CHAPTER XXIV

A PRISONER IN GERMAN HANDS

A prisoner: and to the Germans! The very thought was a horror. And these people treated me badly from the first, as they appear to treat all their prisoners. Twice I fell on account of the state of my feet, and was dragged along the ground. The clothes were nearly torn from my back; and my revolver, which I had hitherto contrived to keep, was discovered and confiscated. Very fortunately I had hidden my money, and this was not found by the men, though they carefully turned out all my pockets. When they had done with me I was left with a comb, my rags, and the last few of my English sovereigns.

At dusk we arrived at the still-smoking ruins of a hamlet. One or two houses near by were still intact, and occupied by a dismounted party of the Uhlans, some twenty men in number.

I was taken to the top of the house, and locked in a room with eight other prisoners, six Russian soldiers belonging to the artillery and 98th regiment; and two peasants. There was some straw on the floor on which the soldiers were lying. They made room for me, and spoke to me; but when they found I could not speak more than a few sentences of their language, I seemed to become an object of suspicion to them.

I was tired, and my feet gave me great pain, so that I was glad to lie down and remain quiet. Sleep I could not; partly because of my misery, partly because the two countrymen prayed continually and frantically all through the night. Strange; but I did not guess the reason till daybreak, when they were fetched out by a Uhlan guard; and the other prisoners crowded to the two windows. I got a place at one of them to see what was going on.

I saw the two peasants brought into the courtyard of the house and blindfolded. They were then placed against a wall, where one of them fell to his knees. He was brutally kicked until he stood up again, when he leaned against the wall, rocking himself in agony of spirit. The other man stood stolid, like a statue, probably paralyzed by fear. Only three soldiers to each man formed the firing-party, and neither of the prisoners was killed outright. One of them screamed horribly, the other tried to rise to his feet. A non-commissioned officer stepped forward very deliberately, and blew their brains out one after the other. The whole terrible scene affected me so greatly that I could not forbear hissing, in which I was joined by the soldiers. There was no glass in the windows, so the Germans plainly heard us; and shortly afterwards a party of them came into the room, and beat us with sticks until I thought they meant to murder us. I used my fists pretty freely, until I was knocked senseless.

When I came to, I found that breakfast had been served, consisting of a can of dirty water for each man, and about half a pound of black bread of the consistence of putty. We were not allowed to leave the room all day; and the place stank abominably. Another meal was served in the afternoon, it consisted, like the former one, of half a pound of wet bread, and a few ounces of fat mutton. The drink was water of so filthy an appearance that only dire necessity compelled me to swallow a few mouthfuls of it. We were granted no facilities for personal cleanliness.

Early the next morning we were fetched out and paraded, and I saw that the Uhlans were ready for a march. An officer began to question me in Russian. I said, in French, that I could not speak Russian. "Are you French?" he asked in surprise. "No." "What are you then?" I blurted out that I was an Englishman; and expected that I had committed myself. It was an agreeable surprise when the officer said that he had spent twelve years in England, and had always been well treated there. He immediately became very friendly, gave me cigars, sent into the house for the remains of a sausage and some good bread, was sorry that they had no tea or coffee, but gave me half a bottle of champagne instead. Again I had met with one of those lucky chances that have, from time to time, lightened the burden of life.

When I explained to Captain Eshricke (this is how he pronounced his name) the condition of my feet, he very kindly ordered that I should be permitted to ride my horse; but he first exacted a promise that I would not attempt to escape. I was compelled to give this promise, though I did so with some reluctance. I also persuaded him to permit my fellow-prisoners to ride in a country cart, as they were in a very tired condition, and it is difficult for infantry to keep up with cavalry even when going at a foot pace.

I made no reference to the shooting of the two prisoners, but later the Captain himself adverted to it. "You saw those two fellows shot this morning? They deserved it. They set fire to those buildings to burn us out, and were caught red-handed."

I do not know if this were true; but it could hardly justify the terrible beating to which we had been subjected, and some of the effects of which I felt for many weeks afterwards. But one cannot argue with kings and Germans; and I had cause to think that "All's well that ends well," although I received no apology.

