s of a thickly populated
village with just a narrow strip of field between. We could hear
all the early morning bustle of any village, the world over. This was
about three o'clock. An old man followed by a dog made straight for
us. I had just come off the watch, which we took turn about. Simmons
whistled cautiously to me, the very sound a warning to be quiet.

[Illustration: SALIENT DETAILS OF THE THIRD ESCAPE.]

I looked up. The old man wandered along the hedge and stood over him
for several minutes.

It was very trying but he lay motionless, for fear of the dog. A blow
would have sufficed for the old man. The latter remained so for a
couple of minutes, standing over him, busy.

The meals for that day were peas and oats. It was a slow way of making
a meal. We liked the oats the best and pulled some whenever we came to
them, if our pockets were not already full, so that they should always
be so. We ate them as we went, from the cupped hand, spilling some and
spitting out the husks of the others which sometimes stuck in our
throats, making them very raw.

For August twenty-fourth the diary reads: "Very hard night. Crossed
about five kilometres of swamps and numerous canals. Bad accident.
Clothes went to the bottom, but recovered. We are soaked, as usual,
and only made about eleven kilometres. Are outside town of Bremen.
Cover very poor. Meals for the day: Nix. Still confident." The cover
ranked before the food as an item of interest to us. Knowing the
general direction of Bremen from the camp, and that it was much the
largest town in the vicinity, we experienced no difficulty in locating
it by the reflection of its lights against the sky.

"August twenty-fifth: More rain and cold. Hiding on the bank of the
Weser. Better going last night. Going to look for boat to-night. River
two hundred yards broad. Socks played out. Made pair out of a shirt.
Met a cow. Meals for day: turnips, carrots and milk."

"August 26th: More rain. Found boat and crossed river. Hedges grown so
close and so many of them, we have to go around them. Takes a lot of
time. Otherwise going good. Meals for the day: turnip, peas and oats.
Met another cow. Frisked her. Cover none too good. Trying to dry our
clothes in sun. More confident." We always became more confident at
the slightest semblance of warmth.

The socks we made out of a shirt which came from the clothes-line of
some _haus-frau_. We made "dutch" socks in Western fashion by cuttin