‘OUTWITTING ;
THE HUN” I
, I <•;
1 j 4
j *
:: .•• . By - --. ;;
<4 i
LIEUTENANT ;
FAT O’HRIEN !
. r■ • •: ■<§>$ <§>&&§ t-:■
lopyriltht, IWn, by l'al Aivu O linen
SYNOPSIS.
CHAPTER I lntro<lu< lory. Pat O'Brien
telJh oi Lis pMpo.se in writing the stoi>
of iits adventures.
CHAPTER 11 Tells of Ills enlistment in
the Royal Plying t oi pa, hla training in
t unuiia and Ins tiausu-i to F rance for a.< -
tive duly.
Cl I A1 'TPIt l II—Desci ilics lights in w-hit h
he brought down tw<. German airplanes
and ills finul fight in winch he was
brought down wounded within the Ger
man Jtnea and was made a prisoner of
war.
CHAPTER IV—Discovers that German
hospital stall barbarously neglected Dio
fatally wounded uml devoted their ener
gies to restoring those who might bo
returned to the firing lines. Witnesses
dealli in fight of his best chum. LaeuU
Paul ItaJney.
CHAPTER V—He is taken to the of
ficers' prison camp at Courtrai. There ho
began planning his escape. By great uie
rificc he manages to save arid hide away
two dully rations of bread.
CHAPTER VI—He confiscates a map of
Germany arid fust half an hour later Is
put on a train hound for a prison ramp
in Germany. 11c leaps through a window
while the train Is traveling at a ra»e of 3o
miles an hour.
CHAPTER VII For nine days lie
crawls through Germany, hiding during
the day, traveling at night, guided by the
stars and subsisting on raw vegetables.
He covers 70 miles before reaching Lux
emburg.
LliAITLK VIII—For nine days more he
struggles on In a weakened condition
through Luxemburg in tHo direction of
Belgium.
CHAPTER IX —He endures terrible
hardships, swims rivers while delirious
from hunger, living like a hunted animal
and on tin- eighteenth day after jumping
from tla* train . .-e.s into Belgium.
CHAPTER A Whin well on his way
thi * iig i 1 '• Igiuni 1 • i Lefrien.i. d or. •
night L‘ a : i mi. h peasant, u ho fe- is
him and mi- i • I sir, i.. a man 11 a J
plan « ity who w ll L- p lam t.. get a pa>s
port.
i'II.MTKK XI R •• r. inglin:: witli R- ;
Kkoi I- i < i .aria • . ah G- : -
II. < ’ ■ ■ f.. i •• a ..!| • .
W he: e ! • i : ■ < «t i ii.au fr om
When. h. • \ | t- I p
(’ll A PTI'.R A I i 1 "ig» r fare. - a par
r.ort lor < > id :• ; m pi mm.-- •-> ass. i
aim m getting into It Land l.ater Hu;
Itg. i and his .o ', at.- demand an ex
orbitant sum I • - j I heir services and
O'Brien breaks with them.
CHAPTER XIII He spends five days
and nights in an unoccupied house with
out food except for the scraps he picks up
in night fora.v s.
CHAPTER XIV—To gain confidence for
the adventures to come in his attempt to :
get Into Holland, he Venturis one night
into a moving picture theater patronized
by German soldiers.
CHAPTER XV- Some observations In a
Belgian city.
CHAPTER XVI He leaves the city in
the daytime and after some hair-raising
adventures reaches thy* frontier of Hol
land.
It used to nniu<o mo n ; I won't along
tin* streets of Him town, looking in
tin* shop windows with German sol
diers at my side looking at the same
things, to think how close I was i<»
them and they had n<> way of knowing.
I was quite convinced that if I wen
I discovered my lute would have been
death because I not only had the
forged passport on me. but I had ...
so many days behind the German lines
after I had escaped that they couldn’t
safely let tin* live with the informal
tlon I possessed.
One night I walked boldly across a
park. I beard footsteps behind me and
turning round saw two Gorman sol
diers. I slowed up a trifle to let them
get ahead of me. It was rather dark
and I got a chance to see what a won
derful unilorm the German military
fknthomiex nave picked out. The sni
dicrs lnid in-t gone more than a few
feet ahead of me when they disaj>
peared in the darkness like one of
, those melting pictures on the moving
picture screen.
