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 THE KAISER'S GUEST
 
 O'BRIEN AND MACDONALD 
 
 Who fought their way together out of "The 
 
 Black Hole" of Germany and over 
 
 the HoUand Border
 
 /THE KAISER 
 ^ GUEST 
 
 BY 
 
 PRIVATE FRANK C. MacDONALD 
 
 L' 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 PRINTED BY 
 
 COUNTRY LIFE PRESS 
 
 FOR 
 
 FRANK C. MacDONALD 
 
 1 91 8 
 
 ^^
 
 COPYRIGHT, I918, BY 
 
 FRANK C. MacDONALD 
 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF 
 
 TRANSLATION INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES, 
 
 INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN
 
 This history of nine months in the trenches and a 
 year of slavery in the prison camps of Germany I 
 dedicate to the memory of 
 
 THE LATE LIEUT-COLONEL A. E. SHAW 
 
 Officer Commanding the First Canadian Mounted Rifles 
 KILLED IN ACTION AT THE BATTLE OF SANCTUARY WOOD 
 
 JUNE 2, I916 
 
 and to the original members of the Battalion. By 
 them, gallant soldiers and good comrades, he was 
 loved and respected as one of the finest soldiers who 
 has gone to France — impartial in his judgment, fear- 
 less in his duty, kind to his horse, and considerate 
 of his men, a gallant soldier and a true gentleman.
 
 FOREWORD 
 
 By sir SAM HUGHES 
 
 Lieut.-General 
 
 "The Kaiser's Guest" is a very interesting book 
 written by Private Frank C. MacDonald, No. 106,416, 
 1st Canadian Mounted Rifles, who was made a pris- 
 oner on June 2, 1916, at Sanctuary Wood, and 
 who escaped from a German Prison Camp in West- 
 phaUa, in 1917. 
 
 Private MacDonald's story of his three attempts 
 to regain his freedom is full of startling revelations 
 and thrilling experiences. He is a good type of the 
 Canadian soldier, in courage, hopefulness, fearless- 
 ness, persistence, resourcefulness, and determination. 
 
 Sam Hughes. 
 
 d
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 rAGE 
 
 Foreword vii 
 
 Introduction . 3 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. From England into France ... 5 
 
 II. Into the Thick of Things ... 23 
 
 III. Trench Life Day by Day ... 41 
 
 IV. Up to the Ypres Salient ... 48 
 
 V. That Terrible Day at Sanctuary 
 
 Wood 63 
 
 VI. In the Hands of the Kaiser's Min- 
 ions 79 
 
 VII. Starvation Conditions in Dulmen . 92 
 
 VIII. Into "the Black Hole" of Germany 107 
 
 IX. Freedom Shortlived — The First 
 
 Attempted Escape 127 
 
 X. Into Holland, But ! .... 142 
 
 XI. Slave Conditions in the "Kokerie" 154 
 
 XII. Another Try for Freedom . . . 163 
 
 XIII. My Death Sentence 181 
 
 XIV. Transferred to M"nster . . . 194 
 XV. Various Incidents in Camp and Out 212 
 
 XVI. Out OF THE "Black Hole's'* Clutches 224 
 
 XVII. Back TO Blighty and Home Again . 240
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 O'Brien and MacDonald,who fought their way 
 together out of "The Black Hole" of Ger- 
 many and over the Holland Border . Frontispiece 
 
 FACING PAGE 
 
 The Author, from photograph taken in Hol- 
 land three days after his escape 4 
 
 The Author, from photograph taken in Lon- 
 don a few weeks later 5 
 
 "Wally** Nicholson, from a photograph taken 
 in a prisoner's uniform 68 
 
 One side of a postal sent from Friedrichsfelde 
 riamp 98 
 
 Unloading Red Cross parcels at Friedrichsfelde 
 Camp 98 
 
 Crippled prisoners working in the flower beds 
 at Friedrichsfelde Camp 148 
 
 Statement of complaint made by the Author 
 
 and W. H. to the officer commanding 
 
 K 47 196 
 
 Even a little fun at times. British soldier- 
 prisoners Taking part in a "sketch" in 
 Munster Camp 204 
 
 Official communication 212 
 
 The tailor shop in Munster Camp 216 
 
 Housecleaning day at Munster Camp , . . 216 
 
 The Map which brought the Author out of 
 Germany 234
 
 / 
 
 / 
 
 THE KAISER'S GUEST
 
 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 " The Kaiser s Guest." That title had a good deal 
 of meaning for me. And I believe you will agree 
 that this is warranted when you read the story. 
 
 It takes me back — whenever I think of it (and 
 no matter what I do or try to think of, the memory 
 of it is always with me because it is seared inefface- 
 ably into my brain) — it takes me back to a gallant 
 little band of fellows, with hearts as stout as God 
 ever put into man, most of them; back there in the 
 fall of 'i6 and the spring of '17 in the Auguste Vic- 
 toria prison camp — the "Black Hole" of Germany, 
 The name was bestowed in one of the few humorous 
 moments we had then, when — with wounded and 
 broken bodies, in a spot which was tl ^. nearest ap- 
 proach to Hell I ever expect to enter — ^those savage, 
 relentless, and cowardly Huns tried to break our 
 British spirits. 
 
 In those days we fought a battle a hundred times 
 harder and more heart-breaking than anything we 
 had had to face around Ypres and Hooge and Sanc- 
 tuary Wood a little time before. And among those 
 conditions one saw the spirit of the British race 
 stand out among the others — clean, manly, true, 
 ready to suffer, to die; yes, anything for the dear land 
 and the cause beHeved to be right. 
 
 The name itself came this way:
 
 4 INTRODUCTION 
 
 To distinguish clearly the prisoners from the guards 
 and civilians, and to make the chances of escape 
 more remote, the Germans provided special mark- 
 ings for our clothing. In the early days of the war 
 this was done with paint. Later, strips of the cloth- 
 ing were removed, usually from sleeves and trouser 
 legs, and strips of red material sewed in their place. 
 We were branded as criminals, as of course we were 
 regarded. When one of us tried to escape and was 
 brought back — as most were until we learned some- 
 thing of conditions on the Dutch border — he would 
 be honoured with another decoration. In my case — 
 I tried four times before I finally got away — I think 
 I was awarded about all the decorations going. In 
 addition to the strips on the arms and legs they gave 
 me a six-inch panel, also in red, up the middle of 
 my back; to this, later, a good, healthy cross-bar 
 was added. And, for fear this might not suffice, 
 they reverted to the paint method and in letters 
 which sprawled over the whole of both the front and 
 back of my tunic, they inscribed me **K. G." It 
 really meant "Kriegs Gefangenen/' which, being 
 interpreted, means, *' Prisoner of War." When, how- 
 ever, I was let loose among the other boys after this 
 huge daub had been applied, one of them immedi- 
 ately twisted it into "Kaiser's Guest." 
 
 Not so very inapt, either, was it? though I don't 
 believe any one will accuse me of egotism w hen I say 
 that a more unwilling guest was never forced to ac-. 
 cept his Imperial — I was about to say "Satanic" — 
 Majesty's invitation. 
 
 But first of all I must tell you why I came to be 
 there.
 
 p
 
 THE AU'l HOR 
 
 From photograph taken in Holland three 
 days after his escape
 
 THE AUTHOR 
 
 From photograph taken in Londun 
 
 a few weeks hiter
 
 CHAPTER I 
 From England into France 
 
 Over and over again has been told the story of 
 the raising of troops in Canada, of the trip across, 
 and of the training in old England. So we can take 
 that part of it "as read." I'll start in at the point 
 where my experiences seem to be a bit different from 
 the usual. They were decidedly different a little 
 later on. But more of that later. 
 
 We had been three months in England when we 
 marched in that night from the Hythe ranges and 
 got the word — most welcome it was, too — "We're 
 under orders for the front." Looking back now 
 after the hardships of months in the trenches and the 
 undescribable miseries of torture, starvation, and 
 abuse endured during a year in the prison camps of 
 Germany, I can realize what a really good time we 
 had been having in England. 
 
 Most of the boys had been on leave for a week or 
 two to Scotland or Ireland and had come back loud 
 in praise of the hospitality they had enjoyed. Others 
 had spent their time in "The Smoke" — the name 
 which our fellows had jokingly given to old London. 
 And most of us had had a good deal of fun along with 
 the hospitality. How astonished some of the good 
 people were when we complained of the cold. They 
 seemed to think their cold, drizzling rains and raw, 
 damp breezes blowing in off the sea made up an ideal
 
 6 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 summer weather. They couldn't understand how a 
 lot of husky boys such as we were — dressed for winter 
 and coming from "Our Lady of the Snows," with all 
 its blizzards and zero weather — could be cold in 
 England. 
 
 And oh, what a chance there was for the lad with a 
 taste for fiction. And who hadn't — in the circum- 
 stances? The Canadians were in high favour in 
 England. The First Division had already made its 
 reputation in France and in .consequence the good 
 people were eager to hear more of the life and condi- 
 tions which had bred such splendid natural fighters. 
 So most of the stories told, I am afraid, were not 
 likely to stimulate emigration to Canada after the 
 war. 
 
 But, to get down to business. 
 
 We had left Canada, of course, in the expectation 
 of making a name for ourselves as cavalry. As yet 
 it had not been realized how far the first three years 
 of the great struggle were to be carried on under — or 
 rather in — the ground. And while the battalion had 
 several times volunteered to go to the front as in- 
 fantry, we still had our horses and were hammering 
 away at cavalry drill. 
 
 We were marching in light order that day — belts, 
 bandoliers, and rifles — and as the head of our long, 
 dusty column swung in at the camp's main gate we 
 seemed to sense a change in the air. The whole 
 camp was on the qui vive. There was new life and 
 force in the "Present Arms'* of the guards as we 
 swung by. The old "fed-up" way of doing things 
 had disappeared. All over the camp we could see 
 the men gathered in groups talking earnestly. As 
 each regiment of the ist Brigade, Canadian Mounted 
 Rifles, received the order: "Head, right wheel," 
 which brought it out of the line to its respective
 
 FROM ENGLAND INTO FRANCE 7 
 
 parade ground, the groups In camp dissolved and 
 sought their chums in the marching columns to pass 
 on the good word. The battle of Loos was then on 
 and rumour had it that we were billed there. If so, 
 we were Hke all other support for the gallant High- 
 landers — late! But while the Twenty-fourth and 
 the Guards divisions arrived late, we never arrived 
 there at all. 
 
 The squadrons broke away to the stables and we 
 wondered, as we cleaned and fed our horses, whether 
 we were at last to lose our best friends. We were 
 not long kept in doubt, for after supper we were 
 paraded again and told that we were to turn our 
 horses over to the artillery, draw infantry equipment 
 and boots, and get ready to proceed to France 
 "shortly." 
 
 Our training had included very little marching 
 and that had all been done in Canadian boots and 
 Hght cavalry equipment. Consequently we viewed 
 with not particularly friendly feehngs the heavy, 
 steel-soled English boots and the huge packs issued 
 the following morning. Those packs were the ex- 
 cuse for a varied amount of cursing that day. No 
 one seemed to have the faintest notion of how the 
 stuff should be put together, and when we started 
 out in the afternoon for a twelve-mile route march 
 1 don't think two men in the regiment had their packs 
 arranged in the same way. However, we managed 
 to get things settled down and, two nights after the 
 first word had been circulated in the camp, we were 
 ready for the great adventure. Supper was dished 
 out early but no one had much appetite for it. We 
 were too busy planning for the change and specu- 
 lating on what awaited us across the Channel. 
 
 All summer long, while tramping over the hills, 
 digging trenches or dug-outs in the flinty chalk
 
 8 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 cliffs of Kent; scouting, bombing, or charging an 
 imaginary' enemy, whenever opportunity offered; 
 our eyes would instinctively be directed across the 
 choppy waters of the Channel to where the shores of 
 France rose dimly out of the mist, and every man, 
 doubtless, wondered what the future held for him 
 over there. Now we were shortly to find out. 
 
 With supper over, kits packed, and everything 
 shipshape, ready for the "Fall in" call, most of the 
 boys could be seen saying good-bye to their horses. 
 Riding them, caring for them, living with them for 
 nearly a year, a man with any sentiment in him 
 naturally becomes somewhat attached to the animal 
 that has served him faithfully if treated fairly. I'm 
 not ashamed to confess that a lump rose in my 
 throat when I stroked the glossy neck of my beauti- 
 ful mare, Hula Hula. 
 
 The name? Well, she was named by the boys, 
 in a joke, after a Hawaiian contortionist some of 
 them had seen, because of her bad behaviour. She 
 bore the brands of thirteen ranches, which went to 
 show that she had been traded about twice a year, 
 since she was only about seven years old. When she 
 was turned over to me by Major A. M. S. Ross, the 
 C. O. of my squadron, she was still untrained and 
 about as wild as they make them. Major Ross — 
 who spoke his mind in the most plain, unpolished 
 language possible, but to whom "^ his troopers could 
 speak as man to man, and vvho was universally re- 
 spected because of his manly qualities — told me to 
 take the mare and to spend two weeks away from the 
 regiment to break her. While I finally managed the 
 breaking process she never became docile and would 
 buck and cut up continually. She was coveted by 
 every officer in the regiment for her beauty and speed 
 but they all admired her from a safe distance. No
 
 FROM ENGLAND INTO FRANCE 9 
 
 one else ever cared to ride or feed her because of her 
 evil temper. While she would put back her ears and 
 kick every time a stranger appeared she never kicked 
 me, and when her heels were cracked and sore and 
 needing attention, she would stand, while I fixed 
 them up, but trembling with nervousness and every 
 muscle standing out like iron beneath her glossy 
 skin. No, it was a sore point to leave Hula Hula. 
 But I met her again in different circumstances. 
 
 We shall most of us remember, I think, even in 
 spite of the terrible things that happened afterward, 
 the sights of that day. All the boys had told their 
 sweethearts — (yes, they had managed to make them 
 in three months, all right) — and friends of our going; 
 the fence around the camp was lined with people to 
 see us off. Finally the long-awaited "Fall in" 
 sounded and our famous mounted Bagpipe Band, the 
 second of its kind in the world, played us into line 
 and marched ahead of us to the boat. As we swung 
 through the gate many people, mostly girls, fell 
 in alongside their friends and marched to the gates 
 of the pier. There final good-byes were said, some 
 of them touching, some funny. For instance, one 
 little girl who was crying quietly, said in a thin, high 
 voice to the boy beside me: "Good-bye, Frank, dear. 
 Don't forget me." All eyes turned to Frank who in 
 his turn became very red. No one spoke then, and 
 indeed no one felt very funny just at the moment. 
 Later, when the lumps in our throats — which had 
 somehow cropped up just about then — had disap- 
 peared, Frank was very frequently reminded by 
 his chums, in high, piping voices, that they didn't 
 expect to be forgotten. 
 
 We won't easily forget that boat trip, either. 
 From the pier the whole brigade was crowded on 
 one little side-wheeler. By this time it was dark
 
 10 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 and, since no lights of any kind were allowed, the 
 hatches were closed. Down below we were so 
 closely packed and the air was so bad that a few of 
 the boys fainted and some started bleeding at the 
 nose. We thought our entrance into England had 
 been none too pleasant. But our departure was 
 even worse. Of course we excused it all by saying 
 that we were at war and that allowances must be 
 made because of this. 
 
 Mightily reassuring it was, I don't think, to be 
 cooped up like that below decks in a little steamer 
 and to think what would happen if anything — you 
 will know what "anything" means — should hit her 
 as she ploughed her way steadily across the Channel 
 in the darkness. However, we were only aboard 
 about two hours when she docked safely and we 
 were able to disembark and get some fresh air. 
 
 And then came our first sight — or rather first feel, 
 for the night was black as India ink — of France. 
 We were lined up in long rows, loaded down with 
 rifles, ammunition, and equipment, while orders 
 were passed along: "No smoking. No talking." 
 Then with "Sections right; Quick march," we were 
 off, stumbling silently along until we came out from 
 the long line of wharves and on to the round, slippery, 
 and much-cursed cobblestones paving the suburban 
 streets of France. By the time we were halfway up 
 what seemed that night to be the highest and steep- 
 est hill in the world, in the midst of a cold, drizzling 
 rain, the pent-up feelings of the boys broke loose 
 and they exercised right royally the one undenied 
 prerogative of the British soldier. Heads were 
 thrust out of windows above as we marched, and 
 their owners silently watched us. It came to me 
 rather suddenly, once, that it was a good thing 
 those people didn't know the Canadian vernacular
 
 FROM ENGLAND INTO FRANCE ii 
 
 or they would not have been so enthusiastic about 
 this wholesale invasion of their country. Say! if 
 those cobblestones ultimately reach the place they 
 were consigned to a million times that night, some 
 of us will be walking them again in the next world 
 I am afraid. 
 
 Our first sleep in France came all in good time — 
 a good long time. After an hour's march we arrived 
 at what seemed to be a camp, and, after standing in 
 the rain for another hour, we were assigned to tents 
 and rolled into our wet blankets. Just about then a 
 stranger stuck his head into our tent, meant for six 
 but sheltering twelve tired Canadian boys, and was 
 about to withdraw it, apparently satisfied that all 
 was as it should be, when one of the boys shouted: 
 
 "I say. Bud, what place is this?" 
 
 The stranger hesitated a moment and the most 
 benevolent smile I have ever seen spread over his 
 countenance. 
 
 "This," he remarked, dryly, "is a health resort 
 known as Boulogne Rest Camp.'* 
 
 Then, before any one could reply, he stumbled ofF 
 among the tent ropes, chuckling to himself. 
 
 That smile worried me and finally I dozed off and 
 dreamed that someone was loading me down with 
 packs until my feet were sinking into the ground. 
 With every sack the smile grew broader until, just 
 as the face was about to crack, I woke to find an en- 
 ergetic working party already astir and piling bag- 
 gage into the tent on top of me, under the evident 
 impression that the tent was empty. We organized 
 a counter-attack and they were repulsed. A large 
 quantity of material was taken. They took it. 
 
 Reveille sounded at six and after a meagre break- 
 fast we were each introduced to a pick and shovel. 
 A rest camp! Poor innocents. We were soon to
 
 12 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 learn, and to have it thoroughly Implanted, that a 
 Canadian rest camp in France is a spot where manual 
 labour is so refined and condensed into such absolute 
 perfection that any real man prefers the front-hne 
 trenches. Hence the reason for the broad smile. 
 
 After an arduous day's work we were paraded 
 and marched down that memorable hill again to 
 the wharves where we got aboard a train. On the 
 way down we saw a number of Ghurkas and tall, 
 sinewy Sikhs, some of whom spoke to us in very good 
 English. I got into conversation also with a French- 
 Canadian who had been sHghtly wounded though 
 not badly enough to send him. to "Blighty" and 
 heard him bemoaning his hard lot. His stories in 
 broken English of the terrible things he had seen up 
 the line were not speciall3'^ reassuring, particularly 
 when he ended up by swearing that the Germans 
 had invented a machine by means of which they were 
 bombarding our trenches with Massey-Harris bind- 
 ers. The laugh that this provoked offended him so 
 that he refused to talk further and strolled off swear- 
 ing to himself in broken English. 
 
 When the train pulled out we began to jolly away 
 with two or three of the British-born lads who were 
 with us as to conditions in the Little Island, but soon 
 settled down to get what rest we could while the train 
 rumbled along, carrying us slowly nearer the front 
 and the scene of our ambitions. 
 
 I suppose we stopped several times during the 
 night. Most of us were too tired to notice. But we 
 knew it all right when the final stop came about 
 I A. M., when we were wakened and tumbled out in the 
 darkness of a cold, rainy morning to find ourselves 
 apparently in the middle of a great circle of quivering, 
 curving, ghostly lights. Flares were shooting high 
 in the air, rising blue and dim and flaming out in a
 
 FROM ENGLAND INTO FRANCE 13 
 
 great yellow blaze as they turned over and slowly 
 sank to earth again. That was our first view of the 
 front. Every time a flare went up half a dozen rifles 
 cracked, and every few seconds a machine gun stut- 
 tered and just as suddenly ceased again. 
 
 No sounds in the world bring the same sense of 
 hopeless, heart-breaking loneliness as these which 
 drift back from the front at night. Every full rifle 
 crack seems to carry a message of anguish to the 
 lonely listener. The bold defiance of the machine 
 guns seems to die away again in dismay, afraid of its 
 own echo. And the lights, those flashing, silent, 
 yellow lights, lend a ghostly aspect to the scene which 
 helps to deepen the lonesome feeling. 
 
 All of us experienced those sensations, I guess, as 
 we lined up that night. To us it seemed that we were 
 right up into it, much closer than we really were, and 
 it surprised us that there was not more sound. Our 
 officers were just as badly deceived for they gave the 
 strictest orders that no one was to speak above a 
 whisper; they also forbade smoking. And I want to 
 tell you that we had some queer feehngs just then. 
 However, we formed up with our packs and equip- 
 ment and were soon out on the slippery cobble- 
 stones, marching through the streets of Bailleul. 
 The streets were narrow, dark, and deserted, and 
 had a badly battered appearance, but as the steady 
 tramp of marching regiments resounded on the 
 pavements, windows along the way were quietly 
 raised and watchers appeared. 
 
 After marching about half a mile we were halted 
 and one of the boys, trying to ease his shoulders by 
 leaning against a house, shoved his pack through a 
 window. The resulting crash and the rattle of the 
 glass on the stones startled everyone. Our nerves 
 were all on edge. It wasn't much wonder, for from
 
 14 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 the orders given and the flares rising, seemingly all 
 round us, we got a good bright impression that we 
 were right behind the front line. However, we were 
 not to see it for awhile yet. After plodding for an 
 hour through narrow, crooked streets, we came out 
 in the market square in the centre of the town, and 
 there, lining up, one regiment behind the other, we 
 soon had our packs off, flopped down on the cold, 
 wet cobblestones, pulled our great coats over our 
 heads, and lay until daybreak. When in the early 
 morning we were hurried off to billets in the houses 
 and outbuildings we learned from the French inhabi- 
 tants that we were still seven kilometres from the 
 front line and that the town had only been hit twice 
 by shells since the beginning of the war. 
 
 The town had been occupied by the Germans, 
 however, for ten days until they were driven out by 
 the British cavalry, which charged through the 
 streets. One old lady who sold us "eggs and chips" 
 showed us where a British trooper had fallen right 
 at her door, shot from a window above. We were 
 told also how two spies had been caught in the 
 steeple of the church with a machine gun and how 
 the British had hurled them into the street below. 
 We could scarcely help being surprised, during the 
 five days we stayed in the place, at the happiness of 
 the people, living as they were within range of the 
 guns. But they danced and made merry as though 
 they hadn't a trouble in the world. British and 
 Canadian troops had been quartered in and around 
 the town for a long time and consequently the peo- 
 ple in the vicinity had picked up a fair knowledge of 
 English. We used to sit around the houses in the day- 
 time w^atching the old women and girls work away 
 with wonderful dexterity at lace-making. Even little 
 girls, six or seven years old, were working at this.
 
 FROM ENGLAND INTO FRANCE 15 
 
 Estaminets were all over the place. Most of these 
 had a dance hall, into which the boys and girls used 
 to crowd almost every night. The fun was harm- 
 less, however, and moral conditions compared very 
 favourably with those existing in England. 
 
 On the fourth day of our stay here, which, by the 
 way, happened to be Sunday, we got our first pay 
 in France. This amounted to fifteen francs — about 
 three dollars — and most of the boys proceeded to 
 make good use of it at once. On that same day, 
 too, we saw our first air fight. A big German ma- 
 chine had ventured across our lines and was just 
 nicely visible, thousands of feet in the air. When 
 he was almost over the town a dull, stuttering soundj, 
 which we could not at first locate, came from the 
 clouds and suddenly a British plane appeared out of 
 a cloud bank and made for the German. The twoi 
 planes circled and soared, with the hum of their 
 motors and the intermittent stutter of their machine 
 guns coming down to us, till suddenly the German, 
 machine, after an attack from below by the British 
 plane, began to show distress signs. Banking and 
 dipping, he suddenly dropped for at least a thousand 
 feet, then, seeming to regain control, he glided away 
 toward home while the ''Archies" spotted the sky. 
 He passed out of sight, but we learned, when he was 
 brought into the town wounded next day, that he 
 had been forced to land behind our lines. 
 
 About six o'clock on the fifth day of our stay in 
 the town we were warned to keep near our billets. 
 Half an hour later another order came: to pack our 
 kits and parade for inspection. Then another: 
 to pack our kits for transport, v\^hich meant carrying 
 equipment only. When we were ready on this basis 
 somebody's idea was changed and again we were 
 ordered to carry our kits. Finally, after a good
 
 i6 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 deal of growling and swearing, quite warranted in 
 the circumstances, we started off on one of the worst 
 marches of my experience. My! how those heavy 
 packs did weight us down as we plodded along 
 through the darkness and rain. We shortly learned 
 that all the clothes we were carrying were a useless 
 encumbrance and "ditched" them all along the 
 road; leaving a trail of shirts and underwear behind 
 us. Even our rifles and ammunition, of which we 
 carried two hundred and seventy rounds, were a pretty 
 fair load in themselves. 
 
 However, we kept on for hours, seemingly, over 
 the slippery cobblestones — footsore, tired, and wet. 
 The continual flares were seen now to be much 
 nearer, and these threw into relief the shattered 
 old buildings along the road and lit up the faces of 
 the boys around me, making them seem white and 
 strained. Huge motor trucks passed us continually, 
 forcing us off on to the broken stone on the side of the 
 road and splashing up filthy, stinking mud. None 
 of the rank and file knew where we were going or 
 what we were going there for. Our colonel, for some 
 unfathomable reason, surrounded all his orders with 
 a most galling secrecy which was particularly trying 
 to the men, who, while ready to face anything, 
 naturally wanted to know what was expected of 
 them. (That O.C., however, did not stay with us 
 long in France. He did not show any great desire 
 to share with his men the hardships and dangers of 
 the trenches, so when he was recalled to England, 
 early in 19 16, very few farewells were said.) 
 
 We struggled on, however, through the night, 
 sullen and determined, stopping occasionally for a 
 short rest, at which times we would flop down in the 
 muddy road to make the most of the opportunity. 
 Just as we were moving off after one of these halts
 
 J 
 
 FROM ENGLAND LNTO FRANCE if 
 
 a bombing party away over on our left pulled off a 
 raid on the German trenches and, to our uninitiated 
 ears, the fuss they kicked up was amazing. The red 
 blaze of the bombs luridly lit up the sky; machine 
 guns rattled in a panicky sort of way, and in a few 
 moments the artillery began to contribute its share 
 to the melee — a battery close beside us roaring out 
 suddenly with bhnding flashes and startling us out of 
 our weariness, for the time being at least. We 
 strained our eyes anxiously toward the "fireworks" 
 and were surprised when the exhibition died out as 
 suddenly as it had begun and, except for a few Ger- 
 man machine guns stuttering nervously at intervals, 
 everything v^?^as as quiet as before. 
 
 Soon we began to meet troops coming down from 
 the trenches. We noted that they had gotten rid 
 of a good deal of their equipment and, instead of the 
 Ross rifles that we carried — and which, by the way, 
 later on — when our officers were not watching too 
 closely — used in building dug-outs and for similar 
 purposes, they were armed with short Lee-Enfields. 
 We asked some of them where we were but their 
 answers were unintelligible. Then someone fool- 
 ishly asked where we were going. In a second a 
 gruff voice emanated from the darkness: "Straight 
 to Hell, if you follow this road." We learned next 
 day that the road led through Ploegsteert and right 
 on into the German trenches. 
 
 We followed it through Ploegsteert and a little 
 beyond and then were halted for half an hour but 
 finally were guided to our billets and turned in to 
 sleep in a big barn. Very comfortable we were there, 
 too. When we left, the third troop of B Squadron 
 left their spurs hanging on a rafter as a "souvenir 
 de guerre" for the Belgian farmer. 
 
 Any discomfort we suffered in that section vras
 
 i8 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 attributable to the greenness of our troop officer, 
 and, since this gentleman is to occupy a somewhat 
 prominent place in the immediate future of this 
 narrative and for reasons which will subsequently be 
 obvious it is scarcely advisable to mention his name, 
 I shall speak of him now and hereafter as Bee Kayy 
 the cognomen by which he was notoriously known 
 to the whole regiment. Bee Kay was British born, 
 well educated, fairly familiar with the world through 
 travel, and had been a very successful business man. 
 
 But in the army ; well, he never should have 
 
 been there. How a man who gave evidence of so 
 much innate stupidity ever got, or could hold onto, 
 a commission was an enigma to us. He was ambi- 
 tious and tried most faithfully to master the rudi- 
 ments of our drill and fit himself for promotion. But 
 it was no use. He simply was not cut out to be an 
 officer. Instead of improving he became worse. 
 Added to these difficulties he was easily embarrassed 
 and could not stand the chaffing of his brother 
 officers. Though he carried his blundering habits to 
 France and ultimately paid the highest penalty, 
 along with tw^o of his men, for one of his stupid mis- 
 takes, he won the respect and admiration of his unit 
 by his fearlessness and devotion to duty. He feared 
 nothing — except ridicule; and, unlike most brave 
 men, was very sensitive on the question of courage. 
 Occasionally, for fun, the other officers would hint that 
 he was not so brave as he might be. At such times he 
 would turn red to the roots of his hair, his long nose 
 would start to quiver, and if the doorof Hell itself had 
 stood open in front of him I believe he would have 
 stepped in rather than be accused of being afraid. 
 
 We got a demonstration of his ideas the first night 
 we were near the front. He had heard of the *' Stand 
 to" — that daily incident in the life of the trenches
 
 FROM ENGLAND INTO FRANCE 19 
 
 when we all turned out of our dug-outs and "lined 
 the trench" ready to go "over the top" or to receive 
 Fritz if he took a notion to visit us. 
 
 The "Stand to" is dear to the heart of the soldier. 
 In that chill, ghostly hour, while he peers shivering 
 out into No Man's Land — where the heavy, stinking 
 vapours rise from the shell-holes, and half-opened 
 graves form strange, stealthy-moving shadows — the 
 "Listening Posts" are in and no one knows who skulks 
 silently among the ghosts of No Man's Land. A 
 machine gunner in the enemy's line spitefully sweeps 
 the parapet, hoping to puncture one or two of the 
 cautious heads he knows are peering over the top 
 and knocking bits of dirt and old tins about as he rips 
 away. The stuttering gun arouses the suspicions 
 of the grim watcher. 
 
 "Is that something moving along our wire?" He 
 strains his eyes through the wavering shadows and is 
 startled by a touch on his arm. Turning quickly, he 
 looks down into the gaunt face of the muddy old 
 "sergeant that issues the rum.'* 
 
 "Here, boy," whispers the sergeant, as he holds 
 up his little tin cup half full of rich brown rum. 
 "This 'ere'll warm yer ole heart." 
 
 In a second the prowling ghosts are forgotten and 
 the shadows of "No Man's Land" are fading away, 
 daylight is slowly breaking, and a dim, irregular 
 line of mist stretching away in front marks the 
 line where Fritz, like ourselves, is letting his fires die 
 away, so as to avoid the unwelcome attentions of 
 our artillery through the day. 
 
 Bee Kay was as yet in happy ignorance of all this. 
 He knew only that the fateful hour had arrived 
 and decided that his troop would "stand to." 
 Anyhow he rummaged round in the dark till he found 
 a bit of tumble-down old trench which hadn't been
 
 20 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 used since the retreat from Mons and which was 
 fully a mile behind the front line. We were beastly 
 tired and sleepy after our long night march but that 
 made no difference to Bee Kay and at the usual time 
 we were wakened and "stood to," absolutely with- 
 out reason, in that old trench. 
 
 When morning broke we saw passing us a long line 
 of soldiers coming back from the trenches, choosing 
 their own path and taking their own time. They 
 w^ere mightily surprised when they saw us in that 
 ridiculous position and the things they said made 
 our blood boil. If all the wishes we heaped on Bee 
 Kay that morning had had any effect, his end would 
 have been sudden and strange. How^ever, just about 
 *'stand down" time. Major Ross came up the road 
 and we had the satisfaction of hearing Bee Kay 
 made the recipient of an awful grilling w^hile we 
 crawled back to our blankets and straw. 
 
 We were called for breakfast about eight that 
 morning and were given strict orders not to move 
 from our billets. In the event of the approach of a 
 hostile airplane we were to keep perfectly still and 
 not to look up. White faces turned toward the 
 sky, it appears, are easily picked out by the powerful 
 glasses of the birdmen. 
 
 However, Davie Calderwood argd I climbed into 
 the loft of the old barn, and, renioving one of the 
 tiles, made a tiny window through which we could 
 see the German lines about a mile av/ay. The fore- 
 ground presented a desolate sight. Winding in and 
 about, all over, w^ere old, flattened trenches and lines 
 of rusty barbed-wire entanglements, the latter 
 broken here and there by the shell fire of earlier en- 
 gagements. Scattered through this were shattered 
 trees and farmhouses. It was a vivid proof of the 
 fact that war is no picnic.
 
 FROM ENGLAND INTO FRANCE 21 
 
 Davie and I wanted to get closer, so we decided 
 to do some exploring on our own hook. Descending 
 from the loft, we shpped out of the building and down 
 into the old trench we had occupied so ridiculously 
 that morning. It turned out to be an old communi- 
 cation trench running directly to the front line. We 
 followed this for about half a mile, learning more 
 about trench life as we went on, and finally came 
 out in an orchard alongside the ruins of two or three 
 farm buildings. I remember that orchard well for 
 we picked some delicious pears which were hanging 
 ripe and juicy from the trees and lying on the ground. 
 Just here, too, we ran across a huge pile of empty 
 rifle cartridges and concluded that the tree above 
 had been used as a sniper's post when the leaves were 
 thick enough to afford good cover, earUer in the 
 year. Rummaging around the building for an hour 
 or so we found another sniper's post built up in the 
 end of an old barn. This one bore the ear-marks 
 of having been located by the Germans, for the old 
 wall, while still standing, was blazed and scarred 
 with shrapnel and bullet holes. 
 
 An exciting moment was to come. Leaving this 
 quiet spot we crossed a field toward another group of 
 buildings farther up and, when about halfway across, 
 came into plain vi^ of the German trenches. A rifle 
 in the distance cracaed and a spurt of mud flew up just 
 behind us. Startled, we hesitated for a moment and a 
 machine gun began to ra-ta-ta-ta-ta furiously, the 
 screaming bullets knocking up jets of earth all over us. 
 Then we bolted Uke scared rabbits for a long, narrow 
 ditch we could see running across the field in front of 
 us. Reaching this we flopped into it on our faces. 
 Then, when we saw that we were out of reach of that 
 fire, we crawled along until the ditch crossed an old 
 fire trench; and here we stayed till dark.
 
 22 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 Snooping around in that old trench we ran across 
 a sniper's plate. As they used them then it was a 
 comparatively simple thing — a chunk of sheet iron 
 about three and a half feet square with a hole in the 
 centre to put the rifle through, this hole being cov- 
 ered by a sort of lid which was raised for shooting 
 but dropped down when the plate was not in use. 
 These plates were really death traps, for when the 
 lid was raised the light shining through from the 
 back could easily be seen by the German snipers 
 and, in consequence, many of our boys "got it*' 
 in the head while looking through the opening. 
 
 As we examined this peculiar piece of equipment 
 an idea came to me to provide for a vast improvement 
 by adding a safety loophole and range register. 
 While more will be said regarding this later, it may 
 be interesting to note here that for some time I 
 worked away at odd moments at the idea conceived 
 then and finally had the satisfaction of having it 
 approved by the Inventions Committee of the 
 British army. This, by the way, was all the satis- 
 faction I did have, for by reason of various annoying 
 incidents I never saw the device in operation, though 
 I believe it has been used to some extent on the 
 western front. 
 
 Stealing back to our billets that night, when it 
 became dark enough to move with safety, we found 
 an N. C .0. looking for us but managed to "square" 
 him by promising him our rum ration next morning.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 Into the Thick of Things 
 
 The next morning I was one of eight men told off 
 to guard an ammunition dump in the basement of an 
 old house half a mile to the rear. Everything went 
 nicely till, along about noon, we were sitting around a 
 table playing poker when suddenly we heard a long, 
 moaning scream. This was followed immediately 
 by a crash, and a shower of tiles came tumbling on 
 our heads. A big shell passed clean through the 
 roof and exploded in the backyard, killing a poor old 
 Belgian who was working there. Somewhat excited, 
 we all scrambled out into an old fire trench beside 
 the house, where we would certainly have been 
 blown to pieces if the dump had been hit. But 
 after dropping a few more on the road in front of us 
 Fritz apparently thought better of it and quit. 
 After gathering up what was left of the old Belgian 
 we went back to our game. 
 
 We had our first actual experience under fire next 
 day. Our O. C. ordered us out for a bath and the 
 whole regiment marched in broad daylight over the 
 open roads to the bath houses at Armentieres, where, 
 in an old brewery, the huge beer vats and tubs were 
 made good use of as bathing pools. The day was 
 sunny and bright and a big German sausage balloon 
 could be seen hanging over their lines, seeming, in 
 the thin air, to be very close. Nothing happened | 
 on the way over but they seemed to get a line on us 
 
 23
 
 24 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 coming back for three or four batteries opened up 
 and for a few minutes all was confusion in our ranks 
 while the air was full of shrapnel, flying mud, bricks, 
 and cobblestones. Like a flash everyone dived 
 for the ditches on either side of the road, and by the 
 best of luck not a single casualty resulted. 
 
 We crawled along the ditch till some trees afforded 
 cover when we formed up on the road again and 
 marched back to our billets without further incident. 
 
 We v/ere rather amused to note a day or two 
 afterwurd that the German report for the day, copied 
 in the Enghsh papers, said: **0n Saturday our 
 artillery successfully engaged a column of troops 
 moving on the Armentieres road, resulting in their 
 total destruction." 
 
 Down in the bottom of our hearts we had wondered 
 how we would behave the first time under fire — 
 what it would be Hke. Now the experience was 
 past. My first feeling was one of hot anger. When 
 those coal boxes began to come over, tearing up the 
 road and showering us with debris, I felt almost un- 
 controllably mad and helpless. But when we had 
 crawled along for half a mile to cover — dropping 
 on our faces when the moaning of a shell gave us 
 warning of its approach — and when we finally lined 
 up on the road again without the loss of a single 
 man, we were all ready to laugh and joke at Fritz's 
 artillery. 
 
 For a few days after that, while some of our officers 
 and N. C. O's. went up to the trenches to look them 
 over and get a line on how things were done up there, 
 we lay around our billets and tried to scrape up ac- 
 quaintance with the Belgian civilians. While these 
 people v/ere very ready to sell us anything they could 
 supply — such as beer, coffee, eggs, and chips, and 
 bread and butter — and while they were all making
 
 / 
 
 INTO THE THICK OF THINGS 25] 
 
 a good deal of money out of the soldiers, they were 
 not only unfriendly but also, in many cases, openly 
 hostile and seemed to do everything they could to 
 make us uncomfortable. Rumours were continually 
 being circulated as to the prevalence of both Belgian 
 and German spies and occasionally we heard stories 
 of executions of spies who had been caught in the act. 
 Naturally, with this sort of thing going on around us, 
 our feelings toward the Belgians themselves were not 
 particularly friendly. 
 
 During our stay near Ploegsteert our billets were 
 shelled a couple of times, but as we had no casualties, 
 this did not appear specially notable. 
 
 One afternoon we fell in again, in heavy marching 
 order, to go — as usual — no one knew where; another 
 instance that our O. C. would not trust us with news 
 as to our whereabouts and which, naturally, did not 
 tend to add to his popularity. Again, too, the 
 ignorance which was first evidenced in overcaution 
 soon changed into overboldness. 
 
 That evening, we were marched out from our bil- 
 lets in broad dayhght, while we could see several 
 German sausages hanging over their lines. That 
 time, however, we were not shelled and, after march- 
 ing some miles, were drawn up in a square alongside 
 a large camp consisting of row upon row of long, low 
 huts, carefully camouflaged with a view to conceal- 
 ment from aviators. While standing there we 
 looked at them curiously, speculating on the amount 
 of comfort they would afford. That curiosity was 
 destined to be well satisfied for we spent many, 
 many nights during the following year, stretched on 
 their cold, hard floors. 
 
 Piling our rifles and throwing off" our kits we had 
 supper on the parade ground where we were later 
 joined by two other Mounted Brigades (both on foot)
 
 26 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 namely (a) the Second C. M. R. Brigade, consisting 
 of the 4th, 5th, and 6th Canadian Mounted Rifles, 
 and three East Canadian regiments, and (b) the 
 Canadian Cavalry Brigade, made up of Lord Strath- 
 cona's horse, the Royal Canadian Dragoons, and a 
 Colonial regiment enlisted in England and known as 
 King Edward's Horse. 
 
 Under cover of darkness we moved off again, the 
 nine regiments with their machine-gun sections and 
 transport covering more than a mile of road. The 
 darkness was intensified by the quivering and inter- 
 mittent light from the star shells. We plodded on 
 steadily hour after hour with scarcely a halt till 
 nearly morning when it became evident that some- 
 thing had gone wrong up in front since we were con- 
 tinually halted and almost instantly moved on again. 
 Just as day broke we were drawn up in a small wood 
 at the foot of a hill — the Kemmel Hill, by the way, 
 made famous in the German pushes this spring — and 
 after standing an hour in a drizzling rain were 
 ordered to throw off our packs and stay there. The 
 three brigades were drawn up in the wood with their 
 transport in a hollow close by. We soon learned 
 that our guides had gone astray and had come within 
 an ace of leading us into a death trap. We were then 
 barely a thousand yards from the enemy's trenches. 
 
 Despite the order to stay where we were, I sneaked 
 off with a couple of others anxious to see a little more 
 of the fuss — down to a small village about a quarter 
 of a mile nearer the front trenches. The houses here 
 had been mostly battered down, but some of the peo- 
 ple were still staying there selling coffee and other 
 suppHes to the soldiers. Here and there small sign- 
 posts were posted with a warning in French and 
 English to the effect that that point was within view 
 of the enemy.
 
 INTO THE THICK OF THINGS 27 
 
 Bc^ck in the wood the officers tried in every way 
 possible to keep the men quiet and under cover — no 
 small job, considering the limited size of the cover 
 and the number of soldiers crowded into it. 
 
 Early in the afternoon the inevitable happened. 
 A large German plane appeared overhead and circled 
 about like a huge bird while the Archies peppered 
 away at it and we were showered with falling shrap- 
 nel. Evidently we had been discovered and we were 
 ordered to get into our equipment and to get out of 
 camp as quickly as possible. In a very few minutes 
 we were on the road and regiment after regiment 
 marched up over the hill in plain sight of the Germa7i 
 trenches. 
 
 Why Fritz did not fire on such a visible target is in- 
 comprehensible, but he seemed to be determined 
 to clean up the wood first and opened up a terrific 
 bombardment, commencing on the side nearest the 
 trenches and systematically reducing every dug-out, 
 every vestige of shelter, and half the trees to a mass 
 of tangled rags, mud, and splinters. _ 
 
 With the best of luck, considering the circum- 
 stances, the last regiment to leave was the only one 
 that suffered any casualties. They had to pull out 
 in a hurry without even taking time to get their 
 packs. Again we had the laugh on Fritz's artillery. 
 
 Continuing our march we came about midnight to 
 a dug-out camp where several Old Country regiments 
 were dra\vn up on their way out of the trenches. 
 The night was as black as death, it was raining as 
 usual, and it is not to be wondered at that in the dark- 
 ness and mud we got into the most hopeless mix-up. 
 Our brigade became jammed in the road between a 
 battalion of the Duke of Wellington's Light In- 
 fantry and a transport column. The others over- 
 took us and ranged alongside till the road was packed
 
 28 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 solid. When the head of the column was finally 
 released the regiments were so hopelessly confused, 
 and the men and officers so muddled up, that no one 
 knew where he belonged. 
 
 I struggled for a while to get out of the mess and 
 was soon moving along again in an endless line of 
 plodding figures wiien a voice in front of me said in 
 the broadest accent: "Gor blimey, Bill, I wish the 
 bleedin' kaiser had this bally pack." My suspicions 
 as to my whereabouts were naturally aroused and 
 when I asked: "What regiment is this?" the same 
 voice answered out of the darkness: "Don't yer 
 know? This 'ere's the Dook er Wellington's bleedin' 
 Infantry." 
 
 So I had to "About turn" and try to locate my own 
 regiment. In doing so it seemed that I met repre- 
 sentatives of every regiment in the British army and 
 was "cussed" in every tongue and dialect for butting 
 into their ranks. 
 
 Finally we were sorted out and on the way again. 
 Straggling along over a low, wet field, we came into a 
 long, crooked, and badly battered communication 
 trench. Here we got tangled up again, losing touch 
 with the leading half of our company through no 
 fault of our own but because a lieutenant of another 
 company, lost and rather badly excited, insisted on 
 breaking our ranks and leading his platoon through. 
 We had orders not to lose touch with the men in 
 front — orders that we tried to carry out — but none 
 of our officers was there to insist on right of way and 
 so we had to prowl around in a bush behind the front 
 line for an hour or two. Finally we decided to 
 "flop" for the night and lay down w^here we were, 
 some stretching out on the wet ground in front of the 
 trench, others sleeping on the parapet as the most 
 comfortable spot.
 
 INTO THE THICK OF THINGS 29 
 
 I was wakened early in the morning by someone 
 cautiously pulling at my foot. Sitting up, cold 
 and drowsy, I rubbed my eyes and looked at Bee 
 Kay. 
 
 "Get those fellows in out of there," he told me. 
 "We are in plain sight of the German trenches." 
 
 Naturally that dispelled the drowsiness. Looking 
 round I could see, only about two hundred yards 
 away, a long, crooked ridge, looking like a furrow 
 turned by some gigantic plough — our front line. 
 The communication trench where we had been lying 
 wriggled round the edge of the wood like a snake and 
 zigzagged across a low field to our front line, a little 
 to the right. Daylight was just breaking and with 
 it a thin fog was beginning to lift. Over our Hne 
 and on slightly higher ground another long brown 
 furrow — the German front-line trench — was be- 
 coming visible. 
 
 I lost no time in waking the boys and, shivering 
 and grumbling, they crawled back into the trench. 
 Here we shortly located a dug-out which a bunch of us 
 appropriated and which we were to occupy for some 
 time to come. 
 
 One might go into descriptions of trench life, of 
 its dangers, its hardships, its humours, and its pathetic 
 features; but this, like other matter, has been told a 
 thousand times. And since my aim is to present 
 experiences out of the ordinary I shall pass on. 
 
 One incident which developed in this dug-out is 
 highly interesting— to me, at least. It will be re- 
 membered how the idea for a safety loophole had 
 come to me back at Ploegsteert. I got time now to 
 do some work on it, carving out a small model with a 
 service knife. I had already talked over the idea 
 
 with Sergeant D , and he had seemed to be 
 
 greatly taken with it. Now that he shared the same
 
 so THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 dug-out he seemed again to be very much interested, 
 and asked me a good many questions about it. 
 This by way of explanation for what is to follow. 
 
 For the next few months our regiment was utilized 
 as a sort of flying column, relieving battalions here 
 and there on the line where conditions were very 
 quiet at the time, and doing a good deal of work in 
 trenches and on narrow-gauge railways behind the 
 line. We suffered few casualties but — for a really 
 good reason, when one understands the situation — 
 gained considerable reputation for our tendency to 
 "pinch" anything that was transportable. While 
 all the other troops had their regular billets when 
 out of the trenches and held the same trenches each 
 time they were sent in, the C. M. R. were nobody's 
 soldiers and were shifted from place to place, fre- 
 quently and irregularly. Inasmuch as we had to 
 build fresh shelters at practically every new place, 
 and as supplies were meagre, we simply had to ap- 
 propriate sandbags, oil drums, trench mats, and 
 other necessary things too numerous to mention. 
 At that time troops were being warned of the ap- 
 proach of hostile aircraft by the blasts of a whittle, 
 two blasts meaning: "Get under." This became 
 somewhat perverted, on that section of the hne at 
 least, for after a while we found out that three blasts 
 meant: "Get your goods under cover, the C. M. R.'s 
 approaching." 
 
