\ AN ACCOUNT 
 1 OFOUR ' 
 1\ ARRESTING ^ 
 \\ EXPERIENCES 4'' 
 
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AN ACCOUNT OF 
 OUR ARRESTING EXPERIENCES 
 
 BY 
 CONWAY EVANS 
 
 PRIVATELY PRINTED 
 1914 
 
ID 6^ 
 
 \One Hundred Copies printed'] 
 
 D. B. Updike^ The Merrymount Press^ Boston 
 
 ^"^'lin^l 
 
TO MY TWO PLUCKY LITTLE 
 FELLOW PRISONERS 
 
AN ACCOUNT OF 
 OUR ARRESTING EXPERIENCES 
 
WE had been travelling for many 
 weeks, — Lyra Nickerson, Kather- 
 ine Seller mer horn, and I, — and after a beau- 
 tiful tour through Germany, we arrived at 
 Berlin on the evening of July 29, 1914. We 
 had planned to spend a few days there pre- 
 paratory to embarking at Hamburg in the 
 Viktoria Luise for a northern cruise, and 
 were looking forward to a short stay in the 
 splendid capital. When we had secured our 
 rooms at the Hotel Adlon , we found to our dis- 
 may that Kitty's box had not come through 
 from Dresden, our last stopping-place. I 
 went downstairs and interviewed the porter. 
 He explained that, owing to the talk of war, 
 many people were leaving their summer 
 quarters, so that traffic was considerably con- 
 gested. In this wise did the litde cloud appear 
 upon our horizon. 
 
 The following morning (Thursday) we 
 went sightseeing, and in the afternoon — as 
 Lyra was not feeling well — Kitty and I each 
 went our own way. At five o'clock we met 
 in the hall of the Adlon, where we had tea 
 
 [ 1 ] 
 
with her cousin, Mr. Gear, and his friend, 
 Mr. Cluett. Later she and I went to a su- 
 perb concert at the Frederichshain and heard 
 Thornberg, the vioHnist. 
 
 On Friday morning a little German friend 
 whom I had not seen for many years came 
 to visit me. I asked her if war were likely. 
 She replied: '' Certainly not. All danger is 
 now over." This was encouraging, for I 
 thought she knew what she was talking 
 about. 
 
 In the afternoon we hired an automobile, 
 and motored out to Potsdam. Then when we 
 were outside the old Palace we heard that 
 the Kaiser's " strong-for-peace " policy had 
 been of no avail, that the Czar had insulted 
 his messenger, and that now war was 
 inevitable. We ourselves, chameleon-like, 
 assumed the German colour. We believed 
 what we were told, and felt sorry for the man 
 who was called upon unwillingly to shed his 
 nation's blood. On our way back to the hotel 
 Kitty and I went to see Mr. Schermerhorn's 
 cousin. Miss Barber, and then we realized 
 
 [ 2 ] 
 
the immediate gravity of the situation . She 
 told us that now war must come, and she 
 also told us that the Viktoria Luise would not 
 sail. With quickened pulses we drove back 
 to the Adlon, where the lounge was crowded 
 with buzzing, excited people. Then we 
 dressed, and went to the ^'Admiral's Pa- 
 last" to see the exquisite Ice Ballet. While 
 we were admiring the skating, and sympa- 
 thizing with the fascinating Pierrot whose 
 heart was broken by the cruelty of the 
 dainty jointed Doll, we were able to forget 
 grim reality — to forget that the bonds that 
 had held captive the great Fiend were being 
 cut, and that he was yawning after his long 
 sleep, and stretching his cramped limbs. 
 
