Show 44 g H M M M M MM 8 ja 1 1 1 1041 outwitting G THIE THE HUN by lieutenant PAT N copyright 1918 by pat alva aiva obrien lieutenant OBRIEN NEARLY STARVES AS HE CRAWLS THROUGH GERMANY AND luxembourg synopsis rat pat obrien a resident of 0 Mo momence Mome mence III HI after seeing service in the american flying corps on the mexican barder in 1916 joins the british royal koyal flying corps in canada and after a brief training period is sent to france he is assigned to a squadron in active service on the front ile he engages in several hot fights with german flyers byers from which he emerges victor victorious lous finally in a fight with lour four german flyers obrien is shot down he falls 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 the hospital he Is sent to a prison camp qt at courtrair courteal Court Cour ral trai after a short stay there he Is placed upon a train bound for a prison camp in germany he decides to take a desperate chance for liberty he leaps through the open window ot of the car while the train is traveling thirty miles an hour CHAPTER VII 5 crawling through germany the exact spot at which I 1 made my desperate leap I 1 dont know perhaps 0 after the war Is over someone on that train will be good enough to tell me aid then I 1 may go back and look for the dent I 1 must have made in the rock ballast chave said I 1 stop very long that morning after I 1 once regained my senses I 1 was bleeding profusely from the wounds caused by the fall but I 1 checked it somewhat with handkerchiefs I 1 hold held to my face and balso I 1 also held the tall of my coat so as to catch the blood as it fell and not to leave telltale tell tale traces on the ground before I 1 stopped I 1 had gone about a mile then I 1 took my course from the stars and found that I 1 had been going just opposite to the direction I 1 should be making but I 1 could not go back acro across the track there heading west therefore I 1 kept this course for about two and a half hours but as I 1 was very weal weak from loss of blood I 1 cover very much ground in that time just before daylight I 1 came to a canal which I 1 knew I 1 had to cross and I 1 swam it with everything I 1 had on this swim which proved to be the first of a series that I 1 was destined to make taught me several things la in the first place I 1 had forgotten to remove my wristwatch wrist watch this watch had been broken in my fall from the air but I 1 had bad it repaired at courtsal Court Cour ral trai in the leap from the train the crystal had been broken again but it was still going and would probably have been of great service to me in my subsequent adventures but the swim across the canal ruined it then too I had not thought to take my map out of my sock and the water damaged that too thereafter whenever I 1 had any swimming to do I 1 was careful to take such euch matters into consideration and my usual practice was to make a bundle of all the things that would be damaged by water and tie it to my head in this way I 1 was able to keep them dry it was now daylight and I 1 knew that it would be suicidal for me to attempt to travel in the daytime my british uniform would have been fatal to me I 1 decided to hide in the daytime and travel only at night not far from the canal I 1 could see a heavily wooded piece of ground and I 1 made my way there by this timo time I 1 had discovered that my left ankle had been in my leap from the train and when I 1 got to the woods I 1 was glad to lie ile down and rest tile the wound in my mouth had been opened too when I 1 jumped and it would have been difficult for me to have swallowed had not the piece of bread which was to serve for my breakfast got wet when I 1 swam swain the canal I 1 found a safe hiding place in which to spend the lay day and I 1 tried to dry some of my clothes clot bes but a slight drizzling rainfall made that out of the question I 1 knew that I 1 ought to sleep as I 1 planned to travel at night but sore as I 1 was w as caked with mud and blood my clothing soaked through and my hunger not nearly appeased sleep was out of the question this seemed to me about the longest day I 1 had ever spent but I 1 was still to learn leam how long a duy day can really be and how much longer a night when night came I 1 dragged myself together and headed northeast my clothing consisted of my flying corps uniform two shirts no underwear leather leggings heavy shoes a good pair of f wool socks and a german cap I 1 had a wallet containing several hundred francs in paper money und and various other papers I 1 also had a jackknife which I 1 had stolen one day before from rom the property room at courteal Court ral rne all the personal effects taken from prisoners were kept F for or a lay day or tn two 0 I 1 had li ad carried a knap suck back hut but as I 1 had nothing to carry in it I 1 discarded it il I 1 traveled rapidly considering ny difficulties 3 and swam a couple of canals that night covering in till nil pei pcr ten miles before daylight then I 1 