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LIEUTENANT 4
PA I O BR1EN ::
16—- 6t
Copyright, IVift, l»y I'al Alva O Urit-n
SYNOPSIS.
CHAPTER I introductory. Pat O’Brien
tells of Ms purpose in writing the story
of Ms adventur* s.
CHAPTER 11 Ti ll <>f his enlistment in
the Royal Flying »»\i ps, his training in
Canada and Ms ttanslei to I-ranee tor a«
tlve duly
CHARTER III — I 'escribes fights In whh»h
he Liroughl down two Gi-rmun airplanes
and Iiim liuai tight in which he was
brought down wounded within the Ger
man lines and was made a prisoner of
war.
CHAPTER IV Discovers that German
hospital staff hiwburousiy neglected the
fatally wounded and devoted their enei
gies to restoring those who might he
returned to the firing lines. Witnesses
death in tight of his best chum. Lieut.
Paul Rainey.
CHAPTER V—He is t.-Uteri to the of
ficers' prison camp at CourtnU. There ho
began planning Ids escape. By great sa« -
rifle* he manages to hum- and hide aw ay
two daily rations of bread.
CHAPTER VI He confiscates a map of
Germany and Just half an hour later Is
put on a train hound for a prison « amp
in Germany. He haps through a window
while the train Is traveling at a rate of 30
miles un hour.
CHAPTER VII For nine days he
crawls through Germany, hiding during
the day. traveling at night, guid. d by the
stars and subsisting on raw vegetables.
He covers 70 miles before reaching Lux
emburg.
About the sixth night I was so
drowsy and exhausted when the time
came for me to be on tin* move, that
I was very much tempted to sloop
through the night. I know, however,
that that would ho n bad preeodent to
establish and 1 wouldn't give in.
I plugged wearily along and about
II nVlnek, after 1 had covered perhaps
r /
“I Found Myself Right in a German
Back Yard.”
four miles, I sat down to rest for a
moment on a shock of brush which
was sheltered from the drizzle some
what by other shocks which were
stacked there. It was daylight when
I awoke, and I found myself right in
a (ionium backyard. You can imagine
that I lost no time in getting out of
that neighborhood and I made up my
mind right there and then that I would
never give away to that “tired feeling"
ag i ip.
In the do).nnr. In my hiding place,
wherever it happened to tie, I had
plenty of opportunity to study my map.
and before very long I knew It almost
by heart. Unfortunately, however. It
did not show all the rivers and canals
which I encountered, and sometimes it
fooled me completely.
It must have been about the ninth
night that I 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 dis
covery would have been followed by
the same consequences as capture In
(iernmny proper.
In the nine days I had covered per
haps seventy-five miles, and I was that
much nearer liberty, hut the lack of
proper food, the constant wearing of
wet clothes, and the loss of sleep and
rest had reduced me to a very much
weakened condition. I doubted very
much whether I would be able to con
tinue, but I plugged along.
CHAPTER VIII.
Nine Days in Luxembourg.
1 was now lo ading northwest and I
thought that by keepjng that course
I would get out of Luxembourg and
Into Helglum, where I expected to be
a little better off. because the people
of Luxembourg were practically tin*
same as Hermans.
One of the experiences I had in Lux
embourg which I shall never forget
occurred the first day the. I spent
there. I had traveled all night and I
was feeling very weak. I came to a
small wood with plenty of low under
brush, 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
took otT all my clothes except rny shirt
and hung them on the bushes to dry
In the sun. As the sun moved I moved
the clothes around correspondingly, be
cause tired as I was I could take only
catnaps.
That afternoon I awoke from one
of these naps with a start. There were
voices not a dozen feet from me! Mv
first impulse was to jump to my feet
and sell my life as dearly as I could,
tuit on second thought I decided to
look before I leapt. Peeping through
the underbrush I could ju-i discern two
men calmly chopping down a tree, and
conversing as they worked. I thanked
my lucky stars that I had not jumped
up on my first impulse, for I was ap
parently quite safe as long as I lay
where I 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 could only see the heads of
the men who were chopping it down, I
was unable to tell which way they
planned to have it fall.
Tliere 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 the men would be wise enough to
fell it so that it would not. because if
it landed in the brushes the task of
trimming the branches from the trunk
would be so much harder.
Hut even without, this feeling of se
curity, there was really nothing else I
could do hut wait and see what fate
had in store for me. I lay there watch
ing tin* top of the tree for more than
an hour. Time ami time again I saw it
sway and fancied it was coming my
direction, and it was all I could do t«>
keep my place, but a moment later 1
would bear tin* crash of the men's
axes, and I knew that my imagination
had played me a trick.