 The following morning Lyra realized the 
 desirability of leaving Europe and of rais- 
 ing funds. She ordered the car, and we went 
 to the office of the Holland American Line 
 to try and secure the Imperial Suite, but 
 without avail: no passages were to be had. 
 Then we drove to five banks, and cashed a 
 certain amount of her letter of credit at each 
 [ 3 ] 
 
one. At the Dresdener Bank she was in- 
 formed that the Czar might capitulate even 
 yet, and that in any case there would be 
 three days of peace. Thereupon our spirits 
 rose, and we began to make wild schemes. 
 Even if Germany and Russia did go to war, 
 why should we not tour in the Ardennes? 
 Belgium would be a nice quiet neutral coun- 
 try to remain in, till we could secure passage 
 to America. 
 
 In the afternoon we drove out to Schmock- 
 witz and spent a placid time on the Miggel- 
 see, but when we returned to Berlin we found 
 the Unter der Linden seething with dense 
 crowds of excited people and the whole at- 
 mosphere charged with electricity. At dinner 
 Mr. Gear came up to our table. ''You had 
 better get out of this as soon as you can," 
 he said. "There is going to be trouble at 
 once." 
 
 Sunday morning Kitty was awakened 
 
 very early by a stormy altercation in the room 
 
 next to hers. She knocked on the wall, but no 
 
 notice was taken of her remonstrance. After 
 
 [ 4 ] 
 
we had had breakfast, Lyra went downstairs 
 and chartered an auto for 750 marks. The 
 owner would not promise to take us farther 
 than Hannover, owing to the difficuhy of pro- 
 curing petrol, and moreover both car and 
 chauffeur were required in a couple of days 
 formiUtary duty. We consulted a large map, 
 and decided to motor via Hannover to Os- 
 nabriick, and then go on to the frontier, 
 wherever that might be. 
 
 When I had finished packing I rang for 
 the porter to strap my trunk, but he did not 
 come. Icontinued ringing with much vigour, 
 and finally the nice little housemaid appeared 
 on the scene and a flood of volubility broke 
 over me. The porter was busy. He could not 
 come. All Russians in the hotel were being 
 arrested as criminals, for Russians had fired 
 on a frontier town and war was declared. 
 The hotel had been full of detectives for 
 several days, and one ^'criminal" had had 
 the room next to our suite. This piece of 
 information explained the noise in No. 140. 
 Theoccupant had evidently rebelled at being 
 [ 5 ] 
 
arrested so early in the morning ! When I 
 passed his room his captors were waiting 
 for him, and he was calmly finishing off 
 his toilette. The big lounge of the hotel 
 was like a hive of swarming bees, and poor 
 Mr. Louis Adlon looked simply worn out 
 with worry; but he was so kind and cour- 
 teous ! I shall never forget all the trouble he 
 took for us. 
 
 We got off at about 12.30 in a magnifi- 
 cent Benz, driven by one of the best-looking 
 boys imaginable. The hand luggage was 
 piled inside the car, so I sat outside. It was a 
 lovely morning, and we all felt duly thrilled 
 over our dramatic departure. The crowds 
 were dense, and cars stacked with luggage 
 like ours were shooting off in every direction. 
 As on the previous day, the very air seemed 
 charged with electricity, but when we were 
 once in the country, all seemed peaceful and 
 calm, and one asked one's self: " Why are 
 we flying Hke this? What possible danger 
 can there be?" 
 
 There were just a few indications of the 
 [ 6 ] 
 
times — a troop of Lancers clattered past 
 us, and a body of Uhlans leading peasants' 
 horses with their labels attached. At Wann- 
 see a car with the crown prince and prin- 
 cess flashed past. On the bridge over the 
 Havel, overlooking Babelsburg, a tire burst, 
 and we were delayed about half an hour. 
 At Potsdam we made a halt at the telegraph 
 office ; but the news there was bad. No wires 
 were being accepted for the "Ausland," 
 and even local ones were not likely to get 
 through. 
 
