l pull those triggers, the way he
is trembling," so we had to march along, not knowing what minute we
would be shot in the back.

Reaching the town, which we found to be Stadtlohn, we were handed over
to the military staff, and to our amazement the officer pulled a paper
out of his desk and read out our names: Blacklock, Woods, and O'Brien.
It was evident that word had been sent to the border towns warning them
to be on the lookout for us. Even after we got into the room that fool
M. P. kept us covered with his gun, and being in the presence of his
superior officer made him more nervous, and his hand shook worse than
ever. With six other men in the room, he wasn't in much danger of
losing his six hundred marks. One of the boys said, "Isn't that fool
ever going to put down his gun?" and the officer must have understood
what he meant, for he gave a command in German, and the man not only
put down his weapon, but he took out the shells. We breathed easier
after that. The officer in charge asked the policeman where he caught
us, and he answered, "Twenty minutes' walk from the Holland border."
This was the hardest blow of all, for we could have made it easily had
we only known. Well, they searched us, and yet they failed to find our
map and compass. These were hidden in a knitted belt made for me by
one of our prisoners. It contained a secret pocket, the entrance to
which was carefully concealed. Not finding anything, we were lodged in
the town jail, and there we stayed until the following day. We were
almost starved, but all we had was a piece of bread and a bowl of soup.

Next morning two guards came to take us back to the mine--we went by
train and arrived about 6 P.M. Of course they gave us a warm
reception. As soon as we entered the gates we were met by German
boots--_with feet inside_--and in this way were escorted to our
quarters. Once there we were made to stand "at attention" for seven
hours, with a guard behind ready with his boot in case you moved. At 1
A.M. they allowed us to go to our barracks, and we were staggering from
hunger and weakness. Here a pleasant surprise awaited us. Our pals
had collected all the food they could find and had put it in our bunks.
I assure you it tasted good.

The next morning we were brought up for trial and closely questioned as
to _why_ we wanted to escape. Sammy told them we wanted a change, that
was all. After this we were conducted by two officers and an
int