WHEN we came out of the little taverne at Beaumont, to start—as we fondly supposed—for Brussels, it was pitch dark in the square of the forlorn little town. With us the polite and pleasant fiction that we were guests of the German authorities had already worn seedy, not to say threadbare, but Lieutenant2 Mittendorfer persisted in keeping the little romance alive. For, as you remember, we had been requested—requested, mind you, and not ordered—to march to the station with the armed escort that would be in charge of the prisoners of war, and it had been impressed upon us that we were to assist in guarding the convoy3, although no one of us had any more deadly weapon in his possession than a fountain pen; and finally, according to our instructions, if any prisoner attempted to escape in the dark we were to lay detaining hands upon him and hold him fast.
[Pg 141]
This was all very flattering and very indicative of the esteem4 in which the military authorities of Beaumont seemed to hold us. But we were not puffed5 up with a sense of our new responsibilities. Also we were as a unit in agreeing that under no provocation6 would we yield to temptations to embark7 on any side-excursions upon the way to the railroad. Personally I know that I was particularly firm upon this point. I would defy that column to move so fast that I could not keep up with it.
In the black gloom we could make out a longish clump8 of men who stood four abreast9, scuffling their feet upon the miry wet stones of the square. These were the prisoners—one hundred and fifty Frenchmen and Turcos, eighty Englishmen and eight Belgians. From them, as we drew near, an odor of wet, unwashed animals arose. It was as rank and raw as fumes10 from crude ammonia. Then, in the town house of the Prince de Caraman-Chimay just alongside, the double doors opened, and the light streaming out fell upon the naked bayonets over the shoulders of the sentries11 and made them look like slanting12 lines of rain.
There were eight of us by now in the party of guests, our original group of five having been swollen13 by the addition of three others—the Frenchman Gerbeaux, the American artist Stevens and the Belgian court-photographer Hennebert, who had been under arrest for[Pg 142] five days. We eight, obeying instructions—no, requests—found places for ourselves in the double files of guards, four going one side of the column and four the other. I slipped into a gap on the left flank, alongside four of the English soldiers. The guard immediately behind me was a man I knew. He had been on duty the afternoon previous in the place where we were being kept, and he had been obliging enough to let me exercise my few words of German upon him. He grinned now in recognition and humorously patted the stock of his rifle—this last, I take it, being his effort to convey to my understanding that he was under orders to shoot me in the event of my seeking to play truant15 during the next hour or so. He didn't know me—wild horses could not have dragged us apart.
A considerable wait ensued. Officers, coming back from the day's battle lines in automobiles17, jumped out of their cars and pressed up, bedraggled and wet through from the rain which had been falling, to have a look at the prisoners. Common soldiers appeared also. Of these latter many, I judged, had newly arrived at the front and had never seen any captured enemies before. They were particularly interested in the Englishmen, who as nearly as I could tell endured the scrutinising pretty well, whereas the Frenchmen grew uneasy and self-conscious under it. We who were in civilian18 dress—and pretty shabby[Pg 143] civilian dress at that—came in for our share of examination too. The sentries were kept busy explaining to newcomers that we were not spies going north for trial. There was little or no jeering19 at the prisoners.
Lieutenant Mittendorfer appeared to feel the burden of his authority mightily20. His importance expressed itself in many bellowing21 commands to his men. As he passed the door of headquarters, booming like a Prussian night-bittern, one of the officers there checked him with a gesture.
"Why all the noise, Herr Lieutenant?" he said pleasantly in German. "Cannot this thing be done more quietly?"
The young man took the hint, and when he climbed upon a bench outside the wine-shop door his voice was much milder as he admonished22 the prisoners that they would be treated with due honors of war if they obeyed their warders promptly23 during the coming journey, but that the least sign of rebellion among them would mean but one thing—immediate death. Since he spoke24 in German, a young French lieutenant translated the warning for the benefit of the Frenchmen and the Belgians, and a British noncom. did the same for his fellow countrymen, speaking with a strong Scottish burr. He wound up with an improvisation25 of his own, which I thought was typically British. "Now, then, boys," he sang out, "buck26 up, all of you! It might be[Pg 144] worse, you know, and some of these German chaps don't seem a bad lot at all."
So, with that, Lieutenant Mittendorfer blew out his big chest and barked an order into the night, and away we all swung off at a double quick, with our feet slipping and sliding upon the travel-worn granite27 boulders28 underfoot. In addition to being rounded and unevenly29 laid, the stones were now coated with a layer of slimy mud. It was a hard job to stay upright on them.
