Meanwhile tongues had not been idle, and eager, curious faces began to
peep at the "stray dog" through the half-open door. Just as I was
about to turn in, curiosity could be restrained no longer; the room
filled with noisy young fellows, who took up a position round my bed
and proceeded to bombard me with questions. It was all so well meant
that I endeavoured to give them a brief outline of my doings, in
German. The idea of an Englishman speaking German was evidently quite
beyond their comprehension, for, judging by many doubtful looks of
astonishment, it seemed that the general impression was that I was a
camouflaged Hun. As they all persisted in talking at once, I put an
end to the argument by disappearing under the bedclothes. About ten
o'clock the next morning I awoke, feeling stiffer than ever before,
the slightest contraction of a muscle resembling the jerking of a
rusty wire. However, when a soldier, seeing that I was awake, brought
my breakfast, I sat up with remarkable agility and devoured every
crumb. Never have I enjoyed a meal more. Every additional mouthful of
the deliciously fresh Dutch cheese and new bread seemed to receive a
still more exquisite taste when I thought of the Irish stew I had
missed when standing behind my imitation wall at Stroehen. It was not
until after a thoroughly good scrub and a cold bath that I could screw
up enough courage to look at myself in a mirror, and, prepared as I
was, the sudden reflection of the wild-eyed, bearded tramp
considerably surprised me. A little before lunch, having obtained some
dry underclothing, I was sitting on my bed, extracting a selection of
barbed wire and splinters from my hands with a large needle, when a
Dutch officer walked in to see the curiosity. He greeted me cordially
in very good English, introducing himself as Lieutenant Hoffman, in
charge of the local detachment of the Frontier Guard, and asked me to
lunch with him at his hotel.

On the way thither I could not help being very impressed by the design
and beauty of the village. The houses were mostly large, with
spacious, well-kept gardens, the streets clean and the general
atmosphere of the place spoke of great prosperity. Hoffman took me to
a barber, who performed for a long time, but in the end turned out a
comparatively respectable human being. At lunch I met another Dutch
officer, also an English scholar, who, after hearing the latter part
of my experience, told me that I must have actual