 Never shall I forget the misery of that winter in 
 France — the long, weary marches through the mud 
 and rain, over the slippery cobblestones and through 
 side trails where we sank to our knees in the slimy, 
 stinking mud; sleeping in the outbuildings of the 
 French and Belgian farmers, without fire and often 
 rendered specially uncomfortable by the farmers 
 themselves. It was hard to realize sometimes that 

 
 INTO THE THICK OF THINGS 31 
 
 we were putting up with all this for an ideal and that 
 we were fighting largely for the benefit of these peo- 
 ple who only used us as a convenience in making 
 money through the sale of their produce, though the 
 French people generally treated us well. 
 
 November was spent in tents and dug-outs at 
 Dranoute and while here I finally finished my inven- 
 tion. I had carried it with me all through the miser- 
 able fall,, working every minute I could snatch on it, 
 and in no way trying to conceal it. 
 
 One day, when it was almost complete, I was sitting 
 in my tent working at it when a shadow fell across the 
 flap and Captain Bob Richardson looked in. "Cap- 
 tain Bob," as he was familiarly known, was second 
 in command of my company — later becoming O. C. 
 — and was greatly liked by all the boys. When he 
 came in and sat down I quickly put the model away 
 but he was anxious to see what I was doing and was 
 so pleased with the idea that he insisted on my 
 finishing it that night and showing it to Major 
 Ross, who at that time was company O. C. When 
 Major Ross saw the device he called a meeting of 
 his officers to whom the whole thing was explained. 
 They all professed to be highly pleased with it, some 
 of them praising it in very complimentary terms. 
 Major Ross explained that since I was a soldier and 
 under the direction of the Government it would be out 
 of the question for me to provide for any proprietary 
 rights in the matter but that I could put it before the 
 proper authorities and take a chance as to what re- 
 ward might be forthcoming. I followed this sug- 
 gestion and the device was approved by the Bat- 
 talion, Brigade, and Divisional commanders in turn 
 and I was sent to General Armstrong, C. O. of the 
 Canadian Engineers, to direct the making of a full- 
 sized model. For this I left the battalion for a
 
 32 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 month and was billeted at Bailleul, about seven miles 
 back from the front. 
 
 I was naturally somewhat chagrined to hear a 
 story from one of the boys just before I left for 
 
 Bailleul. He said he had gone to Sergt. D 's 
 
 dug-out for some sand-bags and had surprised him 
 working on a device which looked exactly like mine. 
 
 When he questioned D as to where he had got 
 
 *'MacDonald's invention" the sergeant had put the 
 affair quickly out of sight and had answered con- 
 fusedly: "Oh, this is something I have invented my- 
 self." Whether D ever was able to make any 
 
 use of the device is a query. I have heard rumours 
 since that he subsequently joined the Tank Corps, 
 and that a special covered loophole sim.ilar to mine 
 is being used on these huge crawlers, but this is 
 something I cannot verify. At any rate, I had a good 
 deal of satisfaction when I heard a little later on that 
 
 D had had the effrontery to bring his version of 
 
 my invention to Major Ross who at once detected 
 the thievery and gave him such a tongue-lashing as 
 few men ever got, warning him that if he tried to do 
 anything Vv'^ith it he would make trouble for him. 
 
 I had an easy time in Bailleul where I was able 
 really to work at my invention, and eventually had 
 the opportunity to show it to General Armstrong 
 and several other officers; but when nothing definite 
 seemed to be developing and since my work was fin- 
 ished, I asked for permission to go back to my regi- 
 ment. Just then, however, they were coming 
 from a tour in the trenches for a rest and I was able 
 to rejoin them right in Bailleul as they marched 
 through to billets. 
 
 I don't think I ever saw a regiment so exhausted or 
 so hopelessly muddy and battered as they were. 
 They had been, as I soon found out, in the line in
 
 INTO THE THICK OF THINGS 33 
 
 front of Messines where the trenches were exceed- 
 ingly low and wet, following around the foot of a 
 hill on which the Germans had their front hne. 
 Added to this was the fact that the River Douve, 
 which ran along behind our trench for a short dis- 
 tance, crossed and flowed down into the German 
 lines where they eased off from the hill. The wily 
 Germans had dammed the stream where it crossed 
 their lines, thus backing the water up into our 
 trenches until our boys had been standing for three 
 or four days at a time in water up to their waists. 
 During this time the German artillery dropped a 
 plentiful supply of shells along the line, adding 
 showers of clammy, freezing mud and icy water to 
 the other discomforts. Just at this time, too, the 
 3d C. M, R.'s were badly mauled in the trench 
 not far from our fellows, one company especially 
 suffering terribly from shell fire. Shortly afterward 
 our Brigadier was relieved of his command and re- 
 turned to Canada. Apparently "someone had 
 blundered." 
 
 The discomfort did not end with the boys' relief 
 from the trenches, since for nearly two months after 
 that we were quartered in old barns betvv^een Bailleul 
 and Meteren. Cold and wet were predominant 
 here because, for fear of firing the barns, fires were 
 forbidden, and many a time, after a hard day's drill 
 or a route march in the cold rain, we had to turn into 
 our blankets as we were. But it was active service 
 and we tried to make the best of it. Of course there 
 was grumbling. That's a soldier's privilege in 
 such conditions. But I do say that our boys were 
 mightily considerate and it was only when some 
 unnecessary hardship was loaded on us by reason 
 of carelessness or incompetence that any general 
 grumbling was heard.
 
 34". THE Ky\ISER'S GUEST 
 
 Here, too, we had to learn a new system of drill. 
 We had been trained, of course, as cavalry and had 
 gone through all our work under the cavalry system 
 and with the regular orders we had learned back in 
 Canada. Now they went at it wholesale to make 
 infantry out of us and we had to try to forget all we 
 had learned before and become famihar with a new 
 system and entirely new commands. Why, scarcely 
 any of our fellows knew how to "form fours" prop- 
 erly, by the infantry method, and a great many of 
 us never learned. While a cavalry regiment is made 
 up of about six hundred men — of which a large num- 
 ber are taken up by transport and details — ours was 
 always below ** strength," but we had taken the place 
 in the firing line of infantry battalions of approxi- 
 mately one thousand men, and our trenches were 
 sometimes pretty slimly held. 
 
 This was now remedied to some extent; the 3d 
 C. M. R. were split up between the 1st and 2d, and 
 the 6th between the 4th and 5th, the two former 
 C. M. R. Brigades were then formed into the 8th 
 Infantry Brigade, but until I was wounded and 
 taken prisoner the following June, we had never 
 been brought up to full strength. With the new or- 
 der, our last hope of being withdrawn from the 
 trenches for mounted service in Egypt — for which I 
 believe we were originally intended— vanished, but 
 we were not sorry as it had been evident for some 
 time that if we went to Berlin, we would walk. 
 
 Just about this time our first O. C. returned to 
 England, and Lieut.-Colonel A. E. Shaw— one of 
 the finest soldiers that ever went to France — took 
 charge of us. We were right sorry to see Major 
 Ross invaUded to England at the same time, but his 
 place was well filled by "Captain Bob." 
 
 The hand of Colonel Shaw soon began to be felt
 
 INTO THE THICK OF THINGS 3^] 
 
 in the regiment. Discipline, always good in the 
 I St, was tightened up a little more. After five 
 months at the front, we didn't take very kindly to 
 infantry drill, its introduction caused no little dis- 
 satisfaction, and about half of the regiment reported 
 sick every morning to avoid it. But when our new 
 O, C. ordered the sick parade for six o'clock in the 
 morning, and we had to pile out of the cold, fireless 
 barns and stand in a long, shivering row awaiting the 
 doctor with a hundred-to-one chance of getting a No. 
 10 and duty, the sick parade soon resumed normal 
 dimensions. And by reason of his constant exercise 
 of justice and consideration. Colonel Shaw soon won 
 the confidence and respect of his men. 
 
 An instance or two will be illuminating. 
 
 On one route march we were caught a long distance 
 from our billets in a cold, heavy rain. The Colonel 
 was the only man in the battalion who had a rain 
 coat. Surprisingly, he refused to put it on and rode 
 at the head of his men with the coat rolled on his 
 saddle. On arriving at billets he went directly to 
 the Quartermaster and ordered an issue of rum for 
 the whole parade. For some reason there was no 
 rum in the stores and without waiting to change his 
 wet clothes the Colonel rode into Bailleul, and, dis- 
 appointed there, commandeered a car and went on 
 to Hazebrouck, thirty miles, and on his return went 
 from billet to billet, giving every soldier a drink of 
 rum to warm him up. 
 
 One story from our last trip in the trenches that 
 year, in December, will illustrate some of the condi- 
 tions of trench hfe not usually spoken of. One of the 
 
 misfits in our company was Corporal P , a big 
 
 ungainly chap who used his pull to get a corporal's 
 stripes but who, as an N. C. O., proved himself such 
 a sneaking fellow that no officer would recommend
 
 36 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 him for further promotion; and, though several of 
 them would have been glad to reduce him, he was 
 too clever to give them the chance. He was always 
 looking for trouble and, being so overbearing and in- 
 solent to the men, usually found a good deal of it. 
 By being a stickler for punctuality and discipHne, 
 however, he tried to make himself solid with the 
 officers. When we arrived at the front the real stuff 
 in him became evident for while not actually a cow- 
 ard he evidently considered discretion the better part 
 of valour and passed on to any one he could such 
 *' dirty work" as came his way._ 
 
 Another corporal, D , a little dark chap, was 
 
 of an entirely different type. Though a splendid 
 little fellow, he had neither taste nor liking for mili- 
 tary authority and lacked the resolution to back up 
 the few orders he did give. In consequence he was a 
 good deal taken advantage of and it was only by rea- 
 son of the liking and respect the boys had for him 
 that he was able to control them at all. 
 
 On arriving in the trenches this trip P was 
 
 warned for Listening Post, which, as most people 
 know, means Wing out in No Man's Land, sometimes 
 right up against the German wire, listenmg and 
 
 watching for any enemy movement. P , char- 
 
 acteristically, went to D , passing the duty on to ^ 
 
 him and the latter — either taking the order as O. K. 
 or to avoid trouble — immediately picked his men 
 and relieved the post of the regiment withdrawing. 
 
 However he managed it. Corporal P worked 
 
 things so that D was kept on duty out there at 
 
 Listening Post all the time we were in the trenches. 
 This was not only contrary to orders but was ex- 
 ceedingly hard on D , since the steady tension of 
 
 watching and the dangerous nature of his work were 
 made a great deal harder by the fact that the trenches
 
 INTO THE THICK OF THINGS 37 
 
 we held were flooded. D soon became ex- 
 hausted and the night before the regiment was re- 
 Heved while he was half asleep and trying to clean 
 his rifle, it was accidently discharged, killing one of 
 his men and crippling another. 
 
 Corporal P then had to take over his post 
 
 and was shot on his first trip out to change his sen- 
 tries. But, with better luck than he deserved, he 
 received a nice "cushy Blighty" and was later in- 
 valided home to Canada. 
 
 D himself was heart-broken and never recov- 
 ered from the shock of the incident. He was ar- 
 rested and was away from the regiment for a time but 
 was afterward brought back and remained with us 
 till his trial. At the trial he was defended by "Cap- 
 tain Bob," who, with the best intention — though, it 
 seems to me, foolishly — persuaded him to plead 
 guilty to a charge of "KilHng one man and seriously 
 wounding another through carelessly discharging 
 his rifle." By this time D knew of P^ 's in- 
 terference with the orders but he said nothing what- 
 ever of this and was sentenced to two years with 
 hard labour, to be served after the war. This meant 
 that he must keep on fighting, with two years' penal 
 servitude hanging over his head. This and the shock 
 of the accident broke his heart. He moved about 
 among the boys like a ghost, silent and brooding, and 
 while the whole battalion sympathized with him and 
 tried in every way possible to cheer him up it was of 
 no use. We knew that he went into the trenches 
 each time praying that he might not come out, but 
 too conscientious to throw his life away. 
 
 When we got settled in our billets after this tour in 
 the trenches and the reorganization of our regiment 
 fairly well under way, the boys all began to talk of 
 Christmas and to plan for a little celebration. We
 
 38 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 collected five francs (about a dollar) each from the 
 men and, with a little financial aid from the officers, 
 prepared for a real old-time Christmas feast to in- 
 clude turkey, plum pudding, a variety of fruit and 
 cake and, last but not least, a few bottles of cham^ 
 pagne. 
 
 So on Christmas morning we woke — in the cold, 
 dismal barn where we were quartered — with rosy 
 visions of a real home-like feast for once. Mine 
 were suddenly and sadly shattered by a khaki-clad 
 runner from Divisional Headquarters who arrived 
 just at breakfast time to warn me to report at Head- 
 quarters at once and to proceed in a government car 
 to Hazebrouck with the models of m}^ invention so 
 that an explanation of them might be made to the 
 Inventions Committee. I hurried over, found the 
 car and a tall French captain who was to drive me 
 down. How that big gray car did fly over the roads 
 which were exceedingly good after leaving the im- 
 mediate front. 
 
 Arriving in Hazebrouck the officer left me, sug- 
 gesting that I meet him again at eleven o'clock for 
 the run back to Bailleul. Just then my chances of 
 getting a share of that Christmas dinner looked 
 mighty blue. 
 
 After some little trouble I found the Inventions 
 Committee's Offices and reported. The sergeant 
 in charge, who was the only person there, was rather 
 put out that I should have been sent down on the 
 holiday. However, he went to see the officers and to 
 my satisfaction six of them returned with him. I 
 went over my device as carefully as possible and was 
 gratified at the reception they gave me since they all 
 appeared to be greatly interested. A hint was given 
 that something similar had already been shown them 
 but they promised definitely that they would go
 
 INTO THE THICK OF THINGS 39 
 
 further into the matter and that I should hear from 
 them later. I did. Some considerable time later a 
 letter came from the Committee informing me that 
 they had been in possession of exactly the same thing 
 for months and that they didn't think it was of much 
 use anyway; or words to that effect. However that 
 may have been they declined to return the drawings 
 of the device and for a time I gave up the hope of 
 gaining recognition for my invention. 
 
 Other more material hopes were much better 
 realized, though. Hurrying over to meet the 
 French captain as he had suggested, so soon as the 
 Committee got through with me, I found the car 
 waiting and before long I was in Bailleul again, ar- 
 riving just as the dinner was under way. 
 
 Get a picture of that Christmas feast if you can. 
 The boys sat in two long rows in the straw with 
 blankets stretched between for a table and cloth 
 combined. The officers of our company occupied 
 the end seats and "Captain Bob" was master of 
 ceremonies. When we came to the wine course 
 he stood up and delivered a long, disjointed speech, 
 mostly in praise of his battalion and company and 
 finishing by proposing a toast to '*The boys who were 
 with us last Christmas but are gone to-day," which, 
 naturally, was very quietly and earnestly responded 
 to. Then each platoon officer was called on for a 
 speech and he in turn was followed by a private in his 
 platoon. Almost invariably the officers followed 
 ''Captain Bob's" example and said something in 
 praise of their own men. The privates in their turn 
 praised their officers, though in one or two cases it 
 was quite evident the man was not very enthusiastic 
 over the sentiments he expressed. 
 
 When our platoon's turn came Bee Kay rose to 
 the occasion like a hero, stood for a minute red
 
 40 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 and embarrassed, unable to get his thoughts to- 
 gether. Then, with a mighty effort, he finally got 
 under way and spouted out a lot of almost wholly un- 
 intelHgible jargon about his platoon. To my dismay 
 I was called on to respond and by no manner of 
 means could I squeeze out of it. I did not feel Uke 
 praising him for while I respected his courage I re- 
 membered dangerous expeditions in No Man's Land 
 when his carelessness or stupidity had nearly cost us 
 our lives. Very unwillingly I got to my feet, almost 
 as badly embarrassed as Bee Kay himself had been, 
 and when the between-speeches fuss died down I 
 said: "Now, all the boys have been cracking up their 
 -officers. What's the matter with Bee Kay.'"' In 
 the uproar which followed I was able to make my 
 escape.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 Trench Life Day by Day 
 
 Shortly after Christmas we were ordered up the 
 line again to take up the trenches of the 2d Infantry 
 Brigade. Here, although we were only about two 
 hundred yards from the Germans, we had a quiet 
 and uneventful trip. Colonel Shaw arranged his 
 force so that no man spent more than twelve hours 
 at a stretch in the front line, this being possible 
 through the placing of supports in a hollow close to 
 the line and permitting a change night and morning. 
 The changes of troops had to be made over an open 
 road running straight into Messines, the town being 
 located on a hill directly in front of us. The German 
 front line wound along close to the foot of the hill 
 and their second line, halfway up the hill, dominated 
 our trenches as well as the Messines road. Every 
 night hundreds of m.en — working parties and relieving 
 parties— travelled that road and, considering the 
 dominating positions of the Germans, it was surpris- 
 ing that our casualty Hsts vs^ere, comparatively, so 
 small. 
 
 Conditions here were typical of a greater effi- 
 ciency on the part of the German command than at 
 that time was expected from ours. While British 
 and Canadian regiments marched to their front-line 
 trenches on an open road without a vestige of cover, 
 the Germans had everywhere the most wonderful 
 system of communication trenches, underground 
 
 41
 
 42 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 tunnels, and dug-outs. They followed a policy of 
 saving their men in every possible way except when 
 some direct object was to be gained when they did 
 not hesitate to sacrifice them. Our men and officers 
 alike seemed to be careless of life. An instance of 
 this will be conclusive. 
 
 We spent weeks in building a communication 
 trench to avoid the necessity of exposing ourselves 
 on that open stretch of Messines road. When al- 
 most finished a heavy rain came on and it was prac- 
 tically all washed in. And this simply because our 
 engineers had neglected to brace it with posts and 
 wire. Later we worked at it again for weeks but for 
 various reasons gave it up. 
 
 The trenches themselves on this part of the line 
 were all in good shape, having been held by Canadian 
 battalions. You could always tell, when taking over 
 a trench (if you did not know in any other way), who 
 had been there before, by the shape things were in. 
 The Canadians generally had won a splendid reputa- 
 tion along this line and we worked night and day to 
 keep these temporary habitations as safe and as 
 comfortable as possible. It was rather stiff, coming 
 back from billets after leaving trenches in good 
 shape, to be sent into those which had been occupied 
 by some Imperial battalion, to find them scarcely 
 up to our waists, with no evidence of any attempt to 
 rebuild them; with their bombs rusty, unoiled, and 
 sometimes without detonators, and with their ammu- 
 nition wet and rusty. It should not be thought that 
 such conditions were general. The Guards divisions, 
 for instance, had us beaten a mile for trenches, but 
 occasionally — as for example when we relieved the 
 Tommies at Dickebusch in 191 5 and at Hooge in 
 1916 — such was the case. 
 
 Here at Messines the trenches were high and dry,
 
 TRENCH LIFE DAY BY DAY 43 
 
 the sun during the day was bright and warm, and 
 we spent most of our time sleeping or playing cards 
 for small sums to give the game a little tang. One 
 day four of us were having a game of banker and one 
 chap, Pete Martin, of Brandon, v>7as nearly broke 
 when the Germans started their daily shelling per- 
 formance. They started over on the left and worked 
 slowly and methodically to the right so that after a 
 little time the shells began to drop uncomfortably 
 close to us and soon were landing into the parapet 
 just in front of the dug-out. Three of us wanted to 
 quit but Pete insisted on hanging on, seeing a chance 
 to get his money back. Finally one of the trio could 
 stand it no longer, slipped out of the dug-out and 
 disappeared. Just then a black shrapnel burst 
 directly overhead and bits of it flew singing through 
 the air in all directions, landing on the roof above our 
 heads and all over the place. Player number two 
 disappeared while Pete denounced him as a quitter 
 and shuffled the cards again. I had just backed the 
 cuts when a whizz-bang hit the corner of the dug-out, 
 tearing a sheet of corrugated iron and two or three 
 sand-bags off the roof. 
 
 "Come on, Pete," I said. "Let's beat it." 
 "No, no; just another hand," growled Pete's big 
 bass voice. 
 
 The dug-out was hit three times and the last shot, 
 fortunately a "dud," drove through the thick wall 
 of sand-bags until its bright steel nose bulged out 
 behind us. That was near enough for me. I 
 grabbed my money and made a bee-line for the shelter 
 of a near-by culvert. Pete followed, grumbling and 
 swearing, but instead of crawling into safety under 
 the culvert he characteristically settled down behind 
 a bomb store until the bombardment was over. That 
 was a nice spot to pick, about the last most of us
 
 44 THE KaIsER'S GUEST 
 
 would have thought of. If one of those shells had 
 hit the store — ^well, you can imagine how much there 
 would have been left of Pete. He often exposed 
 himself to danger unnecessarily and seemed to be 
 absolutely devoid of fear, but he could always be de- 
 pended on to put through any dangerous duty 
 given him, and this means a great deal at the front. 
 He was killed a few months later in the Battle of 
 Sanctuary Wood where he went down fighting 
 gamely to the last. 
 
 But to resume the story. Part of the trench near 
 us was broken and this spot had to be patrolled at 
 night to guard against German patrols getting 
 through and surprising us. German snipers had been 
 worrying our patrols in this open spot and one night 
 Bee Kay decided to go out and see if they could not 
 be located. As usual he sent for me, told me to get 
 another man, and to come with him. In due time we 
 started, Bee Kay wearing a khaki great coat which 
 was almost white. As he stepped out of the trench 
 in the bright moonlight he was plainly visible and, 
 as my comrade said in my ear, looked "as big as a 
 house." However, he struck boldly across the 
 fields, taking in the scenery as he walked, and though 
 he must have presented a splendid target, every^thing 
 was quiet — at first. We sneaked along about 
 twenty yards behind, ready to drop at the first 
 warning. We didn't have long to wait. Bee Kay 
 got as far as the German wire and began to poke 
 about with his stick when the rifles started to crack 
 and the bullets flew by uncomfortably close. In 
 the fifth of a second we were on our faces on the grass. 
 Not so the bold Bee Kay. Turning quietly around, 
 he walked over to where w^e were holding down the 
 grass and said: 
 
 *'D — n it, I believe they are shooting at me."
 
 TRENCH LIFE DAY BY DAY 45 
 
 Then he turned and walked slowly back to the 
 trenches. We followed a little more cautiously at a 
 safe distance but began to believe that Bee Kay had 
 a charmed life. 
 
 A few nights later, while we were in support, I 
 went with a working party to build up a bit of D 
 Company's trench. While we were at work a terri- 
 ble thunderstorm came on and to add to the fuss the 
 Germans started a bombardment a mile or two on 
 our left. That was a fearful night. With the light- 
 ning, the sullen glare of the big guns miles behind the 
 line, and the blaze of bursting shells near us lighted 
 up the night, even through the driving rain, with a 
 sickly, despairing sort of light. Underfoot, thou- 
 sands of loathsome, scabby rats prowled around the 
 old tin cans or scrambled, squeaking, about our feet. 
 Finally the night became so bad that we were ordered 
 in and plodded back to support, but in our joy at the 
 unexpected relief we forgot all about bringing in the 
 sand-bags we had been working with out in No Man's 
 Land. 
 
 The next night saw us detailed for the same duty, 
 but we had scarcely started to work when a rattle of 
 rifles from the German lines sent a shower of bullets 
 in amongst us, the first volley getting one of the boys 
 through the ankles. Down on our faces we dropped, 
 pronto. The next volley struck one of the boys on 
 the top of the head, kilhng him instantly. Another 
 was shot through the arm and foot with the same 
 bullet. Picking up our casualties we got back to the 
 trenches without further loss. The Germans, hav- 
 ing discovered the sand-bags we had forgotten the 
 night before, knew what was going on and had set 
 up a rifle battery during the day to command the 
 spot. That cured us of leaving sand-bags about 
 indiscriminately.
 
 46 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 At that stage of the war bombing was at its height 
 and was considered so important that the bombing 
 officer was given the privilege of choosing his men and 
 could take any one he pleased and who he judged 
 would make good in this special work, irrespective 
 of the wishes of any company officer. Naturally 
 this caused friction between the officers. Again, 
 since the *' Suicide Club" — as the bombers were 
 usually called because of the dangerous nature of 
 the work — ^were (for the same reason and as a sort 
 of compensation for their heavy casualty lists) ex- 
 cused from all working parties, some of the same 
 friction appeared among the men. The bombers 
 were all right, in the opinion of the others, when 
 there was something doing in the front line, but "no 
 d — n good" when they were marching up from 
 resen/e trenches on working parties while the bomb- 
 ers stayed behind in billets. 
 
 I had the good — or ill, whichever way you choose 
 to look at it — fortune to be chosen for this special 
 work and thus was numbered among the "No d — n 
 good" squad. Our work was to guard the front line, 
 and any weak spot or section where the trenches were 
 unusually close together were specially allotted to us. 
 In some sections, again, bombing posts were placed 
 out in No Man's Land and in these sections we were 
 called upon to protect working parties which were 
 building up the front line. A few bombs carefully 
 placed were very effective in breaking up a German 
 raid. The trench raid, introduced by the Cana- 
 dians, was at that time just becoming popular, and 
 also fell within our duties. Taken all in all, a bomber 
 lived a busy life and one that was usually as short as 
 it was busy. 
 
 Near Meteren the brigade had built a big bomb- 
 ing school, with which had been developed an elabo-
 
 TRENCH LIFE DAY BY DAY 47 
 
 rate system of trenches, dug-outs, and saps. This 
 became our headquarters when out of the front-line 
 trenches and all the men of the battalions of the 
 brigade were sent down here for a short course in 
 bombing. Provision for gas tests was made at the 
 same place and once the whole brigade was marched 
 down to undergo the test. The trenches were filled 
 with a gas, presumably the same as the Germans 
 were using, and after being warned that under no 
 circumstances were we to remove our masks, we 
 were all marched through these gas-filled trenches. 
 That gas was genuine, all right. One chap who 
 thought he would try a taste took off his mask when 
 halfway through. Another dropped his cap and 
 went back for it after he had taken off his mask. 
 They were taken away in an ambulance and we 
 heard that they ultimately died from the effects. 
 
 Up to this time our pipe band had been with us 
 constantly and had been a great help on parade and 
 on the march. Particularly during the long, dis- 
 tasteful hours of infantry drill — the need of which 
 we could scarcely understand — the band stood us in 
 good stead. Of course some of the lads were con- 
 tinually joking at the pipers, but they all stepped 
 out just the same with a good deal of vigour when, for 
 instance, the band would strike up "The 42d,'* 
 or the good old "Cock of the North."
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 Up to the Ypres Salient 
 
 One fine morning our brigade was formed up in a 
 big field outside Bailleul, under orders for the Ypres 
 salient. 
 
 At that time the spot was not so w^ell known as it 
 became later, though we had heard stories from 
 French, Belgian, and British soldiers of the horrors 
 of the place and were naturally looking forward to an 
 active time. We were not disappointed. 
 
 Just as the band struck up that morning and the 
 huge mass of khaki began to melt up into a long, wind- 
 ing column, a huge German plane sailed high overhead. 
 Spotting us, the pilot came lower and lower and with 
 every circle we expected the bombs to begin dropping. 
 The load must have been given to someone else earlier 
 in the day for, finally, and to our rather material 
 relief, he flew away without dropping anything. 
 
 That day we reached billets behind Ypres where 
 we stayed the same night and the day following. 
 The next night, however, we had our first sight of 
 the town when we went up to relieve a division of 
 British regulars at Hooge. 
 
 In the dusk of the evening we entrained in cars and 
 a very silent and gentle old locomotive pulled us up 
 toward the old city. Fritz, how^ever, in some way 
 got a fine on our movements and shelled the track so 
 heavily that we were forced to detrain and march for 
 an hour, with shells bursting all about us. 
 
 48
 
 UP TO THE YPRES SALIENT 49 
 
 Ypres and its ruins have been described a score of 
 times so it is not necessary for me to stop to picture 
 it. It was terrible, even for us who by this time were 
 pretty well accustomed to the German ravages, to 
 see the destruction that had reduced the thousands 
 of happy, prosperous homes to a shapeless heap of 
 bricks and rubbish and had driven the people, desti- 
 tute and suffering, to wander homeless in other 
 countries. 
 
 _ There are, or were, several gates leading into the 
 city and adjacent to each was a bridge crossing the 
 canal. All the surrounding roads converge on the 
 town so that to follow the roads it was necessaiy to 
 pass through it. Sometimes v/e marched around it 
 through the fields, but the artillery and transport all 
 passed through the narrow streets and often became 
 jammed in the maze of traffic. 
 
 On this first trip in we crossed the bridge and 
 entered the city about eleven o'clock. The night 
 was very dark and the road was full of shell-holes 
 with a row of debris from the fallen buildings piled 
 up along either side, so it was necessary to pick our 
 way aloHg very carefully. Coming along to the old 
 Cloth Hall, with a tiny pinnacle on each corner still 
 left standing, we had to halt awhile for here we met 
 a British regiment coming out and also a long line of 
 transport which was rather badly jammed. We had 
 some trouble getting through and were thanking our 
 stars that the German artillery were not giving the 
 place their usual attention for if they had shelled it 
 at all just then we should have suffered heavily. 
 Our battalion was known among the others of our 
 brigade, however, as "The Lucky 1st" because we 
 had had remarkably good fortune in the trenches 
 and had suffered less than half the casualties sus- 
 tained by the other battalions. This good fortune
 
 50 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 was largely due to good management on the part 
 of Colonel Shaw, whose watchfu^ lare and sound 
 common sense certainly had a good deal to do, 
 in more ways than one, with the battalion's effi- 
 ciency. We never went into the trenches without 
 first being addressed by him and one of these talks 
 will be typical of his consideration: 
 
 "Boys, we're * going in' again and I want to give 
 you a little sound advice. Last trip we had our 
 usual good luck and suffered very few casualties. 
 Even some of those could have been avoided. Jack 
 McCauley was killed standing at daybreak with his 
 head and shoulders above the trenches. Now, I 
 want you to remember that one man can see as much 
 as twenty and you must keep under cover as much 
 as possible and take care that you do not draw the 
 enemy's attention in any way. In a month or two 
 we shall be called on to do something and we will do 
 it right. Then one live man will be better than 
 twenty dead ones. I know you all feel, as I do, the 
 disadvantage of our present position, but with the 
 coming change we shall need every available man. 
 So remember and take care of yourselves. Good- 
 bye and good luck." 
 
 The "Good-bye" did not mean that he would not 
 "go in" with us. It was for the boys who would 
 never be addressed in this way again, those who 
 would be carried silently out to join their comrades 
 "row on row," and for all of us if the end should 
 come for him. Colonel Shaw could always be de- 
 pended on to be on the job as was proven later. 
 
 The "present position," spoken of by the Colonel 
 we understood as the pacific policy which our High 
 Command seemed to be following at that time. And 
 it need scarcely be mentioned that this sort of thing 
 was exceedingly distasteful to the Canadian troops.
 
 UP TO THE YPRES SALIENT 51 
 
 We were told continually to " Keep quiet and let the 
 Germans alone and they will let you alone." The 
 Germans soon learned of this and took every ad- 
 vantage of it, shelling us regularly and harassing our 
 working parties with machine-gun fire. The Air 
 Service, too, seemed to be following the same policy 
 since the German planes hovered over our lines al- 
 most unmolested and our planes kept away, con- 
 sistently refusing to meet them, something which 
 — knowing the courage, daring, and initiative shown 
 by them earlier and later — must have been as trying 
 to the pilots as it was to us. 
 
 When we came up into Ypres salient, however, this 
 policy was wearing out. Our airmen were becoming 
 more aggressive, our artillery was beginning to "back 
 up" the infantry, and when an S. O. S. call came in 
 from any part of the line Fritz was assured of a large 
 shipment of "souvenirs" (the Canadian name 
 for the artillery offerings) by rapid transit. 
 
 Finally we got clear of the transport and picked 
 our way along a side street over piles of bricks snd 
 rubbish to avoid "Hell-fire Corner," where Fritz 
 seemed to have some idea of establishing a new 
 graveyard, for he raked the spot day and night with 
 coal boxes. Jack Johnsons, and other brands of high 
 explosive. 
 
 Coming out on the main street again, we were 
 halted, waiting for the rear companies to close up. 
 Lying by the side of the road we talked in whispers, 
 and everything was strangely quiet except for the 
 occasional crack of a rifle in the distance. We 
 watched the glare of the fluttering Very lights which 
 could just be seen over the top of Sanctuary Wood. 
 As usual, smoking was prohibited, but while waiting, 
 one of the boys shoved his head inside his comrade's 
 tunic and withdrew it again shortly with the forbid-
 
 52 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 den "nail" between his teeth. Soon from all sides 
 poured in the whispered request "Give us a light," 
 and soon the whispering ceased while a good many 
 of the boys were enjoying stolen draws. Suddenly 
 old Bee Kay, standing in the middle of the road in 
 his white coat, twitched his long, red nose and sniffed, 
 muttering: "Dammit, I smell something burning." 
 With this a keen eye might have seen strange con- 
 vulsions among the forms on the side of the road, as 
 if they had suddenly been attacked with cramps. 
 
 In a few minutes the word was passed up: "All 
 closed up in the rear," and we were about to move 
 off again when, w4th a rush and a terrible, blinding 
 crash, a huge shell dropped into the ruins of an old 
 house near by, showering us with bricks and shrapnel. 
 Some of the boys were bruised and cut by the flying 
 rubbish but no one was seriously hurt and we were 
 off in a moment at the double. In a few minutes, 
 while the bombardment was still kept up — most of 
 the shells fortunately falHng over the road and am.ong 
 the ruins — we passed out of the city across a bat- 
 tered but still serviceable bridge and came out on the 
 noted Menin road. For some time the Germans 
 had been using their machine guns as well as artillery 
 in indirect fire on the road, making it terribly dan- 
 gerous. The machine guns, like the cannon, were 
 placed some distance behind the lines and fired over 
 the top of their own trenches, picking up and register- 
 ing special ranges so that fire could be turned on par- 
 ticular points day or night. 
 
 We plodded silently along the muddy and slippery 
 road for about fifteen minutes when Br-r-r-r-r-r-r — 
 a machine gun opened fire, probably not directly 
 intended for us, but with the off chance of getting 
 something. Fortunately the gunner started just 
 a moment too soon, for a shower of sparks went up
 
 UP TO THE YPRES SALIENT 53 
 
 where the bullets ricocheted off the cobblestones 
 about ten yards ahead of us. The shower swept 
 back along the road — where we had been — (for about 
 half a second after the first bullet landed we were 
 on our faces in the ditch) — doing no particular dam- 
 age, and when the rattle ceased we were up and away 
 again. 
 
 That was destined to be an interesting night. 
 Soon we came to the great zigzag sand-bag struc- 
 ture known as the "China Wall," winding over the 
 top of a rise to the second line behind Hooge. This 
 had been built by British regiments some time before 
 to take the place of trenches where it was almost im- 
 possible to dig in and we had to follow close along 
 the base for shelter. 
 
 Coming into the second line we found the trenches 
 in a terrible state. In some places they contained a 
 foot of water in the bottom; all along the line they 
 were badty battered and in many spots were almost 
 entirely obhterated. Here we met the first com- 
 panies of the division we were relieving and mighty 
 happy they were to get out of what one Tommy de- 
 scribed as "The worst hell-hole on earth." We 
 could understand the allusion when we learned that 
 this battalion had held the trenches at that spot off 
 and on for six months and in that time, without 
 taking part in a single scrap, claimed to have suffered 
 nine hundred casualties. 
 
 Crowding and pushing past the tired and muddy 
 but happy Tommies, exchanging news and advice as 
 we passed, we finally left them behind and were 
 surprised to come to a stretch where the trenches 
 had been entirely wiped out. Keeping on across 
 this spot we came into the ruins of Hooge and, running 
 through the farther edge of the town, found what was 
 dignified by the name "Front Line."
 
 54 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 It was surely very comforting when we saw, even 
 in the rain and darkness, that the trenches were in 
 terrible condition. The men of the battalion we had 
 met going out had not hesitated to tell us that they 
 hadn't put a sand-bag on the parapet for six months; 
 no use, they said, for the German artillery would 
 knock down next day any constructive work done 
 the previous night. And at this spot, too, the Ger- 
 man trenches were only twenty yards away. But 
 still more cheering news awaited us. 
 
 When our bombing officer drew us back to a bomb 
 store for instructions before relieving the English 
 bombers we met the bombing sergeant and a couple 
 of men from the other battalion and were told that 
 their officer had got lost the night before while 
 out on a patrol, had fallen into the German trenches, 
 and that he carried with him plans of all the bomb 
 stores, showing their location and also information 
 regarding the Canadian Division — (us) — which was 
 to relieve that night. We were puzzled to know 
 why Fritz didn't extend to us his usual hot welcome 
 to relieving troops. Perhaps it was a compliment. 
 
 However, there was still worse to come. On 
 our left, about half a mile of the trenches had been 
 entirely levelled and never rebuilt, and there the so- 
 called front line was represented at night by an 
 isolated bombing post here and there, by nothing 
 in the daytim.e. And we were to be the defenders of 
 these defenceless posts. However, we filled our 
 aprons with bombs and carried an extra box apiece, 
 and each squad waded — there is no other way to 
 describe it — through the sticky, stinking mud to its 
 respective post. 
 
 My squad was told off for what was for several good 
 reasons a famous spot known as "The Stable En- 
 trenchment." At the narrowest point in the lines.
 
 UP TO THE YPRES SALIENT 55 
 
 in the ruins of an old stable, a bombing post had been 
 established. The Germans had a similar post in the 
 other end of the same building. While the place 
 probably had been a stable there was nothing to in- 
 \ dicate definitely what it had been, for it was a mass 
 of ruins with scarcely one brick left standing. 
 
 The Germans, characteristically, had built their V 
 post up with old iron, stones, and concrete till it 
 was almost a fort. Our end was a little V-shaped 
 ditch, nothing more, and gave protection only up 
 to our waists, offering no cover whatever from bombs 
 and rifle grenades and very little from snipers, who, 
 in this part of the line, were thick as flies and had 
 their posts so cunningly concealed that it was almost 
 impossible to locate them. At that some of them 
 were so close that the crack of their rifles would 
 deafen us. 
 
 The snipers took a terrible toll of lives here. Ours 
 at that time were poorly organized, had very little 
 training, took little interest in their work, and could 
 not compare in temperament with the patient thor- 
 oughness of the Germans. Then there wasn*t a sin- 
 gle sniping post we could use, for Fritz had them 
 all spotted. One German sniper would expose him- 
 self rather boldly while his mates watched craftily 
 from their posts. The moment a head showed over 
 our parapet two or three rifles would go bing ! and 
 nine times out of ten their shots got home. One big 
 German who was specially bold at this game, and 
 who himself got many of our men, was dubbed 
 "Deadwood Dick." 
 
 Naturally we went into that "Stable Intrench- 
 ment" somewhat gingerly — crawling, bent almost 
 double — until we came to the point of the V, and 
 here we found that the German snipers had been 
 picking at the sand-bags till they had cut a hole
 
 S6 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 down to within about eighteen inches of the 
 ground. When we managed to get a look around 
 another surprise awaited us for we discovered that 
 there was absolutely nothing in the way of defence, 
 not even a string of wire, between Fritz and 
 ourselves. 
 
 At first everything was quiet. After a few min- 
 utes, growing suspicious, we tossed over a few bom-bs. 
 When the usual five seconds passed with no explosion 
 following we examined our bomibs and found that 
 ever^^ one in the bunch we had brought along from 
 the store was without a detonator and was therefore 
 about as much good as a baseball. 
 
 Luckily everything was quiet that night, and next 
 day we got a chance to put in some good work at 
 getting them in shape. It was a good thing we did 
 for we had a bomb fight every night during the re- 
 mainder of that tour. 
 
 The trenches looked even worse in daylight than 
 in the dark. Well up in the point of the salient they 
 were exposed to shell fire from both flanks as well as 
 from the front, and the British Tommies who had 
 been in there previously had become so disgusted 
 with the trench material being knocked around 
 their ears repeatedly that they refused to try to 
 build them up again. They advised us, also, to 
 follow the same course. About 50 per cent, of their 
 number had "finished their footsteps" and were 
 " Pushing Daisies." Many more had gone to Blighty 
 on stretchers. A cheerful outlook for us, surely! ^ 
 
 But, following the Canadian proclivity for activity 
 as well as for fighting, we were soon hard at it im- 
 proving the situation, building up the trenches with 
 sand-bags, digging dug-outs, and improving things 
 generally. The break in the Hne received first 
 attention and the isolated bombing posts v/ere
 
   UP TO THE YPRES SALIENT 57 
 
 linked up with a trench which, when I last saw it, 
 was about three feet deep. 
 
 We bombers were employed as covering parties, 
 lying out against the German barbed wire to protect 
 the working parties from patrols or raiders. That 
 was exciting work, and some of the nights spent 
 there I recall vividly as the "hottest" of my expe- 
 riences. For instance, one night just after dark, 
 our bombing sergeant, Howell, who was and is one 
 of the finest soldiers living, put his head in an old 
 culvert under the Menin road where we slept when 
 off duty and "warned" us for a covering party. 
 We were each to take two riflemen and to place 
 them where we thought best. Wallie Nicholson — 
 get well acquainted with him, please, for, splendid 
 pal that he was, he's going to figure rather largely 
 in this tale from now on — and I were among the four 
 and so proceeded to get busy on our supper. Wallie 
 opened a Maconachie and put it on the fire to warm. 
 
 It was to be diluted with water but ; well, we 
 
 carried our water into the trenches in the same cans 
 as we used for the oil for the cookers and Wallie 
 in some way got hold of an oil can and was consider- 
 ably surprised and disgusted when the stew went 
 up in flames. There was no time to substitute, 
 however, so with no more satisfaction than hearty 
 grumbhng, we had to pile out, fill up our aprons 
 with bombs, pick our riflemen, and get up to our 
 posts. 
 
 It had been raining for a week and was still driz- 
 zling. The trenches were slippery and full of water 
 and the ground outside was so soft that we sank 
 to our knees and in the darkness staggered into 
 shell-holes and ditches, swearing softly and whisper- 
 ing back a warning when we felt a bit of barbed 
 wire under our feet. Crossing quietly over the new
 
 58 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 trench — into which a long line of stealthy figures 
 (the working party) loaded with sand-bags and 
 shovels was already pouring — we picked our way 
 among the shell-holes, barbed wire, and rubbish 
 out into No Man's Land. 
 
 The position assigned me was the most advanced 
 and lay on the side of a decline down which the 
 Germans were expected to rush in the event of a raid. 
 It was our business to stop them, should such a 
 contingency arise. Posting my riflemen one on 
 either side of me, though at some little distance, 
 and giving them orders not to shoot except as a last 
 resort, I crawled into a shell-hole on the edge of 
 Fritz's wire and began my dismal watch. The hole 
 was half full of water and the rain continued to 
 drizzle down. I squirmed and wriggled to try to 
 get into a comfortable position, but with feet and 
 legs in the water and those bombs, which seemed 
 to get harder and heavier every minute, in the breast 
 of my apron, comfort was out of the question. 
 
 All went serenely and the party had been at work 
 about an hour when — Bingo! — someone with a 
 sheet of corrugated iron on his back slipped and fell. 
 Everything had been quiet as a country field just 
 before the roosters begin to crow, but that falling 
 iron banked into the quietude so that it setmed as 
 if the clang must have been heard in Berlin. It was. 
 In a second a dozen flares shot up from the German 
 line and a whizz-bang battery, which had our range, 
 started in to bust up that quiet. It did, too. For 
 the next twenty minutes I think they landed on 
 every spot except the three feet where I was lying. 
 I was showered with mud and shrapnel and expected 
 every minute that my head would go off in bits. 
 
 One of the flares fell on my feet. Of course 
 it was the easiest thing m the world to shove it into
 
 UP TO THE YPRES SALIENT 59 
 
 the water and end its usefulness, but things are not 
 ahvays what they seem. I had once had the pleasure 
 of helping in cleaning up a German listening post, 
 the occupants of which had been foolish enough to 
 stamp out one of our flares which fell on them, and 
 thus had given away their position. That taught 
 me a lesson. So I had to squat there and silently 
 curse the thing, until it burned out while the fumes 
 nearly choked me; and every minute I expected a 
 bullet, from a sniper somewhere, in the "cow-cow," 
 as the Tommies say. 
 
 When the bombardment eased ofF and everything 
 was quiet again I heard something approaching 
 from behind and in a moment a dark figure ap- 
 peared, picking his way cautiously toward me. 
 I halted him in a low voice but he paid no attention 
 and came along directly. Fortunately I recognized 
 him as the sergeant in charge of the working party 
 so I didn't shoot. He told me they had had some 
 casualties and had been ordered in. I was to follow 
 with my riflemen in ten minutes. 
 
 He had left me only a minute or two when a rifle 
 cracked on my left. I learned next day that this 
 same sergeant had approached one of our other 
 riflemen without answering his challenge and had 
 been shot through the shoulders — just a nice 
 "Blighty." 
 
 Crawling over to where I had posted my first man 
 I sent him in. Then I made my way to the second 
 post; it had been deserted utterly. I prowled for 
 an hour but could find no trace of the man I had 
 posted there. At last I gave it up and made my 
 way back to the trenches where I was cursed by the 
 corporal who had been detailed to see us all in. 
 
 "Where are your riflemen?" he asked. 
 
 "I sent them in a while ago."
 
 6o THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 "What the H 1 kept you so long, then?'* • 
 
 (It seemed to me it was time to do a Httle wise 
 prevaricating.) 
 
 "I thought I heard something moving in Fritz's 
 trenches," was my answer. "I stopped to investi- 
 gate. 
 
 Grunting in disgust he told us to get back to our 
 dug-outs and I was soon asleep among the prowling, 
 scabby rats, which lived in countless thousands in this 
 section. 
 
 In the morning a messenger came down to find 
 out where my missing rifleman was and why he had 
 not returned to his company. It seemed advisable 
 in all interests to back up my first lie with another, so 
 I swore that he came in with me, and started off 
 down the trench to see if I could find him an^^vhere. 
 
 It had been a mistake to send that boy out any- 
 way. I had noticed when we started that he seemed 
 to have his "wind up" rather badly and had con- 
 cluded that the whizz-bangs had been too much 
 for his nerves and that he had funked. It was 
 hot stuff and I didn't blame him. He was in the 
 trenches for the first time. However, since that was 
 the worst crime possible and usually meant a "firing 
 squad" I was rather anxious. The boy turned up 
 later in the day and went back to his company. I 
 never learned what excuse he gave but it seemed to 
 be good enough to get away with for no one else found 
 out what actually happened. After a little ex- 
 perience he turned out to be a splendid soldier. 
 
 Going down the trench that morning I ran into 
 something which caused us a good deal of satisfac- 
 tion. Passing a point where the trenches were very 
 close together I heard a voice in the ditch of our 
 friends (?) opposite. Pulling my bayonet from 
 its scabbard I jammed it in between two sand-bags
 
 UP TO THE YPRES SALIENT 6i 
 
 and opened a tiny crack, carefully covering the 
 hole with my body so that no light could shine 
 through. Directly opposite me a big German 
 with a black, bushy beard was standing head and 
 shoulders above the parapet. His ugly face was 
 twisted into an evil, sneering grin and he was talking 
 to someone in the trench beside him, apparently 
 urging him to get up and look around. While I 
 looked, the pale, scared face of a young boy ap- 
 peared beside his ugly one, and frightened eyes 
 stared across toward us. 
 
 I was just cursing my luck for leaving my rifle 
 behind when a shot rang out close to me and the 
 big German threw up his hands and fell back into 
 the trench, shot through the head. Praises be! 
 It was "Deadwood Dick," who had at last paid the 
 penalty for his foolhardiness. "Dick" never troub- 
 led us again. 
 
 A moment later I found how it had been done. 
 Two bays down from me a crafty old Scotch- 
 Canadian had refused the big sniper's invitation 
 to stick his head over the parapet but had cannily 
 bored a hole with his rifle and bayonet through the 
 sand-bags and waiting for an opportune moment, 
 had "pinked" him. 
 
 The next night we were relieved and I was mighty 
 glad to get out of that spot alive. 
 
