Hundreds gave it up and
lay by the road, or formed little gypsy camps under the trees. At night
these were lighted by fires, overshadowed by the greater fire from the
distant burning city, and beside them stretched dumb-looking souls,
watching vaguely those who still had strength to move.

Watching these wretches got so on my nerves that I had to get out
and do something. With a British intelligence officer, formerly of Sir
John French's staff, I wandered down to the southern quarter of the
city known as Berchem. As usual, the guns at the outer forts had
been booming throughout the evening. From the city's ramparts you
could not only feel the shudder of the earth, but you could see
occasional splashes of flame from the Belgian batteries, answered, in
the dim distance to the south, by smaller, less vivid splashes issuing
from the mouths of the German instruments of "Culture" which
throughout the night pounded ruthlessly on the unprotected houses
without the city limits.

On the way home we stopped in at the British field hospital to see a
wounded British friend.

Chapter VI

The Surrender Of Antwerp

As we left the British field hospital, on the Rue de Leopold, a shrieking
skyrocket whizzed by above us and buried its hissing head in the
river to the north. One or two more fell at a distance of several
hundred yards, and in the southern part of the city flames from
several houses shot up into the quiet, windless night.

The bombardment was on--the time was 12.07 Wednesday
midnight.

For a moment I did not realize that this was the beginning of the end
of Antwerp. I had heard so much gun-fire and seen so many bombs
dropping from aeroplanes that I did not fully appreciate the
significance of these shells. I scribbled a few notes in my diary,
unstrapped my money belt, and then picked out an empty bed at the
Queen's Hotel and tumbled in. I must have slept for six or seven
hours.

When I arose everything was quiet. The hotel was apparently
deserted. I remember being particularly irritated because there was
no one in the kitchen who would give me breakfast, so I made myself
some tea and then strolled into the street. It so happened that the
Germans had been pumping lead steadily into the city for six hours
and that this was the morning lull. The Germans are methodical in
everything. When they bombard a city they stop for breakfast.

As I walked down the Avenue de Keyser I thought at first it