeying through fields beet patches woods swamps anywhere provided I 1 was not clely to be seen and captured food was an important consideration to me but it was secondary to concealment i at last I 1 brought up at the meuse river at a place between namur and auy and it was here that I 1 came nearest of all to giving up the struggle Y the meuse at this point Is about bait a mile wide as alda as the nud iba elver at est point had I 1 been in normal condition 1 have a moment to swim across san diego bay california Is a mile and a half w ide and I 1 had often swam across and back and the san jaoquin which Is also a mile and a half wide I 1 had never proven an obstacle to me f in the wretched shape in which I 1 then was however the meuse looked like the atlantic ocean to me I 1 looked for a boat but could find none I 1 tried to get a piece of wood upon alch I 1 hoped to ferry across but I 1 was equally unsuccessful get across I 1 must and I 1 decided there was nothing to do but to swim t it was then about 3 in the rooming I 1 waded in and was soon in beyond my depth and had to swim after about an hour of it I 1 was very much exhausted and I 1 doubted whether I 1 could make the opposite bank although tt was not more than thirty or forty feet away I 1 choked 1 I kept pulling and crawling up that infernal bank led gasped and my arms and legs completely tagged out I 1 sank a little and tried to touch bottom with my beet bu t the water was still be ont my depth there are times when everyone will I 1 ray and I 1 was no exception I 1 prayed toi strength to make those few yards and then with all th will power I 1 could summon struck nut or dear life it seemed a alfe elxia afar I 1 felt the mud of bottom and was able to drag myself up to the bank but I 1 got there the bank was rather high and I 1 was shaking so violently that when I 1 took hold of the grass to pull myself up the grass shook out of my hands I 1 could not retain my grip I 1 was afraid I 1 would faint then and there but I 1 kept pulling and crawling frantically up that infernal bank and finally made it then for the first time in my life I 1 fainted fainted from utter echaus alon it was now about 4 in the morning and I 1 was entirely unprotected from observation it anyone had come along I 1 would have apen found lying there dead to the world possibly two hours passed before I 1 regained consciousness and then no doubt only because the rain was beating in my face I 1 knew that I 1 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 1 found some shrubbery near by and I 1 bid there all day without food or drink that night I 1 made a little headway but when day broke I 1 had a dreadful fever and was delirious I 1 talked to myself and thereby ln i creased my chances of capture in my lucid intervals when I 1 realized that I 1 had been talking the thought sent a chill through me because in th silent night even the slightest sound carries far across the belgian country I 1 began to fear that another day of this would about finish me I 1 have a distinct recollection of a ridiculous conversation I 1 carried on with an imaginary pat obrien a sort of duplicate of myself I 1 argued with him as I 1 marched drearily along and be answered me back in kind and when we disagreed I 1 called upon my one constant friend the north star to stand by me there you are you old north star I 1 cried aloud you want me to get to holland dont you but this pat obrien this pat obrean who calls himself a soldier hes got a yellow streak north star and be says it can t be done I 1 lie wants me to quit to lie down here for the to find me and take me back to cour aral after all youve done north star I 1 dont want to follow him I 1 just want to follow you because you you arc taking me away from the huns and this pat obrien this fellow who keeps after me all the time and leans on my neck and wants me to lie down this yellow pat obrean wants me to go back to the nuns I 1 after a spell of foolish chatter like that my senses would come back to me for a while and I 1 would trudge along without a word until the fever came on me again I 1 knew that I 1 had to have food because I 1 was about on my last legs I 1 was very much tempted to lie down then and there nna call it a beat things seemed to be getting worse for me the farther I 1 went and all the time I 1 had before me the spectre of that electric barrier between belgium and holland even it I 1 ever reached there alive what was the us of further suffering when I 1 would probably be captured in the end anyway before giving up however I 1 decided upon one bold move I 1 would approach one of the houses in the vicinity and get food there or die in the effort I 1 picked out a small house because I 1 figured there would be less llvell hood of soldiers being billeted there then I 1 wrapped a stone in nay as a sort of camouflaged weapon determined to kill the mccu pant of th house german or belgian it that step was necessary la order to get food I 1 tried the well in the yard but it would not work and then I 1 went up to the door and knocked it was 1 in the morning an old lady came to the window and looked out she could not imagine what I 1 was probably because I 1 was still attired in that old overcoat she gare a cry and her husband and a boy came to the door i f A they could not speak english and I 1 could not speak flemish but I 1 pointed to my flying coat and then to the sky and said fieger filer which I 1 thought would tell them what I 1 was whether they understood or were intimidated by the hard looking appearance pe arance I 1 dont know but certainly it would bare to be a brave old man and boy who would start an argument with such a villainous looking character as stood before them that I 1 had not shaved for a month my clothes were wet torn and dirty my leggings were gone they had gotten so heavy I 1 had to discard them my hair was matted and my cheeks were flushed with fever in my hand I 1 carried the rock in my handkerchief and I 1 made no effort to conceal its presence or its mission anyway they motioned me indoors aavo me my first hot meal in more than a month I 1 true it consisted only of warm potatoes they had been previously cooked but the old woman warmed them up in milk in one of the dirtiest kettles I 1 had ever been I 1 asked for bread but she shook her head although I 1 think it must have been for lack of it rather than because she begrudged it to me for it ever a man showed he was I 1 did that night I 1 swallowed those warm potatoes ravenously and I 1 drank four glasses of water one after another it w as the best meal I 1 had bad since the banquet in the prison at courteal Court ral the woman of the house was probably seventy five years old and had evidently worn wooden sheea all her life for she had a callous spot