THE ESCAPE
When all these details had been arranged I went just before the evening
muster--the last which I hoped to attend here--to the commandant and
submitted for his approval a sketch which I had made for a theatre
curtain. He was quite pleased with it and also with my assurance that my
health was now so much improved that I hoped shortly to open our
theatre. The good man really believed that the theatre was my only
interest. How was he to know that I intended to give that same evening
my first and only performance, and that I was wearing the costume for
the part under my uniform at that very moment?
When the guard officers and N.C.O.'s appeared for the evening count I
was convinced that everything would go according to plan. Careful
observation extending over several weeks had taught us in what order the
various officers, N.C.O.'s, and sentries performed their duties and
relieved one another. I had chosen this particular day because the
officers whose turn it was to take the count and do the rounds were
somewhat less strict than their comrades. Likewise we had calculated
that the sentry most dangerous to us, perched as he was in his crow's
nest only ten yards from the drain, would be relieved by an old soldier
(who was short-sighted and wore glasses) just before the time we had
fixed on for disappearing into the hole.
The count passed quickly and without incident. The English appeared to
suspect nothing, and as soon as the 'parade' (as they called the count)
was over, the officers of the guard prepared to go in to mess. As the
dentist was one of them, I hurried after him and asked him if it would
be convenient for me to come to him next day. I pretended that a back
tooth was still paining me. In his usual kind way he tried to comfort
me, explaining that he would be away for two or three days, as he was
going on leave that evening, but that he would willingly help me on the
following Monday! He disappeared through the gate of the compound and I
raced off in the opposite direction--to the tennis-court, where I was
anxiously expected. I had already taken leave of my friends before the
evening muster. The whole camp was feverishly excited; for owing to the
large number who were actively helping us, our secret had unavoidably
become known to others who were taking no active part.
The rolling had already begun, accompanied by the usual war-whoops, W.
standing with several others on the cross-bar of the roller. I took a
place at one of the shafts. To the left of us was the sentry with the
glasses craning his neck to see the strange book which the officers
sitting on the grass under his crow's nest were studying. Von Spiegel
had had the brilliant idea of cutting out all sorts of coloured pictures
from magazines and making them up into a gigantic scrapbook. He was
sitting now at the end of the court with his big book explaining to my
friends Filter and Elson the incongruity of the pictures. All three were
laughing merrily, and the sentry, who understood not a word, was much
interested. A glance round at the other sentries satisfied me that the
other 'feint attacks' were drawing the enemy. The acrobats especially
appeared to be holding the attention of the sentries. Now was the time
to act. I made a sign to W. We pushed the roller once more forward, and
then back close to the drain. There was a sudden bump, and my friend lay
in the hole. None of the sentries had noticed anything.
One more turn up and down with the roller and I jumped in face
downwards. W.'s head came in forcible contact with my heels, but I could
not avoid it. Fortunately, his loud 'Auw!' was lost in the yells of the
roller-team. With strained attention we waited to see if anything
happened.
Everything seemed to be going on as usual. For about ten minutes more we
heard the roller. Then the noise died down--the roller-team was
retiring. Now and again we heard a loud laugh or a burst of applause.
The humorous acrobats were apparently still busy. We heard von Spiegel
say, 'Did you ever see anything so silly?' Then he closed his book with
a bang, and we knew that the three of them were leaving the
tennis-court. As they passed our trench they whispered, 'All clear!'
and then, '_Bon voyage!_' Then it gradually became quiet. The footsteps
of the passers-by became fewer and fewer, till they finally ceased. It
was time to close the gates of the recreation ground. Soon we heard the
shrill whistle of the sergeant responsible for the closing of the gates.
By the well-known blast we recognised that it was 'our' man. We need
have no worries on that account. Now, for the first time, I was able to
take notice of the trench into which we had wedged ourselves and in
which we concealed ourselves only by the utmost efforts. For it was
neither broad enough nor long enough for two big men like us to stretch
ourselves in it. By Jove! but it was a dirty hole! And not nearly so
comfortable as it looked when seen from above! The clayey bottom was
covered with a thin layer of water which we had had no opportunity of
draining away. This was very unfortunate, for we could reckon on having
to spend three or four hours here before venturing into the open. Most
unpleasant of all were the numerous black beetles, ants, and other
little animals which swarmed out of every hole and crawled boldly
through our hair, over our faces, and down the backs of our necks, while
we dared not make the slightest move to prevent them lest the sentry a
few yards away should hear us. Now that the tennis-court was empty, it
was so quiet that the slightest move could be heard. If I could only
have turned over on the other side! My bones were getting so horribly
stiff in this uncomfortable position. The situation even after a quarter
of an hour became so damnable that neither W. nor I could suppress an
occasional curse or groan. But it was no good: we had to bow to the
inevitable.
