nds all around and one or two of us exchanged
messages to be taken back in case there was any trouble--that is to
say, in case, as seemed likely at the time, some of us should get out
alive and some should not. Hunt gave me a letter to his family, and
later, with watch in hand, started to walk around the burning city to
calculate the number of falling shells per minute! I slung Hare's kodak
over my shoulder and we started back, taking separate streets. It was
a dash of three quarters of a mile and nothing fell particularly close to
us, although the buildings on all sides were in flames. Near a pile of
discarded uniforms of the garde civique, I saw what was left of the
figure of a man with his insides oozing out, his eyes still open, staring
vacantly upwards, and all around him the horrible odor of decaying
horses. By this time I was calm and was getting quite accustomed to
the bursting of shells. I suppose I had been through my "baptism of
fire."

About half an hour later, when we were sitting in the Queen's,
Thompson, pale as a sheet, staggered into the deserted lobby closely
followed by Weigel and Hunt and the Dutch Vice-Consul, the latter
somewhat out of his head. Just after I left 74 Rue de Peage, a 32 cm.
shell burst on the roof, tearing off the two top floors of the house,
throwing Thompson's bed into the street, and setting the place on fire.
At sundown the house was in ashes. Somehow or other the men all
got out, rescuing a portion of their paraphernalia.

All Thursday afternoon the German Taubes circled above the city--
mostly along the waterfront. Below them puffed little clouds of smoke
where shells from the Belgian anti-aircraft guns were exploding. I
fancy the airmen were locating the pontoon bridge and signaling to
the Prussian battery commanders six miles away; but during
Wednesday and Thursday, when the crowds of refugees were
assembled on the waterfront, not a single bomb dropped among
them. A few shells, well placed, would have slaughtered them like
sheep. Before and during the bombardment I am quite certain that
the Germans intended to frighten, rather than injure, non-combatants.
Report to the contrary notwithstanding, it is equally true that, so far as
possible, the invaders kept to their promise to spare such buildings as
the Cathedral, the Palais de Justice, the Hotel de Ville, the Castle
Steen, and other historic landmarks.

The bombardment lasted forty hours. That night,--Thursday