I don't think I shall ever forget that march. I know I shall never forget that smell, or the sound of all our feet clumping30 over those slick cobbles. Nor shall I forget, either, the appealing calls of Gerbeaux' black chauffeur31, who was being left behind in the now empty guardhouse, and who, to judge from his tones, did not expect ever to see any of us again. As a matter of fact, I ran across him two weeks later in Liège. He had just been released and was trying to make his way back to Brussels.
The way ahead of us was inky black. The outlines of the tall Belgian houses on either side of the narrow street were barely visible, for there were no lights in the windows at all and only dim candles or oil lamps in the lower floors. No natives showed themselves. I do not recollect32 that in all that mile-long tramp I saw a single Belgian civilian—only soldiers, shoving forward curiously33 as we passed and pressing the files closer in together.
[Pg 145]
Through one street we went and into another which if anything was even narrower and blacker than the first, and presently we could tell by the feel of things under our feet that we had quit the paved road and were traversing soft earth. We entered railway sidings, stumbling over the tracks, and at the far end of the yard emerged into a sudden glare of brightness and drew up alongside a string of cars.
After the darkness the flaring34 brilliancy made us blink and then it made us wonder there should be any lights at all, seeing that the French troops, in retiring from Beaumont four days before, had done their hurried best to cripple the transportation facilities and had certainly put the local gas plant out of commission. Yet here was illumination in plenty and to spare. At once the phenomenon stood explained. Two days after securing this end of the line the German engineers had repaired the torn-up right-of-way and installed a complete acetylene outfit35, and already they were dispatching trains of troops and munitions37 clear across southeastern Belgium to and from the German frontier. When we heard this we quit marveling. We had by now ceased to wonder at the lightning rapidity and unhuman efficiency of the German military system in the field.
Under the sizzling acetylene torches we had our first good look at these prospective38 fellow-travelers of ours who were avowedly39 prisoners.[Pg 146] Considered in the aggregate40 they were not an inspiring spectacle. A soldier, stripped of his arms and held by his foes41, becomes of a sudden a pitiable, almost a contemptible42 object. You think instinctively43 of an adder44 that has lost its fangs45, or of a wild cat that, being shorn of teeth to bite with and claws to tear with, is now a more helpless, more impotent thing than if it had been created without teeth and claws in the first place. These similes46 are poor ones, I'm afraid, but I find it difficult to put my thoughts exactly into words.
These particular soldiers were most unhappy looking, all except the half dozen Turcos among the Frenchmen. They spraddled their baggy47 white legs and grinned comfortably, baring fine double rows of ivory in their brown faces. The others mainly were droopy figures of misery48 and shame. By reason of their hair, which they wore long and which now hung down in their eyes, and by reason also of their ridiculous loose red trousers and their long-tailed awkward blue coats, the Frenchmen showed themselves especially unkempt and frowzy-looking. Almost to a man they were dark, lean, slouchy fellows; they were from the south of France, we judged. Certainly with a week's growth of black whiskers upon their jaws49 they were fit now to play stage brigands51 without further make-up.
"Wot a bloomin', stinkin', rotten country!" came, two rows back from where I stood, a[Pg 147] Cockney voice uplifted to the leaky skies. "There ain't nothin' to eat in it, and there ain't nothin' to drink in it, too."
A little whiny52 man alongside of me, whose chin was on his breast bone, spake downward along his gray flannel53 shirt bosom54:
"Just wyte," he said; "just wyte till England 'ears wot they done to us, 'erdin' us about like cattle. Blighters!" He spat36 his disgust upon the ground.
We spoke to none of them directly, nor they to us—that also being a condition imposed by Mittendorfer.
The train was composed of several small box cars and one second-class passenger coach of German manufacture with a dumpy little locomotive at either end, one to pull and one to push. In profile it would have reminded you somewhat of the wrecking trains that go to disasters in America. The prisoners were loaded aboard the box cars like so many sheep, with alert gray shepherds behind them, carrying guns in lieu of crooks56; and, being entrained, they were bedded down for the night upon straw.
The civilians57 composing our party were bidden to climb aboard the passenger coach, where the eight of us, two of the number being of augmented58 superadult size, took possession of a compartment59 meant to hold six. The other compartments60 were occupied by wounded Germans, except one compartment,[Pg 148] which was set aside for the captive French lieutenant and two British subalterns. Top-Sergeant61 Rosenthal was in charge of the train with headquarters aboard our coach. With him, as aides, he had three Red Cross men.
The lighting62 apparatus63 of the car did not operate. On the ledge64 of our window sat a small oil lamp, sending out a rich smell and a pale, puny65 illumination. Just before we pulled out Rosenthal came and blew out the lamp, leaving the wick to smoke abominably66. He explained that he did this for our own well-being67. Belgian snipers just outside the town had been firing into the passing trains, he said, and a light in a car window was but an added temptation. He advised us that if shooting started we should drop upon the floor. We assured him in chorus that we would, and then after adding that we must not be surprised if the Belgians derailed the train during the night he went away, leaving us packed snugly68 in together in the dark. This incident had a tendency to discourage light conversation among us for some minutes.