Slowly the time passed. The minutes seemed hours. Eagerly we listened
for the tower-clock to strike. Never in all my life has time appeared to
go so slow.
'Listen!' whispered W. suddenly. We could hear footsteps approaching.
The whole field seemed to echo with them. My heart beat faster and
faster. Who could it be? The steps of the sentry in his crow's nest
stopped. Then we heard him talking to some one.
Had they noticed something? Instinctively, as if to conceal ourselves,
we buried our faces so deep in the muddy soil that we could hardly
breathe.
A regular ostrich-trick! All the same, it comforted us somewhat. In a
few minutes the voices ceased and the steps retreated again. We gave a
sigh of relief. But next moment we had another fright. Something was
rustling in the grass near us. From time to time the noise stopped. We
both had the feeling that some one was stealing upon us. Perhaps it was
one of the men who had just been speaking to the sentry? The rustling
noise came nearer and nearer.
As if to torture me to the utmost, a black beetle at this moment crawled
over my face and walked into my left ear. I suffered agonies. What was I
to do? All my limbs began to tremble. The wretched beast was burrowing
further. Damnation! I could stand it no longer. W. was anxiously
pressing his head against my feet to keep me from moving. But it was no
use. I had to turn round slightly in order to shake the pestilent beetle
out of my ear. As I did so I saw something that almost made me burst out
laughing. Instead of the soldier's head which I expected to see, I saw a
fine buck rabbit looking down at us full of curiosity. Another false
alarm.
In the course of the evening many more of these ill-mannered quadrupeds
came to our hiding-place and jumped over us or stared at us with
astonishment. Some of them scooted away when they caught sight of us.
Perhaps they, too, had been infected with the _Daily Mail_ disease and
saw a terrible danger in the 'Hun officers.'
Very slowly the time passed. And it would not get dark, much as we
longed for nightfall. In the distance we heard the first sounds of the
concert. The silence was not so marked now, and we could move very
slightly without danger. Every tiny fraction of an inch that we altered
our position was a blessing. In the wet, clayey soil of the drain our
limbs had long become stiff and unmovable. Partly in order to avoid
attracting the sentry's attention by whispering, partly in order to pass
the time, we carried on a conversation in Morse code, making the signs
by gently tapping with our lingers on the side of the trench.
Our conversation was going on nicely when we were suddenly interrupted
by the shriek of the camp siren. Involuntarily we started. Was it an
alarm signal? As we had put our watches in our inside coats we could not
tell what time it was. We strained our ears to hear if anything was
happening. We had not long to wait, for the band immediately struck up
the final march, 'Good-bye, friends! To horse! to horse!' A load fell
from our minds.
The evening muster was now due, and if this also went off all right a
small red lamp was to be shown in the lop middle window of the castle.
It was now slowly becoming twilight; but the minutes still seemed hours,
and it was a long way from being dark enough to leave the trench. We
wondered if the sentry had gone to sleep. The sound of his footsteps had
long ceased, but other noises now began. Cattle grazing in the
surrounding meadows, and numerous deer which came to the neighbouring
drinking place, would rub themselves on the posts which carried the wire
entanglement. In doing so they often entangled their horns in the barbed
wire, causing it to rattle and shake throughout its length. The sentries
had long got accustomed, to these noises (for they occurred every
night), a fact which was extremely favourable to our design. I reckoned
heavily on the negligence of the sentries, for during my numerous
nocturnal excursions I had observed that when it was near midnight and
the orderly officer had visited his sentries, the latter usually put
down their rifles in a corner and either leant against a post and slept
or walked over to the next sentry, fifty yards away. Then they usually
put on a pipe and chatted till the relief came.
The tower-clock struck eleven; so we had already been three hours in
this damnable hole. Another half-hour and we might perhaps risk it. We
carefully raised our heads from time to time above the edge of the
ditch in order to have a peep round. It was now getting dark rapidly.
The neighbouring trees could be seen only very indistinctly. We made
careful 'soundings.' All was quiet. In the top story of the main
building a tiny red lamp burned. We gave each other a nudge of
intelligence.