As I wandered through the streets I
frequently glanced in the cafe win
dow as I passed. German otlicers
were usually dining there, hut they
didn’t conduct themselves with any
thing like the light-heartedness which
characterizes the allied otlicers in
London and Paris. I was rattier sur
prised at this because in this part of
Ilelglum they were much freer (linn
they would have heen in P»erlln,
where, I under-'!, ad, food is compar
atively scaree and the restrictions
urc very strict.
As i have said, my own condition In
this cit \ was in some respects worse
than it had hern when I was making
my way through tin* open country.
While I had a pla< to sleep and my
clothes were no longer constantly
soaking. :ny opportunities for getting
food were considerably less than they
had been. Near!> all the lime I was
half famished, ami I derided that I
would get out ot there at once, since
I was entirely through with Iluyliger.
My physical condition was greatly
improved. While the lack of food
showed itself on me, I had regained
some of my strength, my wounds
were healed, and my ankle was
stronger, and although my knees were
still considerably enlarged, I felt that
I was in better shape than 1 had been
at any time since my leap from the
train, and I was ready to go through
whatever was in st >re for me.
CHAPTER XVI.
I Leave for the Frontier.
To get out of tile city, it would he
necessary to pass two guards. This I
had learned in the course of my a i.ks
at night, having frequently traveled
to the city limits with tin* idea of
finding out just what conditions I
would have to meet when tin* time
came for me to leave.
A German soldier's uniform, how
ever. no longer worried me as it had
at tirst. 1 had mingled with the Huns
so much iti the eity that I began to
feel that I was really a Belgian, and 1
assumed the indifference that they
seemed to feel.
I decided, the- fore, to walk out of
lie* « i*y i?i tie* daytime. when the sen*
in- w otild I- ie. - apt to I*-* on the
.!i. It w.-rked lino. I un- not
1.. i S up ruoiiu nt t In *-« at i !••' i
*!«•:«!!;. t»d n. me f-a a Belgian p as
:i11 on !iis \. ay t<* wm!,.
'J I !i:ig : . -h r ih.m 1 had ev r
i ; I*• t ore siH',*‘ III \ • - ..! •**. 1 A US
soon out in the open country, and the
first Belgian 1 came 1 approached
for food, lb* ga\e me half ot his
lum h and we sat down on the side of
the road to eat it. Of course, he tried
to talk to me, but l used the old ruse
of pretending I was deaf and dumb
and he was quite convinced that it was
so. He made various efforts to talk
to me in pantomime, but 1 could not
make out what be was getting at. and
I think lie must have concluded that I
wth not only half starved, deal and
dumb, but “looney” In the bargain.
When night came 1 looked around
for a place to rest. 1 had decided to
trav'-l in the daytime as well as night,
because 1 understood that it was only
a few miles from the frontier, and I
was naturally anxious to get there at
the earliest possible moment, although
I realized that there 1 would encounter
the most hazardous part of my whole
adventure. To get through the heavily
guarded barbed wire and deem- illy
charged barrier was a problem that I
bated to think of even, although the
hours 1 spent endeavoring to devise
some way <»f outwitting the Huns
were many.
It had occurred to mo, for Instance,
that it would imt be such a difficult
matter to vault over the electric fence,
wbi' b was only nine feet high. In col
lege, I knew a ten-foot vault is consid
ered a high-school hoy s accomplish
mcnt, but there were two great dlf* 1
faculties In the way of this solution.
In the first place It would be no easy
matter to get a pole of the right
length, weight and strength to serve
the purpose. More particularly, how
ever. the pole-vault idea seemed t*» me
to be out of the question because of
the fact that on either side of the elec
tric fence, six feet from it, was a six
foot barbed wire barrier. To vault
safely over a nine-foot electrically
charged fence was one thing, but to
combine with it a twelve-foot hmad
vault was a feat which even a college
athlete in the pin!: of condition would
he apt to flunk. Indeed, l don’t be
lieve it is possible.
Another plan that seemed half-way
reasonable was to build a pair of stilts
about twelve or fourteen feet high at <1
walk over the harriers one by one. As
a youngster 1 bad acquired consider
able* skill in stilt walking and I have
no doubt that with the proper equip
ment it Would leave been quite feas
ible to have walked out of Belgium
tis easily as possible hi that way, but
whether or not I was going t<» have a
chance to construct the m ccssary
stilts remained to he seen.
Then* were a good many bicyc les in
use* by the He rman soldiers in Belgium
and it had often occurred to me that ,
if I could have stolen one. the tires
would have made excellent gloves and
Insulated coverings for my feet in
ease it was necessary for me to at
tempt to climb over tin* electric fence ,
bodily. But as 1 had never been able
t<» steal a bicycle* this avenue of es
cape was c losed to me.
