“Here!  None of that,” they bawled.  “Military and civilians must not talk together!” saying which they bundled the soldiers away and evidently reported our offence.  At least our guards came up shortly afterwards, marshalled us, and led us through a small wood into a low-lying field.  It was apparently another fiendish inspiration of Major Bach to confine us here, because the field was nothing but a swamp.  It was not so soddened as to allow the feet to sink ankle deep into the mire, but was like a wet sponge.  It was impossible to sit down or one would have got wet through.

We were left standing in this uninviting quagmire for four solid hours.  The interpreters were pestered unmercifully to secure us something to eat and to drink, but they were as helpless as ourselves.  They were well-nigh distracted at the ugly turn which things were taking.  Matters were certainly becoming alarming among the weaker prisoners, who were now in a pitiable condition.

It was not until five o’clock in the afternoon that the authorities suddenly remembered us.  Then we were lined up to secure some food.  But we passed three hours in that queue only to receive a small dole of filthy looking thin cabbage soup.  This was all that had passed our lips since the wretched black coffee served fifteen hours before!

Yet we were thankful for such a meagre mouthful.  We were all so famished that we took no heed of the noisomeness of the ration.  Now we began to grow anxious as to the arrangements for enabling us to pass the night.  Our interpreters had been questioning one or two of the younger officers who were mounting guard over us in this field.

“Oh!  That’ll be all right,” was the retort.  “We’re going to put you into tents!”

“But where are the tents?” persisted the interpreters, looking around wonderingly.

“Oh,” was the evasive reply, “they have commenced to put them up.  But we find we shall not get all the tents for a few days.  They haven’t come in yet!  You’ll be a bit crowded at first but it’ll soon be straightened out.”

Again our faces fell.  We had been turned out of our barracks before our tents had been procured.  This was a dismal look-out, but we hoped that, as the officers said they were putting up tents, we should be able to squeeze under cover, if in discomfort.

We were lined up again in the twilight to receive marching orders.  We were escorted into the field, which is set upon the side of a hill, and as we swung into this space we could not suppress an exclamation.  The field was alive with men.  All the other prisoners had been evicted from their barracks, and had been turned into this open enclosure.  The hill-side was black, with a sullen, heaving, listless mass of humanity, numbering over 1,500 all told, and of every conceivable enemy (to Germany) nationality.  We scanned the field for a glimpse of the tents, but the only signs of canvas we could see was one large marquee which was lying on the ground ready for erection upon the brow of the hill.