Part 14 (2/2)

'It was very simple, Cornelis I was foolish in the cafe-but they have told you of that You see I was angry and did not reflect They had separated us, and I could see would treat me as dirt Therefore, my bad temper came out, for, as I have told you, I do not like Gerly at the little bleak farht I lay in tronk with no food In thethey fed me, and took me hundreds ofIt was a great prison, full of English officersI asked myself many times on the journey as the reason of this treatment, for I could see no sense in it If they wanted to punishthem they had the chance to send me off to the trenches No one could have objected If they thought me useless they could have turned me back to Holland I could not have stopped theerous man, whereas all their conduct hitherto had shown that they thought me a fool I could not understand it

'But I had not been one night in that Neuburg place before I thought of the reason They wanted to keep ured it out this way They had given you some very i secret So far, good They evidently thought h he was as rude as a buffalo But they did not know you fully, and they wanted to check on you That check they found in Peter Pienaar Peter was a fool, and if there was anything to blab, sooner or later Peter would blab it Then they would stretch out a long arm and nip you short, wherever you were Therefore they must keep old Peter under their eye'

'That sounds likely enough,' I said

'It was God's truth,' said Peter 'And when it was all clear to me I settled that I must escape Partly because I am a free man and do not like to be in prison, but mostly because I was not sure of ht say foolish things for which Cornelis would suffer So it was very certain that I must escape

'Now, Cornelis, I noticed pretty soon that there were two kinds alish and French, and there were hus were treated, apparently, like the others, but not really, as I soon perceived There was one lish officer, another as a French Canadian, and the others called themselves Russians None of the honest men suspected them, but they were there as spies to hatch plots for escape and get the poor devils caught in the act, and to worht be of value That is the Gerood business I aentlest a for my plan I , and on Christmas Day I had a plan made'

'Peter, you're an oldahenever you wanted?'

'Quite certain, Cornelis You see, I have been wicked inabout the inside of prisons You reat castles, or they ated iron, but there is always a key and a et away, but I did not think it would be so easy That was due to the bogus prisoners, reat pals with theether I think I spotted every one of theed aboutto escape They backedI had a plan In the afternoon, just after dinner, I had to go to the commandant's room They treated me a little differently from the others, for I was not a prisoner of war, and I went there to be asked questions and to be cursed as a stupid Dutchuard kept there, for the place was on the second floor, and distant by many yards from any staircase In the corridor outside the commandant's room there was a hich had no bars, and four feet froht reach that liround Beyond that I knew nothing, but I aood climber, Cornelis

'I told the others of ood, but no one offered to come with me They were very noble; they declared that the scheme was mine and I should have the fruit of it, for if reed and thanked them-thanked them with tears in my eyes Then one of them very secretly produced a ht to Holland It was a long road, and I had no ns when I was arrested, but they pro theratitude This was on Sunday, the day after Christmas, and I settled to make the attempt on the Wednesday afternoon

'Now, Cornelis, when the lieutenant took us to see the British prisoners, you res about the ways of prisons He told us how they loved to catch a man in the act of escape, so that they could use hiht of that, and calculated that nowto the co to bottle uarded, for they would look on me as safe in the net

'So I went out of thenext day It was the Monday afternoon '

'That was a bold stroke,' I said adly

'The plan was bold, but it was not skilful,' said Peter modestly 'I had no money beyond seven marks, and I had but one stick of chocolate I had no overcoat, and it was snowing hard Further, I could not get down the tree, which had a trunk as sht I should be coive in, and I was not happy

'But I had leisure, for I did not think I would be iven tis By and by I found a branch which led beyond the outer wall of the yard and hung above the river This I followed, and then dropped from it into the stream It was a drop of some yards, and the water was very swift, so that I nearly drowned I would rather swi all the crocodiles than that icy river Yet Iin the bushes

'After that it was plain going, though I was very cold I knew that I would be sought on the northern roads, as I had told oing south away froh from the map to know that our road lay south-east, and I hadriver'

'Did you hope to pick ht you would be travelling in first-class carriages while I should be plodding on foot But I was set on getting to the place you spoke of (how do you call it? Constant Nople?), where our big business lay I thought I ht be in time for that'

'You're an old Trojan, Peter,' I said; 'but go on How did you get to that landing-stage where I found you?'

'It was a hard journey,' he said et beyond the barbed-wire entangle-yes, even across the river But in time I reached the woods and was safe, for I did not think any German could equal me in wild country The best of them, even their foresters, are but babes in veldcraft coer and cold Then I ht from him these [Peter meant a Polish-Jew pedlar] I did not want to part with ave e and ate heavily'

'Were you pursued?' I asked

'I do not think so They had gone north, as I expected, and were looking for me at the railway stations which my friends had marked for me I walked happily and put a bold face on it If I saw a man or woman look at me suspiciously I went up to them at once and talked I told a sad tale, and all believed it I was a poor Dutch mother, and I had been told that by the Danube I should find the main railway to take ave ave me half a mark, and wished me God speedThen on the last day of the year I came to the river and found et on one of the river-boats?'

'Ja, Cornelis As soon as I heard of the boats I sahere ht have knocked me over with a strahen I saw you coood fortune,much about the Germans, and I will tell you the truth It is only boldness that can baffle theent people They will think of all likely difficulties, but not of all possible ones They have not ines which must keep to prepared tracks There they will hunt any man down, but let him trek for open country and they will be at a loss Therefore boldness, my friend; for ever boldness Remember as a nation they wear spectacles, which '

Peter broke off to gloat over the wedges of geese and the strings of wild swans that were alinging across those plains His tale had bucked me up wonderfully Our luck had held beyond all belief, and I had a kind of hope in the business nohich had been wanting before That afternoon, too, I got another fillip I came on deck for a breath of air and found it pretty cold after the heat of the engine-room So I called to one of the deck hands to fetch ht that first e