hey would be afraid to employ such desperate characters. One
of them had "et an ear off'n" the last man he worked for. Another one
never took orders from any one--"the last man that tried it, woke
up in the middle of a long fit of sickness!--and had since died."
Another one admitted he had a terrible temper, but he had had it
"from a child and couldn't help it--he turned blind when he was mad,
and never knew where he was hittin'!"

This all worked well for them, but when Ted and I wanted to get out,
we were refused. "Englaenders" were not wanted!

The first working party that was made up to go out and work with a
guard did not give either Ted or me a chance, although we wanted to
go, but four other Englishmen volunteered. They were not anxious to
have us go with them, for they knew we were thinking of escaping,
and when there is an escape, those who were present at the time have
embarrassing questions asked them and various privileges are likely
to be curtailed afterwards.

On Saturday morning, at roll-call, a working party was asked for, and
Ted and I volunteered, and with a Welshman and some Frenchmen, we
walked out to a small village called Seedorf, about four miles away,
where we were turned loose in a field of turnips from which the weeds
had not been taken out since the turnips were planted. There were
about a dozen of us, and we were taken into the house at noon to be
fed. The farmhouse was one of the best I had seen in this section of
the country, for the pig-pen, chickens, and cow-stable were in a
separate building.

The two daughters of the house were true daughters of Germany and did
not eat the bread of idleness; the biggest one, bare-legged and with
sleeves rolled up, was attending to the stock, without pausing for
anything. She looked as strong as a man, and was absorbed in her
work--not even stopping a second to look at us. The other one worked
in the house at meal-times, but no doubt joined her sister
afterwards.

The dinner consisted of soup, potatoes, bread, and coffee, and the
soup was a real treat, entirely different from the kind we were
used to. After dinner we went back to the field and put in a fine
afternoon's work. We were anxious to establish a good record before
we left there.

We had saved up a lot of things from our parcels, thinking that our
manner of escape might be such that we could take them with us.
A working party such as we were on made it impossible to carry
anything, for