, even to the slightest degree,
and even if they were in the possession of the wherewithal, by the
purchase of food at stations at which the train had happened to stop.
What with the fatigue of battle and this prolonged enforced abstinence
from the bare necessaries of life, it is not surprising that they
reached Sennelager in a precarious and pitiful condition.

Among our heroes were five commissioned officers, including a major.
These were accommodated at Sennelager for about a fortnight but then
they were sent away, whither we never knew beyond the fact that they had
been condemned to safer imprisonment in a fortress. Among the prisoners
were also about 200 men belonging to the R.A.M.C., taken in direct
contravention of the generally accepted rules of war. They were treated
in precisely the same manner as the captured fighting men. There were
also a few non-commissioned officers who were permitted to retain their
authority within certain limits.

One of the prisoners gave me a voluminous diary which he had kept, and
in which were chronicled the whole of his movements and impressions from
the moment he landed in France until his capture, including the Battle
of Mons. It was a remarkable human document, and I placed it in safe
keeping, intending to get it out of the camp and to send it to my friend
at home upon the first opportunity. But ill-luck dogged this enterprise.
The existence of the diary got to the ears of our wardens and I was
compelled to surrender it.

The next morning the wounded received attention. The medical attendant
attached to the camp for the civilian prisoners, Dr. Ascher, was not
placed in command of this duty, although he extended assistance. A
German military surgeon was given the responsibility. The medical
arrangements provided by this official, who became unduly inflated with
the eminence of his position, were of the most arbitrary character. He
attended the camp at certain hours and he adhered to his time-table in
the most rigorous manner. If you were not there to time, no matter the
nature of your injury, you received no attention. Similarly, if the
number of patients lined up outside the diminutive hospital were in
excess of those to whom he could give attention during the hours he had
set forth, he would turn the surplus away with the intimation that they
could present themselves the next day at the same hour when perhaps he
would be able to see to them. It did not matter to him how seri