1 decided to wait until I arrived at
the harrier and then make up my mind
how to proceed.
To find a decent place to sleep that
night, I crawled under a barbed wire
fence, thinking it led into some field.
As I passed under, one of the barbs
caught in my coat and in trying to
pull myself from it 1 shook the fence
for several yards.
Instantly there came* out of the night
the nerve-racking command: “Halt!”
Again I feared I was done for. I
crouched close down on the ground in
tin* darkness, not knowing whether to
take in my legs and trti-t to tin* Hun’s
missing me In tin* darkness if In* fired,
nr stay wln-rc* I was. It was foggy'
as vs ell ;iv cork, and although I knew
tin* s h*ry was only a few ft *t away
from tin* I decid' d to stand, er rather
In*. I*!. 1 think mv m art much* almost
as mm h tn*isc a- * . of the
w ire m i !n* lirs- j ■ t :,nd it was a
teh'c • • mnnn*; * - t• • tin*.
1 In'n i d the («• • i i in . a few words
to him-el:, hut d. ! t understand them,
of course and then In* much* a sound
as if t«i call a dm., and I realized that
his theory of tin* noise In* had heard
was th.it a elnir li.nl made its wav
through the fence.
For perhaps live minutes I didn’t
stir, and then figuring that the German
had probably continued on his beat I
crept quietly umh r the wire again,
tlds time being mighty careful to hug
the ground so close that I wouldn’t
touch the wire, and made off In a dif
ferent direction. Hvidentlv the barbed
wire fence had been thrown around an
ammunition depot or something of the
kind, ami it was not a held at all thut
I tiad tried to get into.
I figured that other sentries were
probably in the neighborhood and I
proceeded very gingerly.
After 1 had got about u mile away
from this spot I came to an humble
Belgian house ami 1 knocked at the
door and applied for food in my usual
way, pointing to my mouth to indi
cate 1 was hungry and to my ears and
mouth to Imply that I was deaf and
dumb. Tlu* Belgian woman who lived
in the house brought me a piece of
bread and two cold potatoes and as I
sat there eating them she eyed me
very keenly.
I huvi n't the slightest doubt that
she realized I was ;i fugitive. She lived
so near the border that it was more i
for that reason. I appreciated more j
fully the extent of the ri>k sin* ran. for
no doubt tin* Germans were constantly j
watching t lie conduct of these Bel-1
ginns who lived near the line.
My theory that she realized that 1
was not tt Belgian at all. but prob
•iby some Fnglisli fugitive, was con
tinued a moment later, when, as I
made read\ to go, she tom bed im* on
the arm and indicated, that i was to
wait a moment. She went to a bureau
and brought out two pieces of fancy
Belgian hoe which she insisted upon
my taking away, although at that par
ticular moment 1 had as much u>e tor
Belgian lace as an t l< pliant for a
safety razor, but 1 was touched with
her thoughtfulness nmi pi ossed her I
■ Ikid'I Iii show my gratitude. She would
not accept the mono}- I offered lior.
I curried the lace through my sub
sequent experiences, feeling thut It
would he a lino souvenir for my
mother, although us u matter of fuel if
I had known that It was going to de
lay my final escape for even a single
moment, as it did, I am quite sure
she would rather I had not seen It.
On one piece of lace was the Flem
1 tsh word “Charite” and on the other
the word “Esperage." At the time I
took these words to mean "Charity”
and "Experience" and all I hoped was
that I would get us much of the one
ns I was getting of the other before I
finally got through. 1 learned subse
quently that what the words really
stood for were "Charity" and “Hope,"
and then I was sure that my kind Bel
gian friend hud Indeed realized my
plight and that her thoughtful sou
venir was Intended to encourage me In
the trials she must have known were
before me.
1 didn’t let the old Belgian lady
know, because I did not want to alarm
her unnecessarily, hut that night I
| slept In her backyard, leaving early
!•» the morning before It became light.
I Letcr In the day I applied at un
other house for food, it was occupied
by a father and mother and ti n chil
dren. I hesitated t«» ask them for food
without offering to pev for it. T n
alized what a task It mu>: haw »
for them to support the?, selves \s I,
out having to feed a hungry man. Ac
cordingly I gave the man a marl: and
then indicated that I warded some
thing to cut. They were just about *o
eat, theuiMives, apparently, and they
let me partake of their umil. wh:<-!,
consisted of a huge Imwl of «ome kind
of soup wl.leh I w. ;i*. ,.i ! f«» iden
tify and which they served in ordinary
wash basins. I don't know that tin ;,
ever used the basins t<» wash in us
well, hut whether tiny did or not did
not worry me very mu< h. The soup
was good and I enjoyed If.
