Within a few minutes my brain was whirling madly, my head throbbed from my wound, while my face was bruised from colliding with the wall.  I was so giddy that I could not stand erect, while my eyes burned and ached as if they had been seared with a red-hot iron.  I fell upon the plank bed, but open flew the peep-hole and again rang out the ominous growl, “Pace!”

And this is what I was condemned to do hour after hour through the livelong day.  The only respite comes when meals are brought in and during the night, when the prisoner is left alone.  But throughout the day, from 6.30 in the morning to about 7 at night one must pursue the eternal round—­two paces forward, right about, two paces back, right about, and so on.  The punishment cannot be escaped; it is not suspended for illness until collapse comes to the relief of the hapless wretch.  It is a refinement of cruelty which probably is not to be found in any other country.  Little wonder that the continued dizziness and lack of ability to stretch the limbs bring about a complete nervous prostration and reduce the strongest man to a physical wreck within a very short time.  And if the hapless prisoner declines to answer the stern command “Pace!” then bayonet prodding, clubbing and head-cuffing are brought into action as a stimulant.

Ages seemed to have passed before the door opened again, although as a matter of fact, there is only about 4-1/2 hours between the mid-day and the afternoon meals.  I lost all account of time, even during the first day of my incarceration.  An hour’s pacing seemed like weeks.  This time the gaoler brought me another basin containing a greenish liquid, very much like the water in which cabbages are cooked, accompanied by a hunk of black bread.

The method of serving the meals is distinctly German.  The gaoler opens the door.  He places the food on the ground at the entrance and pushes it along the floor into the cell as if the inmate were a leper.  I tasted this repast, but it was even more noisome than the dinner, so I placed it beside the bowl which I had first received, and which with its spoon was left with me.  Even if one could have swallowed it I should not have received a very sustaining meal, seeing that it had to suffice until 5.30 the next morning—­13 hours without food.  Moreover the food is served out sparingly.  It is not designed to nourish the frame, but is just sufficient to keep it going though with depreciating strength.

Daylight waned to give way to the blackness of night and in my cell I could not see my hand before my face.  Yet darkness was not an unmitigated evil.  It did bring relief from the enforced pacing for which I was devoutly thankful.  Although torn with hunger I was so exhausted as to jump at the opportunity to lie down.  But the planks were hard, and being somewhat slender in build my thighs speedily became sore.  My brain from the fiendish exercise refused to stop spinning.  I was like a drunken man and