In war, and in this war in particular, a still tongue makes a safe head, and I did not think it wise to be too inquisitive, considering that I might find it difficult to establish my position if I were asked who and what I was, and what had brought me to Poland. I had seen that morning that even a Captain of Uhlans could make short work of people he chose to consider offenders. But I did venture to ask Eshricke if he had any objection to tell me where he was going to take me. "Not far," was his laconic reply.

We travelled northward: I had little doubt then that we were making for the Prussian frontier, which, I calculated, could not be many miles away. So far as I could see, the Uhlans were a flying-party on observation duty, with no immediate supports in the neighbourhood; although I was sufficiently acquainted with German military tactics to be quite sure the Captain knew where to find reinforcements when he required them. The squadron was not nearly at war strength, consisting of less than seventy mounted men and eighteen who had lost their horses, and followed us in three military carts. That their losses had occurred in recent fighting was shown by the thirteen or fourteen wounded men amongst them, as well as by the absence of their horses. Many of the men were repulsive-looking ruffians; and what their dispositions were like was shown by more than one unpleasant incident during the march. Here is one example of German playfulness:

We entered a small village (Prajashzhol, according to Eshricke), rather as a surprise, I think; for the inhabitants had not fled, or hidden themselves. It seemed to be market-day here, and there were carts and stalls in the little square. Some of these began to depart hastily on sight of the Uhlans; but the soldiers dismounted, and made purchases, for which they paid in German coin. There was nothing to comment on in this act; for, I believe, Russian and German money is interchangeable on the border lands, and is freely accepted, and tendered, by the peoples of the two countries. But there was there a young Polish girl selling cakes. The day was warm, and she had no cloak or cape on; and her hair hung down her back, plaited into two thick tresses. While two of the Uhlans were buying cakes, a third went behind, and suddenly seized her tresses, and giving them a sharp tug, pulled her down backwards so that she lay flat on the ground, half-dazed by the shock. This unmanly act caused much merriment amongst the soldiers, who laughed heartily, though the poor girl (she was about twenty) was hurt, and cried when she was helped up. This was considered a joke--what a Uhlan in temper is like may be surmised. The young girls and women seemed to know; for they disappeared very speedily, but not before several of them had been grossly insulted. Nor did the men fare any better. Disputes soon occurred, and I saw two of the peasants knocked down, and a third cut across the face with a whip. Another was chased into a house by a Uhlan with a drawn sword, and perhaps killed: I do not know.

Nearly all the soldiers were soon drunk: their proper state, perhaps, as a tipsy German is generally less irritable and arrogant than a sober one, and certainly less mischievous. On the whole I think less harm was done at Prajashzhol than the Germans usually inflicted on places that had the misfortune to receive a visit from them. There were no cases of incendiarism, and the women were not subjected to the worst forms of insult. There was some violence, and plundering was rife; though many of the men paid for what they took.

About this time I noticed that there was a great increase in the number of aeroplanes and airships hovering over the country. I usually saw one or two every day, mostly German craft; on this 21st April I saw no fewer than six, and one Zeppelin. They were making an attack on a Russian position about five miles away; but it was not successful--few such attacks are. One of the aeroplanes dropped no doubt within the Russian lines; and another soon after it had retired and flown over our heads. Both machines came down slowly. I saw the two men who worked the one that fell near us. The aviator was badly knocked about, and his face much cut; but I do not think that he was dangerously hurt. The mechanic was not so much injured: the aeroplane was wrecked.

The Zeppelin seemed to be injured; but she got away and sailed out of sight. We distinctly heard the reports of the exploding bombs dropped by these craft, and explosions of the Russian guns fired at them. I rejoiced to learn my friends were so near, and hoped that I might be released by some lucky chance, but this did not occur.

There was plenty of food at Prajashzhol--pork, fowls, ducks, bread, beef and mutton, and vodka; but vegetables were scarce, even potatoes; and wine there was none. I filled my haversack with sufficient food to last three or four days, and procured a new coat of rough material.

