It was a vile night.  A terrific thunderstorm was raging, and the rain was falling in torrents.  After dispatching their message my two friends resumed their vigil beside my bed, hoping against hope that Dr. Ascher would call early the following morning.

About midnight the mad galloping of a horse was heard faintly above the wail of the wind and the fusillade of the mad downpour upon our hollow-sounding roof.  The sounds drew nearer to stop outside our barrack door.  A hurried conversation was heard, and the next moment, to the surprise of my two friends, the door opened to admit Dr. Ascher.  The rain was pouring off him in tiny rivulets and he cheerily confessed that he was soaked to the skin.  But he pooh-poohed the idea that he had taken too much trouble.  A fellow-creature was in peril and he could not, as a doctor, resist the call which had been sent.  He stayed with me some time, told my companions exactly what to do, and then went out again into the rainstorm with the parting intimation that he would return within a few hours, and would arrange for my instant transference to the hospital.

At six he was back again.  By this time I had recovered from my delirium and felt somewhat better, although exceedingly weak.  He chatted with me, told me I was far worse than I either looked or felt, and insisted upon my going into hospital.  I demurred, as I preferred to be among my chums.  But he was not to be gainsaid, and so I had reluctantly to be carried into bed.  He came to see me frequently during the day, and even went so far as to assume the responsibility of telegraphing to Berlin demanding my instant release as my demise seemed very probable.  But this request was curtly refused, mainly, so I discovered afterwards, because I was imprisoned upon the charge of espionage.  The circumstance that this charge was still hanging over my head came as an ugly eye-opener to me.  I thought from my transference from Wesel to Sennelager that I had been acquitted of this accusation.  Of course I had never received any official intimation to this effect, but on the other hand I had never received a sentence.  This revelation worried me somewhat sorely because I could see possibilities about which I scarcely dared to think, as well as complications untold looming ahead.

I must have been in a very precarious condition the previous night because a member of a well-known British family who had been interned at Sennelager, but who secured his release about this time, very kindly sought out one of my relatives upon his return home, to whom he communicated particulars concerning my illness and serious condition.  He hesitated to notify my wife directly, preferring to leave it to my relative to convey the unwelcome news in the manner considered to be the most advisable.  For this kindly action, of which I was apprised after my transference from Sennelager, I have ever been extremely thankful, but up to the present I have successfully evaded all the most insidious attempts made by my German captors to secure my premature decease by undermining my health.