the night intensified these thoughts. The rain did not
matter. In fact it helped; for we were covered with the worse than
water of the morass.

We looked at one another. We dared not speak. Anyhow, to do so was not
our custom at such times as these. But each knew. A dull anger took
possession of us at the thought of so inglorious an end after all that
we had suffered to attain our freedom. With a prayer in our hearts we
cast ourselves forward and somehow, sometime, found at last that we
were safe and so flung ourselves down in our stinking clothes to lie
like dogs in a drunken stupour that recked not of time or of our
enemies.

We discovered an apple orchard here, in which the fruit was ripe. All
the apples we had had up to date had been of the small and green
variety. And even they, with the occasional milk, represented our all
of luxury, so that these seemed indeed the food of the gods. We
proceeded to fill up and after eating all that we thought we could,
filled our pockets until they bulged, and started off, each carrying
an armful of the fruit. At every step we dropped some. We stopped
again and ate our surplus to make room. We refused to lose any of
them. We came to a river, stripped, tied our clothes up in a bundle
and proceeded to swim across, shoving the clothes ahead. I lost
control of mine and they sank. I dived repeatedly in the darkness
before I found them. The cargo of apples in the pockets made a bad
matter worse. I should rather have drowned than have lost my apples.
The possible loss of the clothes worried us very little. We had
already decided in that event to waylay some German Michel rather
than to go naked into Holland. However, by alternately dragging the
bundle behind and swimming on our backs with it held high on the chest
with one hand, we made the crossing, apples and all.

We were sitting in the shadow preparing to dress and wondering whether
we were really over the border and if we could safely walk abroad,
when we heard men walking toward us. We knew them to be Germans by the
clank of the hobnailed boots which all our guards had worn. We had not
a stitch on and our hearts were in our mouths. The patrol of six men
stopped within five yards of us and then passed on within five feet
and did not see us. We dressed quickly and went on, only to find a
canal, for which we had to strip again.

Arriving at the other side; we dressed in the shadow of the bank,
crawled to the top and plunged throu