we had arranged that
he should do all the talking. The first question asked was, "Where was
the sap you were working in?" Scotty looked up very stupidly, and
said, "I don't understand you, Sir." The interpreter said, "Where was
the mine you dug underground?"

Scotty: "Oh yes, I did that for a living before I joined the Army."

Interpreter: "Then show me on this map where the sap was."

Scotty: "I don't know of any sap in the front line."

Interpreter: "But you said you belonged to the miners!"

Scotty: "Yes, but I was not working on a mine in the front line."

Interpreter: "Then what were you doing?"

Scotty: "Well, it was like this; I was only in the trenches twice, the
first time our Corporal put me on a fatigue party and I was carrying up
sandbags and rations."

Interpreter: "Is that all you did?"

Scotty: "Yes, Sir."

Interpreter: "Then what were you working at the second time you were in
the lines?--you were surely put in a sap this time."

I could see that both the General and the interpreter were getting
quite peeved, but Scotty answered smilingly: "I will tell you what I
did. The Sergeant in charge gave me a long stick with a nail in the
end, and I had this stick in one hand and a sandbag in the other, and
my work was to go through the trenches picking up all the paper,
cigarette boxes, and tin cans." When this speech was interpreted to
the General, the old boy was _wild_. I think he would gladly have put
an end to us right there, but he only shouted an order to the guards,
and we were hustled to the door and kicked out. When we picked
ourselves up, we sat down on the steps and had a good laugh. Evidently
the General was not satisfied with the information he received, for
none of the others were taken in. We were all taken back to the stable
and left there till the next morning, then we were marched off to the
railway station and loaded on a train for Germany.

We travelled in cattle and box cars, and we did not sit up to see the
sights because all of us were wounded or injured in some way. My back
was badly strained when I was buried in the sap and I was bruised from
head to foot. I had had nothing to eat all day excepting the small
piece of black bread given to us in the morning. It was about 9 P.M.
when we made our first stop in Germany, and this was at a large prison
camp near Dulmen, Westphalia. Dulmen is a beautiful large city; and
the camp is two miles out. At first sight a pri