matedly. But none of the guards appeared to have the
slightest inkling of its projected application. However, this was
immaterial to us. A loud cheer of triumph went up when we had hung the
gates, which we had also fashioned at great effort, and the duty was
completed. We were beside ourselves with self-satisfaction and delight
because we had shown the implacable Major Bach what we Britishers could
do when we made up our minds to tackle anything. I very much doubt
whether even an equal number of skilled workmen would have completed the
fence within the stipulated time, and we for the most part were quite
foreign to the trades involved.

When we first entered the camp we were provided with a tolerably
satisfactory area of adjacent space in which to exercise ourselves. But
as additional prisoners came in this limb-stretching promenade became
gradually reduced until at last it was no more than a suburban chicken
run in area, being just as long as our barrack by one-half the space
between the two rows of buildings. These cramped quarters rather
exasperated us because we were denied the pleasure of a little stroll.
The exercise yard was also invariably obstructed by clothes hanging on
the lines to dry or to air, the result being that within a very short
time the British section of Sennelager Camp became vividly reminiscent
of a slum in the densely populated districts off the Mile End Road.

The speedy completion of the "big fence" unfortunately set a bad
precedent. Major Bach, flushed with the success of his first speeding-up
tactics, grew more and more inexorable in this connection. For every job
a rigid time-limit was now set, and he did not hesitate to reduce the
period to an almost impossible point. The cause was perfectly obvious.
He concluded that by setting us an absolutely impossible, though
apparently reasonable, enterprise, he would secure the opportunity for
which he was so sedulously waiting--to mete us out some new punishment.
But somehow or other we always contrived to cheat him in his nefarious
designs.

During this period our guard was changed frequently. Men would be
withdrawn to make up the losses incurred upon the battlefield. Thus we
were brought into contact with the various types of Germans which
constitute the Teutonic Empire. Some were certainly not ill-disposed
towards us. They mounted guard over us according to their own
interpretation of this essential duty. But others slavishly followed the
rig