 The first town of importance we arrived 
 at was Brandenburg, which stands on the 
 Havel. Storks were flapping round in the 
 meadows, and the old stone statue in the 
 main street stared down on us as we flashed 
 past, as if to ask : "Why this haste? From 
 w^hat are you flying ? ' ' But we had but scant 
 attention to give either to him or that town, 
 or to Plane or Gen thin. The blue sky clouded 
 over, and by the time the spires of Magde- 
 burg appeared on the horizon, the rain was 
 coming down steadily. We had our first halt 
 [ 7 ] 
 
outside the city, for two officials did not seem 
 at all inclined to let us into the town where 
 formerly I had spent such merry days. How- 
 ever, our demon chauffeur was able to pro- 
 duce papers certifying that he was returning 
 to Berlin, and we were allowed to proceed. 
 We stopped awhile to buy some sailcloth, 
 as our trunks w ere getting woefully wet on 
 the top of the car. Then off we set once more, 
 in pouring rain and a tearing wind, through 
 flat and uninteresting country. As there was 
 nothing special to look at, I could just sit still 
 and enjoy the strange exhilaration of that 
 wild drive — the steady pulsation of the 
 magnificent car, which like some mytho- 
 logical monster ate up the long straight 
 road, indifferent to the shrieking opposing 
 wind and lashing rain. On, on, till grad- 
 ually the furies grew weary, the gray 
 gave place to gold, and the earth wore the 
 * ' washed ' ' look of a beautiful water-colour. 
 The road was grand, and so open that there 
 was no danger. The small towns took on a 
 character all their own of Old World charm, 
 [ 8 ] 
 
and Baedeker recorded the fact that they 
 were full of interest, but this had to be taken 
 on trust. Brunswick made its own special 
 appeal, though we saw little but old houses 
 and the handsome fagade of St. Catherine's. 
 Onward we raced till away in the distance 
 we saw Hannover, Hke a many-masted ship 
 with its high chimneys and myriad lights. 
 We kept up the pace, and at 9. 15 pulled up 
 in front of the Hotel Royal. I went in to know 
 if the wire I had sent from Potsdam engag- 
 ing rooms and a fresh automobile had arrived, 
 but of course it had not. Then I returned to 
 see about the dismounting of the luggage, 
 and the girls stayed with me. A few people 
 came to look on and became intensely inter- 
 ested. More joined, and we were soon the 
 centre of a crowd. We imagined in time of 
 war even a stray automobile must prove of 
 account. We all laughed to find ourselves 
 of such importance. Then up came a charm- 
 ing boy officer, who asked the chauffeur if he 
 spoke German. " Ja wohl," was the laconic 
 reply. ''Are you German?" ''Ja wohl." 
 [ 9 ] 
 
The certificates were produced, and the 
 boy looked them over and handed them 
 back pleasantly. " Have you seen enough? " 
 I inquired, laughing. "Yes," he replied. 
 ''Excuse me; " and with a beautiful salute 
 he disappeared in the crowd. But another 
 officer had joined the girls. "Please come 
 inside," he whispered, and when they were 
 in the hall, he asked them if they were 
 enemies, to their great amusement. 
 
 I was so busy with the luggage that I did 
 not notice their departure. The real truth had 
 not yet dawned upon me. The trunks were 
 hoisted off the car to the ground, and the 
 gay decoration of the hotel labels attracted 
 considerable attention. People thronged 
 round, and deciphered the various names. 
 I have never seen such curiosity. Finally the 
 last suitcase was carried in. The landlord 
 came forward, w^ashing his hands with in- 
 visible soap. "Quite an experience for you. 
 I apologize, but you see the crowd thought 
 you were Russians." We all laughed. The 
 mystery was solved. After all it was quite 
 [ 10 ] 
 
thrilling to be taken for Russians, and lent 
 a flavour to the day. 
 
 We had dinner, and then for a few min- 
 utes we stayed in the hall discussing plans. 
 A little man in uniform came in brandish- 
 ing a bulletin. "We have taken a Russian 
 harbour," he cried excitedly. "The place is 
 in flames." An involuntary shudder went 
 through me. The Russians were England's 
 allies. Was this the first letter of the awful 
 alphabet Europe was to be called on to spell ? 
 Was this the first of the mighty German 
 conquests ? 
 