 It was a long, weary tramp back through the 
 narrow, muddy trenches to the rest billets, and as 
 we plodded along in astraggling line,often the message 
 would be passed from man to man — automatically, 
 almost, without realization that any such thing 
 was passing — "Steady in Front." In a few mo- 
 ments the figures in front would be stopped and the 
 same monotonous procedure sent back the nessage: 
 "Pass the word when you've closed up." We would
 
 62 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 all lean our packs and equipment against the sides of 
 the trench to ease our tired shoulders till back came 
 the message: "All closed up"; and then we slowly 
 moved off again. On the way we invariably met 
 and crowded past other straggling lines of heavily 
 laden troops, coming in to relieve. They usually 
 asked as to conditions and the questions and answers 
 ran something like this: 
 
 "How's things up the line?'* 
 
 "Jake." 
 
 "Many casualties?" 
 
 "About fifty." 
 
 "Get shelled this trip?" 
 
 "Just what you'd notice." Or a grim voice would 
 
 answer: 
 
 "It's only a rumour." 
 
 Every once in a while, as the man following passed 
 a spot where the footing was out of the usual, there 
 would be passed down the Hne a warning message, 
 such as: "Wire underfoot"; "Wire Overhead"; 
 "Step Up"; "Step Down"; "Loose Mat"; "Hole 
 to the Right"; "Hole to the Left," etc. This 
 proved very helpful in avoiding bad spots which 
 otherwise would have been run upon without warning 
 and would have caused a great deal of confusion.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 That Terrible Day at Sanctuary Wood 
 
 But the end of my fighting experiences — in 
 France — was drawing near. The next two months 
 were spent in and out between Hooge and Sanctuary 
 Wood and were rather monotonous. Though we 
 were in no serious fighting, our casualty list, never- 
 theless, was regularly heavy; and, so that we might 
 have needed protection, the companies worked 
 steadily, building up and putting the trenches in 
 better shape. 
 
 I was very glad, then, to be a bomber, for the 
 bombers were free from this working-party duty. 
 The men of the companies worked every night while 
 in the front line; were marched up every night for 
 the same duty while in reserve; and, even while back 
 for the so-called "rest," were loaded every night 
 into the old London 'buses and taken up to Ypres, 
 marched from there to the front and worked all 
 night, coming back to the rest camp in the morning. 
 
 The casualties in the bombers* ranks were re- 
 placed from the companies by men whom we put 
 through a bit of special training. We also did some 
 practising ourselves for we had to keep in trim. But 
 at nights we were free to enjoy ourselves and when 
 the other fellows were faUing in, grumbling and 
 swearing, for a working party, we were usually mak- 
 ing for a Y. M. C. A. canteen or a show — if we had 
 the price.
 
 64 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 We seldom had any money after the first day or 
 two "out," seemingly because of a strange lack of 
 change at the canteens. Each of us was given in 
 five-franc notes the sum of fifteen francs (about 
 ^3.00) every time we came out, but most everybody 
 had a good healthy hankering for a change of ra- 
 tions. We alwaj'^s got enough, but sixteen days of 
 the sam^e thing grew monotonous. So the "Y" 
 canteens were usually crowded. Since change seemed 
 to be so scarce — zvhy^ we could never understand — 
 we often had to "buy" to the full extent of a five 
 franc note, and as a consequence three trips to the 
 canteen on this basis left us broke for the remainder 
 of the rest period. 
 
 These Y, M. C. A. canteens and Picture Shows 
 w^ere run at that time — one hears that these condi- 
 tions have changed somewhat since — on strictly com- 
 mercial principles; sentiment was not allowed to in- 
 terfere in any way with business. Even though a 
 long line of men were waiting their turn to be served 
 the institution closed at the set time — regardless of 
 whether the troops were going in or coming out 
 of the trenches! The Picture Shows — for which a 
 straight charge of "tuppence-ha'penny" (2^ pence; 
 5 cents) was made at the door — w^ere crowded to the 
 roof twice each night. Their canteen goods were 
 sold at the same prices as in the other canteens 
 (civilian and mihtary), and as a business concern the 
 Association gave us good service at reasonable rates. 
 Of course we got, gratis, the use of buildings, usually 
 government-owned, and a supply of writing paper 
 loudly advertising the Association. 
 
 One of the bright spots in my memory, before the 
 black ones began to be impressed on it, is that of a 
 Leave spent just at this time, most of it back in old 
 Glasgow. I had known for some time that this was
 
 AT SANCTUARY WOOD 65 
 
 sur le tapis, but it was none the less welcome when 
 finally the notification came. Collecting a few 
 souvenirs to take home, I tramped in to Poperinghe 
 and got the train there. On the same car I found, 
 under guard. Private Watts, one of our fellows, 
 who seemed to have a way of his own of getting into 
 trouble and a little of whose story it is worth di- 
 gressing to tell. 
 
 However it came to him, for he had fevv^ bad habits 
 and neither drank nor smoked, Watts seemed to be 
 always in disgrace and spent most of his time doing 
 pack drill or "First Field." He had been held in 
 England when we first went to France; being much 
 disappointed, he tried — in every legitimate way he 
 knew — to get drafted to the battalion, but unsuc- 
 cessfully. He meant business, though. So when 
 one day he ran across the first man of the battalion 
 on leave he managed, quietly, to get hold of that 
 chap's ticket and crossed over to France on it. Our 
 O. C. was so pleased with his determination to be 
 with his battalion in the middle of things that he 
 tried in every way he could to hold him, but in 
 vain: Watts was packed off to Blighty to do a few more 
 weeks of " First Field." I saw the boy in London 
 again, a good many months later, after I had been 
 in the clutches of the Kaiser's slave-drivers for a 
 year, and found him considerably changed. He had 
 made good in the trenches, had been given his ser- 
 geant's stripes, had been wounded and was getting 
 nicely over it when I ran across him. Strangely, he 
 was not a bit anxious to get back to France this 
 time. 
 
 But to resume: we were tied up in Boulogne that 
 trip for twenty-four hours but finally, after a night 
 trip across the Channel, arrived in London on a dark 
 night. Dark.? Say! of all the black places on earth
 
 66 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 > . 
 
 I believe London, in war-time dress with its lights 
 
 out, is about the worst. 
 
 I ran up to Glasgow directly and was wonderfully 
 well treated by the big-hearted Scotch folk. No- 
 body can talk to me any more about the tight purse- 
 strings of the Scot. No race in Britain has shown 
 the same hospitality to the Canadian soldier. Per- 
 haps the fact that I had a little of the clanny blood 
 in me emphasized this somewhat, but any Canadian 
 has a home in Bonny Scotland. 
 
 Returning to "The Smoke" I missed my train 
 and had an extra twenty-four hours there. And — 
 would you believe it? — ^when I got back to France 
 and up near the lines I began to feel better. As we 
 reached the camp — the battalion was out on a rest — 
 and I saw Sergeant Howell and the bombers practis- 
 ing the same old stunts, I began to realize that I had 
 been a little lonesome all the time I had been away. 
 All the pleasures enjoyed on leave, even the warm 
 hospitality and kindness of those Scotch homes, 
 couldn't take the place of the sounds and sights of 
 the trenches and the camaraderie which had grown 
 up] among the fellows with whom I had spent so 
 many months in such trying circumstances. 
 
 Matters ran along about as usual till the last day 
 of May — how well I remember those dates; I had 
 good reason to — ^when we went in and took a posi- 
 tion on the point of the Ypres salient just in front of 
 Sanctuary Wood. For some unexplained reason a 
 change had been made in the disposition of the com- 
 panies both in our battalion and also in the 4th C. 
 M. R., which held the Hne to our right, both having 
 three companies in the front line and one in sup- 
 port. This was unusual and may have had some- 
 thing to do with after events. Be this as it may, 
 the two battalions, both considerably under
 
 AT SANCTUARY WOOD 67 
 
 strength, were covering a frontage usually held by 
 three battalions. 
 
 Just back of the front line were the Cumberlands' 
 dug-outs, which were regarded as reasonably safe 
 from the German artillery. During the day the 
 bombers were allotted to these dug-outs, going up 
 ever>^ night for our usual duties. 
 
 The second day in — ^June 1st — Fritz had been^ 
 showering us with big trench-mortar shells and Wal- 
 lie Nicholson and I were picked to go up with a rifle- 
 grenade battery on A Company's front. Here, in 
 accordance with the "Pacifist Policy," we were in- 
 structed to send back a little rifle grenade for every 
 big trench-mortar shell dropped on our Hne, but, 
 further, not to start anything unless we had to. 
 
 While Wallie and I were getting our equipment and 
 rations ready a young bomber who had been told off 
 for another squad came along and tried to change 
 places with me. His squad was going back to a 
 safer place in support and he preferred the front line. 
 Holding to my behef in my own good luck, which 
 up to that time had been reliable, I refused to make 
 any change, sticking to my determination to go 
 where I was sent. So, after a fruitless argument, 
 the youngster finally delegated me to a "hot spot'* 
 and went away while Wallie and I started slowly up 
 the winding, narrow trench leading to the front 
 lines. This formed a junction with the front-line 
 trench on the extreme right of our section just where 
 the line sloped down over "Mount Sorel" — a low 
 rise almost too small to be called a hill. Our left 
 
 flank rested on B Avenue, a communication 
 
 trench running up from Sanctuary Wood. 
 
 Reaching the front line we turned to the left, 
 walked down a couple of bays and passing through a 
 narrow opening in the parados, found a small sand-
 
 68 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 bag emplacement where we set up our grenade bat- 
 tery, ready to punish Fritz should he drop any more 
 sixty-pound sausages on our trench. 
 
 The fuss, however, appeared to be over for the 
 night, which, strangely enough, in the light of what 
 followed, was the quietest I ever spent on any part 
 of the front. There was scarcely a sound all night 
 long and only at long intervals were star shells — 
 usually so frequent — fired from either side. Things 
 were so easy that Wallie and I crawled into a bit of a 
 dug-out with a couple of sheets of corrugated iron for 
 a roof and went to sleep. 
 
 Just before "Stand to" time Sergeant Howell 
 and one of his micn came down the trench with the 
 bombers' rum ration and woke us up. After giving 
 us a good stiff jolt of rum and making the usual in- 
 quiries about our position, the supply of ammunition, 
 etc., they passed on down the trench. A few minutes 
 later the company's rum jar came along and we man- 
 aged to "spear" a second helping which, as Wallie 
 remarked, "fixed us up about right for breakfast." 
 
 We were ready all right but the breakfast Well, 
 
 we had it a year later, in Holland. 
 
 The order to "Stand to" had just been passed and 
 we were thinking of getting that breakfast ready 
 when the shrill scream of a shell due to alight some- 
 where near us called for first attention. We 
 dropped, pronto, in the bottom of the trench. Noth- 
 ing happened in our immediate vicinity from that 
 shell but it was the first of thousands that rained in 
 on us for the next six hours. The first few fell just 
 behind the trench. Then one landed right on top 
 of eur grenade battery, putting it out of business, of 
 course. A minute later Sergeant Sharpe stuck his 
 head around the parapet and asked: 
 
 "Is your battery hit?"
 
 "WALLY" NICHOLSON 
 
 From a photograph taken in a pris- 
 oner's uniform
 
 AT SANCTUARY WOOD 69 
 
 "Yes, Sarge," Wallie answered, laconically. "She's 
 blown to Hell.;' 
 
 Sharpe was just as direct in his order. 
 
 "Get to Hell out of here, then," he said. "There's 
 more cover in the big trench." And we did, but took 
 a different direction from the one our battery had 
 travelled. 
 
 Picking our rifles and ammunition out of the rub- 
 bish we stepped out into the main trench and were 
 moving down to a more sheltered spot when another 
 shell hit the corrugated iron roof of a dug-out and a 
 jagged piece of iron, hurtling through the air, struck 
 Sergeant Sharpe, cutting him almost in two. Some 
 of his men placed him in the firing-step and were 
 attempting to dress the wound but he died instantly. 
 
 We crawled down the trench a short distance and 
 stopped for a while in the narrowest place we could 
 find while a terrible rain of iron fell all around us. 
 The din was deafening; the very ground rocked with 
 the violent concussion of the big shells. The scarcely 
 broken scream of the approaching shells and the 
 wailing whine of the flying bits of steel and shrapnel 
 bullets made a horrible, hellish song, the recollection 
 of which is engraved deep on my brain. And added 
 to the din, the scene was indescribable. Sand-bags, 
 planks, chunks of corrugated iron, and with these the 
 mangled bodies of men, were tossed jumbled in the 
 air to fall again on the men beneath. The trench, 
 instead of being a protection, vv'as soon reduced to a 
 shapeless mass of mud, debris, rags, and mutilated 
 bodies. It was impossible to move the wounded 
 so they lay where they fell and usually didn't suff"er 
 long. It is incomprehensible how we — how any one 
 present — survived that terrible fire. 
 
 We all knew there was adequate artillery support 
 behind us and when the bombardment started that
 
 70 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 morning we cheered one another by talking about 
 what our artillery would do to Fritz in a few minutes. 
 As time passed, with the severity of the German 
 fire increasing and the retaliation was not forth- 
 coming, our boys were naturally bitterly disap- 
 pointed and sullenly cursed the artiller^\ It was 
 heart-breaking to see the wounded lying around us 
 in the trench waiting for the death that under these 
 conditions was almost certain to come to them shortly 
 — a situation which a hearty fire from our guns would, 
 to a large extent, have alleviated. It was of course 
 no fault of the gunners. They would have been 
 mighty glad to do all they could for us. Either the 
 word did not get through or there was a bungle 
 somewhere. We have heard stories, since, to the 
 effect that requests sent back from our headquarters 
 for due support were acknowledged and the promise 
 made that everything would open up shortly. How- 
 ever that may be the fact remains that in what was 
 (up to that time at least) the worst bombardment 
 ever known on the western front, not a single gun 
 (with the exception of a gallant little "Peanut 
 Battery" directly behind us which was squashed 
 early in the game) in the vicinity on the British side 
 answered. Certainly not until the end of things 
 came for us. 
 
 As we lay huddled in a comer of what was left of 
 the trench, trying to get what cover we could, a big 
 fellow came staggering along, cursing, a great jagged 
 hole in his shoulder where his arm had been. When 
 he saw us he straightened up and in a voice of agony 
 cried out: "O Christ, when will our artillery open 
 up?" As he spoke a bullet caught him through the 
 head and he pitched forward on top of me, mercifully 
 saved from any more agony. 
 
 The German snipers lay along on the parapet of
 
 AT SANCTUARY VvOOD 71 
 
 their trench and kept up a merciless fire on the 
 wounded and battered men who were crawling back 
 and forward through the heaving, boiHng mass of 
 debris, searching unavaihngly for cover. 
 
 The artillery fire was directed in a way we had 
 never known before. Three German planes,, unmo- 
 lested by either our planes or our guns, flew contin- 
 ually back and forth over our position, so low down 
 that we could plainly see the pilots watching our 
 trenches through their glasses. They were able to 
 spot the smallest movement and immediately a sig- 
 nal was transferred to their *' whizz-bang" batteries 
 and extra fire was directed on that spot. 
 
 About eleven o'clock Nicholson and I crawled 
 down the trench for a quarter of a mile without 
 seeing a single man who hadn't been wounded. What 
 was left of the trench was hke a butcher's shop and 
 in addition to the nerve-racking sight of wounded and 
 mutilated men, the odour of blood and flesh was 
 sickening and horrible. We crawled into a culvert, 
 hoping that this would give some protection, but the 
 planes had spotted us and directed such a fire on the 
 spot that we thought it better to leave it and crawl 
 down a bit of a trench our boys had dug the night 
 before out into "No Man's Land.'* Out through the 
 wire we went, most of the time on our hands and 
 knees, till we came to a spot up quite close to the 
 Hun trenches where the ditch, turning sharply to the 
 right, formed an acute angle, which, largely by reason 
 of its very nearness to the enemy position, ofiered a 
 little more cover than anywhere else we could find. 
 
 After a little time we were joined here by four 
 others who came up behind and tried to persuade us 
 to go up still farther. The trench was too narrow 
 for an}^ one to pass, and since I was in the lead, and 
 expected a German patrol to come up this trench
 
 72 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 shortly, I refused. For a little time we were fairly 
 secure here but the airmen spotted us again and di- 
 rected some of their big trench mortars on us. Three 
 hundred of these big stubby guns had been placed on 
 our front and they were certainly made good use 
 of that day. Ordinarily, it was possible to estimate 
 with fair accuracy where the shells would fall and to 
 get ready for them. The huge, slate-coloured pro- 
 jectiles would rise almost vertically to a great height, 
 then faUing slowly, would come wabbhng down with 
 a "flopping" sound and explode with terrific con- 
 cussion. These guns had been placed in pairs so 
 that the shells crossed in the air, and with the shells 
 coming from all along the front, it was impossible to 
 guess where they would drop. 
 
 They soon got to us. Two of the fellows who had 
 come in behind were killed and another wounded. 
 The latter passed a .32 automatic Colt up to me. It 
 was loaded, but since I had never had one Hke it in my 
 hand before and didn't know how to use it, I slipped 
 it in my pocket and forgot about it. 
 
 The other one of the four, who had been mumbling 
 and cursing, suddenly seemed to go out of his head 
 for he climbed out of the trench in the middle of all 
 that fire and walked slowly back toward our lines, 
 refusing to answer when we shouted to him to come 
 back. He had only gone a few yards when a ma- 
 chine gun rattled and he went down in a heap. Just 
 about then a flying chunk of shrapnel struck me, en- 
 tering my leg at the knee and driving up into my 
 thigh. 
 
 Wallie dressed my knee as well as he could, which 
 was a job indeed, in the midst of that hell of fire. 
 The big shells seemed to be coming closer every 
 minute and he shock from the concussion threw us 
 time and time again against the bottom of the trench
 
 AT SANCTUARY WOOD J73 
 
 and bruised us with falling chunks of earth. A 
 few moments after I was hit a big shell exploding 
 near by tossed up an enormous bank of mud which 
 fell literally on top of Nicholson, buried him com- 
 pletely and nearly killed him. I dug him out, nearly 
 suffocated and so badly bruised that he was scarcely 
 able to move. 
 
 We knew then that further existence in that spot 
 was only a matter of minutes and decided to try 
 to get back over the top — the trench behind had been 
 entirely flattened out — to where the support trench 
 had been. 
 
 We managed to crawl along for some distance, but 
 on reaching what had been the support trench found 
 it now merely a ragged scar on the earth. Little 
 was to be seen of dead or wounded, for the tumbling 
 earth and rubbish had buried them almost com- 
 pletely. All we could do was to try to keep behind 
 occasional banks or to get into bits of holes which 
 had not been altogether filled up. Once in a while, 
 when we took a look at the German trenches, we 
 could see them lying peacefully in the sunshine with 
 not a shell falling from our side. Dozens of heads 
 could be seen over the top of the parapet and a 
 steady fire was kept up on anything moving in our 
 line. 
 
 While we crawled on for some distance I got an- 
 other flesh wound in the thigh from a rifle bullet. 
 Suddenly the angry rattle of a machine gun on our 
 right drew our attention. 
 
 "They must be coming over," Wallie shouted. 
 
 When we peered over the little pile of rubbish in 
 front of us there were the gray-clad figures, pouring 
 over the parapet in swarms with their rifles slung 
 over their shoulders, evidently expecting no resis- 
 tance. Just then the machine gun, which some-
 
 74 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 one had managed to keep in order all through that 
 melee, swung round and caught the line in front of us 
 and those Germans went down like grain before a 
 binder. We were surprised, too, to hear a rifle speak 
 from a shell-hole here and there. We got our own 
 rifles into play and fired till they were red hot, mak- 
 ing every shot tell. 
 
 We could see the surprise on those German faces. 
 Our trenches had been so reduced that I suppose 
 they didn't expect to find a living man. They made 
 a couple of short rushes but suff^ered so heavily that 
 they soon retired and left that part of the line to be 
 dealt w ith later. 
 
 Up till that time we had no idea whatever of what 
 was going on behind us. While we got some inkling 
 of it then, it wasn't until we had a chance to talk it 
 over in Germany with some of the boys who had 
 been in other parts of the line, that we learned of the 
 general situation that morning. As a matter of fact, 
 w^e had been cut off for some time. The Germans 
 had driven a wedge through the right flank of the 
 Princess Pat's, where their line rested on the comer 
 of Sanctuary Wood, by means of a mine, which, pre- 
 pared previously, and exploded at the psychological 
 moment, formed a breach. Through this they drove 
 down into Sanctuary Wood and the Cumberland's 
 dug-outs where our Headquarters and the support 
 company were established. 
 
 To the right, in the lines held by the 4th C. M. R., 
 another mine was sprung. This opened another 
 breach and another drive went through here, the 
 wedges converging on Sanctuary Wood. Here, 
 under the command of Colonel Shaw, the few re- 
 maining men of our supporting company, with some 
 stragglers from the front line who had succeeded in 
 crawling back to the shelter of the wood, put up a
 
 AT SANCTUARY WOOD 75 
 
 gallant but hopeless fight. They resisted desperately 
 but the Germans poured in from both sides in huge 
 numbers, many with machine guns strapped to 
 their backs. To put the guns into action these 
 fellows knelt, their bodies serving as tripods, while 
 others worked the guns. 
 
 Colonel Shaw was killed there, fighting to the last, 
 as we knew he would. And with his little force 
 finally reduced the main body of the Boches pushed 
 forward and established their new line in Maple 
 Copse, just behind Sanctuary Wood. Then large 
 parties were sent back along our positions to "mop 
 them up." 
 
 When the attempt to come over immediately 
 in front of us appeared to have been given up Wallie 
 and I felt a good deal more hopeful and, never 
 dreaming of what had been going on around us, 
 decided to tr^'^ to get back to Sanctuary Wood. We 
 crawled on from one shell-hole to another, over dead 
 and mangled bodies, seeing here and there a few 
 wounded. Scarcely one of these could speak and 
 apparently had been so stupefied by the shock 
 of the shells that they could not even hear when we 
 spoke to them. The German barrage had lifted 
 some time before but the heavy trench mortars, 
 too big to move quickly, were left in their places 
 till the new line could be consolidated and to ward 
 off a counter-attack and still kept firing on our 
 wrecked trenches. We had to move very carefully 
 to miss these shells. Usually we followed the 
 plan of keeping still until we saw a shell drop and 
 then crawled along for a few yards and waited till we 
 could hear the dull report of the mortar again. 
 We managed to work our way along in this fashion 
 for a quarter of a mile or so to a communication 
 trench running back into Sanctuary Wood, but
 
 76 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 there was mighty little of this left and such a hot 
 fire was centred on the spot we thought it better 
 to turn back. Near us here we saw four or five 
 wounded fellows under the care of a Red Cross man 
 and, not wishing to draw attention to them, we 
 crawled back down the trench again. 
 
 By this time we were both in pretty bad shape. 
 Wallie was bruised and almost helpless from the 
 effect of the shell shock back near the German lines 
 and was worse off than I, though my wounds had 
 been paining fearfully. We helped each other along 
 as best we could but hadn't gone far v/hen a shell 
 burst with a blinding flash right in our faces. With 
 this I felt a sharp crack betv/een the eyes and a queer 
 pain followed shooting through my head. Putting 
 my hand to my face, down which the blood was 
 streaming, I felt something sharp and thin, like the 
 blade of a knife, sticking out between my eyes. It 
 was a piece of shrapnel which had lodged in the 
 lower part of my skull, just at the inner end of my 
 right eyebrow. Wallie tried to pull the splinter out 
 but it was too deeply imbedded and had to be left 
 though the pains in my head were becoming un- 
 bearable. 
 
 While w^e stayed here we heard a few scattered rifle 
 shots and noticed jets of black smoke rising here and 
 there. Peering over the top of the ragged remains 
 of the trench to find out what was happening we 
 saw the German mopping-up party making their 
 way slowly along the hne, and to our horror saw that 
 they were pumping liquid fire — the cause of the smoke 
 jets — on the wounded men in the shell-holes, burning 
 them up. When any resistance was offered the 
 victim was mercilessly shot. 
 
 We had used up all our ammunition when the 
 Germans had attempted to come over, a little time
 
 AT SANCTUARY WOOD m 
 
 before, and Wallie's rifle had been smashed by the 
 shell which wounded me, so that we had absolutely 
 no means of defence; and, since there seemed to 
 be no hope for any one in that section that day, we 
 thought it wise to look around for a place in which 
 to hide from those cold-blooded murderers. After 
 a moment's search we discovered the rnouth of a 
 small wooden culvert which had been built to drain 
 the water out of the trenches, and managed to crawl 
 painfully into the narrow opening until we thought 
 we were about halfway through. Then we lay 
 still, awaiting we knew not what, hoping against 
 hope that we might not be discovered but scarcely, 
 knowing what would be in store for us in any events 
 since even there we were behind the new Germam 
 line. 
 
 In a few minutes pairs of gray-clad legs with top 
 boots began passing and just when we thought 
 they had all gone by and that immediate danger,' 
 at least, was past, a pair of boots appeared right 
 at the opening. One foot was lifted and placed 
 on the edge of the planks of the culvert and we could 
 see a big pair of red hands working at the boot, 
 which, from the accompanying cursing in a gruff 
 German voice, must have been causing the wearer 
 some trouble. We held our breath for a few mo- 
 ments and then, to our rehef, the foot was with- 
 drawn and the legs disappeared. 
 
 We lay in that culvert a good while before we ven- 
 tured to crawl out again, but after a while everything 
 appeared to be quiet and we knew that, if we were 
 to get back to our ov^ti lines at all, the attempt would 
 have to be made shortly so we crawled out again and 
 worked our way over to the side of Mount Sorel 
 where we could still hear battle sounds. 
 
 I shall never forget the sight that greeted us there.
 
 78 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 A big sloping hollow crossed our trenches at the foot 
 of the incline and this had been the spot chosen by 
 the German engineers for their mine. Now a great 
 mass of German infantry was swarming up this 
 hollow. Thousands of them poured out of their 
 trenches in a dense gray mass, which spread — like a 
 solid substance, rather than as men — over the ad- 
 jacent ground. As they pressed on the machine 
 guns of the 5th Battalion on the distant slope of the 
 hill were doing terrible execution. At times the 
 gray horde would seem to crumble and melt away 
 and then we could see the ground covered with 
 German dead. But, behind, the stream pressed on, 
 filling the breaches, driven by the officers who could 
 be seen brandishing their revolvers and urging their 
 men forv/ard over the heaps of dead. Some of 
 them went fonvard in rushes, falling on their faces at 
 intervals and then rushing on again. But most of 
 the force moved on steadily until they came into 
 range of the Canadian machine guns or found the 
 shelter of the wood. Our men were having their 
 innings now and were making up in good shape for 
 the slaughter in the front trenches earher in the day.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 In the Hands of the Kaiser's Minions 
 
 It was clear to us, now, that we were cut off, so, in 
 default of anything better, we drew back from the crest 
 of the hill and crawled into a hole close by. For a little 
 time we lay there unmolested but finally, a party came 
 out of a near-by bit of communication trench and 
 began digging a trench for the new position just in front 
 of us. They had only worked a few minutes when, as 
 was inevitable, one of them saw us and came over and 
 stood with his shovel raised threateningly while he 
 called us "Englander Schweinerie" and all the other 
 bad names he could think of. The others heard him 
 and gathered round and a hot argument ensued. 
 
 At the time we didn't know any Germ; in and so 
 couldn't understand what it was all about. From 
 the gestures, though, we judged that they were dis- 
 cussing what was to be done with us and that some 
 of them were in favour of doing away with us there 
 and then. Two or three of them had their rifles 
 and several times they drew them back with the 
 long, broad-bladed bayonets, as if to stick us, at 
 the same time cursing us bitterly. 
 
 By this time we were pretty nearly past feeling. 
 We knew we were almost certain to be killed anyway 
 and we had narrowly escaped death a thousand times 
 already that day so that we were not much affected 
 by the outlook. And probably this indifference was 
 what saved us. 
 
 79
 
 8o THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 They evidently expected us to cower in the bottom 
 of the shell-hole and to beg for mercy as certainly 
 they would have done in similar circumstances. 
 We were not begging for anything just then, but, 
 paying no attention to their threats, we crawled 
 up on the edge of the shell-hole. There I ordered 
 them oft with as great a show of authority as would 
 have been exercised by a German N. C. O., when, 
 to our surprise, they lowered their bayonets, and 
 appeared to regard us with less hostility and new 
 interest. They talked the matter over awhile 
 longer and then one big fellow ordered us — in Ger- 
 man, which, by dint of his gestures, we were 
 made to understand — to get back into their 
 trenches. We staggered along, helping one another 
 as best we could, he following with the point of his 
 bayonet about an inch from my back, and keep- 
 ing up an incessant tirade in his hard, guttural 
 growl. 
 
 We noted here that the German trenches were 
 still undamaged. We saw only two dead Germans 
 in the front line and only one spot where their para- 
 pet had been hit by a shell. As we passed down we 
 met long lines of men loaded with sand-bags, shovels, 
 machine guns, ammunition, and all sorts of supplies. 
 Scarcely one passed us without a curse, and most of 
 those that were not handicapped by material drew 
 their bayonets back and, I am sure, would have run 
 us through but for our captor who clung to us 
 desperately and who apparently was using his pris- 
 oners as an excuse to get out of the battle zone 
 himself. We wore the bright red and black badges 
 on our sleeves proclaiming us bombers. And when 
 the Germans caught sight of these they became 
 infuriated, for they have no love for a Canadian 
 bomber. Time and again I expected to see the
 
 THE KAISER'S MINIONS 8i 
 
 end right there but our guide fended them off and we 
 were forced along. 
 
 In and out through a maze of perfect communica- 
 tion trenches we carried on till we came to a lot of 
 concrete trenches and dug-outs which must have 
 been their second Hne. This spot was densely packed 
 with men and I could not help thinking what terrible 
 work our artillery might have done among these 
 thousands. Instead, all was as quiet and peaceful 
 back here as if there were no war on. 
 
 We came to a dressing station where our wounds 
 were roughly dressed. When one of the orderlies 
 pulled the shrapnel splinter out of my brow I was 
 horrified to find myself become almost totally blind. 
 Imagine, if you can, how I felt — a prisoner in the 
 hands of these wanton murderers (as we knew them 
 to be), without being able to see what was happening. 
 I could only see faintly out of the right eye and had 
 to ask or form my conclusions as to what was to come 
 next. 
 
 Quite a number of prisoners had been gathered 
 together here and they, like us, were in terrible shape. 
 Most of them were wounded. A few had escaped 
 actual wounds. But everyone was in a sort of 
 stupor from the effects of the terrible bombard- 
 ment while most of them were half crazy as the re- 
 sult of what they had come through, and everyone 
 was so deaf that we had to shout at each other in 
 order to be heard. 
 
 After a little time we were sorted out from the 
 standpoint of our ability to get along alone, Wallie 
 and I being picked out, with a lot of others about 
 as bad, as walking cases. 
 
 And in that shape we were started off on what was 
 to be a fifteen-mile march without a let-up. 
 
 God in heaven! I shall never forget to the last
 
 82 THEIICAISER'S GUEST. 
 
 day of my life the horror of that march. Those 
 deputed as guides were anxious to get out of the 
 range of the British artillery, particularly since they 
 were all puzzled by the strange silence on the part 
 of our guns, and every moment expected this to be 
 broken in earnest. One or two who could speak a 
 little English asked us repeatedly why our guns 
 hadn't supported us and were not satisfied when we 
 told them simply that we didn't know. Conse- 
 quently we were driven mercilessly. 
 
 Broken, ragged, bloody, and hopeless we staggered 
 along, helping one another when we could. The 
 awful despair and misery which looked out of the 
 eyes of the poor wounded fellows as we were urged 
 along by the guards were too agonizing to be ex- 
 pressed. 
 
 A couple of miles to the rear we vv^ere handed over 
 to a squad of Uhlans, who sat on their big, lean 
 horses and laughed at us and, in their turn, drove 
 us Vv'ith their long steel-tipped lances. 
 
 We found out by actual experience during this 
 march that the stories of the ill-treatment of the 
 French and Belgians in the occupied territory had 
 not been exaggerated. Dragging ourselves slowly 
 along we passed from time to time through small 
 towns and villages. Again and again in these places 
 the civilians, though apparently almost starving 
 themselves, gathered along the streets and tried 
 to hand us bread, chocolates, cigarettes, and water. 
 We were suffering terribly from thirst, not having 
 had a chance to get a drink since morning, but, with 
 their lances, the guards invariably drove these poor 
 people back or, in some cases, rode them down. 
 They tried to make us believe that these people were 
 trying to poison us. 
 
 It was pitiful to see the fear in which the wretched,
 
 THE KAISER'S MINIONS 83 
 
 half-starved Belgians generally held the Germans. 
 Old women and little children would turn at the 
 sight of a Uhlan and, running as fast as they could 
 till a place of immediate safety was reached, would 
 peek fearfully round the corners, making certain that 
 none of the persecutors was in sight before they would 
 venture even to cross the street. It was very easy to 
 see how these people had been cowed and broken 
 till, now, they were nothing better than slaves. 
 
 Through the afternoon and the long summer eve- 
 ning that hideous march was forced on. Time after 
 time I thought I should drop with the weariness and 
 pain of it all. Again and again I thought it would 
 be better to die there than to try to make another 
 hundred yards. But in spite of all the pain and 
 weariness and the horrible feeling of being driven Hke 
 cattle in an enemy country, there seemed to be among 
 the boys a determination — which afterward became 
 very manifest in the prison camps and which has kept 
 many a man alive — ^to show these German brutes 
 that we were British and that British soldiers had the 
 nerve and stamina to endure anything without being 
 broken. _ ! 
 
 Like everything else, that march, which seems like 
 a horrible nightmare when I look back on it, had to 
 have an end. About ten o'clock we dragged our- 
 selves into Courtrai and were placed in a barn for 
 the night. And here was served our first meal by 
 Germans — a small square of black, sour bread, and 
 a bowl of a black, bitter liquid they called coffee. 
 Most of us, too sick and weary to think of eating 
 even though we had had nothing all day, dropped 
 on the floor of the barn like dead men. 
 
 Some of the boys were able to sleep; I wasn't. 
 Utterly worn out physically, my mind was still too 
 active, tearing back over the events of that ail-too-
 
 84 .THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 terrible day, to give me the needed rest. Added to 
 the other torment my eyes pained me excruciatingly 
 so I sat up against the wall all night. 
 
 Such a night I hope I may never experience again. 
 If there be any place on earth, or in the hereafter, 
 where suffering is greater than was evident in that 
 dirty old bam in Belgium that night I pray to be 
 delivered from it. Even the fellows who slept by 
 reason of their physical exhaustion were subcon- 
 sciously awake and, dreaming that they were in the 
 thick of the battle again, would roll about the floor 
 fighting and kicking in terrible earnestness, until 
 some of their friends, taking pity on them and on 
 some of us, would shake them back into conscious- 
 ness. All night long a silent, sinister figure of a big, 
 black-bearded Prussian, with his spiked helmet 
 and long, glittering bayonet, making him appear in 
 the half-light as one of Satan's own minions, stalked 
 slowly up and down the barn floor. 
 
 Even that night of horrors came to an end and, 
 although we were terribly stiff and sore in the morn- 
 ing, the small amount of rest we had gained sufficed 
 to give us new spirit and we were ready to buck the 
 Germans in any way we could, for w^hen we realized 
 fully that we Avere prisoners we determined that the 
 fight should be carried on behind his lines as well as 
 in front of them. 
 
 This became evident when a few of the boys were 
 taken over quite early and paraded before a bunch of 
 German officers who apparently hoped to get some 
 useful information. They were treated at first to 
 wine, cigars, and cigarettes — a sort of softening 
 process, I suppose — and were then put through a very 
 severe cross-examination as to the number and loca- 
 tion of our troops and guns. A lot of satisfaction 
 they got! O'jr fellows gave them plenty of informa-
 
 THE KAISER'S MINIONS 85 
 
 tion — such as it was — but apparently they came to 
 the conclusion that not much of it was to be rehed 
 upon for the examination was finally given up in dis- 
 gust and our boys were denounced as fools for coming 
 over to France to fight. 
 
 During the morning we were marched farther back 
 and herded into a sunken enclosure or pit close to the 
 Courtrai railway station. About noon we were 
 given a bowl of vegetable soup, and, while it wasn't 
 particularly palatable, we were "ready by this time 
 to appreciate anything. Movement was destined to 
 be frequent at that time for, late in the evening, we 
 were loaded in box cars and started on a lengthy and 
 terribly slow journey back into Germany. 
 
 The memories of that trip stick also. We were 
 two days and nights on that train, sitting, lying, 
 and standing by turn in those dirty cars without any 
 provision for comfort or common decency and to 
 those of us who were wounded and suffering the jour- 
 ney was inexpressibly painful and tedious. Added 
 to this were the pangs of hunger and thirst. Our 
 rations, en route, were a bowl of thin soup once a 
 day. Coming after the plentiful food we had been 
 enjoying, this was exceedingly scanty. Had we 
 known it, hovv^ever, even this was considerably more 
 than we were to get later. 
 
 We appreciated the fact that we were not dis- 
 'turbed, but were left pretty much to ourselves on 
 the journey. We saw numbers of civilians stand- 
 ing round the various stations as we passed through 
 or waited in sidings, but they seemed to take little 
 notice of us. They all had a depressed and hopeless 
 look and no doubt were suffering too much them- 
 selves to think of worrying the prisoners as they did 
 earlier in the war. 
 
 One interesting point in that trip, or rather one
 
 86 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 which would have been interesting in other circum- 
 stances, was the considerable time we spent skirting 
 the huge Krupp plant at Essen when, for hours it 
 seemed, the train ran through long rows of sheds 
 and factories and where we saw thousands of chim- 
 neys belching smoke. 
 
 Our first experiences in German prison-camp Hfe 
 followed. We arrived at Diilmen Camp early one 
 morning and were herded at once into a big enclosure 
 where we were searched for letters and other papers. 
 We had, however, destroyed all letters and diaries 
 which might have afforded any information so they 
 got nothing from us. I had decided on the way up 
 from the front that it would be better to dispense 
 with the automatic pistol which had been given me 
 on the day we were captured, and so dropped it 
 off the train. It was well that I did, for, had it 
 been found on me in this search, I should certainly 
 have been shot without compunction. Having 
 come so far, more or less safely, we made up our 
 minds that life was worth hanging on to for a while 
 yet. By this time, too, we were beginning to get 
 some life into us again, after the stupefying experi- 
 ences of that terrible day on the battle front. 
 
 Naturall}" we examined our new quarters with a 
 good deal of anxiety. First, we were impressed 
 by the large number of guards which seemed to be 
 posted everywhere, providing against escape. To 
 this provision was added row upon row of barbed- 
 wire fence, the strands fastened closely and making a 
 barrier about sixteen feet high. The camp was 
 divided into three sections or "blocks" and each 
 of these again subdivided into four, so that the 
 prisoners could be kept from congregating in large 
 numbers. We were placed in Block 3, which was 
 presumed to be set aside exclusively for newly-
 
 THE KAISER'S MINIONS 87 
 
 arrived prisoners, though there were then quite a 
 number of French and Russians in it who had been 
 interned for some time. Block 2 was occupied by 
 convalescent and crippled prisoners and Block i was 
 allotted to men who had been in Germany some con- 
 siderable time. Many different races were repre- 
 sented. They were allowed to mix freely during the 
 day, here, but were separated — and slept in different 
 barracks — at night. 
 
 The camp was built on the shore of a shallow, 
 sandy lake or slough and in consequence the footing 
 was very loose and dry, the sand coming over the 
 tops of our boots when we walked. We were fairly 
 well pleased with the barracks here for they were 
 comparatively new and were clean and dry. We were 
 told afterward by longer-term prisoners that they 
 had been built by the American Red Cross. The 
 beds were made in the form of hammocks of woven 
 rushes stretched on wooden frames and were not so 
 bad when one got accustomed to them — and after 
 the bunks of various kinds we had put up with on 
 the line and in billets in Flanders. For covering 
 we were given two blankets apiece but they were so 
 old and so thin that they gave little warmth. 
 
 At first, however, most of our party, being 
 wounded, were placed in a hospital barrack where 
 we were looked after by British and French Red 
 Cross men and by a French doctor, all of whom had 
 been captured some time before. Naturally we got 
 good treatment from them, but we were examined 
 frequently by German doctors who pronounced on 
 our fitness for work and were turned out of the hos- 
 pital at the earliest possible moment, almost before 
 we could walk straight. 
 
 It was very evident that even at this time the 
 Germans were short of medicines and material for
 
 88 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 bandages. All the bandages used on us were made 
 from paper, and very poor stuft' at that. One thing 
 they did well here, however — the matter of inocula- 
 tion. I was given seven "doses" — providing against 
 almost every known disease — before I finally passed 
 as "finished"; and they proved exceedingly effective. 
 Had it not been for that treatment we should cer- 
 tainly have been exterminated by cholera which 
 would have been sure to develop amid the conditions 
 we experienced later. 
 
 Naturally, too, we were interested in the camp 
 rations. Here also was reflected the lack of supplies 
 in Germany. A review of the daily allowance v/ill 
 adequately illustrate this. 
 
 For breakfast we were given a bowl of coffee or 
 cocoa (so-called) or a sort of soup made from bones 
 ground into a fine dust. The "coffee" was merely 
 acorns, burned and ground. The "cocoa" — like- 
 wise a very poor substitute — ^was made from the 
 bark of some tree and was tasteless and devoid of 
 nourishment. No solids were allowed at breakfast, 
 though one was supposed to have saved some of 
 the bread ration handed out the night before. 
 
 For the noon "repast" we were usually given a 
 bowl of soup made from ground and dried vegetables. 
 Later I had the opportunity of finding out how this 
 stuff was made. It came to us as a gritty, dirty 
 mess about as thick as gruel, thinner when the supply 
 was not large. 
 
 About four o'clock the daily bread ration was 
 served. This was a chunk of vegetable concoction 
 a little less than a third of a pound, supposed to 
 provide solid food for twenty-four hours. The vege- 
 table liour which from this so-called bread was 
 made was mixed with just enough wheat or rye 
 flour to make the mass stick together. The loaves 
 
  
 
 THE ICAISER'S MINIONS 89 
 
 came out of the oven the same size they went in 
 and the stuff was heavy, sour, black, and bitter — 
 so vile and strong that it seemed to burn our stom- 
 achs. 
 
 Sometimes we found bits of strong, odorous meat 
 in the soup and this the French cooks told us was 
 dog meat. We usually knew when this v\^as coming 
 for we could see the cooks with white towels tied 
 over their faces to keep out the odour while the 
 stew was being prepared. One day Wallie and I, 
 who had managed to stick together, picked all the 
 bones out of a potful of soup and, sorting them out 
 carefully, managed to piece together the skeleton of 
 a German dachshund. We kept this and brought 
 it out every time "Soup up" v/as called, hoping to 
 drive some other prisoners away from the soup but 
 with little success. 
 
 Supper consisted usually of another bowl of soup 
 made from something resembling cornmeal but with 
 scarcely any body in it, and which, like the rest, 
 was thin and lacking in any nourishing qualities. 
 The Tommies had, for some reason or other, probably 
 because it resembled sand more than anything else, 
 dubbed this "sandstorm." In addition to this we 
 were given half a salt herring once or twice a week. 
 These, too, were often putrid but they were never 
 thrown away. 
 
 It will be evident that this allowance, particularly 
 when most of the food was unpalatable and indiges- 
 tible, was not enough to keep us from starvation. 
 For a time we were in a veiy bad way indeed. 
 Later, when our parcels began to arrive, this con- 
 dition was much relieved but for a good while we 
 saw nothing of a parcel of any kind. The French 
 prisoners in our block — ^who had been there long 
 enough to have had regular communication estab-
 
 90 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 lished with their Red Cross and who were in conse- 
 quence getting more or less regular supplies of food — 
 often took advantage of this to get hold of our great 
 coats, boots, or anything else they fancied, in return 
 for a pittance of food, biscuits, cigarettes, or tobacco. 
 I actually saw one half-starved Canadian boy trade 
 off his great coat for one cigarette and the French- 
 man went back to his barracks with his prize, laugh- 
 ing heartily. 
 
 The Russians, on the other hand, were different. 
 The fellows in our block then, while almost starving 
 themselves (since no parcels were coming through 
 to them), were very kind to us. They went into 
 Blocks Number i and 2 every day to dispose of 
 the swill and to do other odd jobs, and the British 
 prisoners there — who, like the French, had parcels 
 arriving more or less regularly — gave them their 
 German rations, which they shared with us. These 
 British prisoners sent us some of the stuff from their 
 parcels when they could, and while it didn't amount 
 to much, without it most of us couldn't have existed 
 until our own parcels arrived. 
 
 I have to shudder now when I think to what 
 depths of misery and degradation the hunger of 
 those days drove us. Every night, when the garbage 
 pails were put outside the kitchen to be emptied, we 
 gathered round and fought for the horrible refuse 
 that was thrown out after the preparation of that 
 vile food. Some of the finest fellows I ever met 
 became like wild beasts at times under such dreadful 
 conditions, and if our parcels had not come along ulti-, 
 mately we would certainly have become cannibals. 
 
 While we were isolated for some time after arriving 
 in the camp we were able to exchange signals occa- 
 sionally, using the regular army code, with the 
 British prisoners in the other blocks. Of course
 
 THE KAISER'S MINIONS 91 
 
 this had to be done surreptitiously; if we had been 
 caught the penalty would have been heavy. Among 
 others we were a good deal puzzled at one message 
 which came to us soon after our arrival: "Watch 
 old Stiffy." The message was repeated over and 
 over as if to drill it into our memories. 
 
 The puzzle was solved one morning, however, 
 when a very strange figure made his way into the 
 camp. He was a German of about fifty years, I 
 should say, and had been afflicted by a paralytic 
 stroke so that every joint in his body seemed stiff. 
 Since he could bend neither knees, neck, nor back, 
 he was forced to shuffle along with a most peculiar 
 walk, much resembling that made famous by Charlie 
 Chaplin. To add to his pecuhar appearance he 
 wore a high top hat with his civilian clothes. But 
 if his body was stiff his brain was the very reverse. 
 He had spent years in England, the United States, 
 and other countries and spoke English fluently. 
 With a great show of friendliness he came among us 
 trying to make us think he was a friend and hinting 
 that he was acting under the direction of the Ameri- 
 cans to improve our conditions. He was very 
 plausible and probably might have gained some of 
 the information he was looking for had we not been 
 warned. As it was I'm afraid he was "out of luck." 
 We found out later that he was a veteran spy of the 
 Kaiser's personal staff and one of the parasites who 
 made the far-reaching German spy system possible. 
 When our turn came a little later to do the signalling 
 to other new arrivals we changed the name, for one 
 more significant, and signalled the message: "Watch 
 old Charlie Chaplin."
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 Starvation Conditions in Dulmen 
 
 The starvation of those days was bad enough but 
 worse was to follow. When we were pronounced 
 able to leave the hospital we were taken out every 
 two or three days to work on the prison farm and 
 at other so-called light jobs around the country. 
 Since we were so v/eak from lack of proper nourish- 
 ment that we could scarcely walk, this was pretty 
 tough. To avoid work we often tried to hide away 
 in the barracks but the guards were relentless, as we 
 found all German guards to be, and no matter how 
 sick or weak we might be we were dragged out and 
 driven like cattle down the road. 
 
 We had made up our minds that the Germans 
 were not going to benefit any more than we could 
 help by our presence in the country, a policy that 
 British prisoners adopted early in the war and have 
 ever since carried out. Our first chance to put 
 this into operation came when we were put to work 
 setting out cabbage plants on the prison farm. 
 When doing this we would pinch the tender plants 
 with the thumb nail just at the junction of the root 
 and the stalk and inevitably after this treatment the 
 plant died. You can imagine how surprised the 
 Germans were the first time this was done, to find 
 the plants, the morning after they were planted, 
 all withered and dead. 
 
 When they found they couldn't trust us at this 
 
 92
 
 CONDITIONS IN DULMEN 93 
 
 sort of work our places were taken by the French 
 who pursued a more peaceful policy. Then we were 
 set at cutting heather on the big moors a couple of 
 miles from camp. After cutting, the crop was 
 wheeled on barrows to a big press, there made up 
 into bales, and then shipped away by rail. 
 
 Here we got our first understanding of the bad 
 feeling which existed everywhere between the civil- 
 ians and the mihtary. While we were under guards, 
 the work was managed and directed by a civihan who 
 owned the property and the crop and who drove us 
 mercilessly to get as much as possible out of us. 
 The guards disliked the idea of being under the di- 
 rection of a civilian and refused in consequence to 
 drive us as he wished, though they were careful to 
 let us know that this was not by reason of any 
 kindly feeHngs toward us. 
 