located in some low bushes lying there evl n 1 l day in my wet clothes mid an finishing nay my sausage for food that m wa iha 1 bat t of ac my rations that night I 1 made perhaps the same distance but became very hungry and thirsty before the night was over for the next nest six days I 1 still figured that I 1 was in germany nad and I 1 was living on nothing but cabbage sugar beets and an occasional carrot always in the raw state just as I 1 got them out of the fields the water I 1 drank was often very rank one night I 1 lay in a cabbage patch for an hour lapping the dew from the leaves with my tongue 1 during this period I 1 realized that I 1 must avoid meeting anyone at all hazards I 1 was in the country and my uniform would have been a dead giveaway give away anyone who captured me or who gave information from which my capture resulted might have been sure of 0 a handsome reward I 1 knew that it was necessary for me to make progress as fast as possible but the main consideration was to keep out of sight even if it took me a year to get to holland which was my objective F from born my map I 1 estimated that I 1 was about thirty five miles from strassburg when I 1 made my leap from the train and if I 1 could travel in a straight line I 1 bad perhaps one hundred and fifty miles to travel As it was however I 1 was compelled to make many detours and I 1 figured that two hundred and fifty miles was nearer the extent of the journey ahead of me in several parts of this country I 1 had to travel through forests of young pine trees about twelve feet high they were very close together and looked almost as if they had been set out they proved to be a serious obstacle to me because I 1 could not see the stars through them and I 1 was relying upon the heaven to guide meto me to freedom I 1 am not much of an astronomer but buta I 1 know the avle ale star when I 1 see it but for it I 1 be here today I 1 I 1 believed it rained every night and day while I 1 was making my way through germany and luxembourg my invariable program at this stage of my journey was to travel steadily till all night until about six in the morning when I 1 would commence looking around for a place wherein to hide during the day low bushes or woods back from the road as far as possible front from the traveled pathway usually 4 P I 1 1 I faunl found myself right in a german back yard served die me for this purpose having found such a spot I 1 would drop down ond and try to sleep sly my overcoat was my only covering and that was usually soaked through gli either cither from tho rain or from swimming the only sleep I 1 got during nose hose days was froni from exhaustion and it usually came to me towards dusk when it was time for me to start again it was a mighty fortunate thing for me that I 1 was not a smoker Sol somehow lichow I 1 have never used tobacco in any form I 1 was now fully repaid for whatever pleasure I 1 had foregone in the past as a result of my habits in that particular because my sufferings would certainly have been intensified now if in addition to lack of food and rest I 1 had find hah to endure a craving for tobacco about the sith night I 1 was so drowsy and exhausted naca heu the time camo came for me to be on the move that I 1 was very much tempted to sleep through the night I 1 knew however that that would be a bad precedent to establish and I 1 give in I 1 plugged wearily along and about 11 II after I 1 had bad covered perhaps four miles I 1 sat down to rest for a moment on a shock of brush which was sheltered from the drizzle somewhat by other shocks which were stacked there it was daylight when I 1 awoke and I 1 found myself right in a german backyard you can imagine that I 1 lost no time in getting out of that neighborhood and I 1 made up my mind right there and then that I 1 would never give away to that tired feeling again in the daytime in my hiding place wherever it happened to be 1 I had bad P plenty only of opportunity to study my map and before very long I 1 knew it almost by heart unfortunately however it did not show all the rivers and canals which I 1 encountered and sometimes it fooled me completely it must have been about the ninth night that I 1 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 discovery would have been followed by the same consequences as capture in germany proper in the nine days I 1 had covered perhaps seventy five miles and iwas I 1 was that much nearer liberty but the lack of proper food the constant wearing of wet net clothes and the loss of sleep and rest had reduced me to a very much weakened condition I 1 doubted very much whether I 1 would be able to continue but I 1 plugged along CHAPTER vill VIII nine days in luxembourg I 1 was now heading northwest and I 1 thought that by keeping that course I 1 would get out of luxembourg and into belgium where I 1 expected to be a little better off because the people of 0 luxembourg were practically the same as germans one of the experiences I 1 had in luxembourg which I 