 I looked up, remembering that I was in 
 Germany. Two very blue eyes were fixed 
 upon me. At the moment I wondered if any 
 arriere pensee lay behind that intense look, 
 but the little man seemed quite friendly, and 
 then our party broke up and we were soon 
 all sound asleep, forgetful of the fact that 
 we were in a country at war with its neigh- 
 bours. 
 
 The following morning (August 3) we 
 got up early, as a car from the Adler Ga- 
 
 [ 11 ] 
 
rage had been ordered at 9.30, but it did 
 not come. The employees of the hotel were 
 cool in their behaviour. The concierge, of 
 whom one usually expects servility, proved 
 surly, the waiter calmly insolent. The delay 
 seemed interminable, so Kitty and I sat down 
 and wrote letters, but we found it was of no 
 use to post them, as none were going out of 
 the country; so we put them in our hand- 
 bags. Then Lyra and I went off in a taxi 
 to the garage to inquire for the car, and 
 found it just ready. As the luggage was 
 being stacked on, two American girls came 
 to ask us how we were going to get out of 
 the country. Lyra offered to take them with 
 us, but they refused because they had not 
 packed up! 
 
 At last we were off once more — thankful 
 to be moving, and for some time we were 
 able to enjoy the pretty pastoral scenery, and 
 the charming little houses with black timber- 
 ing set in their red brick. Our new car was 
 a poor substitute for theBenz, — which had 
 returned to Berlin for war duty, — and our 
 
 [ 12 ] 
 
handsome boy had given place to a stolid son 
 of the soil with one green and one blue eye, 
 a kindly soul, who radiated confidence. Out- 
 side Schloss Lippe he stopped to shift one 
 of the trunks. Up sauntered an official and 
 asked for his papers, which he produced. 
 Then once more we headed in the direction 
 of Minden. 
 
 ^'' Halt.'''' A cordon of soldiers with bayo- 
 nets across the road put an end to all appre- 
 ciation of scenery. The "Halt" was very 
 decisive, as well it might be on such an oc- 
 casion, and we were surrounded by boys — 
 fair-haired, smiling boys, with whom we 
 laughed and talked as much as our limited 
 vocabularies permitted. The chauffeur's pass 
 was produced, and proved satisfactory. If 
 all ' * Halts ' ' were going to be such friendly 
 affairs, we felt we were in for a merry day. 
 We waived adieus to our youthful soldiers, 
 but within a few hundred yards came another 
 Halt, ' ' and then another, and another. The 
 fifth time we realized hand-waving and 
 friendly salutations were not going to get us 
 [ 13 ] 
 
very far. Our trunks were to be examined. 
 Our friendly chauiFeur pleaded for us, but he 
 was squashed. ''This is war time. Exam- 
 ination must be made and no risks taken." 
 ''Yes, but these are children. They only 
 want to get out of the country." 
 
 Now, when a woman has said good-by 
 to the popular age of thirty -five, she thinks 
 kindly of a man who includes her amongst 
 the "children," so never shall I forget the 
 chauffeur with bi-coloured eyes ! The young 
 man with normal vision would take no risks, 
 and we soon all joined in the game. We 
 pressed our keys upon the soldiers, and not 
 only invited them to climb upon the top of 
 the landaulette, but climbed up ourselves, 
 and obeyed all behests. The first deadly thing 
 to come to light in my trunk was a Canadian 
 bark workbox. "Open it." The contents 
 was critically examined. Then various peril- 
 ous packets were found: Soap — Soap — 
 and again. Soap! 
 