Possibly it was because daylight travel would be safer travel, or it may have been for some other good and sufficient reason, that after traveling some six or eight miles joltingly we stopped in the edge of a small village and stayed there until after sunup. That was a hard night for sleeping purposes. One of our party, who was a small man, climbed up into the[Pg 149] baggage net above one row of seats and stretched himself stiffly in the narrow hammocklike arrangement, fearing to move lest he tumble down on the heads of his fellow-sufferers. Another laid him down in the little aisle69 flanking the compartment, where at least he might spraddle his limbs and where also, persons passing the length of the car stepped upon his face and figure from time to time. This interfered70 with his rest. The remaining six of us mortised ourselves into the seats in neck-cricking attitudes, with our legs so intertwined and mingled71 that when one man got up to stretch himself he had to use great care in picking out his own legs. Sometimes he could only tell that it was his leg by pinching it. This was especially so after inaction had put his extremities72 to sleep while the rest of him remained wide awake.
After dawn we ran slowly to Charleroi, the center of the Belgian iron industry, in a sterile73 land of mines and smelters and slag-heaps, and bleak74, bare, ore-stained hillsides. The Germans had fought here, first with organized troops of the Allies, and later, by their own telling, with bushwhacking civilians. Whole rows of houses upon either side of the track had been ventilated by shells or burned out with fire, and their gable ends, lacking roofs, now stood up nakedly, fretting75 the skyline like gigantic saw teeth. As we were drawing out from between these twin rows of ruins[Pg 150] we saw a German sergeant in a flower plot alongside a wrecked76 cottage bending over, apparently77 smelling at a clump of tall red geraniums. That he could find time in the midst of that hideous78 desolation to sniff79 at the posies struck us as a typically German bit of sentimentalism. Just then, though, he stood erect80 and we were better informed. He had been talking over a military telephone, the wires of which were buried underground with a concealed81 transmitter snuggling beneath the geraniums. The flowers even were being made to contribute their help in forwarding the mechanism82 of war. I think, though, that it took a composite German mind to evolve that expedient83. A Prussian would bring along the telephone; a Saxon would bed it among the blossoms.
We progressed onward84 by a process of alternate stops and starts, through a land bearing remarkably85 few traces to show for its recent chastening with sword and torch, until in the middle of the blazing hot forenoon we came to Gembloux, which I think must be the place where all the flies in Belgium are spawned86. Here on a siding we lay all day, grilled87 in the heat and pestered88 by swarms89 of the buzzing scavenger90 vermin, while troop trains without number passed us, hurrying along the sentry-guarded railway to the lower frontiers of Belgium. Every box-car door made a frame for a group-picture of[Pg 151] broad German faces and bulky German bodies. Upon nearly every car the sportive passengers had lashed91 limbs of trees and big clumps92 of field flowers. Also with colored chalks they had extensively frescoed93 the wooden walls as high up as they could reach. The commonest legend was "On to Paris," or for variety "To Paris Direct," but occasionally a lighter55 touch showed itself. For example, one wag had inscribed94 on a car door: "Declarations of War Received Here," and another had drawn95 a highly impressionistic likeness96 of his Kaiser, and under it had inscribed "Wilhelm II, Emperor of Europe."
Presently as train after train, loaded sometimes with guns or supplies but usually with men, clanked by, it began to dawn upon us that these soldiers were of a different physical type from the soldiers we had seen heretofore. They were all Germans, to be sure, but the men along the front were younger men, hard-bitten and trained down, with the face which we had begun to call the Teutonic fighting face, whereas these men were older, and of a heavier port and fuller fashion of countenance97. Also some of them wore blue coats, red-trimmed, instead of the dull gray service garb98 of the troops in the first invading columns. Indeed some of them even wore a nondescript mixture of uniform and civilian garb. They were Landwehr and Landsturm, troops of the third and fourth lines, going now to police[Pg 152] the roads and garrison99 the captured towns, and hold the lines of communication open while the first line, who were picked troops, and the second line, who were reservists, pressed ahead into France.
They showed a childlike curiosity to see the prisoners in the box cars behind us. They grinned triumphantly100 at the Frenchmen and the Britishers, but the sight of a Turco in his short jacket and his dirty white skirts invariably set them off in derisive101 cat-calling and whooping102. One beefy cavalryman103 in his forties, who looked the Bavarian peasant all over, boarded our car to see what might be seen. He had been drinking. He came nearer being drunk outright104 than any German soldier I had seen to date. Because he heard us talking English he insisted on regarding us as English spies.