1 shall never forget occurred the first day that I 1 spent there ther I 1 had traveled all night and I 1 was feeling very weak I 1 came to a small wood with plenty of low underbrush 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 1 took off all my clothes except my shirt and hung them on the bushes to dry in the sun aade As the sun moved I 1 the clothes around correspondingly because tired as I 1 was I 1 could take only ohly I 1 catnaps cat naps that afternoon I 1 awoke from one of these naps with a start there were voices not a dozen feet from me mel I 1 my first impulse was to jump to my feet and sell my life as dearly as I 1 could but on second thought thou glit I 1 decided to look before I 1 leapt peeping through the underbrush I 1 could just discern two men calmly chopping down a tree and conversing as they worked I 1 thanked my lucky stars that I 1 had not jumped up on my first impulse for I 1 was apparently patently ly quite safe as long as I 1 lay where I 1 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 1 could only see the heads of the men who were chopping it down I 1 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 ibe the men would be wise enough to tell fell it so that it would not because it 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 security there was really nothing else I 1 could do but wait and see what fate had bad in store for me I 1 lay there watching the top of oe the tree for more than an hour time and time again I 1 saw raw it sway and fancied it was coming coining my direction nod and it was all I 1 could do to keep my place but a moment later I 1 would hear te crash of the mens axes and I 1 knew that my imagination had played me a trick I 1 was musing on the sorry plight I 1 was in weak nearly starving to death a refugee in a hostile count country rT and waiting patiently to see which way a tree was going to fall when there came a loud crack and I 1 saw the top of the tree sway and fall almost opposite to tile the place where I 1 lay 1 I I 1 had guessed right later I 1 heard some childrens voices and again peering through the underbrush I 1 saw that they had brought the men their lunch you cant realize how I 1 felt to see them entenz their lunch so near at hand and to know that hungry as I 1 was I 1 could have none of it I 1 was getting tempted to go boldly up to them and take a chance of get ting a sli share alre but I 1 did not know whether they were germans or not and I 1 had gone through too much to risk my liberty even for food I 1 swallowed my hunger instead shortly afterwards it began to rain and about 4 the men left I 1 crawled out as fast as I 1 could and scurried around looking for crumbs but found none and when darkness came I 1 went on my way once more that night I 1 came to a river and as it was the first time my clothes had been dry in a long time I 1 thought I 1 would try to keep them that way as long as possible I 1 accordingly took off nil all my things and made them into two bundles planning to carry one load across and therl then swim back for the other the river was quite wide but I 1 am 0 fairly good swimmer and I 1 figured I 1 could rest awhile after the first trip before going back for the second bundle the first swim was u uneventful eventful n when I 1 landed on the other side I 1 drank till my thirst was quenched and then swam back after resting awhile I 1 started across athard a third time with my shoes and several other things firmly tied to my head bead just about ten feet from the opposite bank one oi of the shoes worked its way loose and sank 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 1 could not go on with a single shoe lioe diving in my weakened condition was a considerable strain but I 1 had to have that shoe und and I 1 kept at it for nearly hearly an hour before I 1 eventually found it and I 1 was pretty nearly all in by that time that was the last time I 1 ever took my shoes off for my feet were becoming so swollen that I 1 figured if I 1 took my shoes off I 1 might not 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 some fifteen minutes I 1 went on my way again I 1 had gone nearly a mile when I 1 came to another river about the same size as the one I 1 had just crossed I 1 walked along the bank awhile thinking I 1 might be lucky enough to find a boat or a bridge but after walking about half an hour I 1 received one of those disappointments which come once in a lifetime I 1 found that this river was the one I 1 had just swum I 1 had swum it on the bend and was still on the wrong side had I 1 made only a short detour in the first place I 1 would have avoided all the annoyance of the past three hours and saved my strength and time I 1 was never so BO mad in my life at myself as I 1 as was to think that I 1 had bad not paid more attention to the course of 0 the stream before I 1 undertook to cross it but as a matter of fact there was really no way of telling the river was not shown on the map at all now I 1 had to cross it whereas |