n prisoners should not be returned to Germany for nine months.
They were drafted into great work-camps in Belgium, and were put to
replacing bridges, reconstructing buildings, and making good all they
had devastated.

I remember at the time, how the world jeered at the so-called "Humanist"
Government in Germany, because it so readily agreed to the harsh
treatment of the "Sons who fought for the German Empire." But the Berlin
officials were wise. For nine months an army of 800,000 men were being
fed and kept at the Allies' expense. That mob was thus prevented from
returning to an overstocked manufacturing nation. They were being held
back to give their country nine months' opportunity to "put its house in
order."

CHAPTER XXIV.

What Happened in England.

On leaving Berlin our squadron was part of the force that had to return
to England. I had hoped to break the journey at Brussels, to meet Helen
Goche, but Fate stepped in. To my disappointment the troop-trains passed
on to Ostend along a line to the south of Brussels.

On arrival in England, the Flying Corps were not disbanded, but were
attached to the permanent forces.

Nap, however, desired to return to the United States, and as we shook
hands in "good-bye," I felt I was losing a friend to whom adventurous
days had linked me by heart-grips.

"I'm going along through to that country of yours," he said to me as he
swung into the train. "From what you tell me, it must be 'some place.'
We'll grip again there, sure." And the train pulled out and tore him out
of my life for many days.

The months succeeding the Declaration of Peace were troublesome times
for England. Troops were pouring back from the Continent and being
dismissed to return to jobs they found had disappeared.

During the war a fine spirit of "cheer up" generally prevailed. People
tried to put vim into themselves by tacking the motto over their shops:
"Business as Usual." They knew full well that business was nearly dead;
but they were like the boy who whistled going through the graveyard in
order to keep up his courage.

Apart from the trades making munitions of war, few factories maintained
their full output. Recruiting lessened the number of employees, and
those who stayed behind fought for shorter hours and higher wages.
Investors generally eased off, as money was too high in value to risk in
new concerns in such uncertain times. Even the highly boosted scheme to
bring back to England