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[Page 56]
pounds, and I began to think that I would soon be as well as ever again. We were eating, and doing nothing but resting, and although we gained in weight yet it was only temporary, when we went out and did some sight-seeing, we got back tour usual figures.
Our first duty we considered to be our own folk. So we sat down and wrote to them. Then to all the addresses I had brought away with me of the boys who were still left behind in prison. Many of these addresses I visited personally on my arrival in "Blighty" and explained to them, as well as I could the conditions of life and work of their boys and husbands in "Hun-land."
The only depressing element to us in our veritable paradise was the constant reports which would come in of some poor unfortunate having been shot in seeking to cross the Frontier. As near as I can recollect only two deaths in this manner were British, there were several French, but more were Russians, because of the enormous number of them there, and trying to escape. When one recalls that these unfortunates may perhaps have travelled hundreds of miles and endured untold hardships to reach the Frontier to be killed, just in the moment of success was a cruel fate indeed. It makes one who has escaped consider him-self one of the most favored men on God's earth.
Christmas was drawing near, and our quarantine was due to expire on 24th December, so we were hoping to spend a very pleasant 25th, but to our disappointment , our clothing, that was to have come from the British Consul, did not put in an appearance until after that date, and as we were not presentable to the general public as we were, we had to spend the time of waiting in quarantine, with two other Britishers, - a Canadian and a Tommy- captured at Mons. These had made three unsuccessful efforts to reach this land of "Milk and Honey" but were re-captured on each occasion. This time the Canadian collapsed as soon as he met the Dutch Sentry, from sheer exhaustion. He was one of six who had started out, facing a walk of 150 miles. On reaching the big barrier, the Rhine, they walked along its banks for hours, until they came across a small boat, anchored about twenty yards out [indecipherable] , swam out, hauled up the anchor, and towed it into shallow water, where his mates waded in, and got into the boat. Their only means of propelling it across, was a piece of board, which they had found and carried with them. With such feeble means, they drifted down the stream considerably, and only reached the opposite shore just as day was breaking. When the party was within half a mile of the Frontier, four of his mates had to fall out and give themselves up, being absolutely unable to go any further. Her and a Frenchman stuck to it, and got across on his fourth attempt.
In the Hospital was an Italian captured early in the war by Austrians who had escaped from Austria by train travelling four days as a passenger amongst Germans. He had, previous to the war, travelled very extensively in Northern France, and Germany, so that he not only spoke the language, but also knew all about the train service. On leaving