them cuts me and Sam made. Half a day's work wasted in 'em.'

I looked at the great blocks and wondered how they had cunningly escaped further mutilation. And though I saw myself roofless for the next winter, I could not repress an inward bubble over the tree's revenge.

'It had lost so many limbs when it was young and pushin' up, that it was jest the snirliest tree I ever saw.'

'Snirly, granpap?'

'Ay, it must 'a' been an awful thrifty tree. Every time a limb broke off it plumb healed up, an' thar's eight and ten rings over some of the scars. Here I've cut it down an' split into it jest to find a lot of knot-holes spilin' my best boards. And it looked so purty and straight.'

Alas, I knew!

He got up, adjusted his brake, which was the strong fork of a limb chained to a log, fixed his bolt upright, set his adze carefully, and with precise restraint evenly separated a smooth, shining three-foot board from the rest of the bolt. From the splitting wood came an odor that must have been the essence of the forest condensed for generations into its living vase.

But granpap was not pleased with his work.

'Did you see how tough that was? When I do git a good board I have to tear it out. But it's nateral for the south side of a tree to be tough.'

'Don't you mean the north side, granpap?'

'No,' he said patiently. 'It's the sun that toughens wood. You'll see them bolts from the north side are brickle.'

He balanced the board disapprovingly.

'Look how narr' it is. By the time I've sapped this there won't be enough of it left to turn a rain-drop.'

He began to chip off the inch of white sap-wood along the edge of the board.

'I could 'a' cast out the snirly blocks, but it was the wind-shake that finally ruined me. I never counted on a windshake in a tree as proud as that.'

'Show me the wind-shake, granpap.'

'Look at this block, here in the crosscut, an' you'll see it. A wind-shake starts at the heart an' twists round and round, gettin' bigger and bigger an breakin' the wood as it goes, till thar's only enough left for a little narr' board 'tween the shake-rings and the bark. Then sometimes, when the tree weaves in the wind, you can hear it cry. If I'd 'a' listened at this tree in a high wind it could n't 'a' fooled me. But they never make no sign on the outside.'

'Granpap,' I began slowly.

He looked up, met my eyes, and laid down his axe.

'Don't you think some people are like that?'

I could feel myself trembling. If he failed me now, the line of Merlin would be extinct. There would be no more seers in the Unakas, or anywhere.

'Ay,' he said. He still used the ‘ay' of Westmoreland and the hills of Malvern. 'Ay, Syn was like that after Ben got killed.'

He thought my silence was the silence of sympathy, and in alarm took up his axe.

"T ain't no use to

The axe finished the sentence, slicing a curl of white sap-bark. But his face was a shade grayer. The tree was avenged.

I started on, thinking of all the Syns and Bens I had known; and of a gay friend, now fallen, who liked to assure me that 'A heart is known by the autopsy.' My foot turned up a boss of sweet turf. A broken heart makes as good loam as a sound one, I thought. And I would have gone down the slope singing in the face of a looming tomorrow, if only granpap had not been standing so still.

I

It was in the afternoon of September 15 that we arrived at Villingen. The camp was n't at all attractive from the outside, but it proved much better and more comfortable than it looked. It covered an area of about 1000 metres by 250. Barracks were built around the outer edges, with an open court in the centre, in which were a tennis-court, volley-ball court, library, reading-room, and assembly hall. Around these, inside the line of barracks, was room for us to walk or run for exercise. This had been a Russian officers' camp, but it was being vacated for American officers. There were still two hundred Russians there, and at that time seventy Americans.

The American Red Cross had bulk supplies, both of food and clothing, at Villingen. Food was issued every Monday. The German food here was nothing but the old vegetable compound. Once a week we got a little slice of very poor meat. The Russians, who had to live largely on this food, looked awfully pale and underfed. We were not bothered with any formal breakfast at all. Instead, they issued us twenty lumps of sugar a week, which pleased us much better. I never ate any of my sugar, but saved every piece of it for rations on my escape.

The Germans took a picture of each of us, after which we could, if we chose, go out of camp for walks, on our word of honor.

ure, of course, but were allowed to go out at a certain time every other day (the weather and convenience of the Germans permitting), in a group of not less than ten, or more than fifty. A German non-commissioned officer went with us as a guide, and we were subject to his orders. We would be out an hour or two. As we went out we would give our written word of honor not to try to escape, accompanied with our picture; and when we returned, we would take it up again.