1 was musing on the sorry plight I
was in—weak, nearly starving to death,
a refugee in a hostile country, and
waiting patiently to see which way a
tree was going to fall, when there
came a loud crack, and I saw the top
of the tree swjiv mul Dill almost op
;.<.sit«• to tin* place wnere 1 lay 1 1 had
guessed right.
Later I heard some children's voices
and ugaln peering through the under
brush 1 saw that they had brought the
men their lunch. You can't realize how
I felt to see them eating their lunch
so near at ham], and to know that,
hungry as I was, 1 could have none of
it. 1 was getting tempted to go boldly
tit) to them and take u chance of get
ting a share, but I did not know
whether they were (lermnns or not, and
1 bad gone through too much to risk
nty liberty even for food. 1 swallowed
my hunger Instead.
Shortly afterwards It began to rain
and about 4 o’clock the men left, 1
crawled out as fast as I could and
scurried around looking for crumbs,
but found none, and when darkness
came 1 went on my way once more.
That night I came to a river and as
it was the lirst time my clothes had
been dry in a long time, 1 thought I
would try to keep them that way as
long as possible. I accordingly took
off all my things and made them into
two bundles, planning to carry one
load across ami then swim back for
the other.
The river was quite wide, but I am a
fairly good swimmer and 1 figured 1
eon Id rest awhile after the first trip
before going back for the second
bundle.
The first swim was uneventful. When
1 landed on the other side I drank till
my thirst was quenched and then
swam ba<k. After resting awhile I
started across a third time, with my
lue s and several other things firmly
tied to my head. .lust about ten feet
from the opposite hunk one of the
shoos worked Its way loose and sank
in about eight feet of water. There
was nothing to do but finish the trip
and then go hack and dive for the
missing shoe, as t could not go on
with a single shoe.
lining in my weakened condition
was a considerable strain, but I bad to
have that shoe and I kept at it for
nearly an hour before I eventually
found it, and I was pretty nearly all
in by that time.
That was the last time I ever took
my slio. > «,n\ for my feet were becom
ing so swollen that I figured if I took
my shoos off 1 might not be able to get
them on strain.
This stunt <d' crossing the river and
diving for the lost shoe had consumed
about three h<-ur . and after noting
some fifteen minutes I wa nt on my way
again. I had g«»m* nearly a mile when
I came to another* river, about the
satin- size ns tin one 1 bad just crossed.
I walked along the bank awhile, think
ing 1 might be lucky enough to find a
boat or a bridge, but after walking
about half an hour 1 received one of
those disappointments which "conn*
once in a lifetime." I found that this
river was the one I had just swum! I
had swum it on the bend and was still
on the wrong side. Had 1 made only
short demur in the first place I would
have avoided all the annoyance of the
past three hours and saved my
strength and time. I was never so
mad in my life at myself as I was to
think that I had not paid more atten
tion to the course of tin* stream be
fore I undertook to cross It, but as a
matter of fact, there was really no
way of telling. Tin* river was not
shown on the map at ull.
Now I had to cross it, whereas be
fore I could have turned it. I walked
boldly into the water, not bothering to
take my clothes off tbi- time, nor did
I ever bother to take them off after
wards when swimming canals and
rivers. I found it was Impossible to
keep them dry anyway, and so 1 might
just as well swim in them and save
time.
All the next tiny I spent In 11 forest,
to which my night's travel hail brought
me about e o'clock in the morning. I
kept on my wav through tin- woods
until daylight came, and then, thinking
the place would afford fairly good con
cealment, I concluded to rest until
night.
The prospects of even a good sleep
were dismal, however, for about the
time the sun's face should have ap
peared, a drizzling rain began and I
gave tip my search for a dry spot
which would sei-ve me as a bed. Some
of the leaves were beginning to fall,
hut of course there was not enough of
them to form a covering tor the
ground, and the dampness seemed to
have penetrated everywh -re.
I wandered around through the
woods for two or three horn's looking
for shelter, hut without any success,
for. although the trees were large, the
forest was not dense, and there was
practically no brush or shrubbery.
Consequently one could get a fairly
clear view for some distance, and I
knew It would he unwise to drop off
to sleeti just any place, or someone
would surely happen on to me.
Once I came very near to the ends
of the woods and heard voices of men
driving h.v In a wagon, hut I couldn’t
make out Just what they were, and
Instinct told me I had better not come
out of the woods, so I turned hack.
Here and there small artificial ditches
had been dug. which at a dry season
might have cradled a weary fugitive,
hut now they, too, were tilled with
water. Once 1 singled out n good big
tree and large branches and thought I
might, climb Into It and go to Bleep,
hut the longer I looked at It the more
I realized that It would require more
energy than I had In my present week
and exhausted condition, so didn’t at
tempt that
Finally I chose a spot that looked a
bit drier than the reat concluded to
take a chance on being discovered add
threw myself down for a nap. I try
actramely naswoua, though. UiiegflMfla
that whole day, and would mNdf tat
beaded Into a comfortable noeidob «bd
cloze oa for n few minutes when,
startled by some sound In the woods, I
would suddenly awake.