 The sun was hot, and so were we, but 
 the investigation went on very thoroughly. 
 [ 14] 
 
At last it was over, but we were told that 
 we had to go to the Kontrol office — whatever 
 that might be. A chinless juvenile got into 
 the car with us as escort, but he was so 
 weighed down with the sense of his own im- 
 portance that he was not very interesting. 
 At the Kontrol office we were all marched 
 into a little room. It had a bed, and on a wash- 
 stand was a basin filled with clean water. We 
 were so dir/ty after unstrapping and strap- 
 ping trunks that we asked if we might wash 
 our hands. Two kindly soldiers ministered 
 to us and got us clean towels, and listened 
 sympathetically to the story of our examina- 
 tion. Then in came the adjutant, and no one 
 could have been nicer or more courteous. We 
 explained that we were trying to get to Hol- 
 land, as we wished to sail to America, and 
 that our one desire was to get out of Germany 
 as quickly as we could. He smiled, and then 
 he went away, and wrote out a little paper 
 and signed it. It was to the effisct that we 
 had been examined, and that all was satis- 
 factory. Never have three women been more 
 
 [ 15 ] 
 
grateful for a little piece of paper, and when 
 we said good-by to our benefactor, our grat- 
 itude was very real. 
 
 We were soon spinning along again, but 
 ugly indications of warfare began to be vis- 
 ible. Outside Minden Ave saw quantities of 
 cannon being mounted, and then suddenly 
 we came upon a motor in a ditch. Children 
 were playing round it, and a man was keep- 
 ing guard under a tree. Our chauffeur stopped 
 to find out what had happened. The car 
 had belonged to a Russian. He had tried to 
 escape when told to "Halt," and had been 
 shot. Truly the grim game had begun in 
 this peaceful-looking land. 
 
 Time after time we were stopped by orders 
 of soldiers, and we got almost used to the 
 imperative ''Halt." But we had nothing 
 to fear with our magic passe-paitout . A few 
 words of parleying, and then came the usual 
 concession : "You may go on further." No 
 one would say exactly where "further" 
 meant, but surely we should get to the fron- 
 tier. We headed for Osnabriick, mistaking 
 [ 16 ] 
 
the road, however, at Liibeck, where the 
 horses were being collected, and that delayed 
 us for some time. The country now began 
 to change in the magical way that countries 
 do change when they begin to merge into 
 neighbouring ones. We began to feel the 
 Dutch element. Men, women, and children 
 seemed to change, too, and to become more 
 and more stolid. Boots gave way to sabots, 
 and the little black and white cows began 
 to wear the sacking jackets that they do in 
 Holland. 
 
 Before getting into Osnabriick we passed 
 the railway station. The gates were closed, 
 and we stood still while a long, long train 
 steamed slowly by us — a train decorated 
 with huge boughs of greenery — a train 
 packed with men — husbands, lovers — go- 
 ing to God knows what fate. They were 
 shouting and waving and cheering. That is 
 now a week ago. 
 
 It was about six o'clock when we pulled up 
 outside the hotel at Osnabriick, so we had 
 no time to waste over food. We had eaten 
 
 [ ir ] 
 
nothing all day, but now we were able to 
 buy some bread and cheese to eat en route. 
 We were terribly dusty, and to save my own 
 new coat, Kitty kindly lent me an old one 
 of hers. It was bright rose-colour, and made 
 me rather conspicuous as I took my turn on 
 the little seat. 
 
 The first important place after Osnabruck 
 was Rheine, and there, for the first time in 
 the day, I began to wonder how things were 
 going to turn out. Before we knew where 
 we were, we were stopped by soldiers and 
 mobbed by a dense, excited crowd. Even the 
 wonderful paper did not have its usual effect. 
 I was told I must proceed to headquarters 
 before we could continue our journey, so I 
 got out of the car, but when I saw the rabble 
 which intended to accompany me, I told the 
 two soldiers who were my escort that I should 
 prefer walking arm-in-arm with them, and 
 off we set, greatly to our own amusement 
 and that of the mob which followed at our 
 heels, yelling, ''Russian ! Russian crimi- 
 nal!" 
 