 The idea of escape had been always uppermost with 
 Nicholson and me ever since we realized that we were 
 prisoners. And this grew with our work on the 
 moors where we were not particularly closely guarded. 
 Had we been strong enough we would certainly 
 have made an attem.pt then, for we had found by 
 careful inquiry that the camp was in the province 
 of Westphalia about eighteen miles due east of a point 
 on the Dutch frontier. Some of the older prisoners 
 even showed us on a map they had somehow got 
 hold of the exact location of the place, and one or 
 two prisoners in Block i who had made an attempt 
 to escape told us of three windmills set in a direct 
 hne with that frontier point. After that Wallie 
 and I used to gaze longingly out over the moor to 
 where the first of these windmills could be picked 
 out on the top of a hill some five miles to the west. 
 How we longed and even prayed for the long-promised 
 parcels which would give us the strength at least to
 
 94 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 make an attempt to reach the Border. As it was, 
 we had good opportunities for escape, but the care- 
 lessness of the guards was easily explained by the 
 fact that they knew quite as well as we did that we 
 hadn't the necessary strength for the undertaking. 
 Attempts, several of them, were to be made later, 
 however. And I kept on trying until success finally 
 materialized. 
 
 Aside from the hope of escape, however, we had 
 good news from other sources which helped to keep 
 us buoyed up. Not long after the date of our cap- 
 ture the British and French offensive on the Somme 
 began and every few days a small bunch of new 
 prisoners came in. Invariably they had the same 
 story to tell — that everything was going splendidl}'^ 
 but that they had advanced too far and had been 
 cut off. They were very optimistic as to the general 
 outlook and as a result we all expected the war to be 
 over and all of us home in the fall. 
 
 It was interesting to see the difference in the 
 condition of the British as compared with the 
 French prisoners on arrival. 
 
 The French arrived almost daily and in fairly 
 large numbers. Sometimes whole detachments came 
 in from the same battalion. They usually had their 
 great coats and a large part of their equipment 
 and, in the majority of cases, showed little evidence 
 of having been in a scrap. Most of them were 
 smiling and happy, apparently very well pleased to 
 be out of the war. 
 
 On the other hand, very few British prisoners 
 arrived, and these were made up of men from every 
 battalion on the section of the line they had been 
 covering. Many of them wounded, bloody, ragged, 
 and half dead with fatigue, they looked like men who 
 had given every ounce of their strength till they
 
 CONDITIONS IN DULMEN 95 
 
 collapsed. Instead of being content tliey were 
 invariably depressed and chagrined at their mis- 
 fortune. 
 
 In July about three hundred French Moroccan 
 troops arrived. Wallie described them as: "Real 
 savages, black as the ace of spades." It was rather 
 pathetic to watch them for they couldn't under- 
 stand why they were shut up in the enclosure or 
 why they shouldn't be fed. Even these fellows 
 had their ideas of escape when they discovered 
 the location of the camp; as we learned a little time 
 later. 
 
 One day when I was out with a working party 
 some distance from the camp one of the boys sud- 
 denly dropped as though struck by lightning and 
 the report of a rifle from the camp followed. Ex- 
 amination showed that a bullet had grazed his fore- 
 head. Fortunately no serious injury was caused 
 and after a little time he came around all right. 
 When we got back to the camp we found that one 
 of the Moroccans had made his escape; a bullet 
 fired after him by one of the guards had accidentally 
 found our party. The black was away all night, 
 but as was almost invariably the case, was caught 
 and brought back later. 
 
 We had scarcely expected to meet members of 
 the British navy in the camps, but when we found 
 how cosmopolitan the personnel of the prisoners' 
 camp was, nothing much would have surprised us. 
 In the middle of that summer, shortly after the 
 Battle of Jutland, some survivors who had been 
 picked up when their vessel had been sunk were 
 brought in and placed in the adjacent compound. 
 They were lively fellows, full of mischief as any sailor 
 could be and delighted in tormenting the guards 
 when this could be done with any likelihood of safety.
 
 96 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 One day one of these Jackies threw a rubber ball 
 (used by the Frenchmen for some sort of game), and 
 hit a guard who stood on the other side of the wire 
 fence. That was a crime of the deepest dye and the 
 guard accordingly — ^to use Jack's ov/n description — 
 came into the compound and "raised hell." When 
 he couldn't find the culprit he reported the matter 
 to the commandant. As a result all the sailors were 
 put under punishment and kept standing at attention 
 for hours while attempts were made to get the guilty 
 one to confess. The man responsible wanted to 
 give himself up right away but the others determined 
 to stick together and to "stick it out." In the end, 
 despite protestations, he broke away and proclaimed 
 himself. He was sentenced to stand at attention, 
 under guard, with his face to the wall in a sentry box, 
 for twenty-four hours. But the guard who had made 
 the complaint had to stand and watch him, this 
 provision apparently being made to remind him that 
 he should not trouble his superiors with small 
 offences, but deal with them himself according to 
 the approved German methods. 
 
 One thing which humiliated us a good deal in 
 the camps was that we were ordered to salute the 
 *' Unteroffi7,iers'* (corporals and sergeants) and '^Feld- 
 zvebels" (sergeant-majors), as well as the higher 
 officers. The Canadians were not strong on salut- 
 ing an^'^vhere. We had been in continual trouble 
 on this point in England. But for us to salute a 
 lot of dirty, ignorant, German savages! Well, we 
 did so only when there was no way of getting out 
 of it and were frequently punished in consequence. 
 
 One day, just after I had been discharged from 
 hospital, I was wandering round in the compound, 
 half starved and paying no attention to any one, 
 when a loud, harsh voice behind me drew my atten-
 
 CONDITIONS IN DULMEN 97 
 
 tion. When I turned round, there, just outside the 
 fence, was a little, stubby, old German general, his 
 moustache sticking up on either side like horns, 
 waving his highly poHshed sword over his head and 
 frothing at the mouth with rage. Not dreaming 
 that I was the innocent cause of his excitement I 
 started to laugh and only when he began to make 
 a run for the gate to get into the compound did I 
 reahze that he was after me for failing to salute. 
 Discretion, here, was certainly the better part of 
 valour and I was able to get into the barracks and 
 hide away before he got inside the compound. 
 
 A few days later a couple of the British prisoners 
 in the next compound were similarly neglectful when 
 this old martinet was around and, to add to the insult, 
 one of our Canadian boys — who was amused at the 
 old chap's excited "barking" — began to imitate 
 him. That was an absolutely unpardonable sin and, 
 in consequence, the whole camp was put under pun- 
 ishment. We were stood in long rows along the 
 fences and everything possible was done to get 
 hold of the offender. In this case nobody sympa- 
 thized with the chaps who had been so indiscreet 
 because they had well known what the consequences 
 would be and they were soon persuaded to give 
 themselves up. They were sentenced to three 
 weeks in the "black cells" on a ration of bread and 
 water. 
 
 An ,out-of-the-ordinary event while we were in 
 Block 3 at Diilmen Camp was the visit of the Ameri» 
 can Ambassador Mr. Gerard. The camp was 
 cleaned up previous to his visit and the soup showed 
 a marked improvement for that day. When he 
 arrived we were lined up, four deep, while he talked 
 to us for a few minutes. He told us he had been 
 sent by his Government to see whether he could do
 
 98 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 anything to improve conditions for us and to take 
 any complaints we had to make. The all-important 
 question with us just then was food and we com- 
 plained of the scarcity and quality of the stuff given 
 us, telling him — what he could plainly see himself — 
 that we were starving. 
 
 . *T will see what I can do," he said; "but I am 
 afraid you must not expect much. Your parcels 
 will soon be coming and then you will be all right.'* 
 
 "But we are absolutely starving,'* some of the 
 boys insisted. "We will all die if our parcels do 
 not come soon.** 
 
 With this, several officers who accompanied him 
 intervened, apparently trying to explain that the 
 food was all it ought to be, considering the circum- 
 stances. Mr. Gerard was not allowed to speak to us 
 alone and, I have no doubt, was a good deal ham- 
 pered, for German officers listened closely to every- 
 thing he had to say and to any remarks we made, 
 so that any one complaining of ill-treatment might 
 be punished later. After renewing his promise 
 to do what he could he left the camp. Whatever 
 he may have tried to do it had no appreciable result, 
 since matters continued in the same old way. It 
 was obvious that the Geramns held both him and 
 his country in contempt and that this visit was 
 allowed only as a matter of form. 
 
 A few days later wild excitement prevailed when a 
 load of parcels arrived, naturally stirring up great 
 expectations. 
 
 By that time we were so badly off that we often 
 lapsed into a sort of stupor. Nicholson was lying 
 in his hammock, in this condition, more dead than 
 alive, when the news arrived. 
 
 "Come on, Wallie,** I said, shaking him into con- 
 sciousness. "Come alive, old man. Parcels up,*'
 
 One side of a postal sent from Friedrichsfelde Camp 
 
 Unloading Red Cross parcels at FriedrK-lisfekle Camp
 
 CONDITIONS IN DULMEN 99 
 
 At the word "parcels" he sat up, eagerly. 
 
 "Anything for us, Mac?" 
 
 "I don't know. Let's go and see." 
 
 Crawling out of his hammock he made his way 
 with me slowly along toward the fence where a dense 
 crowd was gathering. As we struggled along, we 
 must have looked like a pair of walking skeletons. 
 The delivery wagons were drawn up alongside the 
 fence and we formed a long line, passing the 
 parcels from hand to hand along to the sorting room, 
 every man trying desperately to see the name 
 on each parcel as it passed through his hands while 
 hundreds of hungry, wolfish eyes glared at the 
 bundles of food as though they could look through 
 them. 
 
 A couple of hours later tickets were issued to those 
 to whom consignments had been sent. I think it 
 was one of the bitterest disappointments of my life 
 when I found there was nothing for either Wallie 
 or myself. 
 
 We dragged ourselves back to our hammocks and 
 lay for hours without a sound. Then with charac- 
 teristic grit Wallie turned to me and said, hopelessly, 
 as though he didn't believe it himself: 
 
 "Never mind, old pal. We've been through Hell 
 together before and come out safely. We'll pull 
 through this, too. We're sure to get a parcel to- 
 morrow." But a good many to-morrows went by 
 before we were favoured. 
 
 Things did look up a little when we were moved 
 into Block i and the prisoners there who had had 
 parcels coming for some time gave us their German 
 rations and anything else they could spare. The 
 chaps who could put their pride in their pockets, 
 and systematically begged from the few who had 
 food, got along fairly well, but Wallie and I found it
 
 loo THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 hard to beg, even in starvation. When nothing else 
 offered we hung around the garbage pails and boxes 
 and picked the best bits from the refuse. When 
 occasionally a piece of mouldy bread was brought 
 to light it was considered a great find. 
 
 Such provision as was made for communication 
 with the outside world was meagre and very closely 
 guarded. We w^ere allowed, for instance, to write 
 a postal card once a week and a letter every two 
 weeks. These were held in the camp for about three 
 weeks before being posted, the reason given for this 
 being that it was necessary to provide for the evapora- 
 tion of any invisible ink which might have been used. 
 Again, there were most careful restrictions on what 
 we wrote. Everything had to be large, clear, and 
 distinct. We could not, under any consideration, 
 make mention of the conditions in the camp — ad- 
 versely, that is — or complain of the food. Indeed 
 w^e saw long sentences imposed on prisoners who 
 attempted to get some idea of the truth to their 
 friends. While we m.ight ask for parcels we were 
 not allowed ever to suggest that food was really 
 needed. 
 
 Naturally these restrictions gave rise to a good 
 deal of ingenuity to evade them. One lad, for in- 
 stance, writing home, spoke of the lovely camp, the 
 kind guardsy and the good food, but in the last para- 
 graph made inquiries somewhat as follows: 
 
 I say, dad, have you seen my old school chum, W. E. R. 
 Starving ? I haven't heard anything of him for a long 
 time. 
 
 The Germans saw nothing wrong, but I have often 
 wondered what feelings were stirred up in that home 
 when his letter was read.
 
 CONDITIONS IN DtJLMEN loi 
 
 In one of my own letters home about this time I 
 said: 
 
 ''^ This is a most beautiful country. The German people 
 are kind and thoughtful and I am having a splendid time. 
 In fact, I have never been treated quite the same since 
 the summer I spent in St07iy Mountain. But I do miss 
 poor old Chuck. I am afraid he has been killed. I 
 haven't seen him since the day I was taken prisoner. 
 
 The allusion to the well-known Manitoba peni- 
 tentiary was quite lost on the German censor who 
 probably thought it was a popular Canadian summer 
 resort and that Chuck was a friend. So he was and 
 lived in my mother's pantry. My people at home 
 understood and wrote back that they were sorry 
 about Poor Chuck but thought he might still be 
 alive. 
 
 It was not surprising, perhaps, that the first par- 
 cels coming to us were anything but what we needed. 
 We never thought of telling our friends what to send, 
 and in consequence they forwarded the sam.e stuff 
 they had been sending on to France — chewing gum, 
 chocolate, candy, fruit, cakes, etc. — and sometimes 
 clothing, books, or perishable food, v/hich last-men- 
 tioned was, without exception, destroyed by the 
 guards. They feared that in our starving condi- 
 tion we might have been poisoned by this bad food 
 and any prisoner who was not too badly crippled to 
 do some sort of work was too valuable to be allowed 
 to poison himself. 
 
 Despite all these hard and trying things the life 
 of the camp v. as not without its humours, which 
 helped to keep us from going insane. One source 
 of amusement was Evans's barber shop. *'Slim" 
 Evans — a tall Oshawa (Ont.) boy, from the 4th
 
 I02 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 C. M. R.'s, who was captured the same day we were, 
 and who had been in about every corner of North 
 America and tried his hand at almost every trade — 
 hunted up an old razor from some unknown spot and 
 appointed himself barber for Block 3. There were 
 two or three barbers in other blocks, who escaped 
 other work by looking after the prisoners' tonsorial 
 requirements. 
 
 Hearing this news, Wallie and I wandered down to 
 see about getting a shave. Of course we had no 
 other way of getting our faces clean until our parcels 
 later brought us razors and other necessities. " Slim" 
 had set up his "chair" — a board propped up against 
 a table — and had a customer in it when we got there, 
 while a group of five or six, with strained, frightened 
 expressions, watched the wild flourishes of Slim's 
 razor and the awful look of fear and anguish on the 
 face of his victim. 
 
 I had grown quite a long, black beard by this time 
 which bristled out on my thin, wasted face like a 
 barbed-wire entanglement. 
 
 /'Hello, kid," said Slim (ever>^body was "Kid" 
 with him), when he ran his eyes over my beard; 
 you re next. 
 
 Wallie and I looked on for a while but the first 
 time Slim's back was turned, we slipped out. I 
 visited the "shop" every day after that, to meet 
 Evans's broad grin at sight of my beard, but when 
 my turn was near at hand my courage failed me and 
 I wore my beard till the Red Cross parcel, with a 
 shaving outfit, came along. 
 
 Nicholson and I were not alone in our longing to 
 escape. I think the so-much-talked -of initiative in 
 our Canadian boys was as much evident in this thing 
 as in anything else. While the British prisoners were 
 ready to fight the guards they did not display the same
 
 CONDITIONS IN DULMEN 103 
 
 eagerness to get away as did our Canadian lads. 
 Possibly the fact that most of us had been more 
 or less used to the open had something to do with it. 
 
 The first attempt we directly knew of among our 
 own boys occurred shortly before we left Diilmen, 
 when some of the prisoners in Block i who had been 
 in the camp long enough to get regular parcels and 
 were therefore not so weak from hunger as we were 
 started to dig a tunnel, hoping to drive through under 
 the fence and come up outside. Jack O'Brien — a 
 fine Irish-Canadian lad, whom I got to know better 
 later, since he finally escaped with me — was one of 
 the party. Their plan was all right but they did 
 not figure on the trickiness of the Westphalian sand 
 and, just as they were about to break through one 
 evening, the tunnel collapsed under the weight of a 
 guard whose beat led him over the spot. While the 
 tunnellers were not caught the episode caused a good 
 deal of excitement in camp and a considerable tight- 
 ening of discipline. 
 
 But our stay at Diilmen was drawing to a close. 
 After what seemed a terribly long time a couple of 
 those precious parcels did arrive and we began to 
 look forward to a little relief from the starving pro- 
 cess we had been undergoing. Then one night Wal- 
 lie and I were warned to go out next day with a work- 
 ing party, with about fifty other Canadians. The 
 story ran that we were to work on a farm, and, as we 
 had heard that conditions were better at this class 
 of work than in an industrial plant, we were naturally 
 somewhat jubilant. Our hopes, however, weiie very 
 rudely dashed. 
 
 When we were packing up what little stuff we had 
 been able to get together during our stay in the camp 
 one of the Canadian boys who had been there some 
 time and knew a good deal of conditions, came in.
 
 I04 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 <«' 
 
 Hello, going on kommando ?" he asked. 
 'Yes; going on a farm," Wallie answered. 
 
 "A farm?" he said; "what a hope!" And he 
 laughed a little, bitter laugh. 
 
 And it transpired that this story of the farm was 
 always palmed off on the prisoners so that they 
 would be more ready to leave the camp. When the 
 British prisoners knew what was coming and thought 
 that they were to be sent out to work in some indus- 
 try — most of which were famous (or infamous) for 
 the conditions of abuse and slavery existent there — 
 they would frequently refuse to go. 
 
 When such a case occurred things were unpleas- 
 antly exciting around the camp for a while. Usually 
 the guards in their rage would lay about them with 
 the butts of their rifles and kick the poor objectors 
 all over the place. Prisoners of splendid physique — 
 who, singly, would have been a match for half a 
 dozen of the semi-cripples we had for guards — had 
 to submit to this sort of treatment though it nearly 
 drove them mad to do so. To have raised a finger 
 in self-defence would have meant certain and immedi- 
 ate death. 
 
 If, as was usually the case, this method of abuse 
 did not prove effective, the prisoners were given a 
 dose of standing to Attention, one of the m.ost-used 
 German punishments. This meant standing stiffly, 
 without moving a muscle, for hours, usually in either 
 the hot sun or the freezing cold. No one who has 
 not been through it can imagine the exquisite agony 
 it entails. 
 
 In cases like this an officer was usually called who 
 would select the spot where each prisoner was to 
 stand, and there place him, keeping up a volley of 
 oaths and abuse of the worst imaginable kind. If a 
 prisoner did not move quickly enough to suit him
 
 CONDITIONS IN DULMEN 105 
 
 he was certain to get a blow over the head or face 
 with the flat of the officer's sword. 
 
 This attitude of Attention was kept up for hour 
 after hour till human limits began to be reached. 
 After about twelve hours, depending on one's physi- 
 cal condition and the weather, the weakest would 
 faint and would pitch over on his face on the ground. 
 Here he would lie, while the guards walked up and 
 down, every once in a while administering a kick or 
 a poke with a rifle. When the first sign of returning 
 life appeared he would be jerked to his feet and the 
 query ''^Arbeit?" (work?) shot at him. If he said 
 "No" he was stood up in the line again and the whole 
 process repeated. If any one tried to get relief 
 by moving hand or foot he was knocked down with a 
 rifle butt and stood up again as soon as he was physi- 
 cally able to stand. If, as often happened, the pris- 
 oners held out more than twenty-four hours the 
 guards would start on the first row and, beginning 
 with the first man, would ask if he was now ready to 
 work. 
 
 "No; damned if I w^ill," was usually the answer 
 from our boys. 
 
 With this he was knocked or kicked out of the line, 
 hammered into unconsciousness, and dragged away 
 to solitary confinement on a scant bread-and-water 
 ration in dark cells. This treatment was given each 
 man in turn until the remainder, sick with the 
 sight, would give in and march off" to work as di- 
 rected. It was an infallible process, but surely no 
 fiend could invent a more terrible method of carrying 
 out his will. 
 
 For various reasons, few British prisoners were 
 trusted on the farms. In the first place, the work 
 could not be carried out in gangs and since it was not 
 practicable to have a guard for each man the chances
 
 io6 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 for escape were good. Again, it soon became known 
 that the British or Canadian prisoner had a penchant 
 for destroying all he could and for doing as Httle 
 work as possible. On the other hand, the boys in 
 most cases hked farm work because of the larger 
 freedom it gave them and because of the better treat- 
 ment which was usually given by the farmers. How- 
 ever, the easier life of the farm was not to be for us. 
 Instead we were soon to know and to experience con- 
 ditions immeasurably worse than we had known in 
 Diilmen.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 Into "The Black Hole" of Germany 
 
 Next morning — August 2, 1916 — we were marched 
 out of Diilmen and were destined not to see it again 
 until nearly a year later, and in very different cir- 
 cumstances, when, O'Brien and I, prowling through 
 the country on a dark, rainy night, making for the 
 Border, came out on the crest of a hill from which 
 the bright lights of the camp could be plainly seen. 
 But more of this later. 
 
 It was harvest time in Westphalia, as was made 
 evident by hundreds of women and children stooking 
 and stacking the grain in the fields. Able-bodied 
 men were little in evidence. Here and there an 
 old-fashioned thresher was humming away, fed 
 by an old, crippled-up German. Most of the farm 
 machinery we saw was either Canadian or American 
 and at one spot an old McCormick mower sitting 
 by the roadside made us all homesick. Two rows 
 of splendid trees threw their branches over the road 
 forming a perfect arch and where a gap occasionally 
 occurred it was filled with apple trees loaded with 
 green fruit. I suppose the effect was beautiful. 
 But we couldn't see much beauty about it and 
 tramped along sullenly. Scenes of peace and 
 beauty bring no joy to the heart of a slave. 
 
 At the station we were herded into an enclosure 
 to wait for the train. In the meantime, two or three 
 trains of German troops went through, miserable, 
 
 107
 
 io8 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 sullen-looking fellows, who seemed so disgusted 
 with it all that one of the boys remarked: 
 
 "They are going to the slaughter and they know 
 It. 
 
 We couldn c help comparing their down-hearted- 
 ness and quietness with the high spirits of the 
 British and Canadian troops going up to the line. 
 We learned a little later that these fellows were 
 bound for the Somme and understood their feelings. 
 The Somme was always a nightmare to the Huns. 
 
 Another contrast was noticeable. A lot of Ger- 
 man civilians — old men, women, and children — ^were 
 standing about the platform. Did they enthuse 
 over their passing troops? Not a bit of it. They 
 simply seemed to take no notice of theni. 
 
 After a long wait a car was switched in and when 
 we were aboard it was coupled on the end of a long 
 train, which, after another wait, pulled slowly out. 
 We travelled along deliberately till about four 
 o'clock when we were detrained at a little place 
 named Sin Sin and were marched up the tracks a 
 piece to wait for another train. Wallie and I were 
 sitting on the bank when our attention was attracted 
 by the jeers from, the other fellows and in a moment 
 the most dilapidated passenger coach I ever saw — 
 black with smoke and coal dust, every window 
 broken, boards hanging loose all along its sides — 
 was shunted down opposite us. Printed on the 
 side in big white letters was the name — "Auguste 
 Victoria" — probably that of some German princess, 
 though it meant little to me then. I only wish 
 I could escape the bitter memories of hardship, 
 cruelty, and degradation that thac name invariably 
 recalls now. 
 
 However, we were soon to find out something 
 about it. It took only a minute, after we climbed
 
 "THE BLACK rfOLE'* 109 
 
 aboard, to switch the car ofF thjs main line, and after 
 a short run up a three-mile spur we came into a big 
 railway yard. At first our attention was drawn by 
 two huge skeleton steel towers which some of us 
 recognized as the shaft-head of a mine but before we 
 reached this we came to a queer-looking plant which 
 we afterward learned was designated as the Cokery. 
 It was a great steel platform, probably three hundred 
 yards by fifty, raised twelve feet off the ground on 
 concrete piers, with a row of huge coke ovens down 
 the centre. At the back was a big machine for 
 pushing the coke out of the ovens. A half-dozen 
 "brands'* (one oven's firing of coke — eight tons) 
 had just been pushed out on the platform in front. 
 Through a great cloud of steam and gas we saw 
 gaunt figures working like mad. When they saw 
 us they stopped for a mxoment, staring. But directly 
 a big, red-faced, red-headed German came tearing 
 down the platform and when he found them watching 
 us he flew into a rage and grabbing up a chunk of 
 iron bar he waved it menacingly, while he punctuated 
 his threats with such words as " Schzveinhunde" and 
 other choice terms of endearment. 
 
 Down past a big chemical plant and a brick kiln 
 the train carried us, past the minehead and huge 
 coal sheds, until finally, when we wondered what 
 was coming next, we sighted a long, low barracks 
 surrounded by barbed wire and high picket fences. 
 About thirty yards apart, between the fences, guards 
 were stationed. Another was to be seen in the yard 
 or compound, which was about forty by six yards, 
 part of which space was taken up by buildings 
 which we afterward learned were the jail and other 
 outbuildings. 
 
 It didn't take long to tumble out of the cars and a 
 moment later there was a crowd of prisoners around
 
 no THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 us asking for news. British, Russians, French, and 
 Belgians were all in evidence but there was only 
 one Canadian — Sammie Woods, of the 5th Battalion, 
 
 Then we were lined up in the yard while the guards 
 looked us over, counted us, and asked us all sorts of 
 questions as to our civilian occupations. Say, they 
 must have had a nice idea of what class of Canadians 
 were fighting if they took us seriously. The answers 
 provided, for instance, for burglars, swindlers, gam- 
 blers, organ grinders, pedlars, and a long list of others 
 quite as ridiculous. A long, lanky German they 
 called Johnston acted as " Dolmetscher" (interpreter) 
 and since his knowledge of English was exceedingly 
 limited he had some difficulty in rendering these 
 replies into understandable German. 
 
 The long building was divided into six sections and 
 signs over the doors identified these as " Englander 
 Baracke'' (English barracks); " fVache^' (Guard 
 Room); '' Russen Baracke" (Russian Barracks); 
 *' Revierstube" (Hospital); " Kokerie Baracke" (Bar- 
 racks for workers in the cokery); and, in the farther 
 end, *' Franzosen Baracke^* (French Barracks). 
 
 We were taken first to the Kokerie Baracke and 
 told off to our beds, but we drew rations (such as we 
 get), and ate what little there was to eat, in the 
 English barracks. So soon as there was room we 
 moved in there finally. 
 
 Seeing that we were still half starved and territly 
 thin we were much surprised when the other fellows 
 gathered round us and began to tell us how well we 
 looked, but when I glanced around at them, and saw 
 the marks of suffering on their drawn faces, I under- 
 stood. They were perhaps fleshier than we were 
 but their flesh was flabby and colourless and such a 
 world of homesick misery looked out of their eyes 
 that we were forced to wonder at their evident good
 
 'THE BLACK HOLE" iii 
 
 spirits. Soon we found the answer. The words: 
 "Be British!" were always slipping out of some- 
 body's mouth. They had used that — as we learned 
 to, afterward — as a spirit-instiller and a cure for 
 hopelessness. 
 
 The Germans did everything in their power to 
 keep the prisoners miserable, hopeless, and in despair, 
 so that we shouldn't oppose their plans or try to 
 escape; and, to this end, they told us all sorts of bad 
 news. Everyone in Canada had starved to death — 
 at least, there were a few left but they were getting 
 pretty thin, too. . . . The British navy was 
 out of business and we were always getting beaten 
 on every front. 
 
 We regarded all these stories as lies and only be- 
 lieved the rare bits of good news we heard, so the 
 Germans, thinking we would be more likely to believe 
 their dismal stories if we could read them in our own 
 language, introduced a paper into the camp which 
 was printed in English, French, and Russian, The 
 paper first claimed to be an American publication, 
 but when America came into the war, it became 
 neutral. They called it the Continental Times^ 
 and we called it the Confidential Liar. 
 
 We used to get a good deal of fun out of this pa- 
 per, for the editor, with the typical German lack 
 of the sense of humour, had on the front page a big 
 headline declaring: "This paper is published in the 
 interests of Truth." Yet he raved through its 
 pages in bitter German anger, blasting everything 
 that wasn't German, and continually contradicting 
 himself. One editorial was preserved in the camp 
 and was a never-ending source of amusement, but 
 we Canadians had to put up with a lot of chaffing 
 because of it. The Germans generally were sur- 
 prisingly ignorant, and for a long time refused to
 
 112 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 believe that we were Canadians, stupidly insisting 
 that Canadians were black. 
 
 The editor of the Confidential Liar was apparently 
 labouring under the same delusion, and when the 
 first Canadians were captured at Ypres, the editorial 
 in question made its appearance. It said: "We 
 have captured at Ypres a number of Canadians and 
 other coloured troops"; the "other coloured troops" 
 being the French Algerians, who broke and ran when 
 the gas caught them, leaving the flank exposed. 
 He went on to say how fast the Canadians could run 
 and noted: "But in spite of their fleetness of foot, 
 our gallant troops overtook them." The Old 
 Country boys had saved the paper and whenever they 
 thought we needed toning down, read it off to us, and 
 afterward the Canadians were referred to by their 
 comrades in all the camps as "The coloured troops." 
 
 We always made the most of the few bright 
 spots that there were in that Hades of suffering. 
 
 Everything was arranged and intended to crush 
 the prisoners' spirit — bad food, cruel treatment, all 
 kinds of bad news and false reports. But the boys, 
 with the true British spirit that never has been and 
 never will be broken, made it a point of honour to 
 keep on smiling — or to "Be British," as they called 
 it. Some of them said that the only reason they were 
 able to keep alive was that they were mad all the 
 time. And that was probably more or less true. 
 Under relentless persecution and bitter enmity on 
 the part of the German guards the trace of stubborn- 
 ness which has caused the bulldog to be adopted 
 as the emblem of British character developed in us 
 till we actually became so stubborn and determined 
 that we would keep on smiling, even though our 
 hearts were breaking, rather than let the Germans 
 think we were downhearted.
 
 "THE BLACK HOLE" 113 
 
 When one of the chaps would get into trouble 
 for some actual or (a soften happened) for some 
 fancied infringement of discipline and be badly 
 beaten up and thrown into a dark, stinking cell, to 
 come out — after a couple of weeks on a diet (scanty 
 at that) of bread and water — a physical and nervous 
 wreck, the other boys would have as good a meal as 
 possible waiting for him and would gather round 
 with encouraging words to cheer him up, urging him 
 to "Be British." Such phrases as "Stick to it, old 
 man," or "Cheer up, old boy, you'll soon be dead," 
 and a good deal of teasing and jollying would revive 
 again the good old fighting spirit and make him feel 
 that it was well worth while to be British. 
 
 When we found out that our "Farm" was a coal 
 mine, we protested that we would not work, that 
 we would go on strike. The chaps who had been 
 through it told us, however, of their experiences, 
 explaining how it was useless to attempt such action. 
 In telling what they had endured and suffered they 
 added significantly: "But there are other ways of 
 beating the 'Squareheads'" — the name applied to 
 the guards by all British prisoners. 
 
 "How is that?" I asked. 
 
 "Well," said a husky Scot, "six of us are in jail 
 now, ten are in hospital here, seven at Reckling- 
 hausen, Some of us have been returned to Miinster 
 and while the rest of us are working we are keeping 
 our work down to the smallest notch possible — 
 so small that the average wage of an 'Englander' is 
 from two to six marks a week while the 'Froggies* 
 get from twenty-five to forty-five." 
 
 "What? Do they pay you?" I asked, in surprise. 
 
 "Oh, yes," he laughed. "They're very particular 
 about pay and they actually do pay, but — according 
 to the amount of work done. If you work hard
 
 114 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 you have plenty of money; if you don't you won't get 
 much." 
 
 *'I won't get much," I said. And I didn't. 
 
 A few hours afterward, however, the fifty Cana- 
 dians who had come in together were put on mine 
 work and divided up between the three shifts. I was 
 allotted to the night shift and was one of the first 
 to go down. 
 
 At nine o'clock we were ordered to fall in in the 
 yard to be counted and were then searched for 
 money, food, maps, compasses, or anything else 
 likely to be useful in an attempt at escape. Then 
 the guards took up positions all around us and 
 • marched us over to the mine-head where we all 
 changed our clothes in a bathroom so crowded that 
 we could scarcely move, and, putting on a suit of 
 overalls and special boots supplied by the company 
 that operated the mines, we passed down a long 
 passage to a big room where we drew our lamps. 
 From here we were forced up a steep stairway and 
 down another passage to the mine-head where we 
 were packed into rough cages and dropped swiftly 
 down for eight hundred yards — almost half a mile. 
 It almost made me sick, and turning to an old EngHsh- 
 man beside me I asked: 
 
 "Did it make you sick the first time?" 
 
 "I don't know," was his reply. *'I wasn't con- 
 scious when they brought us down here first. We 
 refused to come down but they drove us over with 
 the points of their bayonets and when we wouldn't 
 get into the cages they knocked us senseless with 
 the butts of their rifles and threw us in. The civiHans 
 dragged us out at the bottom." This was typical 
 of the treatment generally accorded, so I asked no 
 more about it. 
 
 It is perhaps worth nothing that these mines were
 
 J^THE BLACK HOLE" 115 
 
 opened'^ih 1870 and that the shafts were sunk by 
 French prisoners taken in the Franco-Prussian war. 
 Even then, you see, the Germans used their prisoners 
 as slaves. The mine machineiy and methods of 
 operation had never been modernized; many of the 
 methods that were in vogue at that time are being 
 used now. The only up-to-date part of the whole 
 plant was the huge engines and boilers of the power 
 house. Underground everything was antiquated. 
 The work of horses was performed by men while 
 work that should have been handled by machinery 
 was done by horses. 
 
 When we reached the bottom of the shaft that 
 first night we were, as you can imagine, in anything 
 but cheerful spirits. We sat about the shaft for 
 an hour and then were taken along into one of the 
 workings about three miles, where our shift started. 
 We were under the authority of civilians and civilian 
 bosses called ^^steigers" (foremen). These fellows 
 always liked to stay up above as long as possible 
 so we had to get down first and come up last. It 
 was arranged that there were always three or four 
 civilians to one prisoner. They considered such an 
 arrangement necessary when they were dealing with 
 the British so that if, as often happened, any trouble 
 developed, the Germans would always be in the 
 majority. 
 
 They were a bad lot, these civilians, always ready 
 to get a crack at us — -ever ready to take an oppor- 
 tunity to injure us in any way possible. And with 
 all this they were cowardly and treacherous to a 
 degree. If one of them got the worst of an argu- 
 ment with a prisoner he would get two or three others 
 and wait for his victim at a chosen spot. They 
 hadn't enough manliness to think of fighting with 
 their fists, but used a knife, a pit lamp, a club, or a
 
 ii6 THE JCAISER'S GUEST 
 
 chunk of wire cable. If we started at them with our 
 fists, as we frequently did in self-protection, they 
 seemed to think we were taking an unfair advantage 
 of them. We did not dare to strike or scarcely to 
 resist a guard — who was a soldier — for we knew it 
 meant almost certain death, but there was little love 
 lost between the guards and the civilians and we 
 could consequently go after the civiHans without 
 the same fears as to results. They were always 
 anxious to find out what profession we had followed 
 before joining the army and you may be sure we 
 took advantage of this in every way possible. When, 
 for instance, a chap who was big and husky, told 
 them that he had been a boxer, they usually man- 
 aged to give him a wide berth afterward. 
 
 Perhaps another reason for the fact that we were 
 able to dominate them more or less was that the 
 authorities used any disturbance in the mine as an 
 excuse for fining these civilians heavily. For exam- 
 ple, after a prisoner had been badly beaten up, he 
 would be encouraged by one or two of the under- 
 officers to enter a case against the civilians in the 
 "Court of Justice," which, by the way, was a sort 
 of standing joke among us. After a long, tedious 
 trial and a lot of false evidence the civilians were 
 usually fined five hundred marks each. This looked 
 easy for the prisoner, but he was usually told that he 
 was in the wrong also and warned not to let such an 
 affair happen again. The fines went to the ''War 
 Chest." 
 
 Along the underground road on the way out to the 
 gallery in which I was to work I noticed that a great 
 many old coal seams had been worked out but that 
 the openings had not been closed up again; shortage 
 of labour, as I afterward found out. In most parts 
 the mine was fairly well ventilated but in these old
 
 "THE BLACK HOLE" 117 
 
 workings it was very hot and full of gas. In the 
 smaller galleries the supporting timbers were shat- 
 tered and broken and in many places huge masses 
 of rock hung over the roadway just waiting a touch 
 to bring them down. In some spots the roof was so 
 low that it merely cleared the tops of the cars and 
 we had to walk along behind them bent half-double. 
 At first we pushed the cars with our hands on top, 
 but we soon became cured of this for at the low spots 
 our knuckles got badly smashed by coming in contact 
 with the roof. 
 
 Sick and weak, and scarcely able to stand, I was 
 put to work with three old Germans, fixing up the 
 small railway lines. Up to this point I hadn't had 
 an opportunity to learn any German, yet the old 
 savages used to give me my orders in German and 
 also a great deal of abuse when I couldn't understand 
 them. They seemed to think that German was a 
 sort of International language which everybody must 
 know and that I was malingering when I professed 
 not to be able to understand it. 
 
 After three days of this I asked the Steiger to put 
 me on another shift, and was placed in '' Revier 
 zwei" (section two). The work was harder here 
 but my friend Nicholson was on the same shift and 
 it was good to be together again. We worked about 
 three days when Flannigan, a young Irish-Canadian, 
 was killed. We were told that the roof had fallen in 
 on him, but we never knew as we were not allowed to 
 see the body. Any one of a dozen things may have 
 happened. In any event, we had all been complain- 
 ing of the dangerous conditions in the mine and de- 
 cided to go on strike. 
 
 As a result the Canadians in the first shift refused 
 to march out of the yard. They were badly beaten 
 up but still refused to go down to work so they were
 
 ii8 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 stood to Attention under guard. The next shift 
 took the same stand and received the same treatment, 
 being lined up behind us. Finally the night shift 
 came along, too, for a dose of the same treatment. 
 We were all very weak and when we had been stand- 
 ing from early morning till late at night without 
 food or v/ater and unable to move a muscle for relief 
 without being hammered or poked at with a bayo- 
 net, we v/ere about done for. 
 
 I was the first to go. Suddenly I felt my grip on 
 things slipping and everything went black. When, 
 finally, I came to, in the Revierstube^ I was very sick 
 and dizzy and was surprised to find myself badly 
 scratched and torn. Two of the British Tommies 
 were with me and they told me that I had pitched 
 over on my face into the barbed-wire fence in front 
 of the line and had hung there for some time. After 
 a time the Germans, anxious lest they should lose a 
 slave, had ordered the Tommies — who had long be- 
 fore learned the uselessness of going on strike — to 
 carry me off and try to bring me back to conscious- 
 ness. 
 
 This was early morning. When I asked for the 
 other boys they told me they were "still sticking." 
 All through the scorching day they stood and if 
 hand or foot was moved for relief the guard was on 
 the spot in a moment to administer the knock-down 
 treatment with the rifle. Two chaps fainted during 
 the day and were only with difficulty brought round 
 again. All through the following night in a drizzling 
 cold rain they stood, too stiff to move. And when 
 daylight broke again they were marched over to the 
 ''Kokerie" and lined up facing the red-hot coke 
 ovens. 
 
 (Of all the tortures employed, that was the most 
 popular and most effective. Placed against the
 
 "THE BLACK HOLE" 119 
 
 heat and gas, in his weakened condition, this treat- 
 ment was invariably too much for even the strongest 
 to stand. In a httle time the fumes would sicken 
 him and he would faint, sometimes pitching on his 
 face against the hot oven. One of the guards would 
 then turn the hose on him or throw two or three 
 buckets of cold water over him, giving him a vicious 
 kick now and then to aid in bringing him back to 
 consciousness. When he showed signs of life he was 
 stood in the line again and this treatment v/as con- 
 tinued until he was ready to give in.) 
 
 This time, how^ever, an unexpected incident inter- 
 rupted the proceedings. The boys had only been 
 standing in front of the ovens a short time when a 
 civilian, who was announced to be the Spanish Am- 
 bassador, arrived in the camp. To present a good 
 appearance, I suppose, a guard was sent over to the 
 " Koktrie*' and the Canadians were taken awa^/ and 
 placed in a big shed. While there they talked it 
 over, decided there was no use keeping up the strike 
 under such conditions, and regretfully agreed to give 
 in. When the announcement was made the guards 
 tried to encourage Nicholson and Blacklock, who 
 had been the most determined, to hold out. They 
 wanted to make an example of them. The boys got an 
 idea of their game, however, and quit with the rest. 
 
 Poor Flannigan was buried next day and thirty 
 of us were allowed to attend the funeral. It was the 
 saddest scene I think I have ever seen and was bit- 
 terly hard to think that the poor chap had gone 
 through so much in the service of his country only 
 to be killed at last in slavery among its enemies. 
 
 When we started work again the guards taunted us 
 continually on our failure to stand their punishment. 
 God! Wouldn't I like to have them under similar 
 conditions for a little while. Those fellows were the
 
 I20 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 cruellest of all the Germans with whom I have had 
 anything to do. They were always in and olit of our 
 barracks — morning, noon, and night — to see that no 
 one was breaking rules. The camp was always under 
 punishment, for if any one prisoner committed a 
 misdemeanour the whole contingent was punished. 
 (Of course the offender got his a little worse than the 
 rest.) The idea, apparently, was to make the whole 
 group collectively responsible for the behaviour of 
 the individuals composing it so that we should use 
 our combined influence to keep the individual from 
 breaking out. But the regulations were such that it 
 was almost impossible not to break them. We could 
 neither sing, play cards, dance, nor have any recrea- 
 tion of any kind. We couldn't even smoke in the 
 barracks. Those guards used to pop in every few 
 minutes to see what was going on. Some nights 
 they would come in ten or twelve times, turn on the 
 lights and wake us all up by pounding with their 
 rifles on the floor and shouting in their deep, guttural, 
 characteristic German voices. 
 
 If they were at all suspicious that anything out 
 of the ordinary was happening they would turn us 
 all out in the yard where we were forced to stand, 
 shivering with cold, while they counted us. It was 
 a great game, that counting; they did it frequently 
 enough: " Eiuy zwei, drei, vier,fiunj, seeks ,' and on up 
 they would count till one of the boys in the back row 
 would start to "kid them" in broken German. This 
 naturally made them mad and they would stop count- 
 ing and try to find the offender, generally forgetting 
 how far they had counted. When this happened 
 two or three times they would try to make up by 
 kicking us in the shins as they went along. They 
 seldom got the count right, but if they had too many 
 they didn't let any go : oh, no.
 
 "THE BLACK HOLE" 121 
 
 After a while I was put on the morning shift in the 
 mine again with a young German named Ferdinand 
 .and was assigned to " steinerkippe?!," This I found 
 to be one of the hardest jobs in the mine. We had 
 to push cars loaded with rock along little railways 
 out to the end of the coal seams and dump the rock 
 in to occupy the space from which the coal had been 
 removed. To dump those cars we had to put our 
 backs against them and by main strength lift them 
 off the tracks, then back again. 
 
 Ferdinand was a strong chap, about twenty-eight, 
 well built, but almost blind, which made military 
 service impossible. He wasn't such a bad chap, as 
 the Germans go, and I got along fairly well with 
 him for a couple of months. When we were pushing 
 those heavy cars up the slopes he would put his 
 mighty back against them and heaving all the time, 
 while I did as little as I could get away with; he would 
 shout in my ear : " Fest ! nurfest ! verdammt die Schzvein- 
 hund. " (Faster, faster, you damned pig-dog.) In my 
 turn I would growl "/<2, ja,'' and would grunt as 
 though I were pushing my insides out. 
 
 When I got a little used to him, so that I could 
 hold my temper when these vile names came out and 
 could laugh at his savage and indecent jokes, we got 
 along much better and the great savage used to 
 talk freely about the war and its effects on Germany. 
 In many ways he was stupid and ignorant but on 
 some matters he had a good deal of information. One 
 day v/hile we were waiting for some cars of stone I 
 began quizzing him as to rumours I had heard about 
 trouble between Germany and Holland. 
 
 "How many soldiers has Holland?" I asked in 
 broken German. 
 
 Ferdinand glared at me for a moment and then 
 growled out:
 
 122 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 "The ungrateful pig-dogs. They have six hun- 
 dred thousand. But that is nothing. It's the 
 food. We are starving and we depend on Sweden 
 and Holland." Then he broke out into a rage. 
 *'But the swine will suffer. Yesterday I was home 
 and all day long the artillery from Diilmen passed 
 through on the way to the Border. We will punish 
 the dogs who dare to war on Germany." 
 
 *' But you have lost the war now, Ferd. When you 
 didn't get to Paris or Calais, when you didn't take 
 Verdun, you lost the war." 
 
 **Damn the English swine. They are everywhere. 
 The French and the Russians, they don't want to 
 fight Germany, but the English are always at war. 
 They fight like the devil and learn nothing from it." 
 
 "We learned to beat the Germans, anyhow," I 
 answered, rather hotly. 
 
 "No, no; not yet. In the end — perhaps 
 
 We cannot win. . . . But Germany must win. 
 . . . But it's the sea. You have the sea. On 
 land we can win. Against all the world we can win 
 because it is our war and we have nothing to unlearn. 
 There was no other war with us and no other experi- 
 ence for us to forget or old equipment for us to renew. 
 This was the only war with us and we planned and 
 organized. You had to fight according to our plan. 
 The British are soldiers but their generals learned 
 their war in Africa and Asia — in India. They have 
 to forget it and they cant. We learned our war in 
 Germany and France. We planned and practised 
 on the ground we fought on and we would have won 
 but for the damned Englander." 
 
 This was a fair sample of the conversations we had 
 almost every day, carried on in broken German im- 
 possible to reproduce here. He always acknowledged 
 in the end that Germany could not finally win and
 
 "THE BLACK HOLE" 123 
 
 told me of his plans to go to Belgium after the war 
 to get away from Germany and to work building up 
 the destroyed cities. 
 
 This was typical, too, of the civilians as a whole. 
 They were in a hopeless state of mind and while very 
 rarely any of them would express a hope of winning 
 they were all exceedingly anxious for the end of the 
 war. Some expressed the intention of getting out of 
 Germany. Others would tell us that they would cut 
 the throats of every capitalist in the country, as no 
 doubt they will because they like that sort of work. 
 While they did not seem to dare to mention the 
 Kaiser, we understood that by "capitalists" they 
 meant him and his government, the military class 
 generally. 
 
 They scarcely dared to speak freely, even to their 
 own friends, for the German spy system is in opera- 
 tion even among these poor men and no one knew 
 who might be watching him, only waiting for a 
 chance to get him into trouble. If one of these 
 fellows was caught making any disloyal statements 
 or trying in any way to stir up revolution he would 
 be immediately sent off to the front, regardless of his 
 physical fitness. The same thing prevails to a great 
 extent among the German soldiers. Here the in- 
 former is rewarded with promotion, and since the 
 non-com. is so much more favoured than the private 
 in the army such upward steps are eagerly looked for. 
 While this system prevails it will be seen what dif- 
 ficulties stand in the way of any revolutionary move- 
 ment among either soldiers or civilians. 
 
 Our hours were certainly no sinecure. When I 
 was on the morning shift we were marched over and 
 sent down in the mine at 4 a. m. From the bottom 
 of the shaft we walked from two to three miles to the 
 scene of our allotted task and then waited an hour
 
 124 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 or so for the civilians to arrive. We worked eight 
 hours, marched back to the shaft, and sat around till 
 all the civiHans ascended; then we were taken up and 
 were allowed to wash and dress before being marched 
 over to the camp. Usually our working day lasted 
 from twelve to thirteen hours, sometimes longer. 
 For a while the boys who were on the other shifts 
 stayed up at night to have supper ready for us when 
 we came in but the Germans soon forbade this. Two 
 or three times they came in, gathered up all the hot 
 food placed round the fire, and threw it out. 
 
