But he was quite safe from us; not that we were afraid of either him or his gun, for I think I could have swung suddenly around on him and got his gun away from him, while Edwards cut our cords with the knife which was in my little package.  I think he knew that we could do this, and that is why he was so frightened.

But there was one big reason which caused us to walk quietly and peaceably forward to take our punishment, and that was the river Ems, with its cruel sweep of icy water and its guarded bridges.  We knew it was impossible to cross it at this season of the year, so the guard was safe.  We would not resist him, but already we were planning our next escape when the flood had subsided and the summer had come to warm the water.

He had a malicious spirit, this guard, and when we came to Vehnemoor and were put in our cells, he wanted our overcoats taken from us, although the cells were as cold as outside.  The Sergeant of the guard objected to this, and said we were not being punished, but only held here, and therefore we should not be deprived of our coats.  Several times that night, when we stamped up and down to keep from freezing, I thought of the guard and his desire that our coats should be taken from us, and I wondered what sort of training or education could produce as mean a spirit as that!  Surely, I thought, he must have been cruelly treated, to be so hard of heart—­or probably he knew that the way of promotion in the German army is to show no softness of spirit.

But the morning came at last, and we were taken before the Commandant, and wondered what he would have to say to us.  We were pretty sure that we had not “retained his friendship.”

He did not say much to us when we were ushered into his little office and stood before his desk.  He spoke, as before, through an interpreter.  He looked thin and worried, and, as usual, the questions were put to us—­“Why did we want to leave?” “What reason had we?  Was it the food, or was it because we had to work?”

[Illustration:  Friedrichsfeld Prison-Camp in Winter]

We said it was not for either of these; we wanted to regain our freedom; we were free men, and did not want to be held in an enemy country; besides, we were needed!

We could see the Commandant had no interest in our patriotic emotions.  He merely wanted to wash his hands of us, and when we said it was not on account of the poor food, or having to work, I think he breathed easier.  Would we sign a paper—­he asked us then—­to show this?  And we said we would.  So the paper was produced and we signed it, after the interpreter had read and explained it to us.

In the cells the food was just the same as we had had before, in the regular prison-camp.  They seemed to have an inexhaustible supply of that soup.  We wondered if there was a flowing well of it somewhere in the bog.  The food was no worse, but sometimes the guards forgot us.  The whole camp seemed to be running at loose ends, and sometimes the guards did not come near us for half a day, but we were not so badly off as they thought, for we got in things from our friends.