town with four British officers
in uniform; two with their heads bandaged, another with an arm in a
sling, and a fourth with a lame leg, all sitting on a form, shivering
with cold--all smoking cigars; while people came out and gazed in
open-mouthed wonder at the strange spectacle; and a crowd of little
urchins came running behind, yelling at the top of their voices.

All this was explained to me; and I imagined a great deal more, for
the ridiculous situation could only be complete if a shower of rotten
eggs were hurled at us as we passed by.

The following morning the Swiss Commission arrived, and all those who
wished to appear before it were ordered to assemble in the yard.

It was a pathetic assembly, officers and men maimed and afflicted
beyond repair, waited in a long queue for their turn to go in and hear
their fate.

There were a number of Tommies acting as orderlies in the camp who
had been prisoners since Mons. There was nothing physically the matter
with them; yet the silent and hopeful manner in which they took their
position in the line, knowing as they must have done, that their
chances were hopeless, was most pitiful to witness.

Yet, the same men, on appearing before the Commission, and being
immediately rejected, laughed and joked as they returned to their
work.

The British Tommy is heroic, and rough though his language sometimes
is, he is a man, and Britain is his debtor.

CHAPTER XXXI

FREE

I BLUFF THE GERMAN SERGEANT. AACHEN. TWO BOTTLES OF WINE. ACROSS THE
FRONTIER. GREAT SCOTT! I AM CHARGED FOR MY OWN DEATH EXPENSES

I was passed for England!

The Examination Board consisted of a Swiss doctor, a German doctor,
and the camp commandant. The Swiss doctor was provided with a schedule
of disablements under which prisoners could be passed for exchange to
their own country, and partial disablements for Switzerland, and
frequently objections to a prisoner's application would be made by the
German representative.

Of our party from Osnabruck, one was rejected, two were passed for
Switzerland, and I was passed for England.

The decision of the Swiss Commission is not final, for, on being sent
to the border, all prisoners are again examined--this time by German
doctors only--and by their decision prisoners are frequently rejected
and sent back to camp.

The final examination for those going to Switzerland takes place at
Konstanz, and for those going to England, at Aachen.

I knew