le they maintained an ever-watchful, although
unostentatious vigilance, over them while suffering the penalty.

By the introduction of this fiendish punishment Major Bach completely
subdued the camp into a colony of crushed men. We all went in dire dread
of him, the fear of being the victim of such brutality cowing us far
more effectively than any other punishment we had encountered. Those
who had undergone the torture recited such harrowing stories of their
sufferings that we were extremely anxious not to incur the wrath of the
devilish Commandant in any way whatever.

One day three of us experienced a narrow escape, which serves to
illustrate how keen were our captors to submit us to this crucial test.
We three had been ordered to the field. We packed our few belongings,
including our tin pails and other indispensable utensils upon our backs.
We were marching abreast and a few paces behind a young German officer,
chatting merrily among ourselves, when we met a French soldier
approaching. He was unusually gay and as he passed he yelled out the
popular enquiry which he had evidently acquired while fraternising with
our Tommies in the camp.

"Air ve do'n harted?" he hailed, and he laughed gaily at the loads with
which we were struggling. To this we returned an emphatic negative to
which one of the party, S----, a schoolmaster who was fluent in French
and German, added a joke. Evidently the Frenchman saw the point of the
jest because he burst out in a fit of unrestrained merriment which was
so infectious as to compel us to participate.

The officer who was ahead of us, whipped round and vehemently declared
that we were laughing at him. S---- protested and explained that such
would be the very last thing we should ever think of doing. The officer
went on ahead quite unconvinced and in high dudgeon. That we should
select one of the myrmidons of the All-Highest as a target for our
banter was the offence of offences in his estimable conceit. When we
reached the entrance to the field we had to pass a small office in which
we were registered and we discovered the immature upstart loudly and
excitedly dwelling upon the enormous indignity to which he had been
submitted by us.

The officer in charge stopped us and repeated the accusation which had
been made. S---- gave a full explanation of the whole incident, but the
upstart who considered that his pride had been vilely outraged would
not listen to it. Then and there he orde