y forbidden to enter houses or set them on fire without
the permission of the Kommandantur]

The Burgomaster set out on foot to walk back three kilometers and catch
a tram to Liege, and we went southeast to Dalhem, where we spent the
night at the Chateau de Dalhem, on a hill overlooking the picturesque
little village snuggled in the bottom of the valley. It was off the main
line of march, and had not suffered. The chateau belongs to General
Thyss, who was a great friend of the late King Leopold. He was not
there, but the place was being protected by a splendid old dragon in the
shape of a German governess who had been with the family for over thirty
years, and refused to leave when the war broke out. She had been obliged
to lodge a crowd of German officers and some of their men, but held them
down with an iron hand, kept them from doing any damage and made them
pay for every egg and every bottle of wine they had. We arrived after
dark and threw the place into a panic of fear, but Monsieur Francqui
soon reassured everybody, and the place was lighted up and placed at our
disposal in short order.

Although it was pitch dark when we arrived, it was only half past four
and we set out on foot to stretch a little. The moon came out and
lighted our way through the country roads. We tramped for a couple of
hours through all sorts of little towns and villages and groups of
houses, some of them wiped out and some hardly touched.

General Thyss's cellars are famous, and with our dinner of soup and
bacon and eggs, we had some of the finest Burgundy I have ever tasted.
Early to bed so that we could be up and off at daybreak.

Friday morning we were away early, and made for Herve, where I had never
been before. It is a ruin with a few natives and a lot of Landsturm
left. We talked to some peasants and to an old priest who gave us
something to think about in their stories of happenings there during and
after the occupation of their homes. From there to Liege, by way of a
lot of little villages whose names I don't remember, but whose condition
was pretty bad, past the fort of Fleron and the defensive works that are
being put up there.

Wasted some time trying to get gasoline for the other motors, and then
the long stretch to Namur, down the valley of the Meuse, and stopped
long enough for a look at Andennes, my second visit to the place.

In Andenne and Seilles (a little village across the Meuse) the Germans
did a thorough job