Suddenly Fox woke up and saw a woman not fifty yards from them, planting something in the field and gradually moving in [176]our direction as she worked. Waking Blank and seizing all the kit he could find he crawled into the depths of our hiding-place, followed by Blank who had got hold of other portions of our impedimenta. An hour or so later the woman departed and we found that one of my boots had remained in the open all the time. We decided3 that in all probability she had not seen it, and so had no fears of discovery due to her.
The night's march began at 10 p.m., but it proved to be too early an hour for such night-birds as we. Hardly had we moved two hundred yards from our cover, when a youth with a shot-gun, prowling round in search of rabbits, saw us from about sixty-yards away. We legged it and soon left him wondering what three rough-looking men with heavy bags, and of military age, were doing in that part of the country.
Making excellent progress that night, we crossed a wild stretch of heath in the early hours of the morning, and then got back to [177]more of the abominable4 corn-land again. Crossing a railway and passing a cottage by the level-crossing we were greeted with the usual barking of a house-dog.
Thursday, 28th June. It was now high time to think of our hiding-place for the day. Nothing presented itself and we carried on with our rush westwards. Cover after cover we examined without finding what we wanted, and at last, hearing German voices not far off, we were forced to adopt the first thing which presented itself.
This proved to be a wood cut up with broad drives, with hardly any undergrowth in it.
We had to make the best of a bad job, and by making a kind of zareba of dead branches, some sort of cover from view from anyone more than fifty yards away was possible.
The sound of voices on all sides of the wood, which was only about 200-300 yards wide, and the yapping of the ever-present [178]dogs, together with the fact that half-cut hay-fields touched the wood on two sides, made it imperative5 that we should have a sentry6 all the time. After a hot drink and a breakfast of beef and biscuits, which made us feel a little warmer, Fox and I lay down to sleep. Blank, who had asked for the first watch, for the two hours till 7 a.m., because he said he was too cold to sleep, was to undertake the duties of sentry. It is necessary to state here that, now we were so rapidly approaching the Ems river, Blank had begun to have serious misgivings7 about his ability to swim it.
We had fully8 made up our minds that there was to be no looking for boats or building of rafts for that river. The Germans, we knew, were certain to have this obstacle well guarded, and the only chance of success, and that but a slight one, lay in dashing through the watchers and swimming it. Blank had spoken of trying to find a boat in order to tackle the Ems on his own.
[179]Well, Fox and I went to sleep feeling fairly secure with a sentry to warn us in time to get away should we be discovered. After about an hour we both woke up, instinctively9 feeling something was wrong. Blank had disappeared. On looking out of our hiding-place I saw him lying fast asleep in the full sunlight, right in the middle of the drive some fifty yards away.
We woke him up by throwing some pieces of wood until we hit him.
He came back to our hiding-place, and naturally Fox and I felt much annoyed that the trust we had put in his watching should have been betrayed. This incident, combined with Blank's fears for the future, when in all probability he would have to swim the Ems, made it imperative for us to come to some arrangement. It was decided that Blank should go on by himself from this point. We arranged to divide up our supplies and equipment so that he should have a third.
[180]Accordingly, after I had copied the map for him, all was ready by noon for his departure. Taking a third of the food, a water-bottle, compass, and a copy of the map, he left us, determining to push on by day as he was unable to find his way at night by himself. The line he decided to follow involved his following the main-road through ——, a large military centre. However, he hoped to get through this place, trusting to his luck, civilian10 clothes and a fair knowledge of German to assist him.
Leaving us lying in our hiding-place, he was soon out of sight, and we saw or heard nothing more of him.
At about 10 o'clock we, Fox and I, began our march. We struck northwards now in order to get off the line taken by Blank in the morning, in case he had been caught and had thus made the Germans more wide-awake.
Proceeding11 at a decent pace we soon came in sight of some sheds which lay directly [181]on our line of march. Being curious and feeling much more confident, as we were now only two, we decided to go as close to the sheds as we dared in order to get a good look at them.
We were able to see them excellently, although we never got very close to them. What prevented us from approaching any nearer was the sound of a concertina issuing from a hut a hundred yards from us. German voices could also be heard, so we considered that we had done all that could be done and left the place exceedingly rapidly, feeling that we should be safer when we had put a few miles between these sheds and ourselves. A very wooded country now lay before us, and we made good progress by walking along the fire cuts and drives, which conveniently ran east and west. We soon struck a main-road, which we followed for some time. While proceeding along this a cyclist dashed past us making practically no noise, so we had no time in which to [182]take cover. He looked at us when passing, but it was so dark under the trees, that he could not have got any impression of our appearance.
By now both of us were suffering very much from our feet, and on leaving the main-road and taking to rough tracks over wild country we suffered intensely owing to the inequalities of the ground.
Friday, 29th June. At about 4.30 a.m., thoroughly12 tired out, but pleased with the distance travelled that night, we found a place in which to hide.
A rest till noon, and then feeling that we had barely sufficient food for the distance still to be covered, we decided to try and push forward a mile or so during the afternoon in the rough country of that distance. Leaving our hiding-place at about 3 p.m. we cautiously crossed a road and continued slowly working forward till about 6 o'clock. Here, finding excellent cover in a very thick fir plantation13, we halted until dark.
[183]We were well north now of our original route, and we must have been more than twelve miles away from the east and west line Blank had taken.
At first we had been worried over the idea of his probable capture affecting us also. But remembering that the Germans did not know that the parties had amalgamated14, and were looking for one single man and two in a separate party, for the original report from the camp must have started the existence of two separate escapes, we felt much reassured15. If they caught Blank they would naturally conclude that they had re-captured me, and that the original party of two might be anywhere, and nowhere in particular.
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1
counteracted
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| 对抗，抵消( counteract的过去式 ) | |
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2
kit
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| n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物 | |
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3
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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4
abominable
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| adj.可厌的，令人憎恶的 | |
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5
imperative
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| n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的 | |
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6
sentry
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| n.哨兵，警卫 | |
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7
misgivings
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| n.疑虑，担忧，害怕；疑虑，担心，恐惧( misgiving的名词复数 )；疑惧 | |
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8
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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9
instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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10
civilian
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| adj.平民的，民用的，民众的 | |
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11
proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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12
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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13
plantation
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| n.种植园，大农场 | |
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14
amalgamated
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| v.（使）（金属）汞齐化( amalgamate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）合并；联合；结合 | |
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15
reassured
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| adj.使消除疑虑的；使放心的v.再保证，恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词) | |
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