Part 11 (2/2)

'A friend of mine lives here,' he announced 'Gertrud would like to see iven ' And he scraarden

I took his place and moved very slowly forward I heard the door open and the sound of laughing and loud voices Then it shut, and looking back I saw thatof his Gertrud I waited no longer, but sent the car forward at its best speed

Five ive trouble-a nut loose in the antiquated steering-gear I unhooked a laht, but I was a quarter of an hour doing it The highway ran now in a thick forest and I noticed branches going off now and then to the right I was just thinking of turning up one of them, for I had no anxiety to visit Schwandorf, when I heard behind reat car driven furiously

I drew in to the right side-thank goodness I remembered the rule of the road-and proceeded decorously, wondering as going to happen I could hear the brakes being clarey bonnet slipped past me and as I turnedlike so, so that I wondered if I had broken it, and his eyes were beautifully bunged up It was that that savedtemper The collar of the post my beard, and I had his cap pulled well down on my brow I remembered what Blenkiron had said-that the only way to deal with the Gerh, for it was all that was left to ht from Andersbach?' he roared, as well as his jaould allow him

I pretended to be e of the postot out a rave,' I quavered 'He was a rude felloanted to go to Schwandorf, and then changed his ot down or I ring your neck'

'In the wood this side of Gertrud's cottageon the left hand I left hi the trees' I put all the terror I knew into

'He e, Herr Colonel,' said the chauffeur 'This ave an order and the great car backed, and, as I looked round, I saw it turning Then as it gathered speed it shot forward, and presently was lost in the shadows I had got over the first hurdle

But there was no time to be lost Stu aftera narrooodland road The hard ground would show very few tracks, I thought, and I hoped the pursuit would think I had gone on to Schwandorf But it wouldn't do to risk it, and I was deteret the car off the road, leave it, and take to the forest I took out ive ht Presently I cah heath, with a slope away from the road and here and there a patch of black which I took to be a sandpit Opposite one of these I slewed the car to the edge, got out, started it again and saw it pitch head-foremost into the darkness There was a splash of water and then silence Craning over I could see nothing but murk, and the marks at the lip where the wheels had passed They would find ht

Then I ran across the road to the forest I was only just in time, for the echoes of the splash had hardly died ahen I heard the sound of another car I lay flat in a hollow below a tangle of snow-laden brambles and looked between the pine-trees at the ain and to my consternation it stopped just a little short of the sandpit

I saw an electric torch flashed, and Stuhway Thank God, they would be still there for him to find, but had he tried half a dozen yards on he would have seen them turn towards the sandpit If that had happened he would have beaten the adjacent woods and most certainly found me There was a third man in the car, with my hat and coat on him That poor devil of a post tiain, and I was jolly well relieved when they went scouring down the road I ran deeper into the woods till I found a track which-as I judged fro-took me nearly due west That wasn't the direction I wanted, so I bore off at right angles, and presently struck another road which I crossed in a hurry After that I got entangled in so after paling of rough stakes plaited with osiers Then caround and I was on a low hill of pines which seeood pace, and before I stopped to rest I calculated I had put sixa little more active now; for the first part of the journey I had siered from impulse to impulse These io on like that for ever Ek sal 'n plan ets into trouble, and it was up to an to think I saw the desperate business I was in for Here was I, with nothing except what I stood up in-including a coat and cap that weren't mine-alone in mid-winter in the heart of South Ger for my blood, and soon there would be a hue-and-cry for me up and down the land I had heard that the German police were pretty efficient, and I couldn't see that I stood the sliht me they would shoot e, and answered, 'For knocking about a Gere, for as far as I knew they had no evidence I was siot riled and had run a at a second lieutenant-which is what happened at Zabern-I calculated that hanging would be too good for a s worse h that would have been hard enough-but to get to Constantinople, et there as a tra away my chance If I had been a Catholic I would have said a prayer to St Teresa, for she would have understood my troubles

My mother used to say that when you felt down on your luck it was a good cure to count yourmine The first was that I ell started on my journey, for I couldn't be above two score miles from the Danube The second was that I had Stumm's pass I didn't see how I could use it, but there it was Lastly I had plenty of ns and the equivalent of three pounds in Gered at the hotel Also I had squared accounts with old Stuht I'd better get some sleep, so I found a dryish hole below an oak root and squeezed myself into it The snow lay deep in these woods and I was sopping wet up to the knees All the saot up and shook h the tree tops Breakfast was the next thing, and I

Al north and south I trotted along in the bitter an to feel a little better In a little I saw a church spire, which ot on my tracks yet, I calculated, but there was always the chance that he had warned all the villages round by telephone and that they ht be on the look-out for me But that risk had to be taken, for I must have food

It was the day before Christe was quite a big place, but at this hour-just after eight o'clock-there was nobody in the street except a wandering dog I chose theshop I could find, where a little boy was taking down the shutters-one of those general stores where they sell everything The boy fetched a very old wo on her spectacles

'Gruss Gott,' she said in a friendly voice, and I took off my cap I saw from my reflection in a saucepan that I looked ht in the woods

I told her the story of hoalking froinary place called judenfeld, banking on the ignorance of villagers about any place five one astray, and I hadn't time to wait for it, since my leave was short The old lady was sy She sold me a pound of chocolate, a box of biscuits, the better part of a ham, two tins of sardines and a rucksack to carry theht some soap, a comb and a cheap razor, and a s fir up in the back shop, and turned to have a look at the that Ger capes reen felt hat and an alpenstock to keep it cos a merry Christe There were one or two people about now, but they did not seeain and walked for twoquite so fit now, and I did nota biscuit and soed for hot tea In an icy pool I washed and with infinite agony shaved my beard That razor was the worst of its species, andall the time with the pain of the operation Then I took off the postman's coat and cap, and buried them below soreen cape and hat, and an absurd walking-stick with an iron-shod end-the sort of person who roams in thousands over the Fatherland in summer, but is a rarish bird in mid-winter

The Tourists' Guide was a fortunate purchase, for it contained a big s I was certainly not forty h the village I had left would have taken me to it I had only to walk due south and I would reach it before night So far as I coulddown to the river, and I resolved to keep to the woodlands At the worst I would h story for theht be aard questions