 By this time, our parcels were coming through 
 and we were better off in the way of food supply. 
 And while we were mighty glad to get the parcels, 
 we got a good deal of stuff that was of no use to us. 
 At first, packages could be sent in by friends and rela- 
 tives. Afterward it was taken over entirely by the 
 Red Cross in London and conditions became much 
 more satisfactory. Then we couldn't get word to our 
 people that we were starving; and they sent us the 
 things we had wanted in the trenches such as chewing 
 gum, candy, cakes, fruit, etc. What we wanted 
 now was the "bully" and "MacConachie," which 
 w^e then considered only fit to build dug-outs with. 
 Then, too, a great many of the private parcels were 
 lost and many were destroyed because of improper 
 packing. Again somebody would try to send a 
 letter, a paper, a map, or a compass, all of which of 
 course were forbidden. If anything like this was 
 discovered the whole parcel system was upset and we 
 all suffered. Again, a few of the boys who belonged 
 to wealthy families or who had friends in England 
 were showered with parcels while some had no home 
 nor friends and consequently got little. The boys 
 were all good to one another and shared up always. 
 I once saw a boy take off his boots and stockings
 
 "THE BLACK HOLE^^ 125 
 
 right in the yard and give them to a prisoner just 
 in from the front, starved and nearly naked. But it 
 was mighty hard on some of us who had to look to the 
 others all the time for enough to keep body and soul 
 together. 
 
 One would think that life in that camp would be 
 entirely without relieving instances but occasionally 
 such did come along. West of our barracks was the 
 '' JVache," or German Guard Room, and next again 
 to that was the canteen or soup kitchen, in which 
 about fifteen sturdy German girls worked. There 
 was no entrance from our barracks but a big window 
 had been cut in the wall on each side, and through 
 this our soup and coffee were passed. 
 
 Some of these girls were really fine-looking. Per- 
 haps it was because we had no chance to see any 
 really decent women that made us think so. At 
 first they had no use for the British prisoners. They 
 had been told that England had emptied all her pris- 
 ons when the war began and that we were all convicts. 
 For a while they would have nothing to do with us 
 but soon the good-natured chaffing of the boys, and 
 the fact that we remained friendly under all their 
 abuse caused them to moderate their views and they 
 even became quite friendly. Often they would 
 open up that window and talk to us for quite a 
 time. Of course we had to be careful that the guards 
 were not about for they were very jealous of any 
 such relations and would stir up a fuss if they knew 
 such things were going on. Some of the fellows even 
 got so far that two or three of the girls agreed to 
 try to escape with them. They were to meet our 
 fellows outside with clothes and food and get over 
 the Border together. Somehow, however, these well- 
 planned affairs never came off. We did hear stories of 
 where such things had been tried at other camps but
 
 126 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 never learned of any successful escapes managed in 
 this way. 
 
 An interesting story came in from one Kommando 
 where two English lads who knew something of 
 German had been placed in the camp office to do 
 clerical work under the supervision of the camp 
 commandant. The officer's daughter, a pretty young 
 girl, came into the office every day and became 
 quite taken up with the good-looking young English- 
 man. Though they were carefully watched the 
 two must have managed to get together now and 
 again for they finally planned to escape together by 
 way of Holland. The young prisoner was to get 
 away from his guards with his chum and meet the 
 girl, with her chum, at a specified point outside the 
 camp. The plan worked smoothly at first, for the 
 two girls met the young fellows at the appointed 
 place and in the meantime the commandant's daugh- 
 ter had stolen two suits of civiHan clothes, as well as 
 the necessary passports and her father's automobile. 
 That was escaping de luxe, surely. Everything 
 went well till they got within a few miles of the 
 Border when the boys decided to give the girls the 
 sHp and to try to cross "on their own." With their 
 separation from their fair friends, however, their luck 
 seemed to change. One was wounded at the Border 
 and the other was captured and so they were taken 
 back, I suppose to the usual punishment. I have 
 often wondered what that officer said to his daughter 
 when they brought her back. Wow!
 
 ' / 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 Freedom Shortlived — The First Attempted 
 
 Escape 
 
 Being Gomrades in distress, so to speak, it was 
 not at all strange that the Canadians soon became 
 very friendly with the British Tommies in the 
 barracks. They were fine fellows, nearly all regular 
 army men who had been captured during the Retreat 
 from Mons, at the time when the little band of 
 **Contemptibles," fighting against overwhelming 
 odds, lost nearly all their wounded by reason of the 
 appalling fact that every man was needed for the 
 actual fighting and none could be spared to carry 
 the wounded back. These fellows had seen service 
 of one kind and another in about every corner of the 
 earth where the British flag floats and strange were 
 the stories they had to tell of experiences and scraps 
 before the Great War. 
 
 No stories were more harrowing or biting, how- 
 ever, than those of the atrocities committed by the 
 Germans in the same Mons Retreat. The earnest- 
 ness with which they were told and the relentless 
 hatred such actions had provoked were evidence not 
 to be doubted of their truthfulness. 
 
 One night, for instance, we were sitting around 
 the fire ^^arning when one of the "Old Boys" came 
 in and cried in a high-pitched, peculiar voice: 
 "Wait for me! Wait for me!" drawing out the 
 words in a long, dismal wail. 
 
 127
 
 128 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 I had heard the same thing several times before 
 and was curious. When I asked what it meant a 
 big Guardsman said: 
 
 *'0h, that's the 'Cry of Mons.'" 
 
 *' What's that?" I asked, in all innocence. 
 
 **Did you never hear of the 'Cry of Mons'r" 
 was the rather surprised answer. "Well, I'll tell 
 you about it." 
 
 "Anything to do with the Angels of Mons?" I 
 asked. 
 
 "Angels of Mons? Oh, Lord, yes. It had to do 
 with the angels, all right." Then (after a short, 
 reflective silence): "The angels were there in front 
 of us. Thousands of them. Gaunt, gray angels 
 with spiked helmets, murdering and mutilating 
 as they came. Call them angels or devils as you 
 like. They were the devil's own angels." 
 
 "But were there no angels at Mons?" I persisted. 
 
 "I saw thousands of devils. They swarmed in 
 every road and field. And because of their murder- 
 ing I heard for the first time the *Cry of Mons.' 
 ^\"We were fighting a rear-guard action," he went 
 on. "And for days and weeks we were Hke men in 
 a horrible dream. It was retire and fight, retire and 
 fight, till the orders seemed to come in autom.atically. 
 And still the gray wolves pressed in on us in thou- 
 sands. I worked my machine gun till they were 
 almost on top of me and then picked it up and 
 carried it back to a new position and opened her up 
 again. A handful of the chaps would stay behind 
 and hold the devils up till we got the gun away. 
 They were nearly always killed, but men were cheaper 
 than machine guns just then and we had to hold 
 on to it. Outnumbered ten to one, as we were, we 
 couldn't spare any one to bring along our wounded. 
 The Door fellows knew what was in store for them
 
 FREEDOM SHORTLIVED 129 
 
 for they had seen things before and heard the call 
 themselves, so they would try, no matter how they 
 were suffering, to drag themselves after us. When 
 it was beyond them to keep up any longer, the piteous, 
 heart-wringing call 'Wait for me! Wait for me!' 
 would come to us. I tell you, the hardest thing I've 
 ever had to do was to get back with that gun and 
 leave them." 
 
 After a minute's thought as to whether to tell 
 the rest he went on again: 
 
 "About dusk one day my chum on the gun was 
 hit badly. We stretched him out, only half con- 
 scious, at the foot of a tree, and picked up the old 
 gun to move back again. I was glad it was half 
 dark for if he had seen us going I don't think I 
 could have left him. But the gun — I had to save 
 the gun. We hurried away, but he must have heard 
 us and come back to consciousness for as we were 
 hurrying back his voice came to me: *Hey, Jock! 
 Wait for me!' I turned back, but a burst of rifle 
 fire coming from close to where he lay told me it 
 was too late. One thing remained, to save him 
 from the tortures of those inhuman brutes. So, 
 dropping the gun into position again, I got my sights 
 set just at the base of the tree where he lay and 
 swept the place. Then, grabbing up the gun again, 
 we beat it, just in time, praying in the bottoms of 
 our hearts that the bullets had gone home quick. 
 'Wait for me! Wait for me!' That cry rings in 
 my ears all the time. I can't forget it and I'll never 
 forgive the barbarian, bastard race that murdered 
 my wounded comrades." 
 
 *' Did they get you on that retreat ?" Wallie asked, 
 after a little. 
 
 "No," Jock said. "I was wounded myself a 
 little while after and was sent home to Blighty.
 
 I30 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 I came back again and was wounded and taken 
 prisoner at Loos. While I was in hospital the first 
 time a young preacher — I won't call him a sky-pilot 
 because sky-pilots are good fellows — ^who looked 
 young enough and strong enough to be in the army, 
 came to see me and had the nerve to ask me what 
 I thought of the Germans." 
 
 **What did you tell him?" came in a chorus. 
 
 *'Tell him?" (bitterly). *'I cursed them as the 
 savages and murderers that they are, just as you 
 boys curse them every day of your lives. I told him 
 that I never went to sleep at night before I had 
 prayed from the bottom of my soul for the destruc- 
 tion of the whole accursed race." 
 
 "And what did he say to that?" 
 
 "That I should love my enemies. And I got up on 
 my crutches and kicked him out of the hospital 
 with the help of a wounded Canuck in the next 
 
 cot." 
 
 "Go to it, Scottie. Give it to 'em hot," a couple 
 of the listeners commented, and the burly, red- 
 headed chap began to get even more forceful. 
 
 Just then came the warning: "Square-head in!" 
 We knew that a German guard was coming and 
 made a bee-line for our beds. 
 
 Oh, those beds! They were unspeakably dirty 
 and were infested with millions of fleas — great, 
 whopping fleas that came up in our clothes from the 
 mine. We were always in misery from them. 
 Night after night I have sat up in bed, and, running 
 the risk of punishment for doing so, have struck a 
 match and turned my pillow over, to see dozens 
 of them hopping away like grasshoppers. It was 
 quite impossible to get rid of them. During the 
 time I spent in that barracks the straw in the mat- 
 tress was changed once. The blankets and covering 
 
 i
 
 FREEIX)M SHORTLIVED 131 
 
 in which that straw was placed were never changed 
 or even washed in all that time. 
 
 No amusement was ever allowed in camp. We 
 learned that there were provisions for the arrange- 
 ment of sports, concerts, and such things but these 
 provisions were mere ** scraps of paper" and seemed 
 to us to have been made chiefly for the purpose of 
 impressing visiting ambassadors. We were even 
 forbidden to play cards but managed to keep at it 
 pretty steadily just the same, and got considerable 
 amusement in gambling with the imitation money 
 they gave us in payment for our work. There was 
 no way to spend this so we did the next best thing. 
 
 Poker was introduced into the camp by the Cana- 
 dians and it very soon ousted all the regular Old- 
 Country games such as Banker, Pontoon, etc. It 
 was no unusual sight to see five or six poker games 
 in progress at once in the English barracks. At 
 first the Germans would rush in and grab the cards 
 and money but we became so adept at hiding such 
 stuff' that before a sentry could get from the door 
 to the table everything would have disappeared 
 and nothing would be left as evidence of infraction 
 of the rules. Of course we were searched and of 
 course we all professed innocence while the sentry 
 would go through us. He rarely found anything 
 and would usually stalk out, grunting and muttering 
 to himself. 
 
 After a time Wallie and I became more than "fed 
 up" with the continual grind of these slave-drivers 
 and the never-ending torment of abuse we dared 
 not resent, until existence seemed scarcely worth 
 while. We both managed to get into the hospital 
 two or three times by inflicting injuries on ourselves 
 and on each other. Once I persuaded Wallie to 
 push a loaded coal car over my toes, and this smashed
 
 132 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 them badly. That put me into the hospital for two 
 weeks. When I came out I "took the fever," and 
 was paraded before the old camp doctor with a red- 
 hot stone wrapped in a handkerchief under each 
 armpit. I got the stones out just before my turn 
 for examination and staggered up before the doctor 
 looking like death and really suffering. 
 
 " KrankF" he asked, roughly and laconically. 
 
 " Ja, ja, viely viel krank" (very, very sick). I ex- 
 plained further, in the best German I could muster, 
 that I had terrible pains in my head, had a sick 
 stomach, and couldn't eat; in fact, I gave him all 
 the symptoms I had ever heard mentioned having 
 anything to do with fever, and I guess a few more. 
 
 The old savage snorted in disgust and waved me 
 aside so that my temperature might be taken by a 
 French orderly who was sometimes called on to help 
 him. The thermometer was inserted under my arm, 
 in due time removed, and passed back for inspec- 
 tion. After one glance at it he hustled me off into 
 the Revierstuhe and ordered me to bed, cursing the 
 Canadians all the time for being "immery immer 
 krank" (always sick). When the doctor was gone 
 the orderly informed me with a wink that I had fever 
 very badly, so badly, in fact, that the doctor scarcely 
 expected me to recover. My temperature had al- 
 ready reached the known high-water mark and if it 
 went higher I would be a "goner." I smiled to my- 
 self and settled back among the fleas, being pretty 
 well satisfied that I should have at least two weeks 
 more of rest. 
 
 How did I manage to keep sick.? Well, another 
 little story hangs around that. I had managed to 
 bring in a little German flashlight with me. This I 
 chucked up in my armpit every day about the time 
 I knew the doctor was coming round and this was
 
 FREEDOM SHORTLIVED 133 
 
 kept there till just before Frencliy would take my 
 temperature. I kept it up as long as I dared and 
 when finally the old chap began to get suspicious 
 I simply had to get better and go back to work again. 
 
 When I got back I found that the old German 
 Steiger I had been working with was also in the hos- 
 pital so I decided to join the "Sleepers." Some of 
 the boys went down in the first cages in the morning 
 and instead of sitting about, made their way back 
 to an old working and spent the time sleeping, with 
 one of the number on watch. They were wakened 
 again in time to get up with the shift and were able 
 to keep this thing up for quite a while without being 
 discovered. It was decidedly dangerous back there 
 in the old workings with the roof threatening £0 fall 
 every minute and running the risk of discovery and 
 due punishment by the guards but it meant a good 
 deal easier time and meant also that so much less 
 coal was being mined for Germany. 
 
 In the meantime, WalHe and I were steadily plan- 
 ning to escape. Every day, while we walked out 
 through the dark levels in the morning and back 
 in again at night, we talked and schemed. A hundred 
 different plans were discussed but each turned down 
 as impracticable until finally we decided on the bold- 
 est one of all. While this proved remarkably suc- 
 cessful in getting us out of the camp and away from 
 the guards for a while, it unfortunately led to greater 
 suffering in the end. 
 
 Provision against escape, particularly of the Brit- 
 ish prisoners, seemed to be entirely adequate. The 
 camp was small and well guarded. Our barracks' 
 were long and narrow with a wing jutting out from 
 the south side forming an L. The north and west 
 sides were built right up against the main street of 
 the little mining town of Hulls. We were only al-
 
 134 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 lowed in a small space to the south of the building, 
 about forty yards long by six wide. The south of 
 this space, again, was guarded by a barbed-wire fence 
 sixteen feet high, closely woven. While there was no 
 electrically-charged wire, as there was at other 
 camps, there was another heavy fence of hardwood 
 palings bolted to iron rails about six feet outside 
 the wire. There w^ere no doors opening from the 
 barracks except to this compound on the south and 
 all the windows were heavily guarded with bars 
 about an inch in diameter. There were guards 
 all round but an extra sentry was always on duty 
 in front of the English barracks. Our British com- 
 rades assured us that to try and break out meant 
 certain death, but WalHe and I decided to take a 
 chance. 
 
 Since the French, who occupied the east end of the 
 barracks, were a good deal more ready to knuckle 
 under to the guards and were consequently in a good 
 deal better odour with them, we figured that it would 
 be better to make the break in this part of the yard. 
 After long planning we finally decided that our 
 scheme would be to file through the wires about 
 five o'clock some afternoon, and to get away by 
 tossing a rope ladder over the picket fence outside. 
 We had no hope of getting away without being seen 
 but, as Walhe put it, we had to "take a chance on the 
 'square-heads' shooting straight." Desperate? Yes, 
 I suppose it was. But we were undergoing desper- 
 ate treatment and were quite ready for desperate 
 measures if they offered but a bare chance for free- 
 dom. 
 
 The first thing to do, obviously — as the recipe puts 
 it — ^was to get our file. And here some more long- 
 fetched scheming was necessary. First, I had to go 
 back to work. I had a finger ring which was very.
 
 FREEDOM SHORTLIVED 135 
 
 tight and I began fussing and complaining about it. 
 This was kept up till the old German with whom I 
 was working got sick of hearing me whine and brought 
 a file down to cut the ring off. I tried to get hold of 
 the file myself but no, there was "nothing doing." 
 He was wise enough to cut through the ring himself, 
 and, furthermore, he kept it, putting it in his pocket 
 and taking it home. 
 
 Finally we "borrowed" a file from a Russian who 
 was making food boxes for the British prisoners. I 
 haven't returned it yet. 
 
 We had planned to make our getaway on Sunday, 
 November 2d, and everything was ready so far as 
 we could make it. On Saturday night, however, 
 while Wallie and I were scouting round the yard, 
 as we had been doing for some time, getting a line on 
 everything, we saw the commandant and an old 
 civilian carpenter looking at the fence near the spot 
 where we had intended breaking through. Walking 
 slowly past and straining our ears, we managed to 
 hear just enough to understand that they were plan- 
 ning to put a sentry box there. The weather was get- 
 ting cold and wet and some protection seemed to be 
 needed. The commandant suggested cutting a hole 
 in the outside fence and placing the box up against it. 
 This seemed a piece of good fortune so we decided to 
 put off our attempt till the hole was cut. This was 
 done on Monday and the box was put in place but 
 we soon saw that they had forgotten to fasten it. 
 Wednesday was a public holiday. These the Ger- 
 mans always kept scrupulously, working a double 
 shift next day to make up. We chose the holiday 
 evening because there were always more men around 
 in the barracks yard on a Sunday or a holiday after- 
 noon and our movements would not be so noticeable. 
 
 About five o'clock the French kindled their fires
 
 136 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 for cooking along the wire fence. That Wednesday 
 night the wind favoured us since it blew the smoke 
 across the sentry's beat. This led him to stop and 
 turn about halfway down. Then, everything ready, 
 I went over and squatted down by the fence, talking 
 to a Frenchman at his fire and when I saw the guard's 
 back turned, filed away at the wires. I knew the 
 thing had to be done quickly so when the moment 
 came I broke the wire away, crawled through the 
 opening, pushed back the sentry box, and flattened 
 myself against the paling fence until the guard came 
 down and turned again. Say, when he passed he was 
 so close that his bayonet was not more than a foot 
 from my nose. Then came Wallie's turn. He got 
 caught coming through the wire and I thought it was 
 all up with us, for to be discovered in that plight 
 meant death — quick and sure. Since, when a pris- 
 oner is caught by the guards of his own camp he is 
 never taken back, but is killed on the spot as an ex- 
 ample to his comrades. 
 
 In the nick of time he broke free, and crawled 
 through beside me just as the guard came down again. 
 This time he stopped for a minute beside his box, 
 cursing the French for making so much smoke. 
 We were getting the same smoke, a good deal worse, 
 too, but it was a blessing for us. You see that sentry 
 box was tipped out at quite a considerable angle 
 since there wasn't enough room for us between it and 
 the fence, and if he had stopped to step inside or even 
 to look at it we would have been — well, "in the 
 gravy." However, a moment later he moved off' 
 again and we were able to get through the hole and 
 push the box back into its place. We had arranged 
 with two of our friends. Jack O'Brien, of the 28th 
 Battalion, and Blacklock, of the Canadian Engineers, 
 to fix up the hole in the wire fence. We have found
 
 FREEDOM SHORTLIVED 137 
 
 out since that they did this so well that the guards 
 were three days in finding where the hole had been 
 made. 
 
 We crawled along through a glare of light and 
 sneaked into a big wood pile in the centre of the rail- 
 way yard. This gave us shelter for the time being 
 while we planned the next move; the first one had 
 turned out even better than we had dared to hope. 
 This place was surrounded by buildings and high 
 fences so our troubles were not yet over. We did 
 wander carefully down toward the main gate but 
 there were a lot of civilians about and we didn't care 
 to risk it. Sneaking through between the ^' Kokerie " 
 and a big brick kiln we crawled in behind a pile of 
 bricks and dug a hole under the fence. Through 
 this, we crossed the railway, climbed over a small 
 mountain of slack from the mine, and came out 
 on a bit of open, scrubby land, the first spot of it all 
 which had not been at least fairly well lighted. 
 
 And there we drew our first breath of freedom. 
 My heart felt as if it would burst, and as we silently 
 clasped hands there in the semi-darkness, Wallie 
 whispered, brokenly: "Oh, God, Mac, how good it 
 is!" 
 
 But the hardest part was still to come. We knew 
 we had no time to lose, so struck off at a good sharp 
 pace in a northwesterly direction, aiming to strike 
 the River Lippe, a big branch of the Rhine, at the 
 tow^n of Haltern, where the railway crossed. We had 
 a map, a compass, and a few matches but as the stars 
 were bright we scarcely needed to look at the com- 
 pass. Othei"wise our outfit consisted of a few bis- 
 cuits we had saved from our parcels during the pre- 
 vious few weeks. 
 
 As we sneaked silently along, looking behind us 
 occasionally and avoiding every road and farmhouse,
 
 138 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 the lights of Hiils and the camp soon disappeared 
 but the glare of the red-hot "brands" of coke, which 
 glowed brightly as they were pushed from the ovens, 
 could be plainly seen for a long distance. 
 
 After a little time we reached the river just below 
 the railway bridge but found it pretty wide and so 
 cold that swimming it was out of the question. We 
 were up against the first serious obstacle. Working 
 up along the bank in the willows we came unex- 
 pectedly in sight of the long, high railway bridge, 
 and in lack of any better way, decided to climb the 
 third pier, which was at the water's edge, hoping 
 in this way to evade the guard, who, we thought, 
 would most likely be at the end of the bridge on our 
 side of the river. 
 
 Stepping cautiously out of the willows in the 
 shadow of the big pier we got within a few feet of the 
 base and began to congratulate ourselves that mat- 
 ters were going well when with a jolt a harsh German 
 voice yelled *^ Halt /" and a rifle went off, seemingly 
 right in my face. It was so close that the bullet 
 carried my cap off my head. We turned and ran 
 while that guard pumped round after round after 
 us as fast as he could load. While it is almost certain 
 that he saw us, his shooting was mighty poor. Per- 
 haps he was about as badly scared as we were. 
 Anyway, the only effect the shooting had was to 
 make us get over the ground a good deal more 
 quickly. Wallie insisted on trying to swim across 
 and slipped into the water, but I had to pull him 
 out and give him half of my dry clothing to keep him 
 from freezing. 
 
 We expected a patrol would be sent to follow us up 
 so searched desperately for a boat or anything else 
 which would get us across the river. Finally after 
 about an hour, during which we wandered into
 
 FREEDOM SHORTLIVED 139 
 
 half a dozen dangerous spots, we glimpsed a light 
 on the bank — which looked promising. This turned 
 out to be a lantern in the window of a house just 
 beside a pier. And when we investigated a little 
 further we found a big iron barge tied up to the 
 wharf. We climbed aboard the barge right under 
 the nose of the owners. And it was only a moment's 
 work to cut the mooring ropes and to push off with a 
 long pole we found aboard her. The barge was 
 empty, fortunately, but every move we made 
 sounded to us as if it must be heard in Berlin. We 
 didn't get away any too soon, either, for as the 
 swift current caught hold of us and carried us a 
 little down stream we saw lights begin to dance 
 around on the bank and heard German curses — 
 meant to be exceedingly terrifying but which then 
 affected us little — thrown most heartily across the 
 muddy waters. 
 
 We shouted back the advice which seemed most 
 suitable under the circumstances: "Go to hell." 
 And Wallie muttered, as he laboured mightily with 
 the push pole: "It's only a matter of time till they 
 get there, anyhow." 
 
 We landed with some difficulty at a safe-looking 
 spot some distance down the river and sent the barge 
 merrily on its way so that it would not tell the story 
 of our trail. Then, making our way cautiously 
 through the low fields along the bank to higher 
 ground, we began actually to travel. We kept 
 going at a good pace till day began to break, skirting 
 villages and farmhouses and sometimes crossing 
 small strips of bush. 
 
 One of the big problems was that of finding satis- 
 factory cover when we were forced to keep out of 
 sight during the day. This was thickly settled 
 country. Villages and houses were very frequent.
 
 I40 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 so much so that again and again we ran onto them 
 without at all expecting it. Further, Germany has 
 gone in very strongly for reforestation and while 
 every bit of swam.p or barren land is planted with 
 trees, these are not thick, and are laid out in straight 
 rows, so that they do not furnish very good hiding- 
 places. Imagine wandering through a strange coun- 
 try at night — the darker the better for our purposes 
 — travelling only in a general direction, toward the 
 frontier, only able to look at the map at odd moments 
 and then with difficulty, and not knowing what the 
 next moment was to bring forth. Our nerves were 
 always keyed up to the highest tension and we 
 could almost feel any approaching danger before 
 sight or sound had warned us of it. It was part of 
 our business to find cover so soon as daylight began 
 to appear, and since it was not always possible to 
 find a patch of woods we made the most of swamps, 
 holes, culverts, or anything else that offered. 
 
 The nights at that time of the year were long and 
 dark and we were able to travel pretty steadily, 
 although we had to be exceedingly careful. Several 
 times we got into pretty close contact Vv'ith patrols 
 and also passed within sight of lights which we knew 
 must be those of prison camps. 
 
 One of the worst things we had to contend with 
 was the sudden and unwarned attacks of dogs. 
 Prowling around the edge of a town, for instance, or 
 passing in the shadow of a farmhouse, with every 
 facult}'^ on the look-out for danger, it was no small 
 thing to have a lean, hungry cur leap out at us and 
 make the air ring with his barking. We always 
 managed to dispose of these poor brutes with our 
 sticks or by kicking, but our highly strung nerves 
 never got used to these sudden attacks. 
 
 We didn't dare to follow the roads, for even during
 
 FREEDOM SHORTLIVED 141 
 
 the lonely hours of the night there was always more 
 or less traffic, and, near the Border, patrols were 
 passing incessantly. On the other hand, the fields 
 were wet and muddy; all of which made mighty 
 tough travelling for such wet, hungry, and miserable 
 tramps as by that time we were. Still the lust for 
 freedom kept our spirits up and we were ready for 
 anything in the way of hardship or danger, so long 
 as a chance remained of getting out of the hands of 
 the devilish Germans. One or two instances will 
 show how exceedingly narrow some of our escapes 
 were. Indeed, after a time narrow escapes became 
 such ordinaiy events that we didn't think much 
 about them.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 Into Holland, But ! 
 
 One cold morning, tired and wet and miserable, 
 we stopped at what seemed a sheltered spot at the 
 edge of a bush, to kindle a little fire to thaw ourselves 
 out. The fire was just going nicely and beginning 
 to furnish a little comfort when we heard a rooster's 
 shrill crowing seemingly right beside us. Quickly 
 stamping out the tell-tale fire we listened. Soon 
 another spoke, and in a few minutes crowing came 
 from all around us. It was so dark we couldn't 
 see anything. One way was as bad as another. 
 
 So we stretched ourselves out on our wet coats, 
 over the spot where the fire had been, to wait for 
 daylight. Soon voices came out of the mist around 
 us and a threshing machine started its drumming 
 close by. You can imagine that when it got a 
 little lighter we were glad to see a bit of scrub off 
 to one side; to this we made our way as quietly as 
 possible. There we stayed all day. Late in the 
 afternoon a German, with a dog and a gun, came 
 along by the bush and passed very close to us. The 
 dog sniffed suspiciously and ran around where we 
 had entered the patch, giving little, sharp yelps. 
 The man got his gun down and began peering into 
 the bush. We began to wonder what was about to 
 happen. But luck came our way again. Just as 
 we were getting ready to go for this beggar with 
 our sticks a rabbit sprang out from a hole near by 
 
 142
 
 INTO HOLLAND, BUT ! 143 
 
 and was off past us, followed, of course, by the hound 
 and the hunter. Since a good-sized reward is offered 
 for the capture of any escaped prisoner and a German 
 civiHan has the right to shoot any suspicious charac- 
 ters on sight we were mightily pleased to see him go 
 but just ungrateful enough to hope that he would 
 lose the rabbit. 
 
 After five nights of such travel we decided we had 
 travelled far enough north and should strike due 
 west for the Border of Holland. It was largely 
 a matter of guess work. Our map had gone to 
 pieces with the rain. Our matches had suffered 
 seriously from the same cause. Indeed, since we 
 were wet to the skin continuously it was impossible 
 to keep anything dry. Thus on dark nights we were 
 utterly helpless, so far as direction was concerned. 
 We came across an occasional landmark, of course, 
 but over there — as most of us have found out in 
 •even a very little travel at home — things look vastly 
 different at night. 
 
 Striking west, however, as far as we knew, we 
 concluded from the increasing number of patrols we 
 encountered that we were nearing the Border. We 
 sneaked to within hearing distance of houses which 
 good evidence told us were full of German troops and 
 evaded patrol after patrol and sentry after sentry. 
 From what we heard we judged that the guards 
 must know something of our whereabouts and were 
 specially on the look-out for us. (When any escapes 
 occur the guards are specially warned and given 
 descriptions of the missing prisoners. If they are 
 seen along the way, or leave any traces, this informa- 
 tion also is made good use of.) Here, again, travelling 
 was more than usually difficult, the ground being so 
 swampy that it was impossible to get along anywhere 
 but on the roads. Then for four miles from the
 
 144 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 Border the roads were constantly patrolled by guards 
 — some on horses, others on bicycles — and sentries 
 on short beats were placed at narrow distances 
 apart. Again and again when a patrol approached 
 we were forced off the road and into the swamps. 
 The guards always stopped where we left the road 
 but did not dare to urge their horses into the swamp. 
 They were pretty certain, anyway, that we would 
 not be able to get over the Border. This worked 
 out to our advantage in an unexpected way, for as 
 these patrols passed along the roads they warned 
 each sentry. He, in his turn, kept his lamp burning, 
 the better to discern us, I suppose, when we came 
 within range. However, this revealed their positions 
 to us and helped us to get around several dangerous 
 spots. 
 
 A drizzling rain had started early in the evening 
 which later developed into a terrific storm. After 
 midnight we had to fight our way against a fierce, 
 bitter wind which drove the rain and sleet into our 
 faces and lashed about our gaunt and ragged bodies 
 like a fiend. Starved and nearly frozen we fought 
 olF the feeling of m.isery and despair that almost 
 conquered us again and again and held grimly on, 
 buoying ourselves up with the belief that freedom 
 was near at hand. The storm got so furious that 
 the patrols took cover wherever they could find it, 
 and left the road unguarded, concluding, no doubt, 
 that we also would be forced to look for shelter. 
 But we held on and soon came to a long line of sen- 
 tries on an old road. As far as we could see their 
 lights shone out in the driving rain and they stamped 
 and swore in their harsh German voices. After a 
 Vv'hile we found a spot where a ditch ran up into 
 the field, making an opening in the hedge skirting the 
 road. Crawling through the hole on our stomachs,
 
 INTO HOLLAND, BUT ! 145 
 
 almost m full view of a sentry's lamp, we wriggled 
 along like snakes till we felt we were a safe dis- 
 tance behind the line and then got on our feet 
 and drove ahead again, keeping to the west, so far 
 as we could judge it. 
 
 For an hour we kept moving and not a soul was 
 seen or heard. Our hopes ran high. We felt that 
 our troubles were nearly at an end. Suddenly 
 another long row of lights loomed up in the darkness, 
 and we soon came to another row of sentries ap- 
 parently much the same as those we had passed. 
 After some little whispered discussion we came to 
 the conclusion that these must be Dutch sentries 
 but rather than take any chance v/e decided to 
 try to get past them and further into the country 
 before revealing ourselves. Again we got down on 
 our stomachs and crawled cautiously over the road. 
 We were considerably puzzled when we began to 
 meet patrols which forced us again into the swamps, 
 but just about daybreak we passed the last of these, 
 after which v<fe travelled along with less difficulty. 
 
 Oh, for a look at that map! If we ever wanted 
 anything it was that. But just then it was out of 
 the question. 
 
 Coming into the outskirts of a little town we saw 
 a chance. Getting as closely as we dared to a lighted 
 window we tried to piece together the mass of pulp 
 to which our map had been reduced. In our anxiety 
 we must have gone too close to the window for we 
 were startled by a shrill scream and I caught a 
 moment's glimpse of a rather pretty girl in a lace- 
 trimmed nightdress. As she drew back from the 
 window we slipped away into the darkness. 
 
 We believed we had crossed the Border and our 
 spirits rose at every step. Following a well-paved 
 road that seemed to be running southward, and
 
 146 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 fighting off fatigue which almost overcame us — 
 half the time spurring ourselves to run to keep warm 
 — ^we very shortly hit a good-sized town. It was 
 now early morning. We were so sure we were safe 
 that we decided to stop here and ask how far we had 
 come into Holland. Making our way down the 
 main street we met a couple of soldiers in dark blue 
 uniforms, decorated with a double row of brass 
 buttons. They stared at us and we stared back, 
 but the colour of their uniforms reassured us and 
 we kept on. They followed us at a little distance 
 till we came to a railway crossing where several 
 guards were posted. They held us up, asked us a 
 few questions, and then roughly seized us and hurried 
 us off to a big guard room in the centre of the town. 
 
 We had been in Holland and, without knowing 
 it, turned around and crawled out again! — passing 
 the German sentries again and thinking them to be 
 Dutch. 
 
 Was the irony of fate ever so manifest .f* 
 
 The soldiers we had met outside the town were 
 uniformed differently from the ones we had seen in 
 France. Hence our confusion. If we had only 
 
 known. If that map Oh, if any one of a 
 
 dozen things hadn't been as it was! 
 
 In the guard room we found that we had made 
 our way into the German fortress town of Wesel, 
 about twelve miles inside the German frontier. 
 And we thought we had been forcing our way through 
 that storm into Holland. 
 
 Naturally we were about the most surprised, most 
 disgusted, and most heart-broken Canadians in 
 Europe. How the mistake had occurred we couldn't 
 then imagine. We found out, though, later — when 
 one of the boys in camp showed us a map and we 
 looked up the little town of Burlo which we had
 
 INTO HOLLAND, BUT ! 147 
 
 passed that night and found the point of Holland 
 which we had crossed extending down into Germany. 
 
 Close to the guard room was a big artillery bar- 
 racks. All morning the German officers and N.C.O.'s 
 were coming in and out to look at us and they 
 seemed to be greatly amused at our appearance. 
 Huddled in a corner, as we were; completely broken 
 down with cold, hunger, and fatigue; ragged and 
 dirty, with scraggly beards and long, unkempt hair, 
 our misery would surely have awakened sympathy 
 in the heart of any civilized human being. Not so 
 with these fellows, however. Almost every one of 
 them taunted and ridiculed us. One big raw-boned 
 old sergeant-major, with high-top boots, spurs, and 
 spiked helmet, came stalking in, his long sword 
 clanking at his heels. A loose military cape re- 
 vealed his gaunt frame; his fierce eyes and bristling 
 moustache gave him a most ferocious appearance. 
 When he stood in front of us and took in our desper- 
 ate plight, a cruel smile spread over his face. The 
 guard roused us roughly to stand to Attention while 
 that old beggar talked to us and — wakened suddenly 
 out of a stupor of fatigue — I imagined for a moment 
 or two that I had arrived in Hell and was about to 
 be interviewed by the devil. After quizzing us for 
 a while as to the point from which we had escaped 
 and why we had come to fight against Deutschlandy 
 he poured a torrent of bitter abuse on our helpless 
 heads and then stamped his way out, evidently well 
 pleased with himself. 
 
 About half-past eight in the morning a guard ar- 
 rived from Friedrichsfelde Lager (Camp), about three 
 miles from Wesel, to take us to the prison camp there. 
 When we started he opened the breech of his rifle, 
 showed us the cartridge with their big, soft Dum- 
 dum bullets, and threatened what would happen
 
 148 THE KAISER S GUEST 
 
 should we attempt to escape. We forced ourselves 
 to laugh at him and told him, in what broken German 
 we could muster, that we had seen thousands of them 
 in France and didn't care a d — n for him or them. 
 Probably our irony was lost on him but it was heart- 
 ening to get it off, anyway. He raged at us and 
 threatened all kinds of punishment while he drove us 
 like cattle along the street toward the lager. 
 
 This was Sunday, and when we arrived in the camp 
 it was out of the question for our clothes to be given 
 the distinguishing stripes awarded prisoners because 
 the tailor's shop was closed. So we were lodged in 
 the German guard room and kept there till three 
 o'clock the following day. Most of the time we had 
 to stand in a corner. If we ventured to sit down one 
 of the guards would rush over and start to kick and 
 abuse us and by that time, as you may imagine, 
 we were almost ready to do anything to avoid further 
 ill-treatment. 
 
 A little happier time came next day and hope and 
 courage returned to a large degree, when, after our 
 clothes were marked, we were turned loose in the 
 camp enclosure. Here we met some old friends 
 who gave us a mighty fine welcome, food and cloth- 
 ing, and bucked us up generally. Everyone in the 
 British camp could appreciate what kind of an ex- 
 perience we had been through, and Canadians and 
 Old-Country boys seemed to be in competition as to 
 who could do the most for us. It almost seemed 
 worth while again to be alive. 
 
 We found in a few days at Friedrichsfelde that 
 while the camp was a vastly less unpleasant place 
 than the mine lager, the guards there were also 
 characteristically German and made the lot of the 
 prisoners just as hard as was possible. There was 
 absolutely no excuse for this since Friedrichsfelde
 
 Crippled prisoners working in the Bower beds at Friedrichsfelde 
 
 Cross marks the spot where the Author and h.s fcllo.v-pnsoiitrs were forced to "Stand 
 to Attention" till they agreed to work.
 
 INTO HOLLAND, BUT ! 149 
 
 was a Headquarters camp in which the guards had no 
 reason whatever for annoying or abusing the prison- 
 ers, but we were not allowed to have any fire in the 
 barracks though the weather was exceedingly cold 
 and wet. Then, to make things worse, every window 
 had to be kept raised. The place was nearly all 
 windows so we might about as well been out of doors. 
 We were forbidden to sit on our beds or smoke in 
 the barracks and were hounded about from place to 
 place all day apparently in an attempt to keep us 
 miserable. 
 
 One old German especially troubled us a great 
 deaL He had spent a good part of his life in England 
 and spoke good English, but he hated the British 
 bitterly. He had a little pointed beard, and a 
 very sharp chin which soon earned him the nickname 
 of*' Old Chisel-chin." 
 
 In the barracks with us was a big Irishman who 
 had beaten up a pro-German interpreter out on a 
 working party, and was awaiting his trial in barracks, 
 because there was no room for him in the cells. 
 
 One cold morning we were sitting about the camp 
 half frozen — Paddy on the edge of his bed — when 
 Old Chisel-chin came in. He flew at Paddy and 
 called him everything but a gentleman, but Paddy 
 sat tight and pretended ignorance as to what was the 
 matter, until the old German began telling him how 
 ignorant he and all the British were. *'As ignorant 
 as pigs," he shouted. "Any German soldier knows 
 more than an educated Englishman." 
 
 Paddy could stand it no longer. Jumping up, he 
 glared at his tormentor, and drawled in his broadest 
 Irish brogue: 
 
 "Sure an' it*s a d — n liar ye are." The German 
 made a rush at him, but a glance at Paddy's huge 
 fists, doubled up for business, caused him to change
 
 "1 
 
 ISO THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 his mind, and he whipped out a book and pencil to 
 take his name and number. 
 
 "What is your name?" he shouted. 
 'Tomlinson," said Paddy. 
 ' How do you spell it ? '* 
 
 Paddy glared in silence for a minute, and then said: 
 
 "Sure, an' where's yer edycation, yuh square- 
 headed pig?" 
 
 We all shouted with laughter, but Old Chisel-chin 
 flew out of the door like a whirlwind, and Paddy was 
 soon on his way to jail between two glittering bayo- 
 nets. 
 
 We were not fated to remain long among these 
 conditions, however, for in a few days a guard ar- 
 rived from K47 — our old and detested home, the 
 mine, and we were soon back again. 
 
 We had been away, altogether, two weeks. Nat- 
 urally the boys all thought we had got away and re- 
 fused to believe otherwise until they saw us. And 
 you may imagine the sympathy which was extended 
 when they learned of our hard luck and the fateful 
 mix-up at the Border. 
 
 Arrived at the camp we were taken into the 
 commandant's office and were asked all manner of 
 questions about our escape — where we got the civilian 
 clothes; what food we had, and how we got it; and 
 so on. To all of which we lied carefully and thor- 
 oughly. One question which puzzled us a good deal 
 was a reference to a circus and what part we had 
 had in it. Much to the officer's disgust we denied 
 all knowledge of such an affair, and it was rather 
 peculiar that the only atom of truth we told him was 
 disbelieved. 
 
 We found out from the boys a little later that the 
 circus had really been pulled off the night we got 
 away. (When they were never allowed anything in
 
 INTO HOLLAND, BUT ! 151 
 
 the way of recreation the only thing was to work 
 something up and spring it out on the sly. The 
 guards would hear the noise and rush in, but if the 
 affair happened to be amusing they sometimes let it 
 go on. If it didn't interest them, the whole camp 
 would get some special punishment the next day, 
 with an extra dose handed out to the prime movers — 
 if they could be discovered.) This time the fellows 
 had managed to dress up a big Scotchman to look like 
 an elephant and a long, lean Canadian as a giraffe, 
 while a flock of smaller animals followed. When 
 the procession waddled out into the yard the sentry 
 was much amused, as were also the other guards 
 when they saw what was going on. Perhaps because 
 they hadn't seen so much meat for a long time. So 
 they let the show continue. Next day, when Wallie 
 and I were missed, the officials naturally thought the 
 affair had been pulled off to engage the attention of 
 the guards while we made good our escape. As a 
 result the "animals" were all arrested and the jail 
 became a zoo for a week or two. 
 
 During our interview with the commandant we 
 had as an interpreter a little Englishman, Max Good- 
 man, who was certainly a brick. Some of his history 
 is interesting enough to tell here. 
 
 He had been studiang in France when the war' 
 broke out and had enlisted in the Foreign Legion, 
 where he had been fighting shoulder to shoulder with 
 men of every nationality under heaven, not a few of 
 them Germans and Austrians. Wounded at the 
 Battle of the Marne, early in the war, he was sent to 
 Blighty and came back after a little with an English 
 regiment only to be wounded again and taken pris- 
 oner. He had a good command of German and nat- 
 urally soon found a place as an interpreter. In K47 
 he had somehow struck up an acquaintance with
 
 152 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 *'Slim Ella," a rather good-looking little German 
 girl who was on night duty at the canteen. Quite 
 occasionally he stole a march on the jealous and 
 zealous guards and slipped through the canteen 
 window to disappear in the kitchen behind, where 
 he spent the time with Ella while she was waiting 
 to serve soup to the midnight shift. Daring, eh? 
 I suppose it was, but Max was ready for almost any- 
 thing. After a while he was recalled to Miinster 
 Camp and kept up quite a vigorous correspondence 
 with Ella for some time, the letters going back and 
 forth with prisoners going to and returning from the 
 hospital. I was his ambassador once or twice. 
 
 The mere reason for his recall to Miinster is inter- 
 esting in itself. If he liked the girl Ella he certainly 
 hated the Germans generally and fought against 
 them so strongly and continuously for the rights of 
 the British prisoners that the guards found him a 
 considerable nuisance and used all the influence they 
 could to get him away from K47. 
 
 Once the Miinster officials had been persuaded to 
 recall him, those at K47 had no more authority over 
 him. He was waiting for escort when Wallie and 
 I were brought back from our long and disastrous 
 trip toward freedom, and he was the means of having 
 matters made a good deal lighter for us then. 
 
 The officer and the guards had openly boasted as 
 to how they would torture Wallie and me if we were 
 caught — that they would fix us so that we would 
 never want to try it again. Max warned them 
 against any such treatment and threatened that he 
 would report them on his return to Miinster. An- 
 other factor also had something to do with it. The 
 post of commandant at Miinster Camp had — till a 
 short time previously — been filled by an old soldier 
 who had himself been a prisoner in France in the war
 
 INTO HOLLAND, BUT 1 153 
 
 of 1870 and who had been known on occasion to show 
 some sympathy for the prisoners. This man, by the 
 way, has a son in Winnipeg now. For what was 
 considered his laxity he was recalled and a new man 
 placed who turned out to be a real German. At this 
 time, however, the new commandant's stand on the 
 question of prison camp discipline was not known 
 and since he had jurisdiction over K47 Goodman's 
 threat had considerable effect. As a matter of fact 
 — so wej learned later — it was the means of staving 
 off a part of the punishment which had been planned 
 for us. 
 
 In any event, after all the evidence had been taken 
 covering our case, a detailed report with our own 
 written statement was sent in to the "Court of Jus- 
 tice" at Munster. A little time afterward our sen- 
 tence came back and was duly awarded: "Ten days 
 * black'." What that meant I'll tell later. 
 
 In the meantime, Wallie and I worked a few days 
 in the mines. Then they changed us over to the coke 
 ovens, which was to be the worst part of our punish- 
 ment.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 Slave Conditions in the "Kokerie** 
 
 Instead of going to work I joined the Sleepers 
 again but misfortune was my middle name. On the 
 second day, after about twenty-five of us had settled 
 down for a good sleep in an old, deserted working, a 
 pit-lamp appeared in the opening and the light 
 slowly advanced in our direction. Soon we saw a 
 big, black-whiskered old German, with massive, 
 stooped shoulders, come poking along the road ex- 
 amining all the hanging rock and broken timbers. 
 His job was to locate any accumulation of gas that 
 there might be in the mine and to get rid of it by 
 blowing it out with compressed air. He came on 
 slowly till he nearly stumbled over us. There we 
 lay, staring up at him with eyes as big as saucers. 
 But he was a wise old chap. I guess he knew what 
 would have happened had he made any move toward 
 us. He stopped and held his lamp above his head 
 while he looked over the walls and roof but never 
 for a second did his eyes drop to the ground. Then, 
 turning about, he walked slowl}^ back again. 
 
 Great excitement prevailed for some time. Som.e 
 of the boys had been sleeping there daily for months 
 and they were loath to believe that they were at last 
 caught. Most of the fellows decided to go back 
 next day, however. I was suspicious, but while I 
 didn't go to work I went to another deserted working. 
 
 Next morning about ten o'clock, after the boys
 
 SL|W^ CONDITIONS IN THE "KOKERIE" 155 
 
 had n«|p6ittled down, along came the old German 
 again, wtfs time, though, he had about a hundred 
 and fifty civilians with him, all armed with sticks, 
 stones, pieces of wire cable, and anything else they 
 could lay their hands on in the line. The prisoners 
 fought like wildcats and the civilians had to send 
 up for the guards with firearms. When they arrived 
 of course the boys had no alternative but to come out. 
 Naturally they were all punished and then set back 
 to work again. For a few weeks they kept at it, but 
 soon the boldest of them went back to sleeping and 
 the whole business was played out over again. 
 
 Wallie and I were switched to the Kokerie shortly 
 after this first fight and our experiences in the mine, 
 bad enough as they had been, were exchanged for 
 something infinitely worse, a slavery such as we never 
 dreamed that man would be called upon to endure in 
 what is termed a civilized age. 
 
 Most of the men on Kokerie were there for punish- 
 ment and it was interesting to see that Canada was 
 well represented. Our boys get their share of that 
 sort of thing, all right, whenever it was going. And 
 oh, what a job it was! We had to worry away at it 
 at least twelve hours daily, usually a good deal more, 
 since the work was set in stints. Each prisoner had 
 to load four "brands" of coke, wheeling it from the 
 ovens over a platform of broken steel plates and 
 dumping it into the cars which were run in beside the 
 platform. All this was done amid the hot, poisonous 
 fumes of the red-hot coke, enough in itself to sicken 
 any one. Each brand weighed eight tons so that 
 we had to shovel and wheel at least thirty-two tons 
 of the stulF for a day's work. Every second Sunday 
 we were forced to work twenty-four hours at a 
 stretch, stopping only for meals. In that time we 
 had to load sixty-four tons.
 
