pale, blood-covered faces of our murdered comrades of the regiment,
the cries of the patient Russians behind the trees, and our own slow
and deadly starvation and planned mistreatment. All these, and God
only knows what else, should be ours again if we should be recaptured.

We were near to Holland. In fancy and by contrast we saw the fair
English fields and the rolling beauty that is Ontario's; we heard the
good English tongue and beheld the dear faces of our own folk. We bore
that farmer no ill will. And his dog was to the last a very faithful
animal, as our clothes and limbs bore true witness. We had no ropes.
And we were two very desperate men, badly put upon.

We dropped his gun in the bushes, together with the body of his dog;
and passed on. It had not been fired and we had no desire to have the
charge of carrying firearms added to the others against us if, in
spite of all, we should be so unfortunate as to be recaptured.

CHAPTER XVIII

THE LAST LAP

Crossing the River--The Terrible Swamp--Valuable Apples--Safe
Across the Border--Real Walking at Last--Barbarous Barbering.

"September fifth: Stopped raining and a little warmer. Got our clothes
dry once more. Cover in a wood outside a small town. Going last night
good, after we had crossed another peat bog. Meals: milk, baked
potatoes and apples. Hope to reach the river to-night. Bad feet. Best
of health otherwise."

"September sixth: No rain and warmer. Heavy dew. Fairly good going.
Best of cover. Had a fire. Pretty comfortable. Milk, potatoes,
apples."

"September seventh: Still fine weather. Very poor cover in a hedge.
Good road to go on. Made pretty good time last night. Feet feeling
better. Running out of tobacco. Otherwise in the best and still hope
the same. Meals: potatoes and beets."

We spent a great deal of time discussing ways and means of adding to
our stock of tobacco. Any smoker knows what it is to want the weed.
Consider then our half famished, wet and utterly weary condition. It
was a real necessity to us. We discussed waiting at the roadside until
a man with a pipe appeared; when we should rob him. We dismissed that
as too hazardous. It would be necessary to kill him and that seemed a
bit thick for a pipe of tobacco. So we did the only thing that was
left to do--cut down our already scanty rations of tobacco and took
scrupulous care to smoke to a clean ash every vestige of each heel of
old pipe, but in spite of that our su