pt track of the number of potatoes we ate that morning. It was
twenty-five! What we couldn't eat we put in our pockets, and held in
our hands--for the warmth. That day, September 3d, was the brightest
and warmest day we had.

Toward evening we crept out to the edge of the wood to see what sort
of country we were in--and found there was a village quite near
us. But as we had heard not a sound all day, and as there was not
a flutter around it now,--not a soul stirring or a cow-bell
tinkling,--we thought it must be a deserted hamlet. The old and now
almost indistinct paths through the wood where we sat seemed to tell
of a departed people.

We sat in one of these old paths, watching the shafts of sunlight
which filtered through the woods as we waited for the dark. Then Ted
began to fix the strips of cloth around his feet, and I lay down upon
my back, across the path, looking up at the sky, which was shot over
with mackerel-back clouds, giving promise of settled weather.

Suddenly, around a bend in the path, came a man and a dog. The man
carried a gun across his shoulder, and evidently had been shooting
birds. I swung myself off the path and motioned to him to go by--for
he had stopped in surprise. Ted did the same. Our gestures were
polite--but I think had something suggestive in them too--almost
commanding.

He passed by, merely bidding us "good-evening," and remarking in
German that Ted's feet were sore!

He walked on, as a peaceable old fellow who had no desire to get into
trouble, and although he must have seen the yellow stripe down the
seams of our trousers, and the prison numbers on our tunics, he kept
on going.

We watched him through the trees, as far as we could see him, but
only once did he turn and look back--and then only for a minute. He
was not going toward the village, but we decided to keep away from
it, anyway, and at nightfall we made a wide detour to avoid it. The
night clouded up, too, and we pushed along with thankful hearts that
the old man with the dog knew when to keep quiet.

A rare piece of good luck came to us that night. We came to a
settlement, evidently a new one, for the houses were of modern
design, and the farm-buildings, too, were fresh and newly built.
There was evidently a creamery somewhere near, and beside the road we
found a can full of milk set out, to be gathered up in the morning.
The cream had risen to the top of it, and with our toffee tin we
helped ourselves. Later on,