"Hark! they betray themselves," we heard him mutter thickly to one of his wounded countrymen in the next compartment. "They are damned Englishers."
"Nein! Nein! All Americans," we heard the other say.
"Well, if they are Americans, why don't they talk the American language then?" he demanded. Hearing this, I was sorry I had neglected in my youth to learn Choctaw.
Still dubious105 of us, he came now and stood in the aisle, rocking slightly on his bolster106 legs and eying us glassily. Eventually a[Pg 153] thought pierced the fog of his understanding. He hauled his saber out of its scabbard and invited us to run our fingers along the edge and see how keen and sharp it was. He added, with appropriate gestures, that he had honed it with the particular intent of slicing off a few English heads. For one, and speaking for one only, I may say I was, on the whole, rather glad when he departed from among us.
When we grew tired of watching the troop trains streaming south we fought the flies, and listened for perhaps the tenth time to the story of Stevens' experience when he first fell into German hands, six days before.
Stevens was the young American who accompanied Gerbeaux, the Frenchman, and Hennebert, the Belgian, on their ill-timed expedition from Brussels in an automobile16 bearing without authority a Red Cross flag. Gerbeaux was out to get a story for the Chicago paper which he served as Brussels correspondent, and the Belgian hoped to take some photographs; but a pure love of excitement brought Stevens along. He had his passport to prove his citizenship107 and a pass from General von Jarotzky, military commandant of Brussels, authorizing108 him to pass through the lines. He thought he was perfectly109 safe.
When their machine was halted by the Germans a short distance south and west of Waterloo, Stevens, for some reason which he[Pg 154] could never understand, was separated from his two companions and the South-African negro chauffeur. A sergeant took him in charge, and all the rest of the day he rode on the tail of a baggage wagon110 with a guard upon either side of him. First, though, he was searched and all his papers were taken from him.
Late in the afternoon the pack-train halted and as Stevens was stretching his legs in a field a first lieutenant, whom he described as being tall and nervous and highly excitable, ran up and, after berating111 the two guards for not having their rifles ready to fire, he poked112 a gun under Stevens' nose and went through the process of loading it, meanwhile telling him that if he moved an inch his brains would be blown out. A sergeant gently edged Stevens back out of the danger belt, and, from behind the officer's back another man, so Stevens said, tapped himself gently upon the forehead to indicate that the Herr Lieutenant was cracked in the brain.
After this Stevens was taken into an improvised113 barracks in a deserted114 Belgian gendarmerie and locked in a room. At nine o'clock the lieutenant came to him and told him in a mixture of French and German that he had by a court-martial been found guilty of being an English spy and that at six o'clock the following morning he would be shot. "When you hear a bugle115 sound you[Pg 155] may know that is the signal for your execution," the officer added.
While poor Stevens was still begging for an opportunity to be heard in his own defense116 the lieutenant dealt him a blow in the side which left him temporarily breathless. In a moment two soldiers had crossed his wrists behind his back and were lashing117 them tightly together with a rope.
Thus bound he was taken back indoors and made to sit on a bench. Eight soldiers stretched themselves upon the floor of the room and slept there; a sergeant slept with his body across the door. A guard sat on the bench beside Stevens.
"He gave me two big slugs of brandy to drink," said Stevens, continuing his tale, "and it affected118 me no more than so much water. After a couple of hours I managed to work the cords loose and I got one hand free. Moving cautiously I lifted my feet, and by stretching my arms cautiously down, still holding them behind my back, I untied119 one shoe. I meant at the last to kick off my shoes and run for it. I was feeling for the laces on my other shoe when another guard came to re-enforce the first, and he watched me so closely that I knew that chance was gone.
"After a while, strange as it seems, all the fear and all the horror of death left me. My chief regret now was, not that I had to die, but that my people at home would never[Pg 156] know how I died or where. I put my head down on the table and actually dozed120 off. But there was a clock in the room and whenever it struck I would rouse up and say to myself, almost impersonally121, that I now had four hours to live, or three, or two, as the case might be. Then I would go to sleep again. Once or twice a queer sinking sensation in my stomach, such as I never felt before, would come to me, but toward daylight this ceased to occur.
"At half-past five two soldiers, one carrying a spade and the other a lantern, came in. They lit the lantern at a lamp that burned on a table in front of me and went out. Presently I could hear them digging in the yard outside the door. I believed it was my grave they were digging. I cannot recall that this made any particular impression upon me. I considered it in a most casual sort of fashion. I remember wondering whether it was a deep grave.