All tin* time I was there I could «e«
the father and the eldest sari, a b«»\
Again I Feared I Was Done For.
about seventeen, w.-re extremely nerv
ous. I I ill I III lien t ei | t,, tie Ml that I
was ilea: ami itumh, Imt il they he
lievi il me i, ilhlh't si . in in make il eia
any nmr" «■ n:11 .■ rt :iI.I
1 lingc eil at lie- In* t ■■ nlnni! all
liiiltr alt r tie- n.i. ! ami liin th ;|
time a y. ling taan ' ■ <■ In r, II .■ ■ t the
eldest d. lighter, a xmiing wm., n of
perhaps ' l.'hte, a. The ■ ' r , , .| r,■.
very su .a imisly, alll i.tigh 1 lim
liave res. uihleil anything Ini' a Itnii'l:
ntlii er. 'I hey spoke I'h ini Ii and I did
hot midi stand a word tin y said, Imt
1 think I' ev were di-i ::--ing my proh
ahle Idei iiiy. During tleir .iin\er-‘i
tioD, 1 h id a i h ue e to look run1 !
the room. There were throe alio
gether, two fairly 'large ami one
sonmvhai smaller, about fourteen feet
lon?rd^P|Stx deep. In this smaller
room there were two douhle-deeked
beds, which were apparently Intended
to house the whole family, although
how the whole twelve of them could
sleep in that one room will ever re
main a mystery to me.
From the kitchen you could walk
directly into the cow-lmi'i, where two
rows were kept, and this, as I have
pointed out before, is the usual con
struction of the poorer Belgian houses.
1 could not make out why the caller
seemed to he so antagonistic to m**.
and yet I am sure he was arguing with
the family against me. Perhaps the
fact that I wasn't wearing wooden
shoes—I doubt whether I i. ulil have
obtained a pair big eime.li for me
had convinced him tliai I was imt
really a Belgian, because (here was
nothing about me otherwPe which
Could have given him that idea.
At that time, and 1 suppose it is
true today, about I'l |n r o'lil of the
people in Belgium were Wearing
wootlen shoes. Among tie* peasants I
don’t believe I ever saw any other
kind "f footwear and they are more
Common there than they are in Hol
land. The Dutch wear them more oh
account of a lack of leal her. 1 w as
toiil tut during Hie coming year prac
tically ail the peasants and |.ref
people la Herman.', loo, will adopt
wooden shoes tor farm work, as tliai
is one direction in which wood can l •
.substituted for leather without much
loss.
Win n the young man left, 1 left
shortly afterwards, as 1 was net at
all comfortable about what lo- inten
tions were regarding me. For all 1
knew he might have gone to imilfy
the Hi rtnun authorities that there W;h
a Strang" man In the vicinity—mure
perhaps to protect his friends from
suspicion of having aided me than to
injure me.
At any rate, I was not going to take
any chances and I got out of that
neighborhood as rapidly us I could.
That night found me right on the
frontier of Holland.
CHAPTER XVII.
Getting Through the Lines.
Waiting until It was quite dark, I
made my way carefully through a
Beld and eventually came to the much
dreaded barrier.
It was all that I had heard about it.
Every foot of the border line between
Belgium and Holland Is protected In
precisely the same manner. It Is there
to serve three purposes: tirst, to pre
vent the Belgians from escaping into
Holland; second to keep enemies, like
myself, from making their way to free
dom ; and third, to prevent desertions
an the part of Hermans themselves.
l)ne look was enough to convince any
ane tbst It probably accomplished all
three objects about as well us any con
trivance could, and one took was all I
not of It that night, for while I lay
I
on my stomach gazing at the forbid
ding structure I heard the measured
stride of u German sentry advancing
t wards me arid I crawled away as
'i i s I possibly could, determined
‘ • vi ' Mi the night somewhere in the
) b Ids and make another and more
: careful survey the following night.
The view I bad obtained, however,
was sufficient to convince me that tin*
pole-vault Idea was out of the ques
■ 'ii even If I had a pole and was a
proficient pole vaulter. Tin* three
fences covered M Spall of at least twelve
ml to eh a r tin- last barbed wire
f‘-nce it v.nuld be ncrev-ary to vault
ind only at least ten feet high, but at
1 • • r f.!:•••( i ti feci wide, with the ccr
’•'<ft» know b-dge tla:t to touch the eb r
i‘ally <:;;!?■ red fetna* meant limtafit
de.alh. '1 In-re would be no second
r you caun- a cropper tin* first
time.
