prisoners who were in the land of
plenty invariably divided their prizes, so that one and all were reduced
to a common level. In this way considerable misery and discontent were
averted. Of course, when stocks ran out, we had to revert to the
official rations. Here and there would be found a few hard-hearted and
unsympathetic gluttons. They would never share a single thing with a
comrade. A prisoner of this type would sit down to a gorgeous feast upon
dainties sent from home, heedless of the envious and wistful glances of
his colleagues who were sitting around him at the table with nothing
beyond the black bread and the acorn coffee. He would never even proffer
a spoonful of jam which would have enabled the revolting black bread to
be swallowed with greater relish.

There is one prisoner of this type whom I particularly recall. He had
plenty of money in his pockets, and was the lucky recipient of many
bulky hampers at regular intervals. Yet he never shared a crust with a
less fortunate chum. But this individual did not refuse the opportunity
to trade upon the hospitality of a fellow-prisoner when he himself was
in a tight place. He became the most detested man in the camp, and to
this day, with the rest of his selfish ilk, he suffers a rigid boycott,
and at the same time is the target of every practical joke which his
colleagues can devise. To quote the vernacular, we had "_Some_ jokes
with him," and often stung him to fury, when we would laugh mercilessly
at his discomfiture.

At the time I left the camp the outlook had assumed a very black aspect,
and now we hear things have reached a climax. Money is worse than
useless now because it can purchase nothing. The prisoners are reduced
to subsist upon what meagre rations the authorities choose to dole out
to them, and essentially upon what they receive from home. Starvation
confronts our compatriots suffering durance vile in Ruhleben. The dawn
of each succeeding day is coming to be dreaded with a fear which baffles
description because it is unfathomable.

CHAPTER XX

HOW I MADE MONEY IN RUHLEBEN CAMP

The aimless life, such as it was generally pursued in Ruhleben Camp,
became exceedingly distasteful to me. It conduced to brooding and moping
over things at home, to fretting and becoming anxious as to how one's
wife and family were faring? While recreation offered a certain amount
of distraction, it speedily lost its novelty and began to pall. There
were many