"At five minutes before six a bugle sounded. The eight men on the floor got up, buckled122 on their cartridge123 belts, shouldered their rifles and, leaving their knapsacks behind, tramped out. I followed with my guards upon either side of me. My one fear now was that I should tremble at the end. I felt no fear, but I was afraid my knees would shake. I remember how relieved I was when I took the first step to find my legs did not tremble under me.[Pg 157] I was resolved, too, that I would not be shot down with my hands tied behind me. When I faced the squad124 I meant to shake off the ropes on my wrists and take the volley with my arms at my sides."
Stevens was marched to the center of the courtyard. Then, without a word of explanation to him his bonds were removed and he was put in an automobile and carried off to rejoin the other members of the unlucky sight-seeing party. He never did find out whether he had been made the butt125 of a hideous practical joke by a half-mad brute126 or whether his tormentor127 really meant to send him to death and was deterred128 at the last moment by fear of the consequences. One thing he did learn—there had been no court-martial. Thereafter, during his captivity129, Stevens was treated with the utmost kindness by all the officers with whom he came in contact. His was the only instance that I have knowledge of where a prisoner has been tortured, physically130 or mentally, by a German. It was curious that in this one case the victim should have been an American citizen whose intentions were perfectly innocent and whose papers were orthodox and unquestionable.
Glancing back over what I have here written down I find I have failed altogether to mention the food which we ate on that trip of ours with the German wrecking crew. It was hardly worth mentioning, it was so scanty131.[Pg 158] We had to eat, during that day while we lay at Gembloux, a loaf of the sourish soldiers' black bread, with green mold upon the crust, and a pot of rancid honey which one of the party had bethought him to bring from Beaumont in his pocket. To wash this mixture down we had a few swigs of miserably132 bad lukewarm ration-coffee from a private's canteen, a bottle of confiscated133 Belgian mineral water, which a private at Charleroi gave us from his store, and a precious quart of the Prince de Caraman-Chimay's commandeered wine—also a souvenir of our captivity. Late in the afternoon a sergeant sold us for a five-mark piece a big skin-casing filled with half-raw pork sausage. I've never tasted anything better.
Even so, we fared better than the prisoners in the box cars behind and the dozen wounded men in the coach with us. They had only coffee and dry bread and, at the latter end of the long day, a few chunks134 of the sausage. Some of the wounded men were pretty badly hurt, too. There was one whose left forearm had been half shot away. His stiff fingers protruded135 beyond his soiled bandages and they were still crusted with dried blood and grained with dirt. Another had been pierced through the jaw50 with a bullet. That part of his face which showed through the swathings about his head was terribly swollen and purple with congested blood. The others had flesh wounds, mainly in their sides or their legs. Some of[Pg 159] them were feverish136; all of them sorely needed clean garments for their bodies and fresh dressings137 for their hurts and proper food for their stomachs. Yet I did not hear one of them complain or groan138. With that oxlike patience of the North-European peasant breed, which seems accentuated139 in these Germans in time of war, they quietly endured what was acute discomfort140 for any sound man to have to endure. In some dim, dumb fashion of their own they seemed, each one of them, to comprehend that in the vast organism of an army at war the individual unit does not count. To himself he may be of prime importance and first consideration, but in the general carrying out of the scheme he is a mote142, a molecule143, a spore144, a protoplasm—an infinitesimal, utterly145 inconsequential thing to be sacrificed without thought. Thus we diagnosed their mental poses.
Along toward five o'clock a goodish string of cars was added to our train, and into these additional cars seven hundred French soldiers, who had been collected at Gembloux, were loaded. With the Frenchmen as they marched under our window went, perhaps, twenty civilian prisoners, including two priests and three or four subdued146 little men who looked as though they might be civic147 dignitaries of some small Belgian town. In the squad was one big, broad-shouldered peasant in a blouse, whose arms were roped back at the elbows with a thick cord.
[Pg 160]
"Do you see that man?" said one of our guards excitedly, and he pointed148 at the pinioned149 man. "He is a grave robber. He has been digging up dead Germans to rob the bodies. They tell me that when they caught him he had in his pockets ten dead men's fingers which he had cut off with a knife because the flesh was so swollen he could not slip the rings off. He will be shot, that fellow."
We looked with a deeper interest then at the man whose arms were bound, but privately150 we permitted ourselves to be skeptical151 regarding the details of his alleged152 ghoulishness. We had begun to discount German stories of Belgian atrocities153 and Belgian stories of German atrocities. I might add that I am still discounting both varieties.
To help along our train two more little engines were added, but even with four of them to draw and to shove their load was now so heavy that we were jerked along with sensations as though we were having a jaw tooth pulled every few seconds. After such a fashion we progressed very slowly. Already we knew that we were not going to Brussels, as we had been promised in Beaumont that we should go. We only hoped we were not bound for a German military fortress154 in some interior city.