While we were bivouacking in the market-place, a vidette galloped in with some news which caused Captain Eshricke to mount in hot haste, and we literally bolted from the village. The dismounted men and the six Russian prisoners were left behind with their carts, and were, no doubt, retaken by the pursuing Russians, the first of whom appeared as we passed the last houses of the village street. I tried to lag behind, but the Captain swore he would shoot me if I did not urge my horse forward; and one of the Uhlans pricked the animal with his lance, causing it to rear and dash forward wildly. I would have fallen off, but there were too many men behind me. I should have been trampled to death, and probably speared into the bargain. For they are nasty-tempered fellows are the Germans when things are running counter to them; and the first Cossacks that appeared were only half a dozen men, and they held back until they were reinforced: indeed, they did not make a very energetic pursuit. They probably knew that there was a strong force of the enemy at hand, and feared they would be trapped.

I soon learned that the Uhlans in whose hands I was, and who belonged to the 12th regiment, formed part of the advanced guard of a whole army corps. At nightfall we came to a force of infantry, whose numbers I could not estimate, it was so considerable, and covered so wide a range of country.

The Captain handed me over to the first outpost we reached, and I was sent to the rear under escort of an infantry file. My horse was taken from me, and my feet were so painful that I could scarcely hobble along. But no mercy was shown me. I was compelled to walk a distance of about four English miles. Then we came to a small cottage which was being used as a guard-house. Here I was blindfolded, and again marched on, I could not tell in what direction, for quite an hour, when we arrived at another house. I then found, from the sounds, that I was in the presence of several officers who were interrogating my captors.

Then the bandage was taken from my eyes, and I was searched. The officers carefully examined my papers, and the one who seemed to be the chief spat out, rather than spoke, so great was his venom:

"So you are an English spy, you dog!"

I said I was not a spy; but had been honourably fighting with the Russians, and was captured in company with a Russian soldier who was killed at the time.

"Don't you know that foreigners are not permitted to fight in the Russian Army?" asked the officer.

I said that I did not know anything of the kind; but I had been fighting in the Russian ranks.

"Spying in the Russian ranks," said this man, who spoke perfect English. "Have you any defence to make?"

"I do not admit that a true charge has been made against me, or that I have need to make a defence. I am, practically, a Russian soldier," I replied.

"Oh!" said the officer, very sarcastically. "Have you any evidence that you were regularly enlisted in the Russian ranks, which we know to be impossible?"

"I do not say I was 'enlisted.' The papers you have taken from me prove that I held honourable relations with the Russian Army, and that I have fought with it for a period of nine months."

The man looked through my papers again. Those written in Russian he evidently could not read; but he sent for a soldier, having the appearance of an orderly-room clerk, who translated them to the officers.

"Bah! They are only passports to enable you to carry on your nefarious business. You are a spy," he said; and deliberately tore the whole of the papers to shreds, which he cast on the floor.

My indignation was so hot that I exclaimed: "You scoundrel!"

"What!" he shouted. "You d----d Englishman! You shall be shot to-morrow morning. Take him away."

"You are a cowardly murderer!" I replied fiercely.

I did not get an opportunity to say more; for my guards hauled me away with great roughness, and took me to a house which seemed to be used as a prison; for at least a hundred persons were crowded into it. Two-thirds of these were Russian soldiers; the remainder were civilians of various grades, including one woman, a lady of mature years; and one man was nursing a young child.

Was there ever a more horrible way of conducting war? Women, children, harmless citizens and honourable soldiers, treated as felons! Is there to be a retribution for this cruelty and wickedness?

It would be waste of time to pause and inquire what were the probable charges against these civilians. What are the charges against a bandit's victims? The revolutionists of '93 splashed blood on the walls of their cities: BLOOD should be splashed on the brows of the German monsters who have deluged Europe with it.