 [ 18 ] 
 
When we reached the railwa}^ station I 
 was taken before the superior arbiter of our 
 fate. He was a serious individual, and read 
 the precious document very carefully. Then 
 came the usual fiat : ' ' You may go further. ' ' 
 
 Great disappointment of the following 
 crowd — a disappointment communicated to 
 the unpleasant loafers who had continued to 
 surge round the automobile in my absence. 
 One of them had climbed on to the back 
 and hit Lyra's hat twice, but she had been 
 very calm, and kept her temper. When our 
 innocence was made known the excitement 
 died down, and we departed amidst cheers 
 and waving handkerchiefs. 
 
 I shall never forget the next part of the 
 drive. My appearance produced the same 
 effect everywhere.'* Russian! Russian !." was 
 on every Hp. One individual whispered to an- 
 other, and small groups of people knotted 
 together and watched us out of sight. At one 
 place a man jumped on a bicycle and tore 
 off — perhaps to give information. At first 
 I did not mind, but after a while the situa- 
 [ 19 ] 
 
tion got on my nerves. We swung past a 
 man who was guarding a bridge. He was n't 
 a real soldier, but he had a gun, and I Jcnow 
 he feels that he lost one of the chances of 
 his life in letting me go, for his look of sus- 
 picion and hatred was unmistakable. Lyra 
 kindly changed places with me, though she 
 was very tired, and it was a relief to get out 
 of the popular gaze. 
 
 The day was beginning to close in, but 
 a brilliant sun shining through heavy gray 
 clouds lit up the world for a while like a 
 watchful eye. We knew we could not be very 
 far from the frontier, and this was confirmed 
 by an official when we were stopped for the 
 seventeenth time. He was very friendly, and 
 gave the chauffeur much well-meant advice. 
 ' ' The actual frontier is at ' Kleine Brucke, ' ' ' 
 he said, "but as no motors may pass and 
 it is getting late, the ladies had better stay 
 the night at Gronau and go on to Holland 
 to-morrow." This sounded all right, but we 
 felt we wanted to get out of the country at 
 all costs, and that a cowshed in Holland was 
 
 [ 20 ] 
 
preferable to a grand hotel in Germany. The 
 magic pass had stood us in such good stead, 
 there could be no hitch now we had so nearly 
 achieved our aim. 
 
 We were so engrossed with the vicinity 
 of safety that not one of us realized our 
 chauffeur had forgotten to light up. All I re- 
 member is that we seemed suddenly to swoop 
 down on a crowd, the peremptory ' ' Halt ! ' ' 
 rang out sharp and clear, and we came to 
 a sudden standstill. The car was besieged 
 by officials of every kind, and we all felt the 
 genuine hostility in the air. A man in plain 
 clothes was chief spokesman. I handed him 
 the Minden pass, confident of its efficacy, 
 and to our dismay, he put it in his pocket. 
 
 "We are only trying to get into Hol- 
 land,'' I explained. "We have our tickets 
 here for passage in the Rotterdam . ' ' " Show 
 them." The tickets were produced and 
 shared the same fate as the pass. "Get out of 
 the auto. The luggage is to be examined." 
 We meekly obeyed. There was no other 
 course to pursue. Kitty clutched at her pre- 
 [ 21 ] 
 
cious little vanity bag, which had afforded 
 so much amusement during the tour. A pon- 
 derous policeman pounced upon it. ''Please 
 give me my little bag," wailed Kitty. "Let 
 me open it and show you the contents." 
 
 The man did not understand her words, 
 but he did understand her gesture as she 
 stretched out her hands for the precious bag. 
 He pushed her back roughly. Did this dan- 
 gerous woman think he was going to allow 
 her to throw a bomb in this her moment of 
 despair? He rushed off into the crowd, gave 
 the infernal machine to some one else to hold, 
 and we saw it no more. 
 
 The luggage was all dismounted, and three 
 wooden chairs were brought for us to sit on 
 while theexamination took place. That scene 
 will always stand out in our minds with 
 theatrical vividness. Flaring electric lights 
 lit up the road. There was a dense crowd of 
 officials and loafers, and beyond, blackness. 
 One or two men came up and talked. 
 