It fell to my lot that second night to sleep in the aisle. In spite of being walked on at intervals155 I slept pretty well. When I waked it was three o'clock in the morning, just, and we[Pg 161] were standing14 in the train shed at Liège, and hospital corps156 men were coming aboard with hot coffee and more raw sausages for the wounded. Among the Germans, sausages are used medicinally. I think they must keep supplies of sausages in their homes, for use in cases of accident and sickness.
I got up and looked from the window. The station was full of soldiers moving about an various errands. Overhead big arc lights sputtered157 spitefully, so that the place was almost as bright as day. Almost directly below me was a big table, which stood on the platform and was covered over with papers and maps. At the table sat two officers—high officers, I judged—writing busily. Their stiff white cuff-ends showed below their coat-sleeves; their slim black boots were highly polished, and altogether they had the look of having just escaped from the hands of a valet. Between them and the frowsy privates was a gulf158 a thousand miles wide and a thousand miles deep.
When I woke again it was broad daylight and we had crossed the border and were in Germany. At small way stations women and girls wearing long white aprons159 and hospital badges came under the car windows with hot drinks and bacon sandwiches for the wounded. They gave us some, too, and, I think, bestowed160 what was left upon the prisoners at the rear. We ran now through a land untouched by war,[Pg 162] where prim141 farmhouses161 stood in prim gardens. It was Sunday morning and the people were going to church dressed in their Sunday best. Considering that Germany was supposed to have been drained of its able-bodied male adults for war-making purposes we saw, among the groups, an astonishingly large number of men of military age. By contrast with the harried162 country from which we had just emerged this seemed a small Paradise of peace. Over there in Belgium all the conditions of life had been disorganized and undone163, where they had not been wrecked outright. Over here in Germany the calm was entirely164 unruffled.
It shamed us to come as we were into such surroundings. For our car was littered with sausage skins and bread crusts, and filth165 less pleasant to look at and stenches of many sorts abounded166. Indeed I shall go further and say that it stank167 most fearsomely. As for us, we felt ourselves to be infamous168 offenses169 against the bright, clean day. We had not slept in a bed for five nights or had our clothes off for that time. For three days none of us had eaten a real meal at a regular table. For two days we had not washed our faces and hands.
The prisoners of war went on to Cologne to be put in a laager, but we were bidden to detrain at Aix-la-Chapelle. We climbed off, a dirty, wrinkled, unshaven troop of vagabonds, to find ourselves free to go where we pleased.[Pg 163] That is, we thought so at first. But by evening the Frenchman and the Belgians had been taken away to be held in prison until the end of the war, and for two days the highly efficient local secret-service staff kept the rest of us under its watchful170 care. After that, though, the American consul171, Robert J. Thompson, succeeded in convincing the military authorities that we were not dangerous.
I still think that taking copious172 baths and getting ourselves shaved helped to clear us of suspicion.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
wrecking
|
|
| 破坏 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
lieutenant
|
|
| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
convoy
|
|
| vt.护送，护卫，护航；n.护送；护送队 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
esteem
|
|
| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
puffed
|
|
| adj.疏松的v.使喷出( puff的过去式和过去分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
provocation
|
|
| n.激怒，刺激，挑拨，挑衅的事物，激怒的原因 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
embark
|
|
| vi.乘船，着手，从事，上飞机 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
clump
|
|
| n.树丛，草丛；vi.用沉重的脚步行走 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
abreast
|
|
| adv.并排地；跟上(时代)的步伐，与…并进地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
fumes
|
|
| n.(强烈而刺激的)气味，气体 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
sentries
|
|
| 哨兵，步兵( sentry的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
slanting
|
|
| 倾斜的，歪斜的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
swollen
|
|
| adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
truant
|
|
| n.懒惰鬼，旷课者；adj.偷懒的，旷课的，游荡的；v.偷懒，旷课 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
automobile
|
|
| n.汽车，机动车 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
automobiles
|
|
| n.汽车( automobile的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
civilian
|
|
| adj.平民的，民用的，民众的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
jeering
|
|
| adj.嘲弄的，揶揄的v.嘲笑( jeer的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
mightily
|
|
| ad.强烈地；非常地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
bellowing
|
|
| v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的现在分词 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
admonished
|
|
| v.劝告( admonish的过去式和过去分词 )；训诫；（温和地）责备；轻责 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
promptly
|
|
| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
spoke
|
|
| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
improvisation
|
|
| n.即席演奏(或演唱)；即兴创作 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
buck
|
|
| n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
granite
|
|
| adj.花岗岩，花岗石 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
boulders
|
|
| n.卵石( boulder的名词复数 )；巨砾；（受水或天气侵蚀而成的）巨石；漂砾 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
unevenly
|
|
| adv.不均匀的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
clumping
|
|
| v.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的现在分词 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
