ge speech.

It was not until my return home that I was able to appreciate the
reason. But the bitterness with which he delivered his harangue
certainly proved that he believed the stories which had evidently been
sedulously circulated throughout Germany relative to the alleged
mal-treatment and torture of German military prisoners by the British.
Unfortunately, no steps apparently were taken to disprove these
deliberate lying statements for which we had to pay the penalty.

But I was not reassured by the Adjutant's honeyed words concerning the
example which Germany proposed to set to the British. I guessed that
something which would not redound to our welfare and comfort was in the
air. It is the German method to preach one thing and to practise
something diametrically opposite. I had already learned this. Nor was I
destined to be mistaken in my surmise.

A little later there was another parade. The officer roared,

"All those who are engineers step out!"

A number, including myself, although absolutely ignorant of the craft,
stepped out, because here was the opportunity to secure some form of
active employment.

"You are engineers?" he shouted.

We nodded assent.

"Can you build a drain?"

Again we nodded affirmatively.

We were marshalled, and one of us, Mr. C----, who was a civil engineer,
was selected as leader. We were marched off and set to work to dig a
drain for the camp.

We built that drain, but it was necessity's labour lost. We were not
provided with proper drain pipes but made an open conduit. We had to go
to the quarry to get the stone, which we broke into small pieces, and
these were set out in concave form at the bottom of the trench we had
excavated after the manner in which cobble stones are laid. I believe it
was considered to be an excellent piece of work, but unfortunately it
was of little use. The first wind and rain that came along dumped the
sand into it with the result that it became filled up.

A day or two later there was another parade. Once more the officer stood
before us with a long sheet of paper in his hand.

"All those who can do wire-pulling stand out!"

Those who knew about what he was talking advanced to form a little
group.

"All those who are gardeners stand out!"

More men advanced and another group resulted.

The officer went right through his list calling out a long string of
trades and callings. The result was our sub-division into a number of
small units