fore we have
finished. They won't want to murder our brave troops again!"

The words were jerked out with such fearful fury that I refrained from
pursuing the subject. Later I had a chat with one of the oldest priests.
It was only with difficulty we could understand one another, but it was
easy to discover that the charges were absolutely unfounded, and were
merely the imagination of the distorted and savage Prussian mind when
slipped from the leash to loot, assault and kill for the first time in
his life.

A night or two later a few of us were purchasing food at the canteen.
Suddenly four soldiers came tumbling in, dragging with them one of the
most aged of the Fathers. He must have been on the verge of three-score
and ten, and with his long white beard he presented an impressive,
proud, and stately figure. But the inflamed Prussian has no respect for
age. The old man was bludgeoned against the counter and at his abortive
attempts to protect himself the soldiers jeered and laughed
boisterously.

One of the soldiers called for a suit of clothes which was served out to
prisoners, and for which we were supposed to pay six marks--six
shillings. The leader of the party of soldiers grabbed the suit and,
pushing the priest roughly, shouted,

"Here! You can't work in the fields with that garb you are wearing.
You've got to buy these. Six marks! Hurry up! You've got to put them
on!"

The priest, who did not understand a word of German, naturally failed to
grasp the meaning of the command. He promptly received a clout to knock
some sense into him, the soldier meanwhile shaking the prison-like suit
to emphasise what he meant.

In mute protest the priest shook his robes to indicate that he was quite
content with what he was wearing.

"Come on! If you don't change we'll do it for you!"

At this threat there was a wild outburst of demoniacal mirth, in which
the girl behind the counter, a brazen jade, joined uproariously as if in
anticipation of some unusual amusement. She reached over the counter,
craning her neck to secure a better view of an unexpected spectacle.

As the Reverend Father did not respond to the command, the guard
gathered round him. Before we could realise what was happening, his
crucifix and rosary had been roughly torn off, and with his watch and
chain had been thrown upon a table standing alongside. His robe was
roughly whisked away in the twinkling of an eye. But the prisoner did
not move or raise a