left the camp I was ushered into the presence of our
arch-fiend, Major Bach. He rose from his desk and with a suavity and
civility which made my blood surge, he remarked:

"Herr Mahoney, good-bye! I trust you will not think our treatment in the
camp has been unduly severe!"

"I shall certainly not speak well of it," I retorted somewhat cynically.
"I shall never forget my experiences and I shall not omit to relate it
to others. But there! I think my looks are sufficient. I must have lost
three stone in weight during the past two months!"

"Well, I trust you will make allowances," he went on unctuously. "You
must remember the times; that we are at war, and that our arrangements
have not been organised for adequate accommodation!"

He extended his hand.

Shaking my head in a manner which he could not misunderstand I refused
to take it.

He shrugged his shoulders and resumed his work. I left his office
without another word.

Two minutes later I was striding rapidly towards the station,
accompanied by another prisoner, a schoolmaster named E----, who had
also been released on a "pass" and whom I have to thank for much
assistance subsequently offered.

At last I was free from the torment and brutality of Sennelager Camp.
But as I watched the incoming train on that morning of September 16th,
1914, I could not refrain from dwelling upon the lot of the many hapless
friends I had left behind, the agonies, miseries, the hopelessness of
their position, and their condemnation to unremitting brutal travail
which would doubtless continue until the clash of arms had died away. As
Sennelager vanished from sight my companion and I gave deep sighs of
relief. We felt that we had left Hell behind.

PRISON THREE--KLINGELPUTZ

CHAPTER XVI

FREE ON "PASS" IN COLOGNE

It was two o'clock in the afternoon when I saw the last of Sennelager
Camp as the train swung round a curve which blotted the Avernus over
which Major Bach reigned supreme from sight if not from memory. The
train in which we were travelling, of course, was wholly occupied by
Germans. I found it impossible to secure a seat owing to the crowded
character of the carriages, and as misfortune would have it I was
compelled to stand until I reached my destination.

Naturally being thrown among so many of the enemy I was regarded with a
strange interest by my fellow-travellers. They could see I was not a
German, and although they did not resort to any provoc