The defenses of the camps were as follows. The outer windows of the barracks were barred. Where the barracks did not join, a blind fence with wire on top connected them. A few feet outside the line of barracks and fence came the main barrier, which went all around. This was, first, a low barbed-wire fence; just outside that, a ditch about four feet wide, filled with barbed-wire entanglement; and at the outer edge of this came the main fence, of woven barbed wire, about nine feet high, with steel arms on top of the posts, curving toward the interior about two feet, thus making the top of the fence lean toward the inside, so that it was impossible to climb from that direction, even with nothing else to bother you. Just outside this was the outer guard patrol. This patrol was doubled before dark every night. There was also a line of electric lights a few feet outside, which burned all night.

The Germans boasted of this as one of the safest camps, and so far as having

were justified. To maintain the camp, counting all guard-shifts, officials, and so forth, they used over a hundred men, - to hold the 270 of us. Practically all of these men, however, were old and unfit for service on the front.

After I had been at Villingen for a few days, the interpreter came round while distributing mail one day, and said that he had good news for me. I asked him what it was, hoping that I had at last got a letter; and he told me that I had to go to jail again. He reminded me that I had been sentenced to fourteen days' confinement at Rastatt, and having served only five days, I would have to serve the remaining nine days here. That night, which was the twenty-first of September, I was locked up again. The same night Rhodes was brought in and locked up for twenty days in a neighboring cell. The following day, though I was the only one aware of it, it happened to be my twenty-fourth birthday. I shall never forget that birthday party, locked up in my cell. The boys with whom I messed were to send my meals in to me. They sent them all right, but the guards somehow got mixed up, and all my meals were taken in to Rhodes. Thus I fasted on my twenty-fourth birthday, while 'Dusty' feasted on my meals in addition to his own. He had just been caught, however, and I suppose he needed filling up.

I was released from solitary confinement on the night of September 30. Seven more fliers had come in from Landshut, making a total of 77 Americans in camp. From them we learned that, a few nights after we left Landshut, four of the fellows had escaped. They had all been caught, however, four or five days later. They made fifteen American officers, who, to my personal knowledge, had escaped, and all had been recaptured. This was a bad average, but none had made the attempt

when as near the border as Villingen is.

The weather was already growing cold, and I realized that the time for making the attempt, without hazarding the winter weather, was getting short. In spite of my effort to keep myself in condition, I found that my confinement had softened as well as delayed me. I walked miles and miles inside the camp in order to harden myself. After a few rainy days it cleared, and I went out on the first honor walk. I learned from the Russians that a few weeks of good weather might be expected. The moon was dark. It would be much more dangerous to go in moonlight, and it would be winter before the next dark of the moon. All these things indicated that now was the time.

I talked to Lieutenant H. C. Tichenor, better known among us as "Tich,' and found him of my mind, willing to go any length to try it. We shook hands on it and went to work. It was then Thursday, October 3. Monday we would get a new food-issue, and we determined to be ready to break Monday night. We proposed to go right out of our window and over that barrier some way; get as good a start on the guard as possible, and chance the rest.

The bottoms of our beds were made of planks running lengthwise. These were strong boards one inch thick, eight inches wide, and seven feet long. From these I thought that we should be able to construct some means of scaling the barrier. Tich was a good engineer. We could not drive nails, of course, nor could we make any large show of work - for the interpreter dropped in on us every hour or two, and his eye was keen; therefore we worked out and drew our design on paper. We took the boards out one at a time, while some one stood watch for us; bored the necessary holes and did the necessary cutting on each; and replaced them under the beds, where they remained until the

last moment, when we took them out and quietly put them together with wire, like putting up ready-made wooden barracks. Albertson, who was good at map-drawing, drew the map I used. From a Russian officer I bought a Russian overcoat and cap. I considered this a fair disguise, as well as necessary cover, because the silhouette at night would be the same as that of the German uniform. Also, if I should accidentally be seen in the daytime, a Russian prisoner at liberty is common enough in Germany not to attract suspicion if he does not act suspiciously. Again, in the guise of a Russian prisoner I would not be expected to speak German.

There was in camp a Russian who, by ways and means known only to himself, could produce anything you wanted if you had the price. I went to him for a compass. Tich had a good one, but I thought that we should both be fully equipped. I also bought a big springback knife and a twenty-mark bill. For the twenty marks in German money I gave thirty marks canteen money.

