One of our party fell a victim to chronic asthma, and was isolated, being given a room under the officer’s quarters.  Someone was required to accompany him to extend assistance and constant surveillance, and selection fell upon me.  Locking myself in this room at night, with my sick companion, I used to while away the time preparing some rough notes which I was keeping for a specific purpose in addition to the diary proper, which, however, I left in its original hiding-place.

By some means or other the guard suspected my engagement in some such task.  They made several surprise entrances but failed to catch me in the act of writing.  The heavy tread of their coming feet always gave me ample warning so that I could get my notes into safe hiding.  But one night they burst open the door suddenly and I was caught red-handed.  On my knees was my pad at which I was writing feverishly.  But the pad was inscribed with notes which I regarded as of an emergency character.  Realising the object of their unexpected entry I clapped the pad on the table, thus covering up the prepared and detailed notes which I desired to keep.  The guard sprang forward delirious with joy at having made a capture, snatched the loose sheets from the pad, and went off in high glee to report my heinous offence.  But the man in his haste left the proper notes on the table.  He was too thick-brained to think for a moment that I should ever trouble to prepare two diaries, one for myself and one for capture if detected, so I still held the treasured original, which I instantly hid away safely.

As luck would have it not a word was included in the captured notes to offer written evidence of my private and candid opinion of my captors, their methods and our life.  The fact that I had written nothing detrimental to the authorities apparently appeased the Commandant, notwithstanding the enormity of my delinquency.  At all events I received nothing worse than a stern admonition and threats of severe punishment if I were caught infringing the regulations again, to all of which I listened humbly, but with my tongue in my cheek.

My diary was posted up fully in due course, and what is more to the point I got the voluminous and incriminating evidence away from Sennelager.  At a later date I became somewhat apprehensive as to its safety, and was anxious to get it to England.  For some time I was baffled in my efforts, but at last a friendly neutral offered to take it and to see that it was delivered to my friend who has chronicled this story, to whom I had addressed it.  This diary wandered about Germany considerably, the person in question preferring to make haste slowly to disarm all suspicion.  At last the neutral, after having been searched several times without yielding anything incriminating, got as far as the frontier.  About to pass into the adjacent friendly country the carrier was detained, and by some mischance the diary happened to be unearthed.