 156 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 Even the strongest men soon b rok^^^^^ under 
 the work. Imagine what it was to^^iPPRarved, 
 miserable beings Uke us. After a few days our lungs 
 and eyes were burnt with the gases and it seemed as 
 if we could not keep moving another moment. 
 But the guards were on the watch, and if you rested 
 even a minute, there was the devil to pay. Three or 
 four big Germans armed with revolvers paced back 
 and forth along that platform all the time, cursing 
 and abusing us. Often they would grab a shovel or 
 an iron bar off the front of the oven and hammer a 
 prisoner who did not do exactly as they wanted or 
 who stopped a moment to rest. 
 
 Soon we played out and couldn't finish our four- 
 brand stint in the twelve hours. Those who hadn't 
 finished were left behin# with a special guard, who 
 was peeved usually because he had to stay, and there 
 they were kept till the allotted work was done. 
 Sometimes men were kept at that for eighteen hours 
 a day until they collapsed on the platform. When 
 that happened they were put at lighter work for a 
 few days till they got back into something like shape 
 and then they were ordered back on to Kokerie 
 again. Sometimes a prisoner, driven harder than 
 he could bear, or infuriated at his treatment, would 
 go on strike and refuse to work. When a case like 
 this came up the guards would drive the rest of us up 
 in a corner and keep us there with their bayonets 
 while the bosses tied the striker up to a pole with his 
 hands above his head in a sort of crucified attitude 
 and beat him with rope ends. If that didn't break 
 him they would stand him to Attention in front of 
 the red-hot coke ovens. If it was winter the oven 
 treatment was alternated by forcing him to stand 
 to Attention out in the cold without protection. 
 If he moved hand or foot he would be knocked down
 
 SLAVE CONDITIONS IN THE "KOKERIE" 157 
 
 with the ^kutt of a rifle until he gave in and went 
 back to work. Every day the guards used to say to 
 us: "You will work or we will kill you." And they 
 came as near the latter alternative as they could with- 
 out actually doing it. It was punishment that no 
 human being could bear. 
 
 We hated the work because we felt that it was in- 
 jurious to the cause we had fought for. And we 
 knew that in doing such work we were releasing Ger- 
 mans for the fighting fronts. It used to break our 
 hearts as well as our bodies. But, under the condi- 
 tions, what could we do.^* 
 
 I feel bound to say that, in all this matter of forced 
 labour, the British prisoners kept their quota of 
 work down to the smallest possible minimum. If 
 a German gave us a job and left us alone we would 
 "soldier '* or lie down and go to sleep beside it. If our 
 tools were at all breakable we would smash them up. 
 If one of us cut or scratched himself he would always 
 put dirt in the wound in an attempt to induce blood- 
 poisoning. The boys broke their arms, or smashed 
 their hands and feet, or otherwise crippled themselves 
 in some way to avoid work that would help the Ger- 
 man cause. Many a man has lost a hand or an 
 arm over there which he has sacrificed for the cause 
 just as truly as if it had been shot off in Flanders. 
 
 The jail and hospitals were always full of British 
 and Canadian prisoners and our reputation as bad 
 workmen became so general that on many working 
 parties the owners refused to accept British prisoners 
 and would ship them straight back to the camp if 
 they were sent out. We were fighting a war, 
 against the Germans, in their own territory. And 
 it was a war which caused them no little worry and 
 trouble. 
 
 While we knew that the Germans hated us about
 
 iS8 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 as thoroughly as we hated them — because they felt 
 that Great Britain was the nation which was winning 
 the war, and also because they knew that it was 
 largely the British fleet which had so materially 
 cut off their food supply — we felt that by their ver>' 
 hatred itself they showed their respect — in the only 
 way a German can. At the same time, they ac- 
 knowledged that their prisoners were well treated in 
 England, but they considered that this was only their 
 due; while we, belonging to a savage, uncultured 
 race, were in their opinion not entitled to the humane 
 treatment that is due to civilized peoples. 
 
 They did not have the same feehng for the French 
 prisoners. And the reason was easy to find. How- 
 ever the Frenchman may be as a fighting man he 
 certainly caves in when he becomes a prisoner. 
 Ninety-five per cent, of the French prisoners we saw 
 did every^thing they could to curry favour with the 
 guards and consequently to make things as easy as 
 possible for themselves. For instance, they were 
 largely used in munition plants — something that the 
 British, almost without exception, refused to have 
 anything to do with. Again, they could always be 
 trusted to carr>^ through any work given them and 
 could be left very lightly guarded with little fear of 
 their attempting to escape. Thousands of them 
 were employed at farm work with ver^' few guards — 
 sometimes none at all. If the}^ had left most of our 
 bunch around that way we wouldn't have been there 
 when they came to look for us. Not only that, but 
 there would have been less of the crop in the ground 
 than was there before. For this reason the feeling 
 between the British and the French was not cordial, 
 and the British showed it by holding strictly aloof. 
 On the other hand, the French were usually "in well" 
 with the guards and the officers of the camps and
 
 SLAVE CONDITIONS IN THE "KOKERIE" 159 
 
 were able to make things unpleasant for us. All the 
 easy jobs in the big camps — such as those of tailors, 
 barbers, cooks, and camp-fatigue duties — went al- 
 most invariably to the French. Again, French 
 N. C. O.'s were nearly always in charge of the camps 
 under the Germans themselves and helped a good 
 deal in maintaining discipline. 
 
 Over against this fact it is true that, occasionally, 
 even the British non-coms were not entirely free 
 from reflection in this respect for in some camps 
 British sergeants and sergeant-majors carried on the 
 same duties, assisting the Germans to maintain 
 discipline among the British prisoners. We were 
 game to take all the Germans could give us in the way 
 of punishment for getting into trouble but it galled us 
 mightily to have these men use their authority to 
 force us to obey orders. 
 
 One old sergeant was instrumental in getting one 
 of the boys a two-year sentence in a German peni- 
 tentiary, and had a young Welshman in Miinster 
 under arrest when I left there, with a good prospect 
 of receiving a similar penalty. 
 
 A few N. C. O.'s also volunteered for farm work 
 rather than amuse themselves in camp where they 
 had nothing to do, and by this they forced a corres- 
 ponding number of Tommies, who would have been 
 on the farms, to work in the big industrial slave 
 camps. 
 
 There were, certainly, a few French who up- 
 held the standards of loyalty, who fought the 
 Germans tooth and nail, and who earned our 
 admiration thereby. But they were few and far 
 between. 
 
 An agreement had been reached between the 
 British and the German governments providing 
 that no officers or N. C. O.'s were to be forced to
 
 i6o THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 work — one of the reasons why the officers in their 
 special camps have no knowledge of the hardships 
 suffered by the rank and file. This worked out bene- 
 ficially for the Germans for there were a great many 
 more German prisoners in England than British 
 soldiers in Germany. In spite of this, however, a 
 working party of N. C. O.'s would be made up and 
 sent to Russia to work behind the German lines. 
 The only excuse offered for this was that it was in 
 reprisal for some alleged ill-treatment of Germans in 
 England. These Russian working parties were for- 
 lorn hopes since very few of the poor chaps who 
 were taken there ever came back. Most of them 
 died of starvation and abuse but a good many — so 
 it is said — were killed by Russian fire. One party 
 was driven like cattle from Pola to the front by 
 Uhlans who prodded them along with their lances 
 and rode them down if they lagged on the weary 
 march. To make travel easier, most of them threw 
 away their packs and so, when overtaken by severe 
 winter weather, had neither clothing nor shelter; 
 as a result many died from exposure. 
 
 Those who survived also had their terrible troubles. 
 At the camp they had had their parcels to fall back 
 on for food when the German ration was not sufficient 
 to keep life in their bodies. But the parcels were not 
 sent up there and the horrors of cold and exposure 
 were intensified by the process of slow starvation. 
 Strikes and trouble ensued, as usual, many of the men 
 hoping to be killed and thus escape their misery; but 
 while the end came for some, the rest were subdued 
 with the usual tactics. And there, where there was 
 no possible chance of interference by a neutral power, 
 the officials were even more ruthless and cruel than 
 in the German camps. Sometimes they would stand 
 all the prisoners alongside posts on blocks about a
 
 SLAVE CONDITIONS IN THE "KOKERIE" i6i 
 
 foot high, after which their hands would be tied 
 around the pole as high as they could reach. Then 
 the block was kicked out from under their feet. 
 While they were hanging there helplessly, suffering 
 unimaginable torments, the guards would walk up 
 and down the row and ask each victim: "Will you 
 work now?" If he did not immediately answer 
 "Yes," they would curse him and hammer him in the 
 face or kick him — this treatment being kept up till 
 the poor fellows would give in and return to their 
 allotted task. 
 
 The German graveyards were filled with our best 
 and bravest comrades, buried in nameless and de- 
 spised graves beneath the very ground they had cursed 
 in the bitterness of their hopeless struggle against the 
 inhuman cruelty of their barbarian guards. Broken- 
 hearted and starved, in anguish beyond belief, they 
 died; and their very souls cry out for redress and will 
 know no peace until the ruthless murderers who drove 
 their tortured spirits from their broken bodies and 
 desecrated their remains, shall have been ferreted 
 out, each and every one, and given his just deserts — 
 "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth" — from 
 the German soldier who committed the crime to 
 the officer who permitted and often directed it, while 
 pretending ignorance, to escape subsequent punish- 
 ment for himself and his masters. 
 
 Thank Heaven that mighty few of our men, pri- 
 vates or N. C. O.'s, consented to take charge of any 
 work or to assume any authority. The few who did 
 we regarded as traitors to their country, to their 
 friends, and to the cause for which we had fought and 
 were still fighting in the only way we could. 
 
 When I got back to London, after finally making 
 good my escape, I reported all such cases that I knew 
 of. The same thing has been done by other escaped
 
 i62 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 prisoners. We are hoping and praying that these 
 few fellows who so traitorously turned on their com- 
 rades in their hour of need will be treated as traitors 
 and shot — as they deserve to be — when, eventually, 
 they reach home.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 Another Try for Freedom 
 
 As WAS quite natural, I suppose, it was the usual 
 thing for congenial spirits in the camps to sort them- 
 selves out and get together in what was termed 
 "schools" of from three to six who "mucked in" — 
 that is to say, cooked, ate, shared parcels, and gen- 
 erally chummed together. The "school" I was in 
 comprised Nicholson; Private Blacklock, Canadian 
 Engineers; Private John O'Brien, 8th Canadians; 
 Private Freddie ("Toby") Boyd, 4th C. M. R.; and 
 last, but not least. Private George Polly, a sturdy 
 little London pugilist, who was a daddy to us all. 
 We were a pretty bad combination I guess. Some of 
 us were always in trouble. One or other of the six 
 was always in jail — sometimes more than one. 
 This involved a rather serious cutting down of the 
 food ration, with consequent suffering. Finally, 
 however, I hit on a scheme to get food in to the 
 prisoners in the jail. It takes longer to tell about 
 than it took to effect but it is a good example of 
 the schemes we were able to work to evade the 
 regulations. 
 
 Many of the German soldiers and guards had 
 smoked British tobacco before the war and didn't 
 much relish their own — to which, of necessity, 
 they had been reduced. We didn't blame them for 
 their preference; the German product certainly was 
 rank. In any event, they used to watch us hungrily
 
 i64 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 when we puffed away at our English cigarettes 
 which came to us regularly in the Red Cross boxes. 
 It was a very serious offence to take anything from 
 a prisoner, punishable by immediate transfer to the 
 fighting front — something most of these fellows 
 were exceedingly anxious to avoid — so they didn't 
 dare to take a cigarette even if we offered one. The 
 purpose of this rule, as will probably be obvious, was 
 to prevent bribery. However, 3'ou can always 
 bribe a German if you go about it in the right way. 
 I picked on an old savage who used to watch us 
 smoking with particularly hungry eyes; and, at 
 every opportunity, and with a great show of friend- 
 liness, would offer him a cigarette. The first time 
 he threatened to knock me down, but on each suc- 
 ceeding occasion he became a little less hostile; 
 finally, with a furtive look all round to see that no 
 one was in sight, he took the proffered "fag" and hid 
 it away. So far so good. Every time we had a 
 chance we gave him a cigarette and soon he came to 
 look for them. 
 
 Now had come the time to put to the test our far- 
 fetched scheme. One day two of the lads were 
 chucked into jail for one of the usual infractions of 
 discipline. I was sitting at a table in the barrack 
 when our old cigarette fiend came in. I called him 
 over and he came readily enough, looking apparently 
 for the usual box of fags. Then I put it up to him 
 bluntly that he had to take some food in to the boys 
 in jail. He thought I was crazy. He raved around 
 the place till I told him point blank that, if he didn't 
 do it, we would report him to the commandant of 
 the camp for having taken cigarettes from us. He 
 kicked like a steer; but deep down in his heart he 
 knew we would keep our word, and he knew, further, 
 that if we carried out our threat, he would be on his
 
 "' ANOTHER TRY FOR FREEDOM 165 
 
 way to the front in France within a week. Well, 
 ] the game worked. Finally the old brute gave in. 
 I After that, those of us who were ever in the jail 
 were a good deal more comfortable. 
 
 I suppose it was a pretty glaring species of black- 
 mail. But we were quite conscientious in believing 
 that the end justified the means. 
 
 But it's high time we were getting back to our 
 own experiences in that jail. 
 
 The sentence — "Ten days* 'black'" — referred 
 to in the last chapter, and which had been awarded 
 Wallie and me as punishment for trying to escape, 
 meant that we were to put in ten days in the black 
 or dark, cells, on a materially reduced ration of bread 
 and water, with no opportunity to communicate 
 with any one either inside or out. When the time 
 came we were pushed into an absolutely dark cell 
 about three by six feet in size with absolutely no 
 furniture or provision for comfort; and beyond 
 being allowed out for a few minutes each night to 
 get what water we needed, we were confined in that 
 space. To shut out the light they corked up all 
 the cracks and we nearly died of suffocation. 
 
 It wasn't much wonder that the time passed slowly. 
 W^e had some consolations, however, though these 
 were neither provided nor anticipated by the Ger- 
 mans. If they had even suspected such things there 
 would have been short shrift for them. We got 
 the added food supply, for instance, through the 
 underground medium of the blackmail plan. The 
 same medium furnished us with matches, so that 
 we were not forced always to remain in darkness. 
 Then, fortunately, we were not placed very far apart 
 and soon found that we could shout to one another 
 when no guards were likely to be around. 
 
 I passed a good deal of the time scribbling rhymes
 
 i66 THE KAISER'S GUEST; 
 
 on the cell walls. I would think out a verse, then 
 light a match and inscribe the matter while the light 
 lasted. Incidentally, one of the best of these was 
 written on Christmas Day, 1916, while most of you 
 were feasting on Canadian good things. It is given 
 here — as nearly as I can remember — as I wrote it 
 then: 
 
 On the old ramparts at Ypres 
 
 There's a lone Canadian grave; 
 The spot was fitly chosen, 
 
 For his heart was true and brave. 
 There, not a sound can reach him 
 
 But the tramp of marching feet 
 And the shattered walls of Ypres 
 
 Falling in the street. 
 
 Of the first to enter its earthen walls 
 
 Ere the furious storm had burst 
 Which made of the ancient city 
 
 A spot on earth accurst, 
 The forlorn grave of thousands 
 
 Who came with eager feet 
 When the shattered walls of Ypres 
 
 W^ere falling in the street. 
 
 There when the Germans' murdering hordes 
 
 Pressed near the old Lille gate. 
 And fiercely blazed the dripping sword. 
 
 And swelled the Hymn of Hate, 
 The shells came moaning over 
 
 And struck the old Cloth Hal! 
 Whose walls had stood a thousand years 
 
 But now were doomed to fall; 
 The Algerian line had staggered 
 
 From the gas clouds in retreat. 
 Where the shattered walls of Ypres 
 
 Were falling in the street.
 
 ANOTHER TRY FOR FREEDOM 167 
 
 Into the gap from the "Land of Snow" 
 
 Young soldiers of the West 
 Unfurled to the eyes of an anxious world 
 
 The maple leaf and crest. 
 Far-away mothers with mournful eyes 
 
 The glaring headlines greet: 
 "The Canadians have saved the day," 
 
 And the news is bitter-sweet. 
 But even yet we can proudly say 
 
 No Germans have set their feet 
 Where the shattered walls of Ypres 
 
 Are falling in the street. 
 
 When muffled drums stir the countless slain 
 
 To answer the last Roll Call, 
 When Flanders fields resound again 
 
 With marching men's footfall, 
 From the shattered stumps of Sanct'ary Wood, 
 From the battered holes where Hooge once stood. 
 From trench and dug-out, crater and mine, 
 A wavering, broken, and forlorn line — 
 Canada's sons will rise again. 
 
 And hurry with noiseless feet 
 To answer the call where they gave their all 
 
 In ruined Ypres' street. 
 
 We did have a sort of Christmas dinner that day 
 for when in the afternoon our blackmailed guard 
 came to take us out to get a pail of water, ostensibly 
 to wash our faces, we found the pail full of food. 
 There was something else which promised to be 
 even more of a treat. Mail had arrived while we 
 were in the cells and one of my chums had slipped 
 half a dozen letters addressed to me in among the 
 food. I was so pleased I could scarcely wait till 
 we got back to the cell to read them. And then, 
 when I began to pore over them by match-light, 
 I found to my disgust that they were all six or seven
 
 i68 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 months old. They had been lost or had strayed 
 all that time. 
 
 When we had served our allotted time and were 
 allowed out again we found that because of the 
 Christmas season discipline in the camp was slightly 
 relaxed. At least fewer punishments were awarded 
 and a Httle more liberty was allowed. For the first 
 time since we arrived in that camp we were allowed 
 to have a concert and a few boxing tournaments. 
 These latter were a great source of wonder to the 
 Germans who never care to fight with their fists. 
 When one of the really good boxers we had in the 
 camp would knock another fellow down — all in the 
 best of humour — they would look on in wonder. 
 Truly it was difficult for them to understand British 
 ideas. 
 
 However, even with such diversions, the days and 
 weeks passed slowly by. Ultimately one of the 
 boys worked out an ingenious scheme by which 
 practically eyerybody got out of working — for a while 
 —and soon the hospital overflowed. It was really 
 a laughable stunt though it caused an amount of 
 suffering that no one who was not there can possibly 
 appreciate. 
 
 The Red Cross parcels coming in to us all had 
 plenty of mustard included (thought we needed 
 seasoning for the food we were getting, I guess). 
 But that mustard was made to serve a different 
 purpose. This chap remembered, I suppose, what 
 his mother had done to him when he had had a 
 pain in the region of his stomach in days of old and 
 utilized the mustard in a similar way, though on 
 his hands and feet, and in a stronger solution. 
 Others, seeing the effect, followed suit, and soon 
 there was an abundance of bad-looking sores in the 
 camp. Then an old Imperial soldier went the origi-
 
 ANOTHER TRY FOR FREEDOM 169 
 
 nator one better by inventing a salve of salt and soap. 
 As can be imagined, its soothing qualities were not 
 remarkable. Instead, when applied to the mustard 
 sores, it ate in greedily, making the wounds look 
 fearful. Painful, of course; but — so was work. 
 In a few days about thirty of the boys were paraded 
 before the old camp doctor and were sent to the 
 hospital. He said we had "The Plague!" and no- 
 body denied it. 
 
 To the officials it must have looked mighty serious. 
 And try as he might the old doctor was unable to 
 find any earthly disease to correspond with it. In 
 the meantime, it kept spreading, as did the alarm, and 
 soon a number of the "plague "-infected prisoners 
 were sdnt on to the larger hospital at Munster. 
 Now, since it was the hope and aim of every one of 
 us to get to Munster, away from that horrible mine 
 camp, this was all very fine. No solution of the 
 epidemic was found by the surgeons here. 
 
 Eventually two specialists, very great men indeed, 
 were brought down from Berlin. They tried a grist 
 of experiments but were apparently as mystified as 
 the others. 
 
 In the end the thing was given away by a couple 
 of Russians whom someone had let into the secret. 
 While the Russians were with us they were all right 
 and could be depended on to keep their nerve. 
 However, the Germans finally became suspicious 
 that everything was not exactly as it seemed. They 
 got these two poor fellows by themselves and put 
 them through a sort of exalted third-degree treat- 
 ment, I suppose, for the secret came out. 
 
 Then followed the reckoning. All the " plague "- 
 stricken victims — some of them really suffering 
 severely — were turned out into the yard and set to 
 work stiffly. For a while the hospital was empty,
 
 I70 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 and to have the jail and hospital empty was very 
 discouraging. But this was not the end. There 
 were the usual ''accidents," which sufficed occasion- 
 ally to put a man back for a time, but this was not 
 wholesale enough to suit us. At a sort of council 
 meeting we discussed different diseases which might 
 serve to secure us admission to the hospital, and finally 
 decided on heart-disease — a malady that no one had 
 ever tried the old doctor with. It was quite a job lo 
 create cases of heart-disease wholesale, particularly 
 with the limited, pharmacopoeia available in a Ger- 
 man prison camp, but we managed it fairly well. 
 
 How? It is simple enough, when you know how. 
 
 Next morning, after they had eaten about a pound 
 of soap between them, six of the fellows were paraded 
 before the doctor complaining of heart-disease. 
 When the other cases were disposed of, and the 
 friendly French orderly I have spoken of before 
 holloed *'Next," a big six-foot Canadian stepped 
 out and began to explain his symptoms. With a 
 derisive grin the old doctor grabbed his stethoscope 
 and applied it to the region of the alleged malady. 
 In a second the grin faded and a look of astonishment 
 took its place. He went over him long and carefully 
 and finally, with some concern, looking at him as 
 though he expected him to blow up, stood him aside 
 to be attended to after examining the others. But 
 when they turned out to be similarly affected the 
 old chap seemed to get the key to the situation. He 
 flew into a rage and kicked them all out.^ When they 
 came back to question the orderly a little later he 
 was very much amused. 
 
 "What did the doctor say?" he was asked. 
 
 *'He says there is nothing wrong," the answer 
 came, "that EngHshmen's hearts are all like that. 
 They drink too much whiskey."
 
 ANOTHER TRY FOR FREEDOM 171 
 
 So all we got out of that attempt was a bad repu- 
 tation. 
 
 About this time "Slim'* Evans again came into 
 prominence by reason of getting mixed up with some 
 civilians in a fight down in the mine in which he 
 was outnumbered three or four to one and rather 
 badly beaten up. "SHm's'* case came before the 
 so-called "Court of Justice," and gave us another 
 instance of its workings. 
 
 In case a prisoner was ill-treated by a guard 
 he had the privilege of laying a complaint with the 
 commandant, which came, of course, under military- 
 authority, since the guards were soldiers. The 
 guards had their own methods of looking after such 
 things. In case of trouble with civilians, however, 
 the prisoner was encouraged to lay a complaint, 
 for reasons which this incident will evidence. 
 
 Evans charged the civilians with assault and the 
 Sieiger (foreman) of his revier, who had been one 
 of the main factors in the matter, was brought up 
 for trial. It was not usual even to allow a prisoner 
 to attend his trial but in this case, for some peculiar 
 reason, "Slim" was summoned to attend, and was 
 taken down to the court in another town by Johnson, 
 the interpreter, who also acted as guard. 
 
 Now, if the case had gone against Evans, he would 
 have been jailed and the work he would do in the 
 time of his incarceration would be lost. He couldn't 
 be fined because he had no money to pay. So after 
 a lot of argument and a good deal of false swearing 
 on the part of the civilians the Court found the 
 Steiger guilty and fined him heavily. "Slim" was 
 also informed — ^with a beautiful disregard for con- 
 sistency — ^that he, too, was guilty, and was severely 
 reprimanded and warned to be more careful in future. 
 The fines went to the War Chest.
 
 172 THE KAlSER'S GUEST 
 
 See the beautifully planned circle. We were en- 
 couraged to report on the civilians. They were en- 
 couraged to stir up trouble with us. In the end they 
 were fined. All for the benefit of the state. There's 
 a sample of government for you. 
 
 Another rather good story goes with this trial, 
 however. After the trial the interpreter, Johnson, 
 felt called upon to stand treat to the Steigers from 
 our camp, and one or two others who had attended 
 the trial. When they resorted to the bar he had, of 
 necessity, to take his prisoner along. "Slim" was 
 equal to the occasion, took his place with the rest 
 of them, and when the *' Schnapps'* appeared, tossed 
 off his share before the Germans had time to object. 
 Naturally they stirred up a fuss but the Canadian 
 knew his ground, that they were breaking rules to 
 bring him in there, and threatened exposure. He 
 apparently had the best of the argument. In any 
 event, he got several rounds of Schnapps at the ex- 
 pense of his guards. 
 
 Incidents like these illustrate various phases of 
 camp life. From some of them we extracted really 
 a good deal of fun. But all the time we were under- 
 going the terrible strain of slavish work, brutal treat- 
 ment by the guards, and at times, when our parcels 
 were not regular, an awful, ravening hunger. All of 
 these were operating to break down our mental and 
 physical strength. Any one of them alone was 
 enough to break any man's heart. 
 
 It will not be wondered at, then, that I kept 
 planning for another escape. When we had come so 
 near it once it seemed well worth trying again, even 
 though we knew the punishment that was likely to be 
 meted out should the attempt fail. 
 
 When Wallie and I came out of jail after the first 
 attempt we were forced back to w^ork on the Kokerie
 
 ANOTHER TRY FOR FREEDOM 175 
 
 again. The hardships of the trip and the punish- 
 ment following had affected Wallie seriously, he was 
 not able to keep up to the work here and so was 
 moved for a while to another job. Thus, when 
 determined to have another try at it, and since it did 
 not seem possible to wait for long, as cold weather 
 was setting in, I decided, regretfully, that I would 
 have to go without him. So when I was approached 
 by a big fellow from the Royal Engineers — who, for 
 reasons which will be obvious later, I shall call W. H. 
 — I sized him up and decided to try it out again with 
 him. He had been camp cobbler but had been placed 
 in the Kokerie a few days before because of some dis- 
 satisfaction with his work. His story was that he 
 wanted to get on the Kokerie to have a better chance 
 to escape and he claimed to have two thousand marks 
 in German money. We thought this might come 
 in handy to bribe a guard in case we were caught 
 up on the Border, so the outlook seemed good. After 
 we got away and got up near the Border the story 
 assumed a different complexion and it appeared that 
 he had only two marks which had been given him by 
 an old Russian. 
 
 The first thing to do when thinking of escape 
 was to get rid of the marks on our clothing. You 
 see, the clothes which were sent in to us in our par- 
 cels were all passed through the censor's hands and 
 were marked before we were allowed to get hold of 
 them. As yet I hadn't received all the honours 
 which were awarded to me later in the way of special 
 decorations and with some little difficulty we man- 
 aged to get rid of all the marks fairly well except 
 those on our great coats. 
 
 The plan we hit on this time, while it was simpler 
 than the other, was at the same time more daring, 
 as its working out will show.
 
 174 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 The night of the fatal day — the fifth of January, 
 1917 — we fell in with the other prisoners as usual in 
 the prison yard, to be counted. Sometimes the 
 guards searched us and we were nervous about it 
 because, besides a few biscuits, a couple of tins of bull 
 beef, and a bit of chocolate — these for rations — we 
 had a watch, a compass, and a flashlight. The 
 guards looked us over, but fortunately didn't search 
 us closely. Then, with the guards in a circle all 
 round us, we were marched out on the street and 
 turned the corner toward the Kokerie. One old 
 guard had lost an eye and, taking advantage of this, 
 W. H. and I got on the blind side of him. Invariably', 
 as we turned the corner of a big brick kiln next the 
 Kokerie we w^ould meet a party of civilians coming 
 back from the day shift. We counted on this and 
 two or three other little things to make our get- 
 away. So you can imagine how anxious we became 
 as we neared that corner. Sure enough, the party 
 was on hand as usual. As previously arranged, 
 just as we passed the last man, two of our fellows 
 whisked our coats off our shoulders and we wheeled 
 like a flash and fell 'in behind the civilians. The 
 whole thing was done in the midst of the guards who, 
 as we counted, didn't see us and — by its very daring, 
 I suppose — was successful. 
 
 There we were, to all intents and purposes German 
 civilians coming off the day shift. We walked right 
 past the guards and the next moment ran practically 
 into the arms of the manager of the plant and three of 
 his foremen. For a moment my heart was in my 
 mouth lest they would spot us, but I walked quickly 
 past and escaped detection. When W. H. saw what 
 was approaching he slipped round the corner ot the 
 kiln and came out from the other side. By that time 
 I was busy digging a hole under the fence behind a
 
 ANOTHER TRY FOR FREEDOM 175 
 
 pile of bricks. He came along the fence calling to 
 me but fortunately no one heard him. Soon we were 
 under the fence and through, again tasting the joys 
 of freedom. Twenty minutes later, when we were 
 sitting on the edge of a marsh, scraping the mud from 
 our clothes and wringing them dry, we heard the alarm 
 ring at the Kokerie. We knew we had been missed. 
 
 It wasn't so easy getting away that time; indeed we 
 were nearly nabbed at the outset. The night was 
 bright, with a full moon, and since the ground was 
 frozen hard any one could be heard from a long 
 distance. We trudged along across the fields, avoid- 
 ing the roads as much as possible, making for the 
 spot where Wallie and I had crossed the River Lippe 
 the time before. Looking back we saw a party of 
 horsemen who we knew were out looking for us and 
 who were only a field or so away. Fortune did fa- 
 vour us here for there was a deep furrow or ditch 
 just about where we were when we saw them. We 
 dropped into this, pronto, and they apparently lost 
 us for, though not far away when they went by, they 
 had not seen us drop. When they had disappeared 
 we made for the river again, more anxiously than 
 ever. Very soon we arrived at the spot, but only to 
 find the house flooded and deserted and the barge 
 and wharf both washed away. After hunting 
 around for a while, however, we found two railway 
 ties and these, with a couple of doors from an old 
 building and considerable other rubbish, the whole 
 fastened with hay-wire, formed a raft which we de- 
 cided would do in the emergency. 
 
 At that time the river was in flood and had risen 
 over the flats on both sides till it was fully half a mile 
 wide. As we pushed off" into the icy water the raft 
 sank under us until we began to think it was no use. 
 Up to our waists the water rose and then she floated,
 
 176 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 and after a good deal of trouble we were able to land 
 near a farmhouse on the opposite bank. At first, 
 avoiding the roads, we tried the fields, but found they 
 were impassable because of the water under the snow 
 which made passage almost out of the question. So 
 we had to come back to the roads. 
 
 The country was thickly populated and so we ran 
 continual risk of capture, but there was nothing else 
 to do but to plug along and make the best of a bad 
 job. Of course we got mighty wet getting across the 
 river and there was no chance to get warm or dry 
 again so we plugged along. While we managed to 
 get fairly good cover, it was in bits of bush or out-of- 
 the-way spots, which furnished little or no protection. 
 Time and time again we were tempted to sleep in 
 barns and outhouses but we knew that to do this 
 would be practically courting capture. Toward 
 morning we used to scrape away the snow under a 
 tree and huddle together, hugging each other for 
 warmth. Sometimes we took big chances and made 
 a fire. This was a good deal more dangerous than 
 might be supposed. The bush in Germany being 
 largely the result of a policy of reforestation they are 
 exceedingly careful as to fires, so smoke arising from 
 one of these patches is very likely to lead to immedi- 
 ate investigation. It was no easy matter to get a fire 
 started either, since everything was soaked through 
 with the heavy December rains. When we did get 
 one started we used to dry bundles of sticks which we 
 would carry on to the next resting place so as to have 
 some dry kindling. 
 
 In addition to the cold and dampness we began to 
 suffer terribly from hunger and altogether this be- 
 came too much for W. H., who began to fag and 
 complained that he was *'fed up." He proposed all 
 sorts of things, which I knew would be sure to lead
 
 ANOTHER TRY FOR FREEDOM 177 
 
 to capture, and I had a hard struggle to keep him 
 moving. But still he would not consent to our sepa- 
 rating but protested so strongly that he wanted to 
 keep on that I had to believe him. 
 
 We travelled only at night and were continually 
 meeting people. Almost invariably they spoke to 
 us. I answered in the best German I could command 
 — not too good at that— and we would walk quickly 
 past. Sometimes they would stare after us as if they 
 suspected something and then we would change our 
 course or cross the fields to another road. Shortly 
 after starting out one evening, about six o'clock, we 
 passed through the town of Ramsdorf. Several 
 people spoke to us here, but we managed to get 
 through without arousing any suspicion. Half 
 dead v^^ith hunger as we were, W. H. wanted to stop at 
 a shop and try to buy some bread but I knew that 
 would be fatal and wouldn't let him. 
 
 Next morning we got cover in what looked like a 
 fair-sized bush and started a little fire but soon found 
 out that we were close beside a frequented path. 
 Going farther back I found that we were in a mere 
 fringe of trees surrounding a bunch of farm buildings. 
 It was decidedly dangerous; but v>^e were so cold and 
 miserable that we decided not to move but to take 
 a chance on anybody finding us. Several people 
 passed during the day but happily no one noticed our 
 fire. It is very strange how one can lie hidden that 
 way, almost in plain sight, and yet escape the atten- 
 tion of so many people. 
 
 The next morning we lighted our fire on top of a 
 sand hill bearing three or four scrubby pines, the 
 long, drooping limbs of which were weighted down 
 with snow. When it got really light we saw on our 
 right three or four farmhouses in the middle of a 
 good-sized tract of farm land. On the left was a
 
 / 
 
 178 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 stretch of moor covered with stunted pines about a 
 foot high. From this direction we heard a loud 
 noise that grew nearer and more distinct as the hours 
 passed and we wondered what it was. About two 
 o'clock, peering anxiously through the snow and 
 sleet, we saw what proved to be a long line of Ger- 
 mans armed with sticks, pans, horns, and all sorts of 
 noise-producers. They were advancing right in our 
 direction, but by this time it was too late to make a 
 move. On the flank of the line, too, were men armed 
 with shotguns. 
 
 Were they after us? At first we thought so and 
 wondered the wherefor of the horns and pans. 
 It soon became evident, however, that they were 
 out on a rabbit drive and they nearly caught a couple 
 of rabbits they weren't looking for. They passed 
 within twenty yards of us but were apparently so 
 interested in the hunt that they didn't notice our 
 fire. We breathed a sigh of reUef, though, when they 
 were past. 
 
 The relief didn't last long. A moment later two 
 figures appeared at the bottom of the sand hill and 
 began to make their way straight toward the fire. 
 W. H. had curled up comfortably beside it but I 
 roused him so as to be ready for an emergency. 
 Inasmuch as there was no other cover near, we de- 
 cided that there was nothing better to do than await 
 developments. When they came closer the couple 
 turned out to be an old man and a woman. He 
 carried a sack of potatoes on his back while she had a 
 bundle of clothes. 
 
 The old man stopped by the fire, eased his sack to 
 the ground, and said : 
 
 ''Legoffr 
 
 ''Legoffy' I answered, and sat still, not offering 
 further greeting.
 
 ANOTHER TRY FOR FREEDOM 179 
 
 In what category they placed us I do not know. 
 However, in a moment the old man picked up his 
 bag and plodded on again, the old woman following. 
 
 It had, perhaps, better be explained that " Legoff" 
 is a term of greeting much used in Westphalia. We 
 had heard it used frequently in the mines and so were 
 fairly familiar with it, I never heard it definitely 
 translated but I believe it meant something like our 
 ''Good Luck." 
 
 That night we travelled on roads which bore signs 
 reading: '' Dieser Weg ist Ferboten" (It is forbidden 
 to pass this way), and from this knew that we were 
 getting close to the Border. Through the day the 
 weather changed to warmer and melted all the snow 
 until it was almost impassable underfoot. The rain 
 continued most of the night so that we were in rather 
 parlous shape and needed something to cheer us up. 
 Early in the evening we passed an old windmill 
 that we had frequently heard of and began to dodge 
 patrols again. We were aiming to cross at the spot 
 where Wallie and I had attempted to pass before but 
 missed, and knew we were on the right road this 
 time. 
 
 Everything was going along favourably when 
 something seemed to strike W. H. and he began to 
 argue that we were lost. In spite of all I could do he 
 continued to argue and finally insisted on following a 
 broad road running parallel with the Border. I 
 wanted to take to the fields and told him the danger 
 he was running but he kept on stubbornly until a 
 German patrol came down the road. They were 
 interested in our argument, too, and got all around 
 us before we noticed them. 
 
 We were in the toils again. Once more our hopes 
 were blasted. 
 
 These guards were young fellows who had been
 
 i8o THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 wounded at the front, and then put on Border duty. 
 They used us rather better than we expected after 
 the former experience, even giving us a mattress 
 to sleep on in their billet. Listening to their talk 
 we heard them discuss the reward that would be 
 forthcoming because of our capture. Comforting, 
 wasn't it.^* 
 
 I blamed W. H. for our capture, and I guess I 
 took a good deal of my feeling out on him. I saw 
 then that he had been afraid to try to cross the Border 
 and had worked things so that we would be sure to 
 get caught. He had been up as far as the Border 
 once before with two other fellows, both of whom 
 had been shot when he had been recaptured. He 
 had been pretty badly beaten up afterward and I 
 suppose when the memory of it came back he had 
 lost his nerve. 
 
 The guards seemed to be highly amused at my 
 show of temper and apparently guessed what it was 
 about for they kept telling us in German we were 
 twelve miles from the Border. I knew better.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 My Death Sentence 
 
 Next morning two guards with a pair of lean and 
 hungry dogs on leash arrived and shortly after 
 marched us off down to the little town of Baurlo. 
 Rather an interesting incident happened on the way 
 down; a middle-aged man on a bicycle stopped and 
 asked the guards if we were Frenchmen. Something 
 prompted me to speak, and I said: 
 
 "No.* We're Englanders." 
 
 **Is that so?" he answered in perfect English. 
 "Good morning, boys," and jumping off his wheel 
 he walked along for quite a while beside us. 
 
 "Do your guards speak English .f"' he asked, and 
 being answered negatively he went on to talk to us. 
 
 "Where are you from?" he asked. 
 
 "The Auguste-Victoria coal mines in Hiils," I 
 answered. 
 
 "Yes, but what part of Britain?" 
 
 "Oh, we're Canadians." 
 
 "Is that so? Well, I have been in Montreal and 
 Toronto." 
 
 "Yes?" I queried. "But what are you? You're 
 not a German?" 
 
 "Why do you think I am not?" 
 
 "Because no German ever speaks kindly to a 
 prisoner unless he has some end to gain in doing so." 
 
 **WeU" (with a smile), "I have no end to gain and 
 I am no longer a German. I was born here but I 
 
 i8i
 
 i82 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 left Germany and spent twelve years in England 
 and four in the United States. Just before the war 
 I came back on a visit to see some of my people 
 and to compare the British and American ideals of 
 justice and freedom with those here — to see whether 
 conditions were as bad in this country as I had im- 
 agined them to be when I left." 
 
 "I hope you are satisfied," I said grimly. "Why 
 did you stay here?" 
 
 "Yes," came the answer, with a frown. "I am 
 satisfied and I had no choice about staying. I have 
 been trying ever since the outbreak of w^ar to get 
 away, but it is no use. I am forced to stay here and 
 work till the end. Perhaps I shall never be allowed 
 to return because no one will believe that I was not 
 recalled to take a part in this cursed war." 
 
 Satisfied that he was to be trusted we began to 
 ask him questions about conditions on the Border. 
 
 "How far are we from Holland.^" I asked. "The 
 guards say twelve miles." 
 
 "They are liars," he answered. "You are only 
 half a mile from the Border. See that bit of bush 
 across there?" (Pointing across the fields.) "That 
 is in Holland. It's pretty hard luck to get caught 
 so close but you will never get over here. The 
 country is alive with guards all around here. Three 
 hundred prisoners have been caught right where 3-ou 
 were. But you are better off than some of them for 
 about thirty have been shot." After thinking a 
 moment he added : " But once in a while one or two 
 do get through." 
 
 Soon after that we came to the little village where 
 we were to take the train back to the camp and 
 the man left us saying: "Good-bye, and better 
 luck next time." 
 
 Our guards took us to an office ^where we were
 
 MY DEATH SENTENCE 183 
 
 examined by a young officer. He tried to talk to 
 us in English and while we could understand him all 
 right he couldn't make much out of us. Turning 
 to an old interpreter with one eye who was sitting 
 behind a big desk, he said in German: "I can't 
 understand these English swine. They talk through 
 their noses." Then he started to repeat something 
 I had said, trying to imitate my accent and giving 
 a good deal of amusement to the office staiF, The 
 guards went out presently to get dinner but nothing 
 was offered to us. We asked the officer for food 
 and he promised with a sneering smile but we knew 
 he lied and were not wrong. We offered money to 
 some, and one chap did seem to try to buy something 
 for us but it never materialized. 
 
 Eventually we were put on the train again and 
 were on the way to Miinster on the road to Kom- 
 mando 47. On the way, a young guard, one who had 
 marched us down in the morning, was trying to talk 
 to me in German. I was rather surprised when, 
 unable to understand one expression, he broke out 
 into English. 
 
 "Where did you learn that? — and why didn't you 
 speak that way before?" I asked him. 
 
 "Oh, I don't speak very well," came the reply. 
 "I learned a little English in America. I was two 
 years in New York." 
 
 I looked at him sharply; apparently he understood 
 what was in my mind for, before I could speak, lie 
 continued: 
 
 "No, I didn't come back to fight. I was homesick 
 and came over on a visit in the summer of 191 4. 
 I was not allowed to return but had to join the army." 
 
 He talked away to me for quite a while and, when 
 he was certain that nobody could hear him, told me 
 how he hated the whole German system, referring
 
 184 'A HE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 to himself as "a d — n fool" for getting caught. 
 I wondered whether he would report the man who 
 had talked with us in the morning and who had 
 certainly never dreamed that the guards would 
 understand what he was saying. 
 
 How closely we were searched on such occasions 
 is illustrated by an incident which occurred on our 
 arrival at Miinster. Turned over to the guard 
 room, we were most scrupulously examined, so 
 carefully indeed that a tiny compass — about the 
 size of a five-cent piece — which I had sewn in the 
 tail of my coat and which I thought surely was 
 beyond finding, was brought to light, I stood liable 
 for extra punishment for having this in my possession 
 but was able later to persuade the officer in charge 
 of K47 (to which we were taken back a little later) 
 to have the charge withdrawn on the ground that 
 the compass had been attached to a watch charm 
 sold in the camp canteen. Our money could buy 
 no food, and about the only thing we could do with 
 it was to purchase cheap jewellery sold there or we 
 could use it to get our teeth fixed and it was a 
 good time to get that done, too; we weren't using 
 them very much, just then, 
 
 I was commanded to sign a paper declaring how 
 we had escaped and outlining everything we did 
 while on the road but refused to do so unless the 
 officer in question would agree to make a statement 
 in his report to the effect that the compass was 
 only a souvenir and useless. He hated to see me 
 escape the extra punishment but since it would have 
 meant trouble for him had it become known that the 
 article had been sold in the camp he chose the lesser 
 of two evils and I got away with it. (Those state- 
 ments of escape, by the way, were masterpieces 
 of the world's literature. We were always ready
 
 MY DEATH SENTENCE 185 
 
 to tell any number of lies if by so doing we could 
 keep them in ignorance and leave the way open again 
 for the next attempt.) 
 
 While we were in the Miinster guard room some 
 of the British prisoners passed by the windows. 
 By this time we were pretty nearl}^ exhausted for 
 lack of food and I guess our condition was evident. 
 Anyway, they went to Sergt .-Major Summers, who, 
 after a good deal of trouble, got permission from the 
 camp commandant to send us in some food. The 
 Christmas parcels, somewhat late, were just arriving, 
 and with their customary generosity, they made up 
 a splendid meal out of their parcels and also filled 
 a basket for us to take along next day. Two of them 
 who had been with us for some time at the mines 
 were allowed to come in to see us and when they 
 walked in one shouted: 
 
 "Why, hello, it's the 'Kaiser's Guest.* How in 
 hell did you get rid of all your stripes? Did you 
 hear about Jack Hughes?" 
 
 "What's wrong with Hughes?" we asked. 
 
 "He was killed to-day trying to escape. It was 
 on the way home from work and he hadn't the ghost 
 of a show." 
 
 Then the guards ordered them out and we heard 
 no more of Hughes till later. So another of the 
 gallant band gave his life in trying to gain his freedom. 
 
 We were taken back to K47 next day, being 
 marched down to the station with a party of Russian- 
 Poles who had been captured when with the Russian 
 army and were being returned to Poland. They 
 were not destined to stay long, however. Soon 
 afterward the Germans formed the new Polish 
 Kingdom and these fellows were all drafted into a 
 new PoHsh army to fight against their former allies. 
 When we saw them they were jubilant about getting
 
 i86 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 home to their families again, but even then they 
 were suspicious as to Germany's intentions. It 
 looked too good altogether to be through with the 
 war. 
 
 When the train came along we got into a carriage 
 full of German soldiers returning on leave from the 
 front. We made these fellows stare when, after 
 the train pulled out and we thought it a good time 
 to have a little lunch, we opened the basket given 
 us the day before and pulled out a big loaf of cake, 
 a tin of beef, part of a tin of beans, a plum pudding, 
 and two or three slices of white bread. 
 
 My! how those fellows did quiz the guards. Thev 
 had apparently been led to believe that everyone in 
 England was starving. Soon they began to try 
 to talk to us, pretending to be friendly in order, I 
 suppose, to satisfy their curiosity. I was always 
 on the look-out for information and so met them 
 halfway, to get information in my turn. I gave 
 several of them a little piece of cake each, which 
 obviously they greatly appreciated; one young chap 
 told us that that was the first cake he had eaten since 
 1916. We managed without quarrelling to exchange 
 views on the war and they told us a little about the 
 fighting on the Somme and at Verdun. They said 
 little about the Somme and mighty cheering it was 
 to us to have them so gloomy about it. They re- 
 ferred to our troops as "English Devils"; one chap 
 said rather humorouslA that "they were so thick 
 on the Somme that they (the Germans) couldn't 
 kill them" — that "when an Englishman was killed 
 his comrades poured a glass of rum down his throat 
 and he would get up and fight again." 
 
 They were quite willing to talk and to answer 
 questions but I could find out little that I wanted 
 to know except the indefinite story about the Somme
 
 MY DEATH SENTENCE 187 
 
 fighting. They certainly had a great respect for the 
 Canadians and asked us if we were always used as 
 "shock troops," They also seemed to be greatly 
 interested in the Highlanders and one fellow, who 
 had been at Loos, spoke of the British Guards and 
 was anxious to know how many of them there were. 
 When they asked how many Canadians were fighting 
 we told them there were half a million Guards and 
 two million Canadians. Though some were a little 
 <lubious most of them went off muttering and we 
 had the satisfaction of knowing that we had set them 
 thinking about the situation a little more seriously 
 than formerly, any^vay. 
 
 Our turn to be treated came a little later. When, 
 passing through a station. Red Cross nurses gave 
 them, each a bowl of German coffee and a little square 
 of black, bitter bread, they gave us pieces of their 
 bread and, to save the situation, we had to eat it, 
 chough it was horrible-tasting stuflF, particularly 
 after we had been eating good old British cake. 
 One big chap who said he was from Berlin explained 
 that this v/as German cake. 
 
 Shortly afterward we reached Sin Sin station and 
 were marched up to the camp where we were taken 
 right to the cells. We did have one cheering bit 
 though, for we saw the boys gathered round in the 
 yard as we marched past and they cheered us up as 
 much as they dared. And the sympathy of their 
 sturdy British hearts helped more than they knew. 
 
 Knowing from my previous experience what 
 would happen when we got back, I had been pre- 
 paring W. H., and, considering the part he had 
 played — which I now knew had led to our capture — 
 it was with some satisfaction that I saw a haunted 
 look come into his eyes and listened to the arguments 
 he used in order to keep up his courage. It was
 
 i88 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 cruel amusement, I suppose; but, considering the 
 circumstances, I submit that it was justified. 
 
 However, the worst was yet to come. It was 
 the middle of winter the coldest, the Germans 
 claimed, for a hundred years. The jail was a brick 
 building without a particle of heat of any kind. 
 And those brutes jammed us in the pill-box cells, 
 hardly big enough to turn around in, without a 
 semblance of furniture, dark and stinking with foul 
 air and filth, and to make matters worse, took away 
 nearly all our clothes. And that wasn't all. All 
 was quiet for an hour but I was suspicious, and kept 
 listening. At last stealthy footsteps approached 
 and the outer door of the jail was opened. I could 
 hear the steps of three or four men in the passage. 
 Then came a click as the bolt of W.H.'s cell, farther 
 down the passage, was drawn back. In a moment 
 there was a sharp cry of pain and the sound of a 
 body falUng heavily. Then from what I heard 
 I knew that the guards were kicking and pounding 
 him. This continued till long after he had ceased 
 to moan and I concluded that unconsciousness had 
 mercifully come to his help. 
 