I believed that my last day had come. I had seen too much of the German method with prisoners to entertain the least hope of escape. I need not trouble to record my feelings: they were not pleasant emotions.

Those in the room were passing their time in various ways. Some were asleep on chairs, or lying on the floor in corners. So many were smoking that the place was full of blue, hazy smoke. The woman, with bowed head, seemed dazed with wretchedness, the child was whimpering. From the way in which many of the men stared at me, I thought that they knew that I was appointed to die. One party devoted as much attention to me as they did to the cards they were playing. The guard numbered a dozen men, who occupied an ante-room, were laughing, talking noisily, and singing beastly songs; a circumstance that convinced me that the house occupied an isolated position, not near any body of troops commanded by an officer above subaltern rank, who would soon have put a stop to the ribaldry. These things did not occur to me just at the moment; but they flashed on my mind later, when a certain incident occurred.

I suppose it was about midnight; but there was no means of telling the time. Many of the guard-soldiers were dozing; the rest had quieted down, but were talking together, and not taking particular notice of the prisoners.

Two of the men who were playing cards got up, and came and stood in front of me. One of them, first looking round to see that the soldiers were not observing him, pointed his thumb at them, and winked; then he made a gesture of striking a terrific blow. He looked at me inquiringly; and I thought I comprehended what he meant, and nodded acquiescence. He replied by a nod of satisfaction; and he and his companion retired to the far end of the room.

What they seemed to propose to do was a desperate act. They appeared to intend to rush past the guards, knocking down any who attempted to oppose them, and so get away. I made up my mind that, since death must come, I would rather die making a desperate effort for my life than wait an hour or two longer to be led out in the grey dawn, tied up and shot like a dog. At that moment I was strung up to such a pitch of nerve that no action could be too desperate for me to attempt.

There was a yard attached to the house, which the prisoners were permitted to use, as occasion required. It was approached by a short passage from the guardroom; and a sentry was posted in the yard to prevent prisoners escaping over the wall, which was nine or ten feet high.

Presently the two men I have mentioned, both of them soldiers of the Russian artillery, went out, one of them raising his hand slightly as he passed through the door. I nodded to intimate that I would come. I was beginning to perceive more clearly what was intended. I followed at once. As I entered the yard one of the prisoners quietly shut the door behind me. The sentry began to speak, probably protesting, as I think only one or two prisoners at a time were permitted to enter the yard. Before he had well opened his mouth one of the prisoners sprang on him from behind and clasped his throat; the other threw himself on him in front and tore his rifle out of his hands. He was lifted off his feet and held across the knees of one of the prisoners. He could not utter any sound except a smothered gurgle, but he kicked desperately. I saw what was wanted of me, and clasped his legs with all my strength. So we held him till he died.

Then the prisoners acted with the nimbleness of monkeys. One of them gave me a leg up the wall; I did not wait to see how they got up; it was a matter of life or death to act quickly. The three of us were over the wall and in the street in three seconds. I noticed that my companions had taken off their boots. I followed their example, and rushed up the street after them. It led out into the open country; and as there was some moonlight I rushed towards a patch of trees and bushes--a copse, I suppose. As I entered it I saw that one of the prisoners was already there. He immediately hid himself, and I did not see him or his companion again; nor do I know what became of them.

It was a very small wood; of some length, but not more than twenty or thirty yards wide. It will be inferred, though I have forgotten to actually say so, that there were lights in the prison-house. I could see these lights dimly showing through two of the blinded windows: and farther back I could see a single bright light. Probably this was in the town; and the town, I suppose, was Janow, which is Prussian, and situated on the frontier between that country and Poland. But this is merely a guess, based on the direction my captors had taken, and the situation in which I afterwards found myself. It may have been some large village, of the existence and name of which I was ignorant.

Although at the moment all was quiet, and there were no signs of movement behind, I could not hope that the discovery of our escape would be long delayed, and I saw the necessity of putting as great a distance as possible between myself and the enemy without a moment's delay.