chauffeur
|
|
| n.(受雇于私人或公司的)司机；v.为…开车 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
recollect
|
|
| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
curiously
|
|
| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
flaring
|
|
| a.火焰摇曳的，过份艳丽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
outfit
|
|
| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
spat
|
|
| n.口角，掌击；v.发出呼噜呼噜声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
munitions
|
|
| n.军火，弹药；v.供应…军需品 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
prospective
|
|
| adj.预期的，未来的，前瞻性的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
avowedly
|
|
| adv.公然地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
aggregate
|
|
| adj.总计的，集合的；n.总数；v.合计；集合 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
foes
|
|
| 敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
contemptible
|
|
| adj.可鄙的，可轻视的，卑劣的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
instinctively
|
|
| adv.本能地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
adder
|
|
| n.蝰蛇；小毒蛇 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
fangs
|
|
| n.（尤指狗和狼的）长而尖的牙( fang的名词复数 )；（蛇的）毒牙；罐座 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
similes
|
|
| （使用like或as等词语的）明喻( simile的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
baggy
|
|
| adj.膨胀如袋的，宽松下垂的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
misery
|
|
| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
jaws
|
|
| n.口部；嘴 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
jaw
|
|
| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
brigands
|
|
| n.土匪，强盗( brigand的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
whiny
|
|
| adj. 好发牢骚的, 嘀咕不停的, 烦躁的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
flannel
|
|
| n.法兰绒；法兰绒衣服 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
bosom
|
|
| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
lighter
|
|
| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
crooks
|
|
| n.骗子( crook的名词复数 )；罪犯；弯曲部分；（牧羊人或主教用的）弯拐杖v.弯成钩形( crook的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
civilians
|
|
| 平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
Augmented
|
|
| adj.增音的 动词augment的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
compartment
|
|
| n.卧车包房，隔间；分隔的空间 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
compartments
|
|
| n.间隔( compartment的名词复数 )；（列车车厢的）隔间；（家具或设备等的）分隔间；隔层 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
sergeant
|
|
| n.警官，中士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
lighting
|
|
| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
apparatus
|
|
| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
ledge
|
|
| n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
puny
|
|
| adj.微不足道的，弱小的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
abominably
|
|
| adv. 可恶地，可恨地，恶劣地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
well-being
|
|
| n.安康，安乐，幸福 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
snugly
|
|
| adv.紧贴地；贴身地；暖和舒适地；安适地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
aisle
|
|
| n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
interfered
|
|
| v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
mingled
|
|
| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
extremities
|
|
| n.端点( extremity的名词复数 )；尽头；手和足；极窘迫的境地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
sterile
|
|
| adj.不毛的，不孕的，无菌的，枯燥的，贫瘠的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
bleak
|
|
| adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
fretting
|
|
| n. 微振磨损 adj. 烦躁的, 焦虑的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
wrecked
|
|
| adj.失事的，遇难的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
apparently
|
|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
hideous
|
|
| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
sniff
|
|
| vi.嗅…味道；抽鼻涕；对嗤之以鼻，蔑视 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
erect
|
|
| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
concealed
|
|
| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
mechanism
|
|
| n.机械装置；机构，结构 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
83
expedient
|
|
| adj.有用的，有利的；n.紧急的办法，权宜之计 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
84
onward
|
|
| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
85
remarkably
|
|
| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
86
spawned
|
|
| （鱼、蛙等）大量产（卵）( spawn的过去式和过去分词 )； 大量生产 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
87
grilled
|
|
| adj. 烤的, 炙过的, 有格子的 动词grill的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
88
pestered
|
|
| 使烦恼，纠缠( pester的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
89
swarms
|
|
| 蜂群，一大群( swarm的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
90
scavenger
|
|
| n.以腐尸为食的动物，清扫工 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
91
lashed
|
|
| adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
92
clumps
|
|
| n.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的名词复数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声v.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的第三人称单数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
93
frescoed
|
|
| 壁画( fresco的名词复数 )； 温壁画技法，湿壁画 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
94
inscribed
|
|
| v.写，刻( inscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；内接 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
95
drawn
|
|
| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
96
likeness
|
|
| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
97
countenance
|
|
| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
98
garb
|
|
| n.服装，装束 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
99
garrison
|
|
| n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
100
triumphantly
|
|
| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
101
derisive
|
|
| adj.嘲弄的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
102
whooping
|
|