 I was raging in my cell like a wild animal, throwing 
 my weight against the door in an attempt to break 
 out and to face the brutes in something Hke a fair 
 fight. But it was no use. Soon I heard the foot- 
 steps approach quietly and my bolt was drawn. 1 
 had planned to try to charge through the door when 
 it was opened, to make an attempt to get into the 
 yard where I would most certainly have been shot. 
 Thoughts of that had little terrors, for anything was 
 preferable to being kept in that black, stinking cell 
 and to be beaten into the bargain. Thanks to the 
 Ked Cross I had a pair of good heavy shoes and for 
 once, anyway, they were well used. Fortunately for
 
 MY DEATH SENTENCE 189 
 
 me the cell was too narrow for more than one to get 
 at me at once. Then, while there was a little light 
 coming from the outside, my cell was perfectly 
 dark and they couldn't see me. Every once in a 
 while from the grunts and cries I knew I had landed 
 on somebody. I fought like a wild cat and got pretty 
 badly cut up but it was hard for them to get at me. 
 Finally they got enough, for they shut the door 
 and talked outside for quite a while. Eventually 
 they must have decided to call it a draw, for they 
 went away. 
 
 We nearly froze to death that night. It might 
 have been a merciful release. But- Providence 
 apparently hadn't so ordered it. There was still 
 more to come. 
 
 About nine next morning we were taken out and, 
 just as we were, without food or water, were made to 
 stand to Attention in the snow. The sentry who was 
 specially guarding us kept poking fun at us in char-, 
 acteristically coarse, German fashion. 
 
 I knew W. H. was about at the end of his endur- 
 ance, and so was not surprised when he pitched over 
 on his face, "dead to the world." He lay there in 
 the snow quite a while before the guard would let 
 any one move him, but in the end they thought he 
 would freeze to death, I suppose, so two of our boys 
 were allowed to pick him up and carry him off to the 
 hospital. I was kept out in the cold till about four 
 o'clock when I was allowed, for the time being, to go 
 to the barracks. There the boys had a good meal 
 ready for me and I was digging in heartily while the 
 fellows were all gathered round trying to cheer me 
 up when a guard came for me and marched me off 
 to the camp office. Here the old officer in charge 
 gave me a lecture on prison-camp discipline, work- 
 ing himself into a passion, calling me all the vile
 
 I90 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 names he could think of, and try'lng in every way pos- 
 sible to make me cringe. Finally he ordered me to 
 take off my boots and put on a big pair of wooden 
 shoes, telling me that now I had been away twice 
 they didn't propose to be watching me all the time 
 and were going to fix me. He spoke in German, and 
 Johnson, the interpreter, repeated what he said. 
 
 "You are always running away," he went on, "and 
 will not take our warning. We punish you but it is 
 no use and now we will kill you with work. Work, 
 work, you must always, ever work." 
 
 He ground the words out slowly and harshly from 
 deep down in his throat and I knew it was my death 
 sentence from which only a miracle could save me. 
 Then: 
 
 " Fich ! los I Englander SchweinI" And I came 
 to myself out in the yard, hobbling along in those 
 huge, rough shoes which hurt cruelly. At six o'clock 
 I was turned in with the night shift on the Kokerie 
 and the guards started to keep the old officer's prom- 
 ise. A special sentry was placed over me with in- 
 structions to pay no attention to any one else but to 
 keep me going continually. 
 
 Thirty-two tons of coke to be loaded on cars on the 
 siding. That was the night's stint. And I was given 
 the worst place and forced to wheel my quota from 
 the centre of the ovens to the crusher at either end 
 over broken and irregular plates. The others trav- 
 elled from the oven to the cars only, about half the 
 distance and down a slight slope. 
 
 Work, work, work! While the sweat poured off 
 my body and my lungs burned and choked with poi- 
 sonous gases from the hot coke. Work, while the 
 sinister, gray figure of the sentry stalked up and 
 down, ready to pounce on me with kicks and curses 
 if I offered to let up for even a moment. Soon my
 
 MY DEATH SENTENCE 191 
 
 back seemed breaking and I could no longer straighten 
 up but drove the huge fork into the steaming coke 
 and lifted the heavy stuff into the barrow. Up and 
 down, up and down, a steady, ceaseless grind, until 
 my head was splitting and I was suffering the tor- 
 ments of the damned. If ever I hated, I did then 
 and I prayed a good many times: "O God, for j 
 chance, only a chance to kill him, come what may.' 
 But no chance was given. 
 
 Five nights I struggled under those conditions) 
 growing gradually weaker. Then I found a way, 
 hideously painful though it was, to get away from it: 
 That fifth night has a story all by itself, though it 
 largely concerns another of our fellows, who also^ 
 thank God, has since escaped from that earthly 
 branch of hell. 
 
 Fred Boyd — we called him "Toby" — a young, 
 smooth-faced boy from Fredericton, N. B., who was 
 afraid of nothing and always ready to hold up his 
 end — had been working with the civilians down in 
 the mine, but had got into trouble with the bosses. 
 For punishment, as usual, he was allotted to the 
 Kokerie. That night was his first, and he hadn't 
 become accustomed to Kokerie methods. When a 
 big red-headed boss came along and kicked him with 
 his rough, wooden shoes Toby promptly knocked the 
 beggar down, giving him a beautiful pair of black 
 eyes. The German scrambled to his feet and made 
 off, blind with rage, and to our surprise did not come 
 back. 
 
 A Httle while after, however, another boss came 
 along and, approaching Toby rather quietly, told 
 him that he was working too hard, that he was to 
 come over to an easier job. Toby wasn't easily 
 fooled and, though he knew he would have to follow, 
 he made preparations by picking up a heavy glass
 
 192 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 bottle in which he used to carry drinking water and 
 slipping it into his pocket. He followed the guard 
 down the steps and into a dark corner to a spot 
 where a shovel was sticking in a pile of sand. Three 
 or four civilians were standing around and one of 
 them ordered Toby to begin shovelling. When he 
 stooped they all rushed at him. Like a flash Toby 
 yanked out the bottle and, before they could get hold 
 of him, had laid two of them out. Turning, he ran 
 for the opening. Behind him the old boss, who had 
 kicked him, and who had a gun ready, fired three 
 shots but missed entirely. Coming out from beneath 
 the building Toby ran right into the arms of one of 
 the worst guards. Things looked bad for a moment 
 but the bad feeling between the guards and the 
 civiHans proved his salvation and he was protected 
 against further prosecution by that gang. He was 
 transferred to another shift. 
 
 About five o'clock next day, while sitting in front 
 of the stove in the barracks, boiling my tea before 
 going back to that heUish work, and appreciating 
 that the end was surely approaching, I was trying to 
 scheme something that would get me out of it. 
 My kettle was boiling away cheerfully when, sud- 
 denly, an idea hit me. Grabbing the kettle I poured 
 the scalding water over my left hand. It hurt ter- 
 ribl}'^ and all the boys began to cry out in horror. 
 In a moment, though, they saw what was meant 
 and then they said: "Good old Mac. Be British." 
 
 Without giving the hand any chance to blister I 
 boiled up the kettle twice more and repeated the dose 
 twice over. Then rushing down to the hospital, I 
 showed my hand to the French orderly, telling him I 
 had scalded it on the Kokerie. Even when he 
 dressed it and made considerable fuss over it I had 
 a good deal of trouble in persuading the old German
 
 MY DEATH SENTENCE 193 
 
 doctor to let me off work, but ultimately he consented 
 and I went back to barracks. I suffered terribly all 
 night and when the doctor came in the morning 
 and ripped off the dressing he took all the skin and 
 most of the flesh from the hand, so that the cords and 
 bones were almost bare. He said I would lose my 
 hand and I was glad, for that meant that I would be 
 sent back to Munster to the hospital and possibly be 
 exchanged. 
 
 My hopes were pretty quickly nipped in the bud, 
 though, for at about seven o'clock, when one of the 
 guards came in, shouting my name and number — 
 and I was expecting to be ordered to get ready to go 
 to Miinster — I was marched off to the black cells 
 and kept there all that day. That night one of the 
 French, an interpreter and a splendid fellow, told the 
 guards that if I was not taken out the boys would go 
 on strike and persuaded them to take me before the 
 doctor again. This time he ordered me into the 
 camp hospital and for a few days I had what was 
 a peaceful experience, compared with what had gone 
 before.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 Transferred to Munster 
 
 In the meantime, matters dragged along about as 
 usual with the other boys in the camp. They played 
 cards when they could (which was not often) but 
 at all times they watched the guards as a cat watches 
 a mouse. Most of the Canadians were planning 
 more or less definitely to try to escape though Wallie 
 Nicholson and I had been the only two to try it so 
 far. The Old-Country boys, while trying in every 
 way to render themselves of as little use as possible to 
 the enemy — getting into the jails and hospitals very 
 frequently and all the time "Being British" — were 
 less inclined to fight the conditions than the Cana- 
 dians and were tending to become somewhat recon- 
 ciled to their lot, slavery of the worst type though it 
 was. Some of them, in default of anything better, 
 passed their time in knitting belts and sweaters, in 
 all sorts of fancy patterns, which one or two had 
 learned during service in India. One day one of 
 them said to me: 
 
 "Poor old 'Kaiser's Guest.' You are always too 
 busy to knit — too busy getting ready to go home — 
 so I'll knit you a belt," 
 
 He was as good as his word and had it about half 
 done when he was hurt in the mine. It was finished 
 by another English lad and I was able to bring it 
 out with me. You may be sure I shall always prize 
 it as one of my most valued souvenirs. 
 
 194
 
 TRANSFERRED TO MONSTER 19S 
 
 The French amused themselves somewhat simi- 
 larly in making fancy picture frames, which they faced 
 with thio bits of mirror. From a round spot in the 
 centre the quicksilver would be scraped to provide 
 for the insertion of a photograph, and wording such 
 as "Souvenir de Captivite, iQi4-iQi^-igi6" would be 
 scraped out below. 
 
 Once in a while a pessimistic Frenchman would 
 show us a frame in which 191 7 had been added to 
 the years, but this would precipitate a row at once. 
 Why, wasn't the war to be over in two or three 
 months.? Surely. Even as the months and years 
 dragged slowly by it was always the same. The end 
 of the war was always only two or three months 
 away. There was no room for a pessimist in that 
 camp. Bad news was always considered no news; 
 good news was always taken to be true. We never 
 for a moment lost faith in the final victory of the 
 Allies and we cheered one another in every way we 
 knew how. Some of this cheering-up became rather 
 ironical at times, as, for instance, when one of the 
 fellows would say, hopefully: 
 
 "Well, the longest war before lasted only a hun- 
 dred years." 
 
 I often heard poor fellows who had endured three 
 years and more in camp say : 
 
 "I would rather stay here twenty years, and die 
 here than see the Germans win." 
 
 But to revert to my own troubles. While I was 
 in the hospital by reason of my scalded hand an offi- 
 cer arrived from Miinster to look into a complaint 
 I had made. And thereby hangs another story 
 which had better be told first. 
 
 When W, H. and I had been caught a little time 
 before we had had to make the usual statement as 
 to how and why we escaped. We had prepared a
 
 196 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 story carefully beforehand, knowing from previous ex- 
 perience what would likely be demanded and de- 
 clared that we had gone into the room where we 
 changed our clothes, back of the Kokerie^ and had 
 slipped out with the German civilians who shared 
 the building with us. We were anxious, you see, to 
 hide the real method, so that it might give us an- 
 other chance. We had learned that they had not 
 missed us for some time and until the other prisoners 
 had been counted on the night of our escape. The 
 guards believed our story and the statement was 
 accordingly translated into German, copies of which 
 we both signed. These w^ere sent into Miinster for 
 our trial, at which, by the way, we ourselves were not 
 allowed to be present. There was still punishment to 
 come to us, and as it was usually about two months 
 after statements were sent in before sentences were 
 promulgated, we had lots of time to get ready, you 
 see. We always anticipated the worst — ajid got it. 
 Two days after we had been beaten up in the cells 
 I went to the guards and insisted on seeing the com- 
 mandant of the camp. Largely because the impu- 
 dence of my demand surprised them, I guess, I was 
 allowed in to see the old chap who had so strongly 
 impressed the working-death sentence on me. 
 Through Johnson, the interpreter, I told him that I 
 would send a complaint in to Miinster about the 
 treatment I was getting and about that beating up. 
 Naturally the old fellow raged, but when I told him 
 that if he wouldn't pass that complaint I would make 
 it to the next visiting ambassador and get him into 
 trouble, or, failing that, would escape and walk to 
 Miinster to tell them of conditions, he eventually, 
 with a good deal of bluster, consented to allow the 
 complaint to go through. W, H. was called in and, 
 together, we made a joint complaint in which we
 
 1 
 
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 Statement of complaint made by the Author 
 
 and W. H. , to the officer 
 
 commanding K47
 
 TRANSFERRED TO MUNSTER 197 
 
 stated our troubles and asked for an investigation. 
 This was addressed to the General Cornmanding 
 Munster Camp. It was signed by both, as is evident 
 on the original document, still in my possession. 
 
 Now comes the dirty work. The officer refused 
 to accept this joint complaint but declared that we 
 must each make out a document, separately. I 
 made one out, but they got hold of W. H., alone, and 
 persuaded him to withdraw his complaint and to 
 sign a written statement (prepared by them) to the 
 effect that he had no complaint to make, that he had 
 been well treated, and that he believed I had had the 
 same treatment. He also told this time how we 
 really had escaped, thus contradicting our first 
 statement, and finished by begging the general to 
 deal leniently with him. 
 
 I never could find out what artifice the Germans 
 resorted to to make him do such a thing; indeed, not 
 till I learned it from the French interpreter a day or 
 two later, did I know what he had done, but I knew 
 that something was wrong, for, when my complaint 
 was ready, W. H. refused to put his in. 
 
 Since Johnson the interpreter had translated my 
 statement before it was sent on to Munster it was 
 out of the question for me to have any adequate 
 idea of what went in it. So when the officer arrived 
 I didn't know, for a while, whether to be glad or 
 sorry. In any event, I was brought before him in a 
 sort of investigation, with Johnson as interpreter 
 again. I was denied any other interpreter and 
 also, when I asked to have some of the other boys 
 called as witnesses, my request was refused. Finally, 
 Johnson wrote out a statement alleging to be what I 
 had said but which of course he rnade out to suit 
 himself, and this I was called on to sign. 
 
 Then I was asked to name the guards who had
 
 I9S THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 beaten me. This was impossible for I didn't know 
 one of them by name, except Johnson. However, I 
 insisted that I could pick them out, so they took me 
 to the guard room. As luck would have it the ones 
 I wanted weren't there, but when others were brought 
 in I picked out two I had recognized in the streaks 
 of light that night in the jail. These two were 
 brought into the office but both swore that they 
 had had nothing to do with W. H. and me but that 
 we had attacked them. I suppose they were right, 
 so far as I was concerned, for I certainly went for 
 them fii-st when the door was opened. So the in- 
 vestigation didn't amount to much. However, 
 the doctor soon ordered my long-desired release to 
 Miinster and I escaped the relentless enmity of my 
 guards for a while. 
 
 On a bitterly cold morning in January five or 
 six of us were ordered to fall in with all our belong- 
 ings on our backs outside the barracks. We were 
 all as happy as kids, for a wound that was severe 
 enough to take one to Miinster was welcomed just 
 as a "Cushy Blighty" is by the boys in France. 
 As we marched out of the gate under the watch of 
 two guards, our friends, who all wisheid they were 
 in our shoes, wished us good luck. Our spirits were 
 even raised further when the guards told us that we 
 would never be brought back, that no more English- 
 men would be brought to the Auguste-Victoria 
 mines. We prayed fervently that this might be so. 
 
 Arriving at Miinster after a short railway trip we 
 were hurried out of the train and station and stood 
 up against a wall outside while a regiment of German 
 soldiers marched past. We could not help remark- 
 ing the low stature, poor physique, and generally 
 worn appearance of the men, most of whom seemed 
 to be mere youths. The years during which they
 
 TRANSFERRED TO MUNSTER 199 
 
 should have been filHng out into the stalwart men 
 their race has produced had been spent in the mines 
 and factories where they had been overworked and 
 underfed. They formed a very poor comparison 
 with the big Britishers Hned up along the wall, even 
 though most of us were gaunt from starvation. 
 While we stood there a big Welsh guardsman beside 
 me whispered: 
 
 "I'll bet they're wondering if we are a fair sample 
 of what they'll be up against on the western front." 
 
 We had a march of four miles to the camp and just 
 before we reached the yard, inside the main gate, an 
 old Feldwehel (Sergeant-major) stopped us and went 
 through our baggage, scattering food and clothing 
 around in the dirt like a mad bull. The French pris- 
 oners had brought with them some of the trinkets 
 they had made and these were scattered all over the 
 yard. However, when the old chap was satisfied 
 that we had nothing objectionable we got our stuff 
 into our bags again and followed him to our barracks, 
 a section of the building called the '' Krankenstube,'* 
 a sort of semi-hospital. Here I was to stay for about 
 two months, every morning of which I went over to 
 the hospital to have my hand dressed. We were 
 looked after by British Red Cross men and a Russian 
 doctor but also underwent an examination by a 
 German doctor about once a week. 
 
 While my hand continued to be painful it did not 
 hinder me from wandering about. And since we 
 were given much more freedom here the life was very 
 much easier. Indeed I have pleasanter memories 
 of Miinster Lager Zwei (Renbahn camp) than of 
 any other spot in Germany. It is known to be one 
 of the best camps. The change from the "Black 
 Hole" was certainly a marked one. 
 
 It was interesting here to study the prisoner-
 
 200 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 population. This was floating, since the men were 
 constantly being transferred to other localities or 
 being sent out as working parties in all parts of the 
 country, while others were coming in from other 
 camps to hospital, or for sentence after some real or 
 fancied misdemeanour. They were a most cos- 
 mopolitan crew. Not only was every nation taking 
 part in the war represented but ever>" division of the 
 different allied forces, as well as the different classes 
 of each, were to be seen. The good feeling which 
 existed between all these was remarkable. It was 
 remarkable, also, that after a little time almost any 
 prisoner could talk, with more or less freedom, with 
 any other. Peculiarly, it seems, there had come into 
 being a sort of prison language which was generally 
 dubbed "Gefangenese." This had broken-German 
 as a backbone and was otherwise made up of odds 
 and ends of all the others. It was strange to see 
 and to take part in a conversation with a party of 
 prisoners from a dozen or more different countries, 
 not one of which could understand any of the others 
 had he spoken in his own language, but the members 
 of which were able to converse quite readily in this 
 common language. 
 
 While conditions in general were better I suffered a 
 good deal the first two months in Miinster from lack 
 of food. The parcel system had been recently taken 
 over by the Red Cross, which supplied clothing, 
 food, smokes, and all our hospital and medical sup- 
 plies. The Red Cross made only one mistake. 
 They stopped the old system before the new one 
 was working and in consequence a lot of us who had 
 been moved from one camp to the other were with- 
 out any supplies for fully two months. Those were 
 mighty lean months and most of us lived on Porridge 
 (without milk or sugar) from oatmeal we had saved
 
 TRANSFERRED TO MUNSTER 201 
 
 up, but they made us appreciate what the Red Cross 
 was doing and how splendidly the system worked 
 out afterward. 
 
 Every six months, in addition to our regular food 
 parcels, we would be sent a full outfit of clothing. 
 Some of the British prisoners to whom civilian cloth- 
 ing had been sent out formerly had gathered quite 
 a wardrobe, but in May of 1917 the Germans began 
 seizing all extra clothing, leaving us only a change 
 of underwear and one suit. In some camps they 
 took all the prisoners' boots but one pair per man 
 and in others took all — even to the last one — issu- 
 ing wooden clogs in their place. Their excuse for 
 all this was that they had nothing to mend these 
 things with. It told us a good deal, however, of 
 how short such supplies were becoming in Germany. 
 In Miinster we heard in advance of what was happen- 
 ing and either destroyed our extra clothing or gave 
 it to the poor ragged Russians who had no parcels of 
 any kind coming, rather than let it fall into the 
 Germans' hands. Memorable days in camp were 
 those when our parcels arrived, when the sergeant 
 in charge came in and shouted: "Parcels up!" 
 He would then proceed to read off the names, the 
 number of parcels for each fortunate man, and the 
 time of issue. Everyone would be speculating as 
 to whether his parcel contained bread or biscuits 
 or the long-looked-for tobacco and cigarettes. The 
 fellows would be saying: "I hope it is food, our 
 box is empty"; or, "I haven't had a smoke for a 
 week"; or *'I hope it is a bundle of clothes — I am 
 about bare-footed." 
 
 When the time came we all formed in line outside 
 the parcel room, which was long and narrow with a 
 door at each end and a counter right down the centre. 
 Behind the counter stood a number of Germans who
 
 202 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 acted as censors. The procedure was this: One 
 of "The Parcel Gang," a British prisoner, would 
 pick a parcel from the pile and lay it on the counter, 
 calling the name as he did so. The owner would 
 step foi'ward, take it, sign for it, and then pass it 
 to one of the censors, who would cut it open and 
 carefully examine the contents. This was done 
 thoroughly. For instance, pepper and acids of 
 any sort were confiscated; all food packages, except 
 those in tin, were cut open to see that no forbidden 
 articles, or letters or newspapers, were enclosed. 
 The tinned food was treated separately, being taken 
 to the other end of the counter where it was checked 
 up by another member of the parcel gang. The 
 prisoner was given a check for each tin, with a note 
 as to the contents, while the tins were moved to 
 another building to be held till called for. This 
 tinned stuff was available for a short time every 
 morning and evening. Each tin had to be opened, 
 however, by another censor, who would dig into it 
 to see that the contents were not camouflaged. The 
 food itself was carried away on a plate or dish. 
 The tins had to be left behind, for which there was a 
 special reason. By this time the Germans were 
 running short of tin and were conserving every avail- 
 able atom. These cans were carefully kept piled up, 
 later hammered into more portable shape, and then 
 sent away to be smelted. 
 
 The old censor who opened our tins at Miinster 
 was certainly no respecter of foods. Everything 
 looked alike to him. He would jam that dirty 
 old knife of his down into a can of herring one 
 minute and then into jam the next. We kicked, but 
 it did absolutely no good. 
 
 Despite Httle annoyances like this, hfe in Miinster 
 Camp was so much of an improvement over what
 
 TRANSFERRED TO MUNSTER 203 
 
 we had been experiencing that it seemed pretty good. 
 There was very Uttle disturbance here and for a 
 very good reason. The guards were overbearing 
 and no kinder to us than they could help, but there 
 was more incentive here to keep on our good be- 
 haviour. If any one stirred up a fuss he knew that 
 he would be sent out with one of the working parties 
 where conditions were much worse. No one wanted 
 to go, so we did everything possible to please the 
 guards. Our work, too, was neither so heavy nor so 
 galling. Perhaps the pleasant part about it was that it 
 was of such a nature that it did not seem to be helping 
 the Germans themselves, but was rather directed 
 toward helping our own comrades. Camp fatigues, 
 work with the mail and parcel gangs, and odd jobs 
 around the camp kept most of us busy, while a few 
 of the boys who had become familiar with German 
 were employed in the camp offices. Here they had 
 an opportunity occasionally to get hold of the Ger- 
 man newspapers which they translated into English 
 for the rest of us. We never seemed to find very 
 much news, however. 
 
 Another helpful feature was a fairly good library 
 which had been donated by someone in England. 
 Those of the boys who wanted to study any subject 
 outside of the war could usually get hold of any book 
 needed. There were some British papers and maga- 
 zines, too, but all issued before the war. Several 
 German magazines and illustrated papers also were 
 given us and, although the illustrations in these 
 seemed to be splendidly worked up, we were, natur- 
 ally, not very much interested. 
 
 Sundays we were allowed to play football and from 
 this we drew a good deal of satisfaction. Some 
 semblance to a league was arranged when No. 2 
 Block (in which I was located) would play against
 
 204 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 No. I, Again a team of British fellows would play a 
 team of French. Rarely the French would win, 
 but when they did there was an enormous amount of 
 excitement. Occasionally there was a chance to 
 play cricket, and several French and Belgian games 
 — the names of which I do not know — ^were indulged 
 in. 
 
 At K47 we were never allowed to have anything 
 in the shape of a concert. Here it was different. 
 Every two weeks something of the kind was put on 
 and, as can be imagined, out of so large a number of 
 men some very good talent was available. Some of 
 the sketches, usually altogether original, were splen- 
 did. For a time a band, made up of players of 
 all nationalities, played at these concerts, but as 
 the band was continually in trouble it was finally 
 dissolved. 
 
 Of course we still tended to gambling, whenever 
 it was possible. One of the most popular games in 
 that camp was "Crown and Anchor," well known 
 among British soldiers everywhere. It was for- 
 bidden and the owners of the boards were arrested 
 whenever they were caught, but the thing went on 
 just the same. Another chap and I had an experi- 
 ence with a board of this kind which we induced 
 one of the French tailors to make up for us out of a 
 big bandanna handkerchief, though our game was 
 made for a special purpose which may be worth tell- 
 ing about. 
 
 All the time I was in the camp the thought of 
 getting away again was never out of my mind. I 
 gradually removed the extra marks from my cloth- 
 ing, and, in this much larger camp with a population 
 many times that of K47 and where I was less famous 
 (or perhaps, better, infamous), this did not attract 
 the attention it would have done in the smaller one.
 
 EVEN A LITILE FUN AT TIMES 
 
 British soldier-prisoners taking part in a 
 
 "sketch" in Munster Camp
 
 TRANSFERRED TO MUNSTER 205 
 
 Whenever a prisoner arrived who had tried to escape 
 I made friends with him and found out as much as 
 I could about all he had heard or seen on his trip. 
 
 In this way I became acquainted with a little 
 Belgian corporal who had spent a good deal of time 
 in Germany and Holland before the war and who 
 knew the country well. Besides this, he had picked 
 up much information on an attempted escape. 
 When I confided to him my determination to get out 
 of Germany or die in the attempt, he told me that 
 I would never get across the Border where we had 
 tried before — that it was too heavily guarded; he 
 advised me to work northward toward the great 
 swamps. While these were dangerous, full of quick- 
 sands and hard to get through, there was, he said^ 
 far less likelihood of trouble with the guards there.. 
 This chap made me a compass, something I had long, 
 been looking for, out of a razor blade. Foolishly I 
 took it out of the wooden case, in which he had placed 
 the needle, to improve it by putting it into a more 
 convenient steel one and thereby spoiled it. 
 
 I was ashamed, after his kindness, to let him know 
 what I had done so was on the look-out for another 
 compass. I ran across a big Russian who had one 
 but wanted sixty marks for it. Now, I had only 
 ten marks, and though I found another fellow who 
 also had ten and who was willing to go in with me, 
 we couldn't tempt the Russian with the twenty 
 marks. Usually necessity is the mother of Scheming 
 as well as of Invention; we tried another plan. 
 Knowing that the Russian was more or less suscepti- 
 ble to the gambling instinct, we had the Crown and 
 Anchor board made, as already noted, and laid for 
 that compass, borrowing the necessary dice from 
 another gambler. That time the scheme didn't 
 work for we ran into hard luck. Soon after we
 
 2o6 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 started, a man came along who bet our board pretty 
 heavy. Luck was with him and in consequence we 
 were cleaned out. 
 
 I got the compass that night. But I didn't buy 
 it. My conscience didn't trouble me at all, either. 
 
 Some time previous to this it was comparatively 
 easy to get hold of a compass. A tin of bully beef, 
 or almost anything to eat, handed to a civilian with 
 whom we were working would bring along almost 
 anything Hke this that we needed. They didn't 
 want us to escape, but they were very hungry. That 
 makes all the difference in the world to one's wa}'^ of 
 looking at things. After a while the guards found 
 out what was happening and everything of the kind 
 in the stores was seized. A close search was also 
 made among the prisoners in the camps, but while 
 there were quite a few compasses in circulation 
 very few were brought to light. 
 
 Strange to say, most of the compasses and maps 
 had somehow or other got into the hands of those 
 men who had no intention in the world of trying 
 to escape, either through lack of the requisite degree 
 of initiative or by reason of physical inability. How- 
 ever, they held on to these treasures desperately and 
 made a most decided fuss when — as happened oc- 
 casionally — they awoke some morning to discover 
 that the treasure was missing. Only a day or so 
 after almost every case of this kind some other pris- 
 oner would be missing and we would know that he 
 had only been waiting for a map or a compass to 
 make at all possible his chances of escape. 
 
 I had been in Miinster Camp about two months 
 and my hand was rapidly getting better when one 
 morning a sentry came along and marched me over 
 to the camp office. Here the Feldzvebel read a few 
 extracts from a big sheet of paper, which might as
 
 TRANSFERRED TO MUNSTER 207 
 
 well have been in Greek so far as I was concerned, 
 and when he felt, I suppose, that I had been duly 
 impressed with the importance of the occasion, told 
 me in English that this was my sentence for my last 
 attempt to escape and that I would have to do seven 
 days' "black." I was rather agreeably surprised 
 at the lightness of the sentence but they evidently 
 preferred to have me working rather than in jail, 
 and besides, I expected a quick shift when I came out. 
 As it happened, again my conjecture was correct. 
 
 So a dark cell with a ration of bread and water 
 — I think I did have one bowl of soup this time — was 
 my portion for the next week. In the cell next me 
 was lodged a young Frenchman and soon we began 
 talking through the cracks. He was awaiting trial 
 for an attempt at escape. He had tried to get 
 through with a little German girl but without luck. 
 And since he had not yet been sentenced, and also 
 since he was French — we British never received such 
 favours — his friends were allowed to bring him extra 
 food each day. Occasionally, when the guards 
 left the doors open so that we could sweep out the 
 cells, he would smuggle some of his food in to me. 
 That was perhaps the most comfortable week I ever 
 spent in a German prison. The cells here were not 
 only cleaner than those at K47 but, while there was 
 no provision for any comfort, there was a sort of a 
 frame bed, made of two planks raised about two feet 
 from the floor, with strips of narrow boards nailed 
 across them about two inches apart. The first 
 night I put in on this and found it even less comfort- 
 able than the floor, but the next day, when sweeping 
 out the cell, I managed to get hold of an old mattress 
 from a pile of odds and ends at the end of the passage 
 and dragged this in. I kept this under the plank 
 frame till the examining officer had made his rounds
 
 2o8 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 — they looked the cell and us over every day, taking 
 no chances — and then used to throw it on the planks 
 and was fairly comfortable till the next day. They 
 discovered this mattress the day before my sentence 
 was up and consequently I had to spend the last 
 night on the bare planks again. 
 
 When I came out after this sentence my hand was 
 nearly well and I was put to work at odd jobs around 
 the camp. Sometimes also I was sent with a party 
 to Miinster station, about four miles distant, for a 
 load of parcels or supplies, or to haul the empty tins 
 from the parcel room. 
 
 Sometimes while on work like this we would meet 
 a party of Russian prisoners coming in. To see 
 human beings in such a state of starvation and abject 
 misery as these poor fellows were in was enough to 
 wring one's heart. Sometimes it took them all day 
 to make the four miles of road from the station to 
 the camp and again, some of them were so far gone 
 that it was out of the question for them to walk 
 and the guards had to bring wagons from the camp 
 to haul them in. Sometimes I had occasion to stay 
 in the Krankenstiihe in the morning when these poor 
 fellows were stripped for the doctor's examination 
 and had I not been hardened to such horrors the 
 sight would have made me sick. There seemed to 
 be no flesh at all on their bodies and the skin hung 
 over the bones in horrible yellow wrinkles. They 
 had been trying to live on refuse and rotten soup 
 of which, to get enough real food matter to keep 
 themselves alive, they had gorged when it was avail- 
 able. In consequence, their stomachs protruded 
 like huge sacks. Their bodies were covered with 
 scars and bruises, the result of kicks and beatings 
 at the hands of the guards. When no manner of 
 punishment could force them to labour any longer
 
 TRANSFERRED TO MtJNSTER 209 
 
 they were turned back to headquarters. Some of 
 them were so far gone that they only lasted a few 
 days after reaching Miinster. Others commenced 
 to pick up at once. They told us that in some of the 
 working parties with which they had been their 
 friends were dying at the rate of seven or eight a day. 
 
 These poor fellows were allowed to mix with the 
 British prisoners and, since our parcels were coming 
 in fairly regularly by this time, and food was more 
 plentiful, we gave them our German rations and 
 anything else we could spare. In return they washed 
 our dishes and cleaned up for us generally, and soon 
 every British prisoner had his batman, for these 
 fellows did for us just about what the officer's ser- 
 vant does in the army. A '* swell dish " for a prisoner 
 of war, wasn't it ? 
 
 In a way we liked these Russians. While they 
 were exceedingly ignorant they were very kind- 
 hearted fellows and would do anything for one. As 
 a matter of fact, they were a good deal like children, 
 easily driven, and were like putty in the hands of 
 the German guards. So soon as they recovered 
 sufficiently to be useful out they went again. We 
 never knew any to return the second time. *'Get 
 ever>-thing possible out of them" was the German 
 policy. And in consequence they were worked until 
 they died. This is proven by the well-filled grave- 
 yards all over Germany which will be an undeniable 
 testimony to the treatment of starvation and bru- 
 tahty that was their lot. 
 
 Even worse suffering was endured by the French 
 and Belgians who were forcibly brought back from 
 occupied territory. In February, 1917, about eight 
 hundred of these unfortunates, slaves in every sense 
 of the term, were brought into Block 3 of the camp. 
 They were not allowed to mix with the other prisoners
 
 2IO THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 and of course had no parcels or supplies coming to 
 them; in consequence, they were dying from disease 
 and starvation like animals. We heard on pretty good 
 authority that an average of fifteen to twenty were 
 dying daily. One day we were told that these 
 poor fellows were to be brought into our block for a 
 bath so we gathered round the bath house with all 
 the food we could spare. When the Germans saw 
 what was going on they placed a guard with fixed 
 bayonets around the bath house and gave orders to 
 shoot any one who attempted to hand over any food. 
 
 When these French and Belgians were herded in 
 and saw the food in our hands they broke the win- 
 dows in the bath house, cutting their hands and 
 bodies and leaning out, begged and cried out most 
 piteously for the food we were so anxious to give 
 them. The guards — inhuman wretches! — laughed 
 and sneered at this and one of them went from win- 
 dow to window and beat the poor fellows back with 
 the butt of his rifle. 
 
 When they came out of the hot bath they were so 
 weak that many collapsed in the yard. The guards 
 pounced on these helpless ones, kicking and cursing 
 them; and, because their very soul seemed to be 
 broken by the cruelty and horror of it all, the poor 
 wretches grovelled in the mud, cowering and whining. 
 The whole spirit of manhood, apparently, had been 
 beaten out of them. 
 
 May God punish us adequately if we ever forget 
 the cruelty, beastiahty, unfaithfulness, and murder- 
 ing spirit of this nation which has sent thousands 
 of our men and women to the bottom of the sea and 
 gloated over it, which has forgotten all the instincts 
 of decency and humanity, and has murdered, raped, 
 mutilated, enslaved, and committed every other 
 crime in the category. When the time comes they
 
 TRANSFERRED TO MUNSTER 211 
 
 will try to whitewash themselves, and blame their 
 leader, who, guilty though he may be, could never 
 have provided for such a horrible condition of affairs 
 had not the German people themselves been united 
 in a mad lust for blood, conquest, and the ultimate 
 subjection of the world.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 Various Incidents in Camp and Out 
 
 Other new and rather interesting experiences 
 came my way when with a working party I spent 
 a week at Hilltrup, a little town about seven kilo- 
 metres from Miinster, where a large part of the 
 food supply for several of the camps was prepared. 
 We were not idle that week for, besides what we 
 were forced to do in the factory, we had to march 
 there and back morning and night. 
 
 At the factory huge quantities of vegetables — po- 
 tatoes, carrots, turnips, beets, and others — were piled 
 all round. These, just as they were and without 
 sorting, were put through a big chopper and came 
 out in strips. It made no difference whether or not 
 the vegetables were sound. Rotten and sound — 
 roots, worms, peelings, dirt — all went through just 
 the same. This mess was then shovelled into vats 
 and dried until it was shrivelled up like shavings. 
 Then, when wanted, it was shovelled into sacks and 
 shipped to the various kommandos. From this the 
 ever-appearing soup was made. 
 
 The flour also was made of the same dried-vege- 
 table mixture — though this was ground up in a little 
 mill near Hilltrup — and just enough wheat or rye 
 added to make the other materials hold together. 
 While the flour was dark it resembled our whole- 
 wheat flour a good deal. And it stuck all right. 
 Since no yeast was added the bread would not rise 
 
 212
 
 Oiricial Communication 
 
 from H. B. M. Consul General for the Netherlands. 
 
 June 4th. 1917. 
 
 Rumours have reached this Consulate General on several occasions as to 
 complaints made by German prisoners of war in England on the subject of the 
 daily scale of rations allowed to them These complaints seem to be absolutely 
 unjustifiable as will be seen from the oJRcial scale for such rations which was 
 authorized by the Army Council on tht 14th May. This daily scale is as follows: 
 
 Bread 13 oa. 
 
 Meat 6 „ 5 days a week 
 
 Salt-cured Herrings ... 10 n 2 r. » » 
 
 Tea '/s „. 
 
 oi 
 
 Coffee ^h n 
 
 Sugar. 1 ™ 
 
 Salt V2 , 
 
 Swedes or Turnips . . . 2 „ 
 Split Peas or Beans . . . 2 „ 
 
 Rice 4 „ This ration may be reduced to 3 ozs. 
 
 and in lieu of the remaining 1 oz. the 
 following substitutes may be drawn s 
 
 (a) Maize Meal 1 oz. 
 
 or 
 
 (b) Split Peas or Beans 1 oz. 
 
 Margarine 1 ozl 
 
 Oatmeal 2 ozs. If full ration is not obtainable an equal 
 
 quantity of rice may be issued in lieu.. 
 
 Jam 1 oz. 
 
 Cheese , 2 oza, 
 
 Pepper Vri oz. 
 
 Maize Meal 1' '2 ozs. 
 
 When men are not employed on work, the following deductions will b« 
 made unless the medical officer advises to the contrary in any particular caset' 
 
 Bread 4 ozs 
 
 Cheese 1 » 
 
 Maize Meal .... 1': „
 
 INCIDENTS IN CAMP AND OUT 213 
 
 and was heavy as well as being black and bitter. If 
 one of us loaded up on it he was bound to be unhappy 
 for a good while. And, besides the usual digestive 
 difficulties, we used to suffer a good deal from heart- 
 burn when we had to eat the stuff". 
 
 One morning, on the march down to Hilltrup, one 
 of my friends pointed out the spot, about halfway 
 from the camp, where Jack Hughes had been shot. 
 At this point a heavy bit of bush jutted out from the 
 side of a big canal to within about two hundred yards 
 of the road. When the party had come opposite 
 this, though they were surrounded with guards, 
 Hughes and Bombardier Harkum, of the Royal Field 
 Artillery, had broken away and started to run across 
 the open field to gain the shelter of the woods. Be- 
 fore Jack was ten yards away the guard nearest him 
 dropped the barrel of his rifle and fired point blank 
 at his back and the big soft-nosed bullet tore a hole 
 clean through him. He called out to Harkum: "I'm 
 done," and toppled over. When his comrades 
 went to pick him up they found him dead. Harkum 
 did succeed in getting away but was brought back to 
 camp again after two days' absence. 
 
 While at Hilltrup we had a chance occasionally to 
 study discipline as it obtained in the German army. 
 One day, for instance, we saw an officer walking off 
 a bridge which spanned the canal just near the fac- 
 tory when a big army transport, driven by a soldier, 
 came on. The soldier was watching his team and 
 appeared not to see the officer. The latter looked at 
 the private for a moment, then walked over to the 
 wagon, drawing his sword as he went, and struck 
 that chap across the cheek with the flat of his sword 
 — so hard that he knocked him off the seat. The 
 man jumped up and stood at Attention without 
 showing any resentment while the officer stormed
 
 214 THE KAISER'S GUEST • 
 
 at him at the top of his voice. Then, after taking the 
 driver's name and number, he let him go. 
 
 My last day at Hilltrup was one to be remembered. 
 One morning, just as we were falling in for the morn- 
 ing march down to the factory, a German corporal 
 came along and warned three of us to get ready, 
 when we came home that night, to go back the fol- 
 lowing morning to K47, the "Black Hole." It ap- 
 peared that in the meantime they had in some way 
 discovered that most of the wounds and burns had 
 been entirely self-inflicted. The origin of "The 
 Plague" had also been discovered and the Germans, 
 naturally, were furious. We could well imagine 
 how we should be treated in the light of all this when 
 they got us back again. 
 
 That day ten of us were put to work cleaning the 
 scale out of a big boiler in the engine house. There 
 were no guards in the building but they were sta- 
 tioned around it. I spent most of the day trying to 
 cut a Maple Leaf in a little block of steel, but when 
 quitting time came around, with another chap, a 
 little English prisoner from Durham, I really got 
 busy. Starting in on the big engine over the boilers 
 we smashed everything breakable about it: grease 
 and oil cups, steam gauges, water glass, pumps, all 
 the brass connections, and a double row of rivets 
 round the boiler went the same way — down a hole 
 into the canal. We had just nicely completed the 
 job when the guards came to take us home. As 
 they did not notice anything wrong, we marched off 
 as usual. 
 
 Early next morning seven of the ten left for a 
 working party down the Rhine and the other three — 
 the Durham chap who had helped me mess up the 
 engine, another chap, and myself — had our kits 
 packed ready for our return to the "Black Hole."
 
 INCIDENTS IN CAMP AND OUT 215 
 
 We knew the damage would soon be discovered so 
 we got together and talked it over. The fellow who 
 had had no hand in it insisted in standing by us, 
 saying that he would as soon be sent to the peniten- 
 tiary as go to work again. So we made up a simple 
 little story about our day's work in the factory and 
 agreed to stick to this to the minutest particular. 
 Of course no one was to know anything about the 
 damaged engine and boiler. 
 
 About ten o'clock the guards came along and 
 hustled the three of us off to jail, being careful to place 
 us in separate cells. Then, in turn, we were taken 
 before a sort of board made up of two or three offi- 
 cers and two of the bosses from the Hilltrup plant. 
 We had to make a written statement of all we had 
 seen and done the day* before. They raged and 
 swore at us — tried to bully each one into saying he 
 had done the damage; but all three stuck to the 
 story, as we had agreed to do, and they got no satis- 
 faction. We were hustled into the black cells again 
 and I endured another week on bread and water, 
 being brought out every day to write out another 
 statement. Each day's statement was compared 
 with the previous ones and each time they tried to 
 make us add or retract something. While we were 
 only a week in the cells, we were held in Miinster 
 Camp, awaiting our trial, for nearly two months, 
 during which period they moved heaven and earth 
 to find a morsel of evidence on which to convict us. 
 Two years with hard labour would have been the 
 minimum sentence; how much more than that, had 
 they discovered any evidence, it is hard to con- 
 jecture. 
 
 In a way this played right into our hands; to 
 stay in Miinster Camp was just what we wanted. 
 We had nothing to do but to draw our parcels, and
 
 2i6 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 life comparatively was so easy that I became aim st. 
 fat. I borrowed a Highlander's kilt and jacket from 
 one of the famous old 42d (The Black Watch) and 
 had my picture taken. My Belgian corporal friend 
 was so pleased with my get-up in this uniform that 
 he walked around the camp with me all day and 
 wanted to have his photograph taken with me. 
 This, however, the Germans would not allow. 
 
 As the days went by I kept on looking for a possible 
 avenue of escape. I walked round and round the 
 camp, watching every move of the guards and keep- 
 ing my eyes always on the alert for any new oppor- 
 tunity; but nothing seemed to oflPer. By one or an- 
 other, eveiy possible plan seemed to have been tried — 
 — some successfully, the majority otherwise — but I 
 knew of no plan that had ever been tried successfully 
 the second time. While quite a num.ber of men had 
 endeavoured to get out in one way and another, a 
 high percentage of these had been shot in the at- 
 tempt; and of those who did escape from the camp 
 nearly all were caught before they reached the 
 Border. 
 
 One party dug a tunnel and some of their number 
 escaped, but only two of these got clear out of the 
 country. Some time later a party of French prison- 
 ers dug another tunnel but were unlucky enough to 
 underestimate the distance, the tunnel opening up 
 just betv/een the inner barbed-wire fence and the 
 electrically charged outer one. The first man 
 emerged before he discovered the mistake and was 
 trapped immediately; the guard, who had probably 
 heard him, was right on the spot and shot him — as 
 an example to the others. 
 
 Again, a big Englishman had made himself a Ger- 
 man uniform out of two faded French great coats 
 which were nearly the colour of the German cloth. 
 
 I
 
 The tailor shop in Miinster Camp 
 
 Housecleaning day at Miinster Camp
 
 INCIDENTS IN CAMP AND OUT 217 
 
 A cap was made from the black paper in which his 
 parcels had been wrapped, and a set of imitation 
 German equipment from the same material. A 
 bayonet and scabbard (made from black pasteboard) 
 and an iron cross (from a sardine tin) completed the 
 outfit. Decorated with the insignia of a Feldzvehelt 
 he marched past all the guards and out the main gate, 
 as bold as brass, while the guard sprang smartly 
 to Attention. He was caught a little later, within 
 seven miles of the camp. 
 
 Two others hid themselves away in garbage bar- 
 rels and were hauled outside by the camp fatigue 
 who were supposed to leave the barrels behind a 
 building to be emptied later. On the way down the 
 road, however, the party met a German teamster 
 stuck in a hole with a load of sewer pipe and the 
 guard made the fatigue party give him a lift. The 
 wagon with the barrels was left in the middle of the 
 road. While the party was away a German staff 
 officer came along in his car, was annoyed to find the 
 road blocked, and sent his orderly to see what was 
 in the barrels. Naturally he was surprised when two 
 "Englanders" were uncovered and a merry old row 
 followed. 
 
 One other chap had a wonderful opportunity 
 which he was foolish enough not to take advantage of. 
 One day in spring a party was sent down to Miinster 
 to unload some barges. They were held later than 
 anticipated and the guards, anxious to get back to 
 the camp, were careless in their counting. One 
 prisoner had crawled in under a pile of empty sacks 
 and had gone to sleep. When he woke up and found 
 no one around he came dutifully back to camp by 
 himself. I would have given anything I possessed 
 for a chance like that. 
 
 One day a high dignitary, heralded as an ambas-
 
 2i8 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 sador though I thought he was a German officer, 
 came into the camp to see the Russians, Even 
 then there was talk of peace with Russia and this 
 visit was supposed to have something to do with it. 
 We were not very much interested but that visit led 
 to the telling of a story by one of the boys which 
 illustrates pretty forcibly the German methods 
 during these ambassadorial visitations. This yarn 
 concerned the visit of an ambassador to the three 
 camps around Miinster, in the summer of 191 5, and 
 was vouched for as being authentic. 
 
 Camp No. I was visited first. Here the prisoners 
 were in a terrible state of filth and starvation but in 
 preparation for the official's inspection two huge 
 carcasses of beef were laid out in the shop behind the 
 kitchens. The officers told the visitor that the 
 prisoners had been in a starving condition when thev 
 were captured but that they were feeding them up on 
 beef like that and expected to save most of their 
 lives. When the ambassador left to visit Camp No. 
 3, the beef was dumped onto a motor truck and taken 
 over there w^here it was nicely laid out and a similar 
 stor\' told. The same proceeding followed for Camp 
 No. 2. And when the inspection was over the beef 
 was taken out of the camps entirely and used by the 
 German garrison in Miinster. 
 
 While I was in Diilmen the Germans had been 
 working with Sir Roger Casement and tr\'ing to get 
 his "Irish Brigade" ready for service. They went 
 through every camp picking out all who were or who 
 seemed to be Irish. These men were all sent down 
 to a camp in Central Germany where they were put 
 through all kinds of torture to make them consent to 
 join the "Irish Brigade." Some were tied up to 
 stakes till they died. Many succumbed to the star- 
 vation methods combined with the torture, but very
 
 INCIDENTS IN CAMP AND OUT 219 
 
 few could be forced to give in, and I believe even these 
 had no intention of taking any part in the Germans' 
 dastardly plans. In our stories around the fire at 
 the camps we heard the particulars of this ''Irish 
 Brigade'* matter and also of the horrors of the 
 Wittenburg Camp where plague-stricken prisoners 
 were left to die like rats in a trap. Of all the German 
 crimes this one of Wittenburg seems to be the worst 
 — certainly one of the blackest that ever disgraced 
 humanity. 
 
 A few of the prisoners who let their minds dwell 
 on this sort of thing and on their own misfortunes, 
 could not be roused out of their despondency, grad- 
 ually lost their reason, and were removed to a little 
 asylum located just outside the camp. There were 
 said to be about twenty inmates at this time but very 
 few of them were British. However, I did see two 
 fellows taken there — a terrible sight since every- 
 thing seemed so hopeless. If we had not resolved 
 to be everlastingly cheerful; had we not kept one 
 another out of the dumps, a lot more of us would 
 have gone the same way. 
 
 Others who had it worse than we had were some 
 Canadian boys we heard from through a Belgian 
 who had been in the penitentiary with them but had 
 finished his time. Besides other troubles these poor 
 fellows, who had been committed for a term of some 
 years, were not allowed any of the meat or tinned 
 goods coming in their parcels. They sent a message 
 to the parcel stafi^ in the camp to take all this stuff out 
 before their parcels were forwarded so that their 
 guards would not benefit from it. 
 
 One feature that helped a little to pass the time 
 was the reading of a couple of small newspapers set 
 up and printed in the camp by the prisoners. One 
 of these, the Church Times, was edited by Private
 
 220 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 Champion, an Englishman who also conducted a re- 
 ligious service for the British prisoners every Sunday 
 morning. 
 
 Gradually the winter passed and the spring came 
 in warm and bright. In May we moved our beds 
 out in the sun every day and lay about the camp 
 until a sudden summons to some to be ready for a 
 working party would set them hustling to get their 
 belongings together and they would shortly be gone 
 again. 
 
 On the 22d I remember a party of prisoners, 
 twenty of them, arrived from the front and these 
 were augmented next day by twenty-two others. 
 These were made up of about fifteen Australians, 
 two Canadians, and representatives from different 
 British regiments. Some of them had been through 
 some terrible hardships. One, for instance, had 
 been a prisoner since August, 1914, and had been 
 kept working behind the German lines. His body 
 was covered with marks and scars, the results ot 
 abuse, and he was so emaciated that his bones seemed 
 scarcely able to hold together. Some had been cap- 
 tured at Loos in September of 191 5 and others 
 at the Somme in 1916. They had never been re- 
 ported as prisoners because it was pretty nearly 
 certain they would die; if they had been reported 
 the Germans would have had to account for them 
 after the war, so no notice had been sent regarding 
 them until they were sent back to the camps. 
 
 When the first party arrived they were put in a 
 separate block but a little later were brought to 
 our bath house for a bath. Our parcels had been 
 held up for a while so we had very little food, but 
 everybody shared up with them and we were able 
 to provide a good hot meal in the bath house and 
 give each a small box of food to take away w^ith him.
 
 INCIDENTS IN CAMP AND OUT 221 
 
 I actually saw one of the boys take off his boots and 
 socks and give them to a ragged and shoeless "Anzac." 
 
 We were not allowed to talk to the second party 
 because a few of them had been captured only a few 
 days before and had good news to tell of the fighting 
 at Bapaume and Peronne. We managed to send 
 them some food, however, and also to get this good 
 news. 
 
 Some time before I had been summoned to the 
 "Court of Justice" and told that the complaint 
 I had laid against the guards at K47 had been found 
 to be false. A warning was given at the same time 
 of the serious punishment that would be inflicted 
 if ever I dared to make another such false accusation. 
 
 The day after these prisoners arrived I was again 
 taken, with the two other chaps who had been 
 accused of the trouble at Hilltrup, before the "Court 
 of Justice.'* This time a bleary-eyed old officer 
 told us that they had gone very carefully into our 
 case but knew that, although they knew we were 
 guilty, they could find no evidence against us. 
 This notwithstanding, we were ordered to leave that 
 same day to return to the " Black Hole." 
 
 Six Canadians were to go back in the party and we 
 were all game for an attempt to escape, planning to 
 put the guards "out of mess" and to get away while 
 marching up from Sin Sin station that night. When 
 we arrived at Sin Sin the plan fell through for there 
 a large party of Russians, with a lot of extra guards, 
 joined ours and rendered any such attempt out of 
 the question. 
 
 Arriving in K47 the boys all gathered around and 
 we compared experiences. I soon learned that 
 three of my chums — Blacklock, O'Brien, and Sammy 
 Woods — were in the jail, as punishment for trying 
 to escape. They had broken out of the camp all
 
 222 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 right but had been caught near the Border. I was 
 shortly taken to the office by the guards who made a 
 fuss because I had taken off most of the marks from 
 my clothing. These were all carefully added again 
 before they let me away. Then I borrowed a book 
 and went out and sat with my back to the jail wall, 
 pretending to be reading, but all the time calling 
 softly to O'Brien who I knew to be in the cell near by. 
 Pretty soon he heard me, and, taking a bit of paper 
 out of a crack he had managed to make between 
 two bricks, we had a long talk. He told me how 
 Wallie Nicholson and Slim Evans had made an at- 
 tempt to escape but had been caught and brought 
 back, had finished their term in the cells, and were 
 at work again. I managed to smuggle some food 
 in to the three fellows that night but next morning 
 they came out again. 
 
 In the meantime, Wallie came back from work 
 and we were as tickled as two schoolboys to see 
 each other again. He was looking pretty thin 
 and worn while I was almost fat from my easy life 
 in Miinster. 
 
 Next day I was called into the office again, this 
 time to receive a mark and a half of pay which had 
 been due me when I left the camp. They were al- 
 ways very particular to pay us — at first in regular 
 German coinage; later, in money made in each camp 
 from squares of cardboard, or small tin checks. 
 This was handed out on Friday afternoon, when we 
 sometimes had to stand for hours while the miserable 
 snipe who paid us would dawdle about, sometimes 
 breaking off to go for a smoke in the yard. If we 
 did not go for our pay in the regular way we were 
 treated to the usual abuse awarded an offender and 
 finally taken before the commander. 
 
 "If you don't come and get your pay," he would
 
 INCIDENTS IN CAMP AND OUT 223 
 
 say (banging his fist on the desk), "you become a 
 s!ave; and we won't have that in DeutschlandJ" 
 
 So we had to take it, whether we hked it or not. 
 
 They tried a good many schemes, though, to get 
 the money back from us. Sometimes searches of 
 the camp were made and the money seized. We 
 did try to hang on to all the real money we could get, 
 for we could see the possibility of using it in various 
 ways. One time the officials asked for a subscription 
 of three hundred marks to be spent on the graves of 
 McQuarrie, who had been murdered by a Steiger, and 
 Flannigan, alleged to have been accidentally killed 
 in the mine. The money was quickly forthcoming. 
 Part of it was, apparently, spent on the graves, 
 but soon another amount was asked for, for the same 
 purpose. This, too, was raised but nothing was done 
 so when they came for a third donation we told them 
 that we would fix the graves up ourselves, after the 
 war. 
 
 Another time the commandant sent for two or 
 three of the British prisoners and told them we could 
 have a band if we would collect a thousand francs 
 to buy the instruments. We got the money to- 
 gether but insisted that one of our own number 
 should buy the instruments. He was sent to Reck- 
 Hnghausen, about seven miles away, and brought 
 back the instruments. But an order was issued 
 next day that no music was to be allowed in the camp; 
 the instruments were never used!
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 Out of the "Black Hole's" Clutches 
 
 When I returned to K47 the Kokerie was over- 
 stocked with workers and so I was put at odd jobs 
 around the camp until they could start me in again 
 where I had left off four months before. The Ger- 
 mans never forget a grudge and those guards showed 
 me every day that they hated me just as bitterly as 
 they had done previously. 
 
 Always on the qui vive for an opportunity to get 
 away I kept my eyes open while at this irregular 
 work and one day thought I saw how another effort 
 might be made. I noticed one of the girls who 
 worked in the canteen open a httle door in what 
 appeared to be the outside wall of the EngHsh 
 barracks and take a couple of brooms out of a Httle 
 closet or pantry there. This door opened opposite 
 the back gate of the camp but we were shut off from 
 that side by a sixteen-foot barbed-wire fence, and the 
 guards. 
 
 When I came in that night I examined the barrack 
 and saw that the little room jutted about four feet 
 into the washroom. Hence my plan — to cut a 
 hole through the wall into the closet, get out through 
 the door, and thence out by the camp gate. I chose 
 Howitt, since escaped otherwise, as a partner, and 
 when the gang came up, at about nine o'clock, and 
 made quite a racket with their supper we began 
 operations. Working away with a knife, in the 
 
 224
 
 OUT OF THE "BLACK HOLE" 225 
 
 intervals when the guard was at the other end of 
 his beat, I managed to get six bricks loosened in 
 the wall, enough to make a passage. So far so 
 good. We planned to remove them at one o'clock 
 that night, crawl into the cupboard, and then, sud- 
 denly bursting open the door, grab a pail of red-hot 
 coals (which the girls placed outside to help the 
 guard keep warm), and with this as a surprise, put 
 him "out of mess" and get a free passage through the 
 gate. The plan was good, but 
 
 At one o'clock we were up, with everything in 
 readiness. Stealthily I got the bricks out and was 
 just ready to crawl through when the door of the 
 closet opened a tiny crack and then closed again. 
 Then we heard a faint rustle of excitement among 
 the girls in the canteen. Loud voices in the guard 
 house became hushed and died away completely. 
 The guard had heard us and was zvaiting for us ! 
 After an uncanny stillness settled down over the 
 camp I rose from my knees in front of the hole and 
 drew myself noiselessly up by the window. Peering 
 through a scratch in the painted glass I could see the 
 tall angular figure of the guard looming up in the 
 darkness like a horrible bronze statue, with his 
 long rifle levelled at the opening from which he 
 expected to see an "Englander" emerge and no doubt 
 silently revelling over the mess his Dum-dum bullets 
 would make when he did appear. 
 
 Quietly I stole away from the window and we hid 
 our map, compass, and flashlight, which had been 
 in readiness for the hoped-for journey, and went 
 back to bed. Half an hour later the guards rushed 
 in and kicked up a great row but couldn't find out 
 who had made the hole. 
 
 The next night I was put on Kokerie again, on 
 the sam.e shift with Jack O'Brien, who had just come
 
 226 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 out of jail. They put us together so as to be able to 
 give us special attention, and since this brought us 
 more scrutiny than we liked we decided that we 
 must get into hospital. We tossed a coin to see who 
 was to try first. 
 
 O'Brien won, or rather lost, the toss and next 
 morning when we were pushing railway cars up to 
 the Kokerie he shut his eyes and stuck his hand in 
 between two cars as they bumped. Three of 
 his fingers were smashed. I didn't like the idea of 
 repeating that dose, so racked my brains for some- 
 thing diflFerent. 
 
 Going to bed that night, I wet a handkerchief, 
 tied it round my left arm close to the shoulder, and 
 twisted it up with a stick till all circulation was 
 stopped. In the morning my arm was swollen, 
 discoloured, and paining horribly. The doctor 
 didn't know what was wrong and I didn't tell him, 
 but I was sent, as O'Brien had also been, to do "light 
 work" — which meant loading cars with coal from a 
 huge heap on the ground. Since we were away from 
 the regular guards there, and were better used, it was 
 perhaps worth while. And as we worked we deter- 
 mined that we would make another attempt to get 
 away the next night we were put back on the Kokerie. 
 
 As this did not happen immediately, and inas- 
 much as I was getting frantic, I decided to try an- 
 other method. Recollections of every instance of 
 cruelty and abuse which came to me then made my 
 blood boil and I got to hate the Germans so fiercely 
 that even the sound of their voices made my hair 
 stand. To escape became an obsession that burned 
 in my brain day and night. If I had not at last 
 succeeded I believe I should have gone mad. My 
 heart was breaking; every failure only made me more 
 determined and more stubborn.
 
 OUT OF THE "BLACK HOLE" 227 
 
 In the middle of the week O'Brien and I decided to 
 try to dig a tunneL With a pocket knife and about 
 six inches of a small saw blade we managed to get a 
 hole in the floor under my bunk and started to dig. 
 We found soon that this was practically impossible 
 for when the barrack had been erected a brick had 
 been left out of the foundation wall here and there, 
 probably to guard against just such attempts, and 
 it was possible to see from outside what was going on. 
 Even when digging I could see the legs of the guards 
 passing up and down outside. Again, the only 
 place we could have emerged was on the main 
 street of the town alongside a street lamp. That 
 seemed to be running too great a risk, so we gave it 
 up. (Some months later, however, that tunnel was 
 put through by three of my chums; and through it 
 they actually got away.) 
 
 On Saturday night O'Brien and I were put on 
 heavy work again and we knew the time had arrived 
 for another desperate attempt for freedom. We were 
 working together and when the time came to go to 
 the midnight meal were well behind with our task. 
 The bosses began to hover round us as if suspecting 
 something and ready to start driving us. That de- 
 cided us. 
 
 We had our dinner in the wash house with the 
 guards in the same room, but lying on the floor to 
 one side after dinner we drew up our plans, to be 
 carried out on our return to work. 
 
 At about half-past one we formed in fours as usual 
 at the foot of the stairs leading up to the elevated 
 platform of the Kokerie and were counted. Every- 
 thing being all right the two guards stationed on 
 top went to their posts. We followed and the guards 
 on the ground took up their position in a circle at 
 intervals all round the plant.
 
 228 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 O'Brien and I followed our guard a little more 
 closely than usual, right at his heels in fact, and when 
 he was about to turn round to take up his position 
 so that he could oversee the platform we dropped 
 over the side down to the tracks below. The other 
 boys, whom we had primed, started a row to attract 
 the guard's attention, and because he was looking 
 round to see what w^as wrong, he did not miss us— 
 for a time at least. One old guard had his post on the 
 ground just about at the spot where we dropped. 
 Fortunately he was a little slow in getting on the 
 job or we should have landed on top of him. That 
 was one point where fortune favoured us. 
 
 The whole yard was brightly lighted but we crawled 
 across it on our stomachs, by great good luck es- 
 caped being seen, and stopped for a minute or two 
 at a little hill in the corner — where a few trees gave 
 some shelter — to change our clothes. We had tried 
 to remove the identifying marks but, having found 
 that impossible, had lined the garments with brown 
 cloth from an old civilian overcoat, and now we 
 turned them inside out. 
 
 We were climbing the fence on the side opposite 
 the camp and congratulating ourselves that things 
 had gone well so far when we heard the alarm sound! 
 We knew that we had been missed. This was not 
 more than five minutes after we had dropped off the 
 platform; not much of a start, but almost more 
 than we had hoped for. An awful row was in prog- 
 ress on the Kokerie; we could hear the guards curs- 
 ing and shouting and could picture them knocking 
 our comrades about and these latter doing their 
 best to keep the guards busy so as to give us the 
 utmost possible chance. 
 
 The outfit we had prepared to bring along with 
 us this time varied little from that previously carried
 
 OUT OF THE "BLACK HOLE" 229 
 
 on similar excursions. Besides a little food, we had 
 — sealed up in a '^ Kaffee pullen," or water can which 
 every prisoner carried — the invaluable map and com- 
 pass, a small searchlight, and a small tin of pepper. 
 A number of dogs had been provided at K47 for 
 chasing escaping prisoners. We didn't mean to be 
 followed long by these dogs. And soon after starting 
 we took mighty good care to cover our trail pretty 
 thickly with the pepper. When they came along 
 there, sniffing, it would keep them from doing any 
 more smelling for some considerable time. It must 
 have worked for v/e neither saw nor heard anything 
 of them. 
 
 For a couple of hours we travelled along at a good 
 clip and — the ground being familiar — we made good 
 time. A little stream that we crossed seemed like an 
 old friend. I remembered how high my hopes had 
 been when I had crossed it each time before but this 
 time we were determined to get through or to perish 
 in the attempt, and prospects, somehow, seemed 
 brighter. 
 
 Daylight came early at that time of the year and 
 since, by reason of that fact, we knew we could 
 scarcely count on crossing the River Lippe that 
 first night, we deemed it wiser when we got within 
 reach of it at early dawn, some little time before 
 four o'clock, to crawl into a small bush, where we 
 started a fire with a few dry sticks to dry our clothes. 
 While we needed this — the morning being chilly — 
 we knew that search parties would hkely be scouring 
 the country for us, and so we soon put the fire out. 
 
 For some time we lay on the edge of the bush. 
 Then O'Brien suggested that it might be safer further 
 in — so in we went. We had been in the new spot 
 but a few minutes when we heard someone coming. 
 Presently an old German, carrying a double-barrelled
 
 230 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 shotgun, entered the bush just where we had been 
 lying and headed straight toward where we now were 
 crouching. Straight as a die he advanced, and as we 
 lay there close to the earth, we were making prepara- 
 tions to give him some severe treatment but feehng 
 that only a miracle could save us. Then, when he 
 was not more than twenty feet away, he turned 
 aside and walked slowly past, looking around as he 
 went by. We were surprised as well as relieved for 
 we could not imagine how he had missed us; but 
 when I got up to take a look round a little later 
 saw that the scrub we were in was so short and thick 
 that the old chap had looked right over our heads. 
 
 When darkness settled down again after a quiet 
 day we saw the sky lit up by the lights of a town that 
 we took to be Haltern and we made for it, intending 
 to cross the river by swimming it. Just in the out- 
 skirts, however, we found a little old narrow-gauge 
 railway bridge, which had evidently not been used 
 for a long time and which was barricaded with barbed 
 wire and wreckage of all sorts. We managed to pick 
 an opening through this junk and without much dif- 
 ficulty crossed on to the dark, low flats, close beside 
 the town. After a good deal of manoeuvring we man- 
 aged to get through the purlieus, crawling through 
 acres of gardens, and then, in the open, soon put the 
 lights behind us. 
 
 When well clear, and everything seemed quiet, we 
 stopped and snapped on our light in order to set a 
 course by the compass. And here I got a surprise. 
 We carefully covered our light when we turned it on 
 the compass and quickly switched it off when we got 
 what we wanted. But the face of that compass re- 
 mained illuminated for half an hour. After that we 
 never turned the light on except in a pocket. By 
 holding the compass over the top of the Hght the face
 
 OUT OF THE "BLACK HOLE" 231 
 
 got the necessary illumination and gave us the direc- 
 tion we wanted without running any risk of giving us 
 away. This certainly helped a good deal on that 
 trip. 
 
 Striking northward we soon came to a bit of moor 
 with a wire fence running across it. We followed 
 the fence but hadn't gone far when we met another 
 fellow, also following the fence. We saw one an- 
 other at the same moment. Instantly he "beat it" 
 back his way while we — just as quickly — made off in 
 ours. At the time we had no suspicions as to who it 
 was but, talking it over, later, we concluded that he 
 also must have been an escaping prisoner. No one 
 else could have run so quickly. In any case, we saw 
 no more of him. 
 
 The experience I had had in the Canadian bush 
 and in the north country before the war stood me in 
 good stead now and we made excellent headway, 
 shaping our course most of the time by the stars. 
 O'Brien followed me closely and proved to be the 
 very best sort of pal I could have had. He never 
 grumbled or argued but if he thought I was getting a 
 little off the course he would touch me softly with 
 his stick and we w^ould stop and check up again. 
 
 The httle food we had been able to bring was 
 exhausted the first day and thus we were forced to 
 provide for ourselves along the way. About the 
 only thing available was the seed potatoes recently 
 planted, which we dug up in the fields at night. I 
 happened to have the big red handkerchief, my 
 "Crown and Anchor" game, along with me and this 
 came in very handy for carrying the potatoes. One 
 morning we happened on a good-sized bit of bush and, 
 as the air was laden with fog, we took a chance and 
 lighted a fire and tried to cook some potatoes in an 
 old tin can. We boiled them for hours, but even with
 
 232 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 that they were as tough as baseballs and we didn't 
 think it worth while to try that scheme again. I'm 
 sure we ate bushels of those potatoes during that 
 trip; it was only these that kept us going at all. 
 
 Leaving this bush we were nearly caught by a man 
 with a gun but we managed to elude him. That 
 night, also, was a memorable one, for we came into a 
 big pasture where one lone cow was lying. Driving 
 her up into a corner I scratched her back while 
 O'Brien milked her. That was a splendid drink, the 
 finest I ever had, and for a moment or two we had 
 some fool notion of taking that cow along with us. 
 
 Coming out on a high ridge later we saw the 
 lights of what we knew to be Diilmen Camp, when a 
 host of memories — most of them of a nature to stir 
 my anger — were brought back. 
 
 Again, as in the former attempts, we found it 
 hard to get satisfactory cover during the day. We 
 were determined not to be caught again, so took 
 more and greater precautions. Every opportunity 
 was taken. We stayed, on different days, in the long 
 grass and reeds by a creek, under an old culvert, in a 
 bit of bush, or even in a ditch. 
 
 One day we were lying on a little sheltered knoll 
 between two farms. I was dreaming I was home 
 and, reaching out my arm for a pillow, gathered in a 
 little porcupine that had strayed near us looking for 
 a warm berth. He didn't make a very comforting 
 bedfellow, and when his sharp quills began to work 
 in I soon realized that I was not at home. So did he. 
 
 As we grew more tired and hungry the temptation 
 to follow roads and trails became strong but we 
 stuck stubbornly to the fields. One night we came 
 on the most beautiful bit of road I have ever seen and 
 crossing this near a farmhouse, found two or three 
 big cans of milk set out for the early morning collec-
 
 OUT OF THE "BLACK HOLE" 233 
 
 tion. When we left them, a Httle later, we could 
 hardly walk; but we were tempted to try to carry 
 one of these cans with us. 
 
 For seven nights we plodded steadily along. The 
 seventh morning brought us to a little town in the 
 centre of a thickly populated farming district. The 
 smoke rising from several chimneys as we passed 
 warned us that it was time to be under cover and 
 we looked round desperately. Finally we found a 
 small strip of pine in a hollow close by. It was small 
 and more or less open but it was the best in sight. 
 But though the bush itself was small and open there 
 was in the centre a low, wet hole full of brush and . 
 long grass. We crawled in there and lay down. 
 
 Very shortly afterward we heard voices; two Ger- 
 man girls came into the bush to gather bundles of 
 wood which they then piled up close beside us. We 
 lay as still as possible, but were in danger of discov- 
 ery every minute, for the girls worked all around us 
 — so close that we could hear every word they said. 
 About noon we were much relieved to hear them say 
 that they had finished. Although they left the 
 bush we decided to stay there — for a while. We 
 knew we were within four or five miles of the Border 
 and were keen on taking no chances. At about one- 
 thirty we were surprised to hear the same girls' 
 voices approaching. This time three of them came 
 and began to work on the other side of us but piling 
 their wood where they had placed it in the morning. 
 
 At last they announced they had finished and 
 began to get ready to go away when a deep, guttural, 
 masculine voice from the road caught our attention. 
 An old man who appeared to be the boss was object- 
 ing because the girls were going home so early, de- 
 claring there was more wood in the patch and that 
 they would have to look for it.
 
 234 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 We held our breath as they came back the third 
 time but, after discussing the matter, they sat down 
 by the pile for a while and then went home. 
 
 That day I took off an extra pair of trousers I 
 had been wearing and made a pair of moccasins 
 apiece for O'Brien and myself. That night we took 
 off our boots, tied them on our belts, and with the 
 cloth moccasins slipped along as smoothly and si- 
 lently as a pair of ghosts. 
 
 We ran across a herd of cattle the same night and 
 greeted them joyfully. The continued cold, hunger, 
 and fatigue were telling on us pretty seriously and a 
 good drink of milk would have put new life into us. 
 But these cows were all dr3^ 
 
 It will be remembered, probably, that advice 
 had been given me by one or two persons — when 
 telling me how heavily guarded the Border was — 
 to try to strike northward for the big swamps. 
 Wallie Nicholson had been given the same advice 
 and now I determined to act on it. When we en- 
 tered this region the temptation to follow the narrow 
 trails we crossed frequently was very strong. It was 
 no joke at any time, but was particularly hard, in our 
 weakened condition, to plug along through that 
 slimy mud, never knowing what the next mintue 
 might bring, or when the quicksands which abound 
 in that sort of country might engulf us. To follow 
 these paths, however, would have meant almost 
 certain capture since they were scoured by patrols 
 all along the Border. So we w^orked our way slowly 
 through the stinking mud, picking our path around 
 the worst spots, feeling with our sticks ahead of 
 us and with our ears alert for the slightest sound in 
 the darkness ahead. 
 
 The stars shone brightly that night but underfoot 
 it was as black as death and the silence was oppres-
 
 The map which brought the Author out of Germany 
 
 White line indicates the Holland Border. 
 Small black dots outline route of first attempted escape. 
 Dots and crosses show route of second attempt. 
 Large dots mark route of successful attempt.
 
 OUT OF THE "BLACK HOLE" 235 
 
 sive. Keeping on till midnight we crossed a trail 
 and had gone only a short distance to the left when 
 we heard a sound like someone moving on the trail. 
 Straining my eyes through the dark, I thought I 
 could distinguish a dim form a little distance off — a 
 guard, probably. We dropped on our faces in the 
 mud to wait for this man (whoever he was) to pass. 
 Just then a harsh voice yelled: "Halt!" and a rifle 
 shot rang out and reechoed through the swamp. 
 For a few minutes a perfect pandemonium reigned — 
 rifle shots, shouts, and cries of pain, mingled with 
 the angry yelps of half-starved dogs as they, so it 
 seemed, tore at their prey. 
 
 We lay still a moment because we figured that this 
 row would attract all the sentries near at hand. 
 Soon we heard several voices apparently trying to 
 get the dogs away from their victim. Then, think- 
 ing the time opportune, we got to our feet and, mak- 
 ing a shght detour, sneaked through the opening in 
 the guard line, as so nearly as we could estimate it. 
 
 We plodded on all through the night across the 
 swamp, and near morning reached a big canal. 
 Following this, we came to a bridge, which, to our 
 surprise, was not guarded, so we stole across and kept 
 on, traveUing due west now, as we had been all 
 night. 
 
 About daylight we got clear of the swamps and 
 soon sighted a church steeple rising up out of the fog. 
 Coming through a wheat field on the outskirts of a 
 little town, we lay in a ditch just off" the road, waiting 
 for the clock to strike. We had a feehng that we 
 were out of Germany but were determined to take 
 no chances. 
 
 Several soldiers went by and we strained our eyes to 
 examine them, but in the dim light it was impossible 
 to reach any positive decision regarding them.
 
 236 - THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 They seemed like Germans and our hearts sank 
 again. 
 
 Soon the clock began to strike and eagerly we 
 counted the strokes: "One — two — three — four — 
 five — six." 
 
 "How many, Jack?" I asked. 
 
 "Six, d — n it; only six," he answered bitterly. 
 
 Our watch showed it to be only half-past five but 
 we were looking for two hours' difference in the 
 Dutch time, thinking that we could tell from this 
 whether we were in Holland or not. However, the 
 watch was a German production in which we had 
 little confidence. After talking it over we reached 
 the conclusion that we must have crossed the Border 
 in the night. 
 
 It was running too big a risk to go making any in- 
 quiries but we planned to turn our flash on the next 
 signpost and beat it off again. 
 
 When the rising sun began to dispel the fog we 
 sneaked through the fields toward a long row of 
 trees, which, as we expected, bordered a big road. 
 Before we reached this, however, we came suddenly 
 on two men cutting hay but we made off so quickly 
 that we were nearly out of sight before they saw us. 
 They leaned on their scythes and looked after us but 
 made no move to follow — which left us still in doubt. 
 
 We passed several women who merely stared at 
 us. We began to feel somewhat confident but even 
 yet were not going to be careless. Coming out on 
 the road to look for signs we saw several people ap- 
 proaching but dodged back into the bush when they 
 came near us until they went by. 
 
 The very air seemed different, somehow; laden 
 with peace and good will. We both felt a sort of 
 peaceful contentment which acted like a balm to 
 our tortured spirits and hungry bodies.
 
 OUT OF THE "BLACK HOLE" 237 
 
 Finally we found a sign at a.(jross roads but to our 
 disappointment it was bare, every vestige of paint 
 having been washed off by the weather. Near by, 
 however, a big, fat old man was spreading gravel 
 on the road, whistling merrily the while. 
 
 A fat man, and a cheerful whistle! It couldn't be 
 Germany. So we decided to chance it again. 
 
 "He's too fat to run fast anyway," said O'Brien. 
 So we walked up to the old fellow and asked him 
 whether we were in Holland. It seemed an age till 
 he answered, and our eyes must have burned holes 
 in him, we glared so fiercely. 
 
 A broad smile slowly spread over his good-natured 
 face and he explained that we were ten kilometres 
 into the country. 
 
 Without a word we turned and grasped one an- 
 other by the hand. There was nothing to say. To 
 know that we were free was enough. To be away 
 from the starvation, the beating, the abuse — the 
 cruelty of those German ruffians — and to know that 
 these horrors now belonged to the past! For- 
 gotten? No. Never while I live shall I be able to 
 forget the sufferings and the mental agony of others 
 and myself in those vile prison camps. 
 
 The old Hollander was delighted when he heard 
 our story; he talked and laughed and hopped about 
 on one foot till we almost began to think he, too, 
 had escaped. He insisted on our eating his dinner 
 and making away with a long bottle of milk that 
 he had with him. We wanted to pay him. with a 
 little of the money we had been able to bring 
 through but he wouldn't hear of it. After thank- 
 ing him as best we could we left him and began to 
 drag ourselves along the road toward the little town 
 ahead. 
 
 For eight days we had been travelHng on very
 
 238 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 little food and with our nerves at the highest tension. 
 Now that we knew we were free and safe, the in- 
 evitable reaction came on, and for a while we were 
 so weak, sick, and giddy, that we could scarcely 
 move our feet. We were roused out of this semi- 
 comatose condition, however, by a voice speaking in 
 good English. Turning at the very welcome sound 
 we saw a young chap jump off a wheel and come 
 toward us. He was a Dutch traveller and as soon as 
 he knew who we were he congratulated us on our es- 
 cape and advised us to go at once with him to the 
 police. 
 
 "But shall we be prisoners?" I asked quickly. 
 
 "Oh, no," was the reassuring answer. "It's the 
 only way to get anywhere over here. They will pick 
 you up anyway." 
 
 Soon we reached the little town of Nieder, where 
 everybody seemed glad to see us. We were deluged 
 with good things to eat but were too sick to touch 
 anything. 
 
 Soon two huge military policemen rode up and 
 escorted us to the home of their chief, just outside 
 the town. We lay in his orchard for two days, sleep- 
 ing on soft, clean hay over his stables at night. His 
 kind-hearted wife supplied us with tea and cakes, 
 strawberries and cream, and all sorts of good things 
 to eat; and a bunch of rosy-cheeked Dutch girls, 
 from a near-by factory, often gathered at the fence 
 to talk to us. 
 
 We wanted to get our photos taken before we got 
 straightened up but there was no photographer in. 
 the town. We were surely terrible sights, but after a 
 wash, a shave, and a haircut, and the donning of 
 clothes supplied by a kind old gentleman across the 
 street, we looked more presentable. My suit, 
 though, was big enough for a whole family and as I
 
 OUT OF THE "BLACK HOLE" 239 
 
 was anything but fat just then I must have cut a 
 comical figure. 
 
 O'Brien was better oft' and, since he was beginning 
 to come alive by that time, began to exercise upon me 
 the spirit his name implies. However, at that time 
 I was feeling so well that nothing could upset me.
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 Back to Blighty and Home Again 
 
 We were held in Nieder till Monday — that was 
 the 1 8th of June — and then were sent in a big po- 
 liceman's care to Rotterdam. Here the Dutch au- 
 thorities put us through quite an examination in 
 which they asked about the formation of our army; 
 the number of men in battalions, brigades, and divi- 
 sions; and also as to the conditions of the defences on 
 the German Border. Finally thev asked whether we 
 wished to be interned. 
 
 It took about a second to tell them just how badly 
 we wanted not to be interned so they turned us over 
 to the British Ambassador. He also put us through 
 quite a quiz, among other things asking why it was 
 that so large a percentage of those escaping were 
 Canadians. (We were Numbers loi and 102 of the 
 British prisoners who had escaped he told us.) Then, 
 finally, he put us up at the Harwich Hotel, owned 
 by Mrs. Francis, a Dutch lady who spoke perfect 
 English and who was exceedingly kind to us, as, by 
 the way, was everyone else with whom we came in 
 contact in Holland. 
 
 Naturally one of the first things we wanted was 
 money. We hadn't seen real money for many a day 
 and thought of the amount of pay due us. But that 
 old ambassador was a real tight-wad and put us on 
 an allowance of one guilder each, about thirty-five 
 cents, per day. We soon found a young petty offi- 
 
 240
 
 BLIGHTY AND HOME AGAIN 241 
 
 cer from the navy, however, from whom we were 
 able to get a Httle. But one day, when we were look- 
 ing in vain for him around the hotel, Mrs. Francis 
 apparently grasped the situation. 
 
 "Come now," she said. "You might just as well 
 tell me what you want. I might be able to help you. 
 In fact, I am sure I can." 
 
 y I hummed and hawed, for it was a hard thing to 
 confess to a woman that we had no money, but finally 
 she made us own up to it. 
 
 "I knew it," she said. "Now when you want 
 money just come to me." 
 
 We thanked her but were going on to explain that 
 we had no means of paying her back when she in- 
 terrupted: 
 
 "Never mind about that," she said. "When you 
 
 are leaving just go to Mr. [the Ambassador] and 
 
 tell him you owe Mrs. Francis so much money; he 
 will have to pay." And she laughed merrily. 
 
 From that time till we left we had plenty of money 
 though we were down at the office every morning to 
 collect our guilder just the same. And in the end 
 we were able to follow our hostess's advice without 
 any trouble. 
 
 For ten days we were wandering around Rotterdam 
 till arrangements could be made for our return to 
 England and during that time we saw a good deal of 
 this old-fashioned city. One morning, while looking 
 for a Scottish tea room someone had told me about, 
 I was passing a vegetable booth in the market when I 
 saw an old woman grab a basket of potatoes and run 
 away with it. The trader made a vigorous howl and 
 a big policeman chased and grabbed the poor woman. 
 As happens in every city, a fuss attracts attention 
 and in a few moments the street and the square were 
 packed with a curious throng, trying to see what was
 
 242 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 happening. Everything was blocked solid by the 
 time the mounted police arrived and rode through the 
 crowd, using whips and clubs freely. As soon as 
 the police turned, the people followed them back 
 again and the crush continued. The police battled 
 with that multitude for hours, and several persons 
 were hurt, but I am sure that less than fifty of the 
 whole gathering knew what it was about. Then 
 the evening papers followed it up by headhning a 
 **Great Potato Riot.'; ^ 
 
 Among the daily visitors at the British Consulate 
 were forty German soldiers who had deserted across 
 the Border the week before and were trying to ar- 
 range to be sent to England where they knew that 
 German prisoners were well treated. To get their 
 wish they volunteered all sorts of information and 
 Vv'ere willing to do almost anything. They had 
 realized, you see, that if Holland should be forced 
 into the war their position would be particularly un- 
 comfortable. 
 
 At the British Consulate one day I managed to get 
 hold of an official statement of the rations given to 
 German prisoners in England. It is no wonder those 
 fellows wanted to get over there. Compare the food 
 on the list — the original of which is reproduced here — 
 with the rations that were being issued in the Ger- 
 man prison camps. 
 
 The day before we left Holland a message came up 
 from the British Consul at The Hague asking that if 
 possible we attend a conference of British and German 
 officers in regard to the treatment and exchange of 
 prisoners. We were very anxious to go since we saw 
 the possibility of bettering the conditions of our com- 
 rades, particularly at the "Black Hole," but were 
 warned to get aboard the steamer before the time 
 set for The Hague trip and so missed it. At this
 
 BLIGHTY AND HOME AGAIN 243 
 
 conference the Germans thanked the British for their 
 humane treatment of prisoners. But the compH- 
 ment was not returned. 
 
 One stormy morning we said good-bye to Holland 
 and, in a collection of boats of all nations, drifted 
 slowly down the Rhine. The neutral vessels had 
 their colours displayed in a broad band around the 
 hulls but the amount of confidence they had in the 
 German promises to respect their neutrality was evi- 
 denced by the fact that they lay sometimes for days 
 at the mouth of the river, waiting for the British 
 convoy collecting up the river, so that they might 
 share in the protection afforded during the trip across 
 the Channel. 
 
 We lay off the Hook of Holland for a time and no- 
 body seemed to feel very safe until a dozen dark 
 specks appeared out of the mist, and soon about 
 seventeen light cruisers and destroyers were cutting 
 circles around the convoy, like a school of huge 
 sharks. We got across without incident and safely 
 reached a British port — pulling into dock close be- 
 side the liner which had carried me over from Canada 
 two years and a half before. 
 
 An orderly met us on arrival and handed us over 
 to the officer commanding the garrison. He bil- 
 leted us with a company of Royal Engineers pending 
 receipt of orders from the War Office in London and 
 here we were able to get some pretty direct evidence 
 as to the treatment of German prisoners in England. 
 The Engineers were working on a railway line some 
 distance from camp, at the usual wage, of course, 
 of a British Tommy. They left camp in the morning, 
 carried a sandwich for dinner, and marched back again 
 for supper. They told us that the German prisoners 
 on the same job were paid three shillings and six- 
 pence (84 cents) per man per day and enjoyed a hot
 
 244 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 dinner which was carried out to them by English 
 civiHans. They were rather indignant, and we didn't 
 blame them. 
 
 Next day we were sent on to London, and "The 
 Smoke" looked pretty good to us after looping the 
 loop via Berhn. We were still in our hand-me-down 
 clothes and the remarks of the crowd as we passed 
 through the station, at the heels of a big redcap po- 
 liceman, were anything but complimentary. They 
 evidently thought we were a couple of deserters, 
 caught and being brought back. We were naturally 
 indignant but had to grin and bear it for a few days. 
 That was the first of July and everyone seemed too 
 busy celebrating to look after anything else. We* 
 tried everywhere to get uniforms and to get someone 
 to fix us up but all to no purpose, and I must confess 
 that we were rather disgusted with our initial re- 
 ception in London. 
 
 The next week, though, we received lots of atten- 
 tion. I believe we were interviewed by every officer 
 of the army then in England and this occasioned a 
 continual rush from place to place. I became so 
 enraged that I insulted everyone who came near 
 me and I am sure that only the fact that I had 
 escaped out of Germany saved me from years of 
 pack drill. 
 
 I spent all of one day in the Intelligence Depart- 
 ment of the War Office, and the information I had 
 so carefully gathered in Germany was just as care- 
 fully recorded. I was able to give them, from my 
 map, the positions of several ammunition factories 
 and military depots, and I enjoyed the satisfaction 
 of having my report praised as the most thorough 
 and complete, and containing the most useful infor- 
 mation yet furnished by an escaped prisoner. From 
 Glasgow I wrote to the Department, a little later,
 
 BLIGHTY AND HOME AGAIN 245 
 
 sending on further information, and received a letter 
 in reply, thanking me for this. 
 
 While in Holland I had written a short letter to 
 Wallie Nicholson back in Germany, but, not daring 
 to write in my own name, I penned it as if I were his 
 sister, whose husband was interned in Holland. I 
 only wanted him to see my writing, knowing that 
 this would give him the desired information: I signed 
 myself: "Your loving sister Jean." I had promised;, 
 if O'Brien and I got through, to try to let him know 
 how we got along, how the plan to work through the 
 swamps in the north worked out. So I sat down one 
 day in England, when time offered, and wrote him a 
 long letter in which I told him I had just arrived in 
 London from Canada, and spoke of a hunting trip 
 I had taken **Up north" before leaving home. "The 
 same trip," I said, "that you and I took before." 
 Thus, in a roundabout way, I managed to tell him 
 all about it, and I heard from him afterward that 
 the letter arrived safely. Through the information 
 it contained five of my chums were successful in 
 escaping, but poor old Wallie failed again in his third 
 attempt, and I fear is still in Germany. 
 
 We were soon in uniform again, and began to feel 
 better, particularly when we were very kindly treated 
 around Canadian Headquarters in London. General 
 Turner, Commanding Officer there, was particularly 
 kind, and told us to come to him if we wanted any- 
 thing. When we were leaving, he patted us on the 
 back and asked what we wanted to do now. "You 
 may have a job either in England or in Canada; or 
 your discharge," he said. We were both feeling 
 anxious for reprisals, and volunteered for our own 
 regiments again, but he would not hsten to this. 
 Ultimately we were sent home without bein^ con- 
 sulted at all.
 
 246 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 A week or two was spent in Bramshott Camp, 
 where we found moral conditions much better than 
 we had experienced around Folkestone in 1915. 
 
 From Bramshott we went to Buxton Discharge 
 Depot, and had another glimpse of Germans in an 
 English Prison Camp, and also, to our indignation, 
 something closely resembling a Canadian Prison 
 Camp. 
 
 A number of German prisoners were working just 
 then in the stone quarries near Buxton, and one day 
 'I had a chance to go up and look at them. No one 
 was allowed near the place without a permit, but 
 when I told one of the sentries that I had just come 
 out of a German Prison Camp, he let me look on for 
 a while. The contrast between conditions here and 
 those that we had endured was astounding. These 
 fellows were all fat and healthy-looking, and seemed 
 to be enjoying themselves. A few were doing a 
 little work; some of them, nothing at all. The guard 
 told me that he had nothing to do with the prisoners, 
 that he must not interfere in any way unless they 
 made some attempt to escape. It was evident that 
 they were well-fed and comfortably housed, and that 
 they were not forced in any way to work, though 
 they were under the direct control of British civilian 
 foremen. 
 
 Arriving at Buxton on a cold, rainy night, we were 
 surprised, when marching up to the camp, to meet 
 crowds of soldiers, many of them crippled, walking 
 through the heavy rain to the town; but a few days 
 in the camp solved the mystery. The depot there 
 is a centre where all the crippled and incapacitated 
 Canadians are transferred from the training camps 
 and convalescent homes. Many hospital cases— 
 that is, men who would ordinarily travel on hospital 
 ships — were not included.
 
 BLIGHTY AND HOME AGAIN 247 
 
 In Bramshott Camp, where those of strength and 
 health (Class A men) were being trained for the 
 front, not a sentry was posted around the camp, 
 and only a stray military policeman, who never 
 seemed to have much to do, was in evidence. In 
 Buxton, on the contrary, where practically only sick 
 or crippled men were handled, the camp was heavily 
 policed at all times, and a large number of guards 
 were on duty at night. A high board fence, topped 
 with barbed wire, ran around the whole building, 
 and the sentries prowled around the grounds at 
 night, apparently to get hold of some poor, half- 
 crippled chap who had done his bit, and was now 
 guilty of some slight infraction of discipline. 
 
 Conditions in the building itself were similarly 
 surprising. It was a large, four-story hotel, but 
 inasmuch as the lifts were all closed, and the broad, 
 easy stair running up the centre of the building was 
 reserved for the officers and staff, the men had to 
 climb up a little, narrow set of almost perpendicular 
 emergency stairs, which were hard enough even for a 
 healthy man to ascend. The building looked 
 splendid from the outside, and was surrounded by 
 lovely grounds, but the inside was a most barren 
 spot. There was nothing in it except the beds of 
 the men sleeping in the rooms, and since it was 
 housing about twice the number it should accommo- 
 date, every hall-way, landing, and corridor was 
 crowded at night with sleepers. 
 
 Reveille sounded at six o'clock, and at six-thirty 
 everyone was paraded in front of the barracks- 
 Here the men broke up, to fall in again in front of 
 the kitchen, where some had to stand for over an 
 hour waiting their turn. Breakfast over, they rushed 
 upstairs to scrub up their rooms and make everything 
 ready for inspection. At nine o'clock another parade
 
 248 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 was called, and from then until eleven, often after- 
 ward, no man was allowed in his room, but had to 
 stay outside, rain or shine, until the orderly officer 
 had inspected the quarters. After eleven o'clock 
 we got our knives and forks and fell in for dinner, 
 again having to stand for an hour or more. Another 
 parade — of uncertain duration — followed at two, 
 and after that the mail was called in the yard. 
 Sometimes, if one wanted his mail, he had to stand 
 out there till five o'clock. Then the camp gates 
 were opened, and we were free till nine-thirty. It 
 was parade after parade all day long, and I was 
 often sorry for the weaker men. I was strong and 
 healthy, and by that time was feehng fairly fit, but 
 I found fife in Buxton a hardship, and would cer- 
 tainly much rather have been in France. For the 
 weaker men, who were crippled and ill, it was cer- 
 tainly anything but pleasant. 
 
 There was a recreation room, so-called, where 
 about three hundred of the eighteen hundred men 
 in the camp could find standing room, and where 
 about fifty could sit on the bare pine benches to 
 write at the similarly bare tables. The Y. M. C. A. 
 had a small corner in this recreation room, and here 
 was a chance for the organization to do something 
 worth while for the boys who had done their bit, 
 but as there was, usually, very little money among 
 the men — because their books were being balanced 
 and the men, in consequence, able to draw little or 
 nothing — they could purchase but very little. 
 
 The Commanding Officer was an outspoken, fair- 
 minded, and (I believe) a fearless man, of the type 
 I would have liked to serve under — in France, but 
 not in Buxton. He seemed to forget that he was in 
 command of a Discharge Depot and that his men were 
 unfit for further service.
 
 BLIGHTY AND HOME AGAIN 249 
 
 Of course, as is customary in the British army, 
 there was a chance to make complaints. Every man, 
 before leaving Buxton, was asked to sign a complaint 
 sheet in which he might state any objections he had 
 to the place or to the treatment he had received. As 
 in other cases, this worked out automatically so that 
 the complaints were very few. If any man made a 
 complaint, it meant that he would likely be held for 
 weeks or months while an investigation was made, 
 and then he would not be likely to gain anything 
 material. So, since everyone was most anxious to 
 get home, the complaint sheets were all **0. K." 
 
 However, all these discomforts were soon to be 
 left behind. At last the Great Day arrived, and I 
 was mighty glad to be on board a huge liner. Home- 
 ward Bound. 
 
 The sea was smooth and the trip comfortable: the 
 little spice of adventure which was present in the 
 constant fear of a submarine attack provided against 
 monotony. We were escorted across by a much- 
 camouflaged cruiser, which ran like a machine. 
 Search her as we would, even with glasses, not a sign 
 of life could we see on board. I had begun to think 
 she was a phantom ship, but one night that idea was 
 very quickly dispelled when she dropped a couple of 
 targets and began running around in circles while our 
 old boat was shaken with the concussion of her guns. 
 
 The same night we passed Sable Island, not in- 
 viting in itself, but we knew it was Canada, and so it 
 looked mighty good. Next morning, when I awoke, 
 I felt that the engines were stopped, and heard ex- 
 cited voices on the deck above. Slipping into my 
 clothes, I rushed up on deck, and there, ahead, I be- 
 held the most beautiful sight I could imagine — the 
 Homeland that I had despaired of seeing again. 
 
 We were lying just outside Halifax harbour. The
 
 250 THE KAISER'S GUEST 
 
 sun — rising like a huge, yellow ball — was giving to 
 the sky, and to the banks of clouds around the har- 
 bour, a most gorgeous colouring, while the harbour 
 mouth itself showed up in the centre like a beloved 
 old picture in a beautiful frame. Lying on the rocks 
 at the harbour mouth, shining up white and ghostly 
 through the mist, was the wreck of a big Hospital 
 Ship, a last warning to the war-worn soldiers of the 
 innate ruthlessness of their enemies — and a reminder 
 of the gallant comrades who peacefully sleep in 
 Flanders' fields. 
 And so Good-bye — and *'The best o' luck." 
 
 THE END
 
 THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS 
 GARDEN CITY, N. Y.
 
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 THE LIBRARY 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
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 THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE 
 STAMPED BELOW.
 
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