Tin* stilt idea was also imprin t i< a
1 •• because of the lack of suitable
t 1 r and tools with which to con
flict the Stilts.
I* seemed to me that the best thing
to do was travel up and down the lire
• i oil m tin hop. that some spot might
he dP< over« d where conditions were
more favorable, although I don't know
hist what 1 expected along those
lines.
It was mighty disheartening to real
ize that only a few feet away lay cer
tain liberty and that the only things
fireventing me from reaching It were
three confounded fences. I thought of
my machine and wished that some
kind fairy would set it in front of rue
I spent the night In a clump of
hushes am] kept in hiding most of the
next day, only going abroad for an
hour or two in the middle of the day
to intercept some Belgian peasant
and beg for food. Tin* Belgians in this
section were naturally very much
afraid of the (ioniums and I fared
badly. In nearly evury house (iertnan
soldiers were quartered and it was
out of the question for me to apply
for f< »od in that direction. The prox
imity of the border made everyone
eve each other with more or less sus
picion and 1 soon came to the conclu
sion that the -atest thing I could do
Was to live on raw vegetables whi< h I
could steal from th" fields at night as
I had previou-dv *!• no.
Tha t light 1 1 • id }i.-r -urvev
of tic ! • • ,i ■ \ ■ ' v, ! ;:t it
looked i l l ; imp I* had the
night Im . .re T ! ! ' I ' I
only wa-P d m\ tinm there.
I -pei,t th-- !•• • !c v.:i111 i1 ring tmrth,
guided by 1 In* N",lh St - wit, 11 had
r\e«| me s. • !a ’ '• u all my trav
eling. I!\er;. Hole r.r tu*» I would make
my \ . « : .-et'idly to t Pc rri» r to <• .
if condif ions w . re a nv P. ”.-r. but it
seemed to he file -ci m all ulofig. I felt
lilm a wild animal in a age. with
a’ ' • : ::m I. . ’ i • • f • ng out.
The seetien ot the country in which
I was now wandering was very heavily
wooded and there was really no very
great difficulty In keeping myself con
cealed, which I did all day long, striv
ing all the time to think of some way
in which ! cotihl circumvent that
cursed harrier.
The idea of a huge stepladder oc
curred to me, but I searched hour after
hour lit \in for lumber or fallen trees
out of which 1 could construct otic. If
I could only obtain something which
would enable me to reach a point
about nine feet in the air it would he
a comparatively simple matter to
jump from that point over the electric
fence.
Then I thought that perhaps I could
construct a simple ladder and lean it
again-t one of the posts upon which
the electric wires wa re strung, climb to
tlm top and tlun leap over, getting
over the barbed wire fences in the
same way.
Tills seemed to be the most likely
plan and all night long I sat construct
ing a ladder for Ibis purpose,
1 was fortunate enough to find a
number of fallen pine trees from fen
to twenty feet long. I selected two of
them which seemed sulliciently strong
and broke otY all the branches, which
I used as rungs, tying them to the
poles with gra-s and strips from my
handket« bet' and shirt us best I
• otihl.
It was not a very workmanlike
looking ladder when I finally got
through with it. I leaned it against
a tree to test it and it wobbled cmi-id
er,-,bl\. It was more like a rope lad
der than a wood* n one. but I strength
ened it lefe and there and decided
) that it would probably serve the pur
| m ise,
(To he Continued)
-*
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stigmatic tense.- replaced S**- Os
1 borne.
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^C:^iiT!i!!..'iL|iiiJ)iiiii.iiiiiiiBtiBtiMi!i?!|iHi;'rr': •intir.inBniKfmkitft-tfHiiHiire
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and Friday*
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Tin* above schedule subject to change without
notice.
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Freight received and delivered at Cordova
Wharf front !> a. in. to 5 p in., except Sundays.
Tickets on sale at Second Street Depot office
■ ' . nr before departure of trains.
CALEB CORSER Superintendent
D. L. LEATON, Ticket Agent
DRS. DAGGETT & BLYTH
Northern Hotel Building,
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DENTISTRY
Houre 9 a. m. to 9 p. m
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PHONE 200
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BOX 11 CORDOVA, ALA8K/»
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Ing-.
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Room 1.
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fitted.
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Room 1 Alaskan Hotel
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