There were several other men who were planning to escape, and knowing that, when one escaped, there would be an inspection which would catch those preparing, we determined to make our break all together. Willis and Isaacs had discovered a means to short-circuit all the lights of the camp. We planned to put them all out, and as this was done, to break at once at our different points. They certainly could not stop all of us. Isaacs, Battle, and Tucker were to break out of one window, Tichenor and I another, and a third bunch still another. All three of the windows were along the southern side of the camp. Willis, Wardle, Chalmers, and some others, disguised as Germans, were to slip into the quarters of the guard and await the alarm raised by our escape, and then, as these guards were turned out to chase us, they

would rush out the open gate with the Huns.

Almost all the Americans had a hand in it in some way. The men who were to put out the lights were not going to try to escape themselves. As a means of short-circuiting the lights, chains of wire were made, with a weight on both ends. These were to be thrown over the uninsulated wires where they came into camp. It was rather a long throw, but several chains were made in case of a miss. Some other fellows were to raise false alarms at other parts of the camp, to distract the guards.

Sunday morning we learned that all the Russians would be sent away Monday. We knew that this would cause an inspection of quarters and our plans would be discovered. We therefore determined to make the break Sunday night. Having expected to leave Monday night after the food-issue, several of us were short of food-supplies. I had traded off so much of mine for my compass and other equipment, that I had practically none. We could not wait, however, and as it turned out, it was probably a good thing that I was no more heavily loaded, even with food. I had my sugar, however, and from the other boys I got four boxes of hard-tack and one opened can of hash. The lights inside our barracks were turned out every night at ten-thirty. Our plan was to short-circuit the others a few moments after that; and the putting out of the outside lights would be the signal to go.

Sunday night, before ten-thirty, Tich and I had cut loose the bars in our window, had taken the prepared slats from our beds and put them together, making a strong and solid run-board fourteen feet long, and were ready.

At ten-thirty the lights in our quarters went out. I put on my Russian cap and overcoat, pinning up the tail to prevent its catching on the wire, and

slung on my haversack with my small food-supply and so forth. Tich and I took our run-board to the window. A messenger came to ask if we were ready. We told him we were. I was to go out of the window first, with the head of the run-board. Tich was to feed it out the window to me, coming out himself as the back end came out. I was to put the end on the fence and go over, Tich coming over behind me. We had selected a rendezvous outside in case we became separated.

About ten minutes elapsed before anything happened. This time we spent, quite nervously, of course, right at the window. Then the outer lights began to sputter and went out. We pulled the curtain down from the window, bent back the bars, which, though remaining in place, had been cut loose during the night, and the window was cleared for the go. The guard, who appeared to have noticed something suspicious about our window during the evening, was standing directly in front. When he saw the lights go out, he knew, of course, that something was up, and uttering a little exclamation plainly audible to us, who were so near him, pulled his rifle down from his back and got it ready for action. With the lights out, things were not clearly visible, but the outline of a man was easily distinguishable within fifty yards or less.

Seeing that the guard stood right in front, I thought it advisable to wait and see what he would do on hearing the noise of the other parties, who I knew would then start out, hoping that he would move from his position of such advantage. In a few seconds I heard the wire screech, and the guard below shoot off his gun and blow his whistle. This guard, however, did not move. I knew then that the time had come to go, or we would soon be caught. I shoved the ladder partially out of the window and jumped out myself. The ground

was about seven feet below the window. Tichenor fed the ladder out to me, and came out with the rear end. I threw it against the fence, and immediately started over.

The guard standing directly in front saw me, of course, and the instant that I started over the fence challenged me. I paid no attention to him, and he challenged me a second time just as I reached the top of the fence. I jumped down on the outside. I thus stood just outside the fence, the guard about fifteen feet in front of me and facing me. At an angle to my left, and about half-way between us, stood a large tree. I jumped behind this tree. The guard saw me go behind it and waited. I looked back and saw Tichenor then outside the barracks and inside the fence. I saw the other guard on this beat coming from about thirty yards to the left of me. I knew that I could not keep one tree between me and two guards very long, and that the only chance that Tichenor possibly had of getting out was to come over while I had the guard occupied.

I did not intend to give myself up, so after a few seconds I jumped out from behind the tree and dashed past the guard. I passed within about three steps of the nearest and about twenty of the other. The nearest guard challenged me just as I dashed by him. I did not heed him, but tried to run in as much of a zig-zag course as I could without losing forward speed. He challenged a second time. By that time I had got probably six or seven steps farther, and he fired. The other guard, who had said nothing, also fired at me at the same time. The bullets passed quite near me, but neither touched me. Just as quickly as they could breech their guns, they fired again. Of course, I was not standing round waiting for . them to breech those guns. Just as the second shots were fired, both at the same time again, I stumbled into a