d walked away. We rose, still dazed with sleep, and found
that we were quite close to a farmhouse which owing to the mist we had
failed to observe before, and from which our visitor had evidently
observed the result of our building operations. "She saw us," I said,
and we regretted not having seized her. She appeared to be signalling.

A good-sized wood lay well up ahead. "Come on," I said. "Let's beat
it. We can handle a few of 'em better than the whole mob." We could
see the farm labourers gathering in a knot. The rain came on just then
and perhaps assisted in dampening their ardour. At any rate they did
not follow us into the wood. We spent rather an uneasy time though,
when, late that day, some men approached our hiding place in a clump
of bushes and for half an hour shot their fowling pieces off all
around where we lay.

They did not seem to be after us; more likely they were hunters. The
same thing had happened in a lesser degree several times before. None
the less it was very uncomfortable to have the buckshot rattling all
around us in the bushes where we lay and we felt much better when they
had gone.

As for the wooden needle: That was of course the result of our
necessity. It was a long thorn--first, a punch in the cloth and like
as not a stab in the finger in the bargain, then a withdrawal of the
crude needle and a careful threading of the hole with our coarse
string, after the fashion of a clumsy shoemaker. Some sewing! Some
needlewoman!

The green apples and the berries which we got here proved a most
welcome change in our diet.

"August thirty-first: Not much rain but very cold. Too dark to travel
last night. No stars out to go by. Crossed the river this morning, at
last. Good cover in bushes. Feet are badly peeled. Hope for better
luck to-night. Meals: apples and turnips. Cold and rain are putting us
in bad state. But still confident." We were daily growing weaker and
prayed only that our strength would last to put us over the border.

"September first: No rain and a little sun. Feeling much better. Going
last night much the best we have had. Good cover in a thicket. Will
soon be going over the same country we did last time we escaped.
Meals: peas and beans. Still in good health."

"September second: No rain, but cold out of the sun. Pretty fair going
last night. Feet still sore. Cover on straw stack in middle of field.
Warmer than the woods. Zeppelin just passed overhead going north.
Meals: turn