After what seemed like a year or
more, night finally earne. and with a
“dud” sky, low-hanging clouds and sill!
more rain. There was not a star In the
sky, of course, and that made It very
had. because without the aid of the
stars 1 had absolutely no way of know
ing which direction I was going. It
was Just a case of taking a chance. 1
probably would have been bettor off If
I had simply picked out a place end
stayed there until the weather im
proved, hut naturally I was impatient
to he on my way when each day with
out food only lessened my strength and
mv ultimate chances of reaching the
f rentier.
‘ Sc * I left the woods and struck off in
the direction which I thought w..
north. I hadn’t been at all sure of my
hearings the* day before*, and as it bed
rained the1 sun failed entirely to her.
me out, but I was almost sun* I 1*: d
the* right direction and trusted to lw
That night l found more rivers, cam.Is
and swamps than I ever found in my
life* before, but I bad the* good fortune
to stumble on to some celery, and after
my diet of beets it surely was a treat.
Perhaps It’s unnecessary to add that I
took on a good supply of celery and
for days 1 went along chewing celery
like a cow would a cud.
Along towards morning, when 1 sup
posed I had gotten in a fairly good lap
of my Journey—perhaps seven or eight
miles—I began to recognize certain ob
jects as familiar, landmarks. At lca>t.
I thought I had seen them before and
as I traveled along I knew positively I
had seen certain objects very recently.
Off at my right—not over a quarter ol
a mile—I noticed some fairly good
sized woods and thought I would go
over there to hide that day, because it
looked ns though the sun was going to
shine and I hoped to get my clothes
dry. and perhaps get a decent sleep.
I had this celery and a large* beet, so
I knew 1 would he able to live the day
through.
rmniiy I mane my way over to im*
woods. It was still too dark in among
the trees to do niueh in tin* way of
selecting my quarters for the day and
I could not g«» a step farther. S«» I
waited on the edge of tin* forest linti 1
dawn and then set out to explore the
pl.n e, with a view to finding ^<>m* nook
where I might sleep. Imagine my di1
gu**t, and diseiHiragenn tit. too, when an
hour or so later I rain** upon the exact
pl.-n t where 1 had spent the day before,
and i realized that all night long I had
been circling the very wood*-- 1 : try
ing to get away from. 1 think perhaps
I had gone all of a quarter of a mile in
the.right direction, but then had lost
my hearings entirely, and daylight
i found me with nothing ac omph-’t. d.
Th» sun. however d»d oiiiic :! that
day. and I welcomed its warm rays,
as U'tW. perhaps, have never been wol
4k dffed before. I was very tired- -just
iibmit all in—but I spent a better day
in the woods than the previous one.
That night tin* stars came out ; I
located my friend, the North Star, and
tried to make up for lost time. Hut
w hen one is mak’ng only sewn or eight
mdes a day. or rather a night, one
night lost means a whole lo.\ especi
al \ when each day keeps him from
freedom. Such ill fortune and di<
e« aragejnents as thw were harder to
• i dure, I believe, than the actual
lo nger, and the accompany ing worry
a luridly reduced my weight. At times
I vvas furiously angry with myself for
the mistakes l made and the foolish
things 1 did. but 1 always tried to see
something funny about the situation,
whatever it might be, that relieved
the strain of habit and helped to pass
the time away. I think if a man is
overburdened with a sense of humor
and wants to get rid of it. this trip I
took would be an excellent remed>
for it. Ulght at tills time I would
have welcomed anything for a compan
ion. I believe even a snake would
have been a Godsend to me.
With a mime as Irish as mine, it i*
only natural that I looked for goats
| along the way. thinking that I might
! be able to milk them. There are ver\
| few cows in this country, and the op
portunities for milking them fewer
than the cows themselves heentise the\
are housed in barns adjoining the
homes and always alertly watched by
their fortunate owners. 1 did hope
that I might find a goat staked out
some place in the fields, but in all m\
travels I never saw a goat or a pig.
and only a few cows. Several times 1
searched nests for eggs, but somebody
always bud beaten me to it. as I never
even found so much as a nest egg.
There was no chance of getting away
with any “bullying" stuff in Luxem
bourg. I knew, because the young men
have not been forced into the army
and are still at home, and as they art*
decidedly pro-German, it would have
been pretty hard for me to demand
anything In that part of the country.
It was not like taking things away
from old men and women or robbing
people that could not stop me if they
chose to do so. 1 thought at this time
that I was suffering ubout the worst
hardships any human being could ever
be culled upon to endure, but 1 was
later to find that the best of my Jour
ney was made along about this time.