| 发嗬嗬声的，发咳声的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
103
cavalryman
|
|
| 骑兵 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
104
outright
|
|
| adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
105
dubious
|
|
| adj.怀疑的，无把握的；有问题的，靠不住的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
106
bolster
|
|
| n.枕垫；v.支持，鼓励 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
107
citizenship
|
|
| n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
108
authorizing
|
|
| 授权，批准，委托( authorize的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
109
perfectly
|
|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
110
wagon
|
|
| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
111
berating
|
|
| v.严厉责备，痛斥( berate的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
112
poked
|
|
| v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
113
improvised
|
|
| a.即席而作的,即兴的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
114
deserted
|
|
| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
115
bugle
|
|
| n.军号，号角，喇叭；v.吹号，吹号召集 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
116
defense
|
|
| n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
117
lashing
|
|
| n.鞭打；痛斥；大量；许多v.鞭打( lash的现在分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
118
affected
|
|
| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
119
untied
|
|
| 松开，解开( untie的过去式和过去分词 )； 解除，使自由； 解决 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
120
dozed
|
|
| v.打盹儿，打瞌睡( doze的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
121
impersonally
|
|
| ad.非人称地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
122
buckled
|
|
| a. 有带扣的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
123
cartridge
|
|
| n.弹壳，弹药筒；(装磁带等的)盒子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
124
squad
|
|
| n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
125
butt
|
|
| n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
126
brute
|
|
| n.野兽，兽性 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
127
tormentor
|
|
| n. 使苦痛之人, 使苦恼之物, 侧幕 =tormenter | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
128
deterred
|
|
| v.阻止，制止( deter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
129
captivity
|
|
| n.囚禁；被俘；束缚 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
130
physically
|
|
| adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
131
scanty
|
|
| adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
132
miserably
|
|
| adv.痛苦地；悲惨地；糟糕地；极度地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
133
confiscated
|
|
| 没收，充公( confiscate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
134
chunks
|
|
| 厚厚的一块( chunk的名词复数 )； （某物）相当大的数量或部分 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
135
protruded
|
|
| v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
136
feverish
|
|
| adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
137
dressings
|
|
| n.敷料剂；穿衣( dressing的名词复数 )；穿戴；（拌制色拉的）调料；（保护伤口的）敷料 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
138
groan
|
|
| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
139
accentuated
|
|
| v.重读( accentuate的过去式和过去分词 )；使突出；使恶化；加重音符号于 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
140
discomfort
|
|
| n.不舒服，不安，难过，困难，不方便 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
141
prim
|
|
| adj.拘泥形式的，一本正经的；n.循规蹈矩，整洁；adv.循规蹈矩地，整洁地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
142
mote
|
|
| n.微粒；斑点 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
143
molecule
|
|
| n.分子，克分子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
144
spore
|
|
| n.(无花植物借以繁殖的)孢子，芽胞 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
145
utterly
|
|
| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
146
subdued
|
|
| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
147
civic
|
|
| adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
148
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
149
pinioned
|
|
| v.抓住[捆住]（双臂）( pinion的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
150
privately
|
|
| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
151
skeptical
|
|
| adj.怀疑的，多疑的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
152
alleged
|
|
| a.被指控的，嫌疑的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
153
atrocities
|
|
| n.邪恶，暴行( atrocity的名词复数 )；滔天大罪 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
154
fortress
|
|
| n.堡垒，防御工事 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
155
intervals
|
|
| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
156
corps
|
|
| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
157
sputtered
|
|
| v.唾沫飞溅( sputter的过去式和过去分词 )；发劈啪声；喷出；飞溅出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
158
gulf
|
|
| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
159
aprons
|
|
| 围裙( apron的名词复数 )； 停机坪，台口（舞台幕前的部份） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
160
bestowed
|
|
| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
161
farmhouses
|
|
| n.农舍，农场的主要住房( farmhouse的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
162
harried
|
|
| v.使苦恼( harry的过去式和过去分词 )；不断烦扰；一再袭击；侵扰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
163
undone
|
|
| a.未做完的，未完成的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
164
entirely
|
|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
165
filth
|
|
| n.肮脏，污物，污秽；淫猥 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
166
abounded
|
|
| v.大量存在，充满，富于( abound的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
167
stank
|
|
| n. (英)坝，堰，池塘 动词stink的过去式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
168
infamous
|
|
| adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
169
offenses
|
|
| n.进攻( offense的名词复数 )；（球队的）前锋；进攻方法；攻势 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
170
watchful
|
|
| adj.注意的，警惕的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
171
consul
|
|
| n.领事；执政官 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
172
copious
|
|
| adj.丰富的，大量的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |