tion." No
matter what was done to us we never gave them the satisfaction of
letting them know it hurt. I have seen our boys die under slow
torture, and always they had that _grin_ on their faces.

This was one thing the Germans never could understand, for, as a
nation, they have no spirit at all; I have seen big men blubber like
children over the slightest hurt. Working with civilians, we often had
the satisfaction of a scrap. We dared not touch one of the military,
no matter what they said or did, for it would mean instant death; but
when the civilians were extra-brutal or insulting, as they often were,
we got even if we did not happen to be too greatly out-numbered. The
smallest Britisher that ever went into the mine could lick the biggest
Hun in a fair fight. But that was just the trouble--the Germans know
nothing about the first principles of fair play. At school, instead of
being taught to defend themselves with their fists, they fight with
sticks or anything they can lay their hands on, and once they get their
opponent down, they kick him until he gives in. So when they ran up
against English-speaking people and there was a scrap in sight, they
were astounded to see the Englander lay down the shovel or whatever he
happened to have in his hands. They would stand and stare with their
weapon half raised as they saw their opponent laying aside his only
means of defence. They did not know what to expect, and while they
were in this uncertain condition the Englander got in his first blow.
We became quite notorious for our methods of fighting, and when we
would be put to work with any new men, their first question would be,
"What did you do before joining the Army?" and we always said, "We were
boxers." They would smile and say, "Ich nix boxer--nice Englaender,
good Englaender"--this amused us immensely and their fear of us made
them use us more decently.

After I had been in the mine about six months, Snipe and I planned out
a scheme by which we hoped to escape doing any work for awhile. In
going through the mine, we had come across many abandoned tunnels from
which the coal had been taken--in many cases these tunnels were
partially caved in and were considered unsafe, and for this reason they
were avoided by the miners. The idea came to us this way;--one night
when Snipe and I were coming off work, we passed these tunnels, and I
said to Snipe, "Say, old boy, I'm fed up with this everlasting work for
thes