on the side of her foot the size of half a dol lar and it looked so hard that I 1 doubt whether you could have driven a nail into it with a hammer I 1 As I 1 sat there drying myself for I 1 was in no currry to leave the first human habitation I 1 had entered in tour weeks I 1 reflected on my unhappy lot and the unknown troubles and dangers that lay ahead of me here for more than a month I 1 bad been leading the life of a hunted animal yes worse than a bunted animal tor nature clothes her less favored creatures more appropriately for the life they lead than I 1 was clothed for mine and there was not the slightest reason to hope that conditions would grow any better perhaps the first warm food I 1 bad eaten for over a month had released unused springs of philosophy in me as food sometimes does for a man I 1 pointed to my torn and water soaked clothes and conveyed to them as best I 1 could that I 1 would be grateful for an old suit but apparently they were too poor to have more than they actually needed themselves and I 1 rose to go I 1 had aroused them out of bed and I 1 knew bought not to keep them up longer than was absolutely necessary As I 1 approached the door I 1 got a glance at myself in a mirror I 1 was the sight I 1 had laid eyes on I 1 the glimpse I 1 got of myself startled me almost as much as if I 1 had seen a dreaded german helmet my left eye was fairly well healed by this time and I 1 was beginning to regain sight of it but my face was so haggard and my beard so long and unkempt that I 1 looked like santa claus on a bat I 1 As they let me out of the door I 1 pointed to the opposite direction to the one I 1 intended taking and started off in the direction I 1 bad later I 1 changed my course completely to throw off any possible pursuit the next day I 1 was so worn out from exposure and exhaustion that I 1 threw away my coat thinking that the less weight I 1 had to carry the better it would be for me but when night came I 1 regretted my mistake because the nights were now getting colder I 1 thought at first it would be better for me to retrace my steps and look for the coat I 1 had so thoughtlessly discarded but I 1 decided to go on without IL I 1 then bebau begau to discard everything that I 1 had in my pocket finally throwing my wrist watch into a canala wrist watch does not add much weight but when you plod along and have not eaten for a month it finally becomes rather heavy be next thing I 1 discarded was a pair of flying mittens these mittens I 1 had gotten at camp borden in canada and bad become quite famous as my friends armed them snow shoes in fa tavy were a ridiculous pair at bit the best pair I 1 ever had and really felt worse when I 1 lost those than anything else I 1 conda hot think of anybody else ever using them so I 1 dug a hole in the mud and hurled them and could not help but laugh at the thought it my arlenda could see me burying my mittens becaas they were a standing joke la canada eng land and france I 1 had on two shirts and as they were always both wet and alda t lei p me warm it was useless to wear both ono of these was a shirt that I 1 had bought in france the other an african army shirt they ih khau and one as apt to give me away ai the other so I 1 discarded the french shirt tho american army shirt I 1 A i aa ecat fc at kia brought back with me to england and it is still in my possession when I 1 escaped from the train I 1 still bad the bavarian cap of bright red in my pocket and wore it for many nights but I 1 took great care that no one saw it it also had proven very useful when swimming rivers for I 1 carried my map and a few other belongings in it and I 1 bad fully made up my mind to bring it home as a souvenir but the farther I 1 went the heavier my extra clothing became so I 1 was compelled to discard even the cap I 1 knew that it would be a telltale tell tale mark it I 1 simply threw it away so one night after swimming a river I 1 dug a hole in tho sort mud on the bank and burled it too with considerably sider ably less ceremony than my flying mittens had received perhaps so that was the end of my bavarian hat my experience at the belgians house whetted my appetite tor more food and I 1 figured that what had been done once could be done again diagram showing how lost precious houra by swimming a river and later finding that he waa on tho wrong side and had to swim back f sooner or later I 1 realized I 1 would probably approach a belgian and find a german instead but in auch a contingency tin gency I 1 was determined to measure my strength against the nuns if necessary to effect my escape As it was however most of the belgians to whom I 1 applied for food gave it to me readily enough and if some of them refused me it was only because they feared I 1 might be a spy or that the germans would shoot them if their action were subsequently found out about the fifth day after I 1 bad entered belgium I 1 was spending the day as usual in a dump of bushes when I 1 discerned in the distance what appeared to be something hanging on a line all day long I 1 strained my eyes trying to decide what it could be and arguing with myself that it might be something that I 1 could add to my in adequate wardrobe wor drobe but the distance was so great that I 1 could not identity it I 1 had a great fear that before night came it would probably be removed As soon as darkness fell however I 1 crawled out of my hiding place and worked up to the line and got a pair of overalls for my industry the pair of overalls was the first bit of civilian clothes I 1 had thus tar picked up with the exception of a civilian cap which I 1 had found at the prison and concealed on my person and which I 1 still had abe overalls were rather small and very short but when I 1 put them on I 1 found that they hung down far enough to cover my breeches it was perhaps three days later that I 1 planned to search another house for further clothes entering belgian houses at night Is anything but a safe proposition because their families are large and sometimes as many as seven or eight sleep in a single room the bam Is usually connected with the hause proper and there was always the danger of disturbing some dumb animal even it the inmates of the house were not aroused arous eQ frequently I 1 toofe a chance ot searching a back yard at night in the hope of finding floo wraps but my success in that direction was so slight I 1 soon decided that it anant worth the risk and I 1 continued to live on raw vegetables that I 1 could pick with safety in the fields and the occasional meal that I 1 was able to get from the belgian peasants in the daytime nevertheless I 1 was determined to get more in the way of clothing and when night came I 1 picked out a house that looked as though it might furnish me with |
