d to plan my
route according to what I learned there. And for the rest I knew it
would be luck that would determine the result, because other camera men
had attempted to cover the same district, men who knew everything there
was to be known in the way of getting on the spot, and all had been
turned back with trifling success.

[Illustration: HOW I CARRIED MY FILM IN THE EARLY DAYS OF THE WAR IN
BELGIUM AND THE VOSGES MOUNTAINS]

For various reasons, among them the claims of picturesqueness, St. Die
struck me as the best field, and to get there it is necessary to make a
detour into Switzerland. From Geneva, where I arranged for transport of
my films in case of urgent need, much as an Arctic explorer would
leave supplies of food behind him on his way to the Pole, I arranged in
certain places that if I was not heard from at certain dates and certain
times, enquiries were to be made, diplomatically, for me.

From Basle I went to the Swiss frontier, and had a splendid view of the
Alsace country, which was in German possession. German and Swiss guards
stood on either side of the boundary, and they made such a picturesque
scene that I filmed them, which was nearly disastrous. A gendarme
pounced on me at once, took me to general headquarters and then back to
Perrontruy, where I was escorted through the streets by an armed guard.

At the military barracks I was thoroughly examined by the chief of the
staff, who drew my attention to a military notice, prohibiting any
photographing of Swiss soldiery. He decided that my offence was so rank
that it must go before another tribunal, and off I was marched to
Delemont, where a sort of court-martial was held on me. My film, of
course, was confiscated; that was the least I could expect, but they
also extracted a promise in writing that I would not take any more
photographs in Switzerland, and they gave me a few hours to leave the
country, by way of Berne.

That didn't suit me at all. Berne was too far away from my intended
destination, and, after a hurried study of the map, I decided to chance
it, and go to Biel. I did. So did the man told off to watch me. And when
I left the train at Biel he arrested me. I am afraid I sang "Rule
Britannia" very loudly to those good gentlemen before whom he took me,
claiming the right of a British citizen to do as he liked, within
reason, in a neutral country.

In the result they told me to get out of the country any way I liked, if
only I would ge