The sentry who ought to have been keeping watch just above our
hiding-place had either disappeared or gone fast asleep. At least we
could see no trace of him. No need for reflection now. Carefully we rose
and crawled over the edge till we lay full length on the grass, keeping
as low as we possibly could. The numerous electric lights which
surrounded the camp threw their glare far beyond us.
At first we lay like logs and listened. We were not sorry to have a good
stretch, for our limbs were almost paralysed from lying so long on the
cold, wet earth, and it was a long time before the blood began to
circulate. Like Red Indians on the trail we crept forward inch by inch,
pausing every now and then in order to look round and regain our breath;
for with our two suits of clothes, and the thick leather waistcoats
which we wore under our tunics, this creeping was very heavy work. It
was therefore a good half-hour before we reached the wicker chairs and
could unfasten our kits. And this, too, had to be done slowly and
carefully, for the canes of the chairs creaked at every touch.
As soon as we had got all our stuff, we began the return journey in
order to reach the particular spot in the fence which we had selected
as offering the least difficulty. The way back was twice as long as the
first journey. We crawled along, holding our kits partly in both hands,
partly in our teeth. In this manner another half-hour passed. We had
arrived at the wire. Alas, this wire entanglement, seen from the ground
immediately beneath it, was much more tangled and twisted than our
previous cursory examination had led us to think. But this was no time
for reflection and regret.
We felt our way in between the single strands, twisted them aside as far
as possible, and pushed slowly through. In order to get a purchase, we
tried leaning on our hands on the ground. But this was not a success,
for the ground under the entanglement was covered with a network of wire
coiled and twisted in every direction, but hidden by the grass which had
grown up through it, and our hands and knees were soon torn and
bleeding. On every side it caught and tore us. Scarcely had we torn our
clothes free from one strand when we were caught fast by a dozen others.
So far as we could, we helped each other, loosening the barbs from each
other's clothes and bodies. We had worked our way so far that we were
hanging almost in the middle of the entanglement when the tower-clock
struck twelve, and we heard the approaching footsteps of the relieving
sentries. What were we to do? In the few minutes before the reliefs
arrived we could not possibly get clear of the entanglement. A good
three yards of wire still lay ahead of us. To retreat was also
impossible, for if we tried to creep backwards we could not use our
hands to part the wires. So we sat tight, with big drops of blood
coursing down our faces and bodies. 'Quiet!' we whispered to each other,
and tried to hold our breath, for we were panting with our exertions,
and a soldier was coming along the fence whistling cheerfully. We were
in a devil of a hole. If the man discovered us we might expect a bullet
next moment,[19] for there was no escaping here. We tried to turn our
faces downwards, lest they should show up in the darkness.
Two minutes of the most tense expectation! Sweat poured down me from
every pore and my pulse throbbed from the exertion and excitement.
Nearer and nearer came the sentry. Another five paces and he would be up
to us. Thank goodness! The danger was past. The man stared stupidly in
front of him as he came up to us--and passed by! He stopped at the
sentry-box, said something we did not catch, and then went on to the
next box. We gathered all our strength in one great effort to get clear
of the fence. We no longer thought of the wounds we received. Though
every single barb at first had made us wince, all pain was now forgotten
in the excitement of our efforts.
Dragging one's body through a barbed-wire entanglement is incredibly
slow and difficult work. We were becoming visibly weaker, and many times
thought we could go no farther. But inch by inch we struggled towards
the outside wire. Half a yard more--a quarter of a yard, and we should
be there. The last bit was extremely exhausting, for we hardly had
sufficient strength left to part the few strands which separated us from
freedom.
But at last this difficulty also was overcome. Puffing and blowing, we
worked through the labyrinth of wires till we got our heads free. With
our last ounce of strength we helped each other to get body and legs
clear, and then we threw ourselves down, completely exhausted, in the
tall grass. We were, to use an expression of the country, so 'pumped
out,' that for the next ten minutes we could hardly move a limb. But the
thought that at long last we were free did not let us rest long. After a
short rest we set about putting as great a distance as possible between
us and the camp. Unfortunately, it was impossible to avoid leaving
footprints in the tall grass, but we hoped that the heavy dew would soon
straighten up the grass again.
FOOTNOTE:
[19] The author evidently forgot that he was not liable to be shot
without warning. His friend Heward, who was discovered in the position
described, lived, as the author mentions later (p. 235), to occupy the
cell next to his.--Tr.