I turned to the left, because that seemed the darkest part of the country, and ran as fast as I could; but even with the prospect of escape to urge me on, I could not run very fast owing to the crippled and painful state of my feet. In about half an hour I was compelled to sit down for a rest; and I tried to put my boots on. Owing to the swollen condition of my feet, occasioned by running rapidly over some stony ground, I found that I could not do this; and I bound up the injured members in tufts of grass which I gathered in one of the fields I passed across; and in this plight continued to walk until daylight.

The country I travelled over was fields and open ground. I crossed several roads and pathways, but was afraid to keep on them as I expected that pursuing parties would use them. The fields were exposed; and when light broke I dodged from bush to bush, or along the ditches. There are no hedges or fences in this country, the partitions of the ground being made by ditches. Trees or bushes, except in the woods, are very scarce; but there are a few along the courses of the brooks, which are numerous and often serve as boundaries to the fields. As they have deep banks, I often ran along their beds, especially as the water was grateful to my hot and painful feet; but I am not sure that I did wisely to resort to this method of obtaining ease; for afterwards I suffered so severely that I almost despaired of being able to continue my journey.

In this district farms and peasants' houses were tolerably numerous, and though I strove to avoid it, a woman at one of the cottages saw me, and beckoned with her hand. I thought it would be wise to stop, especially as her gestures were friendly. She took me by the sleeve and led me into the cottage, where two men were seated on benches at a rough table, eating their breakfast. A large jug of milk and some bread and meat were given to me, food I was much in need of, and while I was eating it the woman bathed my feet in warm water, and bound them in rags. They seemed so little taken by surprise at my appearance, that I fancied I was expected; and I am pretty sure that one, or both, of my fellow-prisoners had been there before me, and kindly put these people on the alert to assist me.

When I had finished eating, the woman pointed to a ladder leading to a loft, and motioned that I should ascend it, evidently intending that I should rest; but I preferred to put a greater distance between myself and the Germans; though I think it is unlikely that they would pursue a fugitive far into an enemy's country. So I thanked these kind people as well as I could, and went on my way. The men walked about two English miles with me, and pointed out a road I should take, leading to Przasnysz. I understood that well enough; and also that they blessed me in the name of the Trinity when we parted.

When I had gone some distance I looked back. The men were standing by some mounds which I guessed covered the remains of slain Russians, and were bareheaded and silently praying--a common custom in this country, where people more often address themselves to the Almighty in the open air than they do in houses.

The road was over an undulating plain, with a few willow-trees along the courses of the streams, but practically no cover for a person wishing to hide himself. I hurried on as fast as I could walk. By the time the sun was well up I was so tired that I was glad to creep into a fairly dry ditch, where I slept soundly until nearly evening time. Before resuming my journey I ate a small loaf which the woman had put in my pocket when I left the cottage in the morning. Then I took a road running eastwards to Ostrolenka, with the object of reaching the railway, and also in the hope that I should find Russian soldiers to whom I was known. There is no railway at Przasnysz: and though I believed that the last-named place was still in the hands of the Russians, I was not sure of it, and feared that, in any case, I should run great danger of meeting parties of the enemy in that direction. It so happened, however, that I saw patrols or scouts of the enemy on the road I had decided to take. They consisted of small bands of Uhlans and dragoons, the strongest of them not more than twenty troopers in number. They were probably flying parties, at a great distance from a base; but that circumstance made them none the less dangerous to me; and I spent the greater part of the day lurking in cover. It is a fortunate event some of these men did not discover me; for I was compelled to be content with very incomplete concealment. I escaped notice, but I had several very narrow escapes; and if the soldiers had been as alert as they ought to have been I should have been discovered. One man nearly rode over me as I lay crouching in a patch of sedge by the side of a tiny brook; and a squad of eight dragoons passed within four or five yards of me, giving me a very unpleasant shock, as I had no weapon for defence, except a stick I had broken from a tree. The Germans had stripped me of everything I carried, my money excepted; and that, fortunately, I had successfully hidden by stitching it, sovereign by sovereign, under a black braid stripe down the seam of my trousers.