There w*ere plenty of vegetables, even
though they were raw. and these were
much better than the things 1 was
afterwards compelled to eat or go
without.
We frequently hear of men who have
lived for a certain number of days on
their own resources In the woods Just
on a bet or to prove that the “back
to-nature“ theory still has the merits
and will atiU work. My advice to some
of those nature seekers Is that If In
the future they wish to make a real
good record, trv the little countries of
Luxembourg unci Belgium with h slice
..1 Germany thrown In.
I suppose that (luring this experi
once of mine I made many mistakes
r -I traveled many unnecessary miles
\ hich one with a knowledge of wood
i innshlp might have avoided and I
failed to take advantage of many
things which would have been quite
apparent to one who knew. It must
not be forgotten, however, that I did
not undertake this adventure volun
tarily. It was “wished on me." I
; 'v had to make the most of the
knowledge I had.
At about this time blisters began to
appear on my legs and my kness
1 swelled. In addition I was pretty well
< ojivlhecd that I had lost the sight of
my left eve. I hadn't seen a thing out
ii siu< e my leap from the train.
When I imagine tin* villainous ap
pearance I must have presented at this
>•* my unhealed wounds, eighteen
i ' growth of heard and general
haggard and unkept visage I think
fear I felt about meeting strangers
v as perhaps unw arranted. The
, eiianees are tiny would have been.in
finitely more seared than I !
As It was, I was nearly out of Lux
embourg before I eame face to face
with anyone. It was about i> o'chn k In
i n* morning and I was traveling along
a regular path. .Fust us I was up
proaching a cross-path, I heard loot
's! j.s coming down it. I stopped short,
stooped over and pretended to he ad
justing my shoelace, figuring that if
the stranger turned into my path he
would probably pass right by me. As
luck would have it, he continued on
his way and never noticed me at all.
After that I frequently noticed
groups of Luxembourg peasants In
the distance but I usually saw them
first and managed to avoid them.
On the eighteenth day after my leap
from the train I crossed into Belgium.
It had taken me Just nine days to get
through Luxembourg-—a distance
which a man could ordinarily cover
in two. but considering the handicaps
under which I labored I was very well
satisfied with my progress.
(To la* Gout inned >
l-7-3— -
WE SUGAR
1 TOR THE , ,
r^rn? fights 1
Copper River
and Northwestern Ry.
FOUR TRAINS WEEKLY BETWEEN
CHITINA AND KENNECOTT
Leave Cordova, Second Street Depot, on Mon
days, Thursdays and Saturdays
Leave Chitina for Cordova Sundays, Tuesdays,
Thursdays and Fridays
Leave Chitina for Kennecott Sundays, Tuesdays
and Friday*
Leave Kennecott for Chitina Mondays, Wednes
days, Thursdays and Saturdays
Tin- above schedule subject to change without
notice.
Dining Car in Connection with all Regular
Passenger Trains between Cordova and Chitina.
Freight received and delivered at Cordova
Wliarf from !* a. m. to 5 p m., except Sunduys.
Tickets on sale at Second Street Depot office
i ii” hour before departure of trains.
—
oALEB CORSER Superintendent
D. L. LEATON, Ticket Agent
Sell At A Bargain !
Fora’s latest improved Ton
Truck, worm gear drive, extra
wide wheels on rear (8 inches
wide), solid Duval tires; built
for hauling fuel. Has platform
top, hickory stakes. Practi
cally new. Runs a few times
as a jitney from Seward to
Rear Lake. Have had load 15
to 20 people. Was bought last
winter before the advance in
automobiles. I can and will
sell at a bargain, as war re
quires me to go Outside. Can
be seen at Ford Garage, Sew
ard.
INDEPENDENT FUEL CO
Seward
CORDOVA
MACHINE WORKS
E. R. GARNES, P.rop.
Residence Shop
Phone 101-3. Phone 182
Machine Wotk of all Kind*.
Ulacksmlthlng. Generul Repair
lug, Horse Shoeing. Oxy Acety
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AUTOMOBILES
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Cordova, Alaska.
Out of Town Jobe Given Strict
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Northern Hotel Building,
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DENTISTRY
Hour* B a. m. to 9 p. m.
Special Attention to
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PHONE 200
WM. A. HESSE
MlnlDg Engineer.
U. 8, Mineral Surveyor,
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QOX 1J CORDOVA, ALASKA
DR. W. H. CHASE
PHYSICIAN and SURGEON
Office over Cordova Drug Stora>
Call* May be Left at Cordova
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Alaakan Hotel
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PH Y8ICI AN AND SURGEON
Office and Residence: Cordova
General Uuepllal (Ostrander Halid
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Room 1.
Adams Block CORDOVA. ALASKA
u
WILLIAM PALLISTER, M.D,
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fitted.
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Juneau Alaska
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