 ' ' We want to get into Holland. We want 
 to get there to-night." ''You cannot. The 
 
 [ 22 ] 
 
frontier is closed. ' ' ' ' But when can we go? " 
 ' ' When the war is over. " " That is incred- 
 ible." "It is not incredible. You must stop 
 here. It is a nice place. If you wanted a large 
 town, why did you not stop in Berlin?" 
 ''Because we want to leave Germany. No 
 one knows where we are. Can we communi- 
 cate with any one?" "All communication 
 is impossible." 
 
 This was cheerful news, but we had no 
 time in which to think it over. Lyra's trunk 
 had been opened, and the examination had 
 begun. Several young women had arrived 
 on the scene, who proved excellent English 
 scholars and most accomplished searchers. 
 It was an education to watch their methods. 
 Every garment was taken out, shaken, 
 weighed in the hand, and held up to the 
 light, then flung down carelessly. Pretty 
 chiifons and fluffy dresses lay about on the 
 dusty road ; but no one cared. It was a sorry 
 performance, and an unworthy one. Letters 
 and papers were pounced on and read, and 
 it was a revelation to realize how the most in- 
 
 [ 23 ] 
 
papers and letters, and I luckily had in my 
 possession my permit to visit all the Italian 
 galleries, with my photo pasted on to it. This 
 proved me to be Conway Evans, living in 
 Florence; but while the examination was 
 going on, I wondered how long it would be 
 before the question of my nationality would 
 crop up. 
 
 "Where is your husband?" "Flor- 
 ence, Italy." "Where do your father and 
 mother live?" "Lausanne, Switzerland." 
 "Where is your son?" "With my fa- 
 ther and mother." "Where were you 
 born?" "Georgetown, Demerara, South 
 America." 
 
 I have always loved my colonial birthplace 
 and suffered gladly the epithet of "Mud- 
 head," but I don't suppose I ever experi- 
 enced the same relief from it as when I 
 realized that the worthy burgomaster's ge- 
 ography did not locate it amongst the Brit- 
 ish possessions, and that he was willing to 
 swallow me whole as an American if I could 
 deny my Russian nationality ! 
 [ 26 ] 
 
We were certainly very kindly treated. 
 A supper of eggs and milk was prepared for 
 us. While we were eating, the German girls 
 sat wdth us and we got quite friendly. Bit 
 by bit little things pieced themselves together 
 like the pattern of a jig-saw puzzle. Our ar- 
 rival at Gronau was no unforeseen event. 
 We had been expected, — waited for, — and 
 the fifteen men who had stood across the 
 road to bar our progress had their fifteen 
 guns ready to shoot if our stop had not been 
 instanter. Information had been sent from 
 Hannover that we were suspects. Who sent 
 it we are never Hkely to know — the obsequi- 
 ous hotel proprietor, the owner of the blue 
 eyes, the smiling boy officer, or the insolent 
 waiter. No matter, we were suspects, and 
 the worst conclusions were drawn when we 
 arrived in a car without lights, and when 
 I emerged into the flaring ring of light in a 
 rose-red coat — a Russian colour, pregnant 
 with criminality ! ! Had we realized our true 
 position when that sudden halt was made, 
 how frightened we should have been ! As it 
 
 [ 27 ] 
 
was, it never occurred to us that we were in 
 actual danger. 
 
 At about one in the morning we went to 
 bed, and dropped asleep from sheer fatigue. 
 At about four Kitty and I woke up and dis- 
 cussed the situation dispassionately. We got 
 out of our beds and looked out of the win- 
 dows. Rain was falling in sheets, and the 
 world seemed a cold, cheerless, uninviting 
 place. The soldiers guarding us paced up 
 and down, up and down, in the wet. Vitality 
 is low at 4 a.m., and we were as dejected 
 as any two mortals could be. 
 
 Stay at Gronau — remain in this God-for- 
 saken place till the European conflagration 
 burnt itself out, cut off from every soul we 
 cared about and unable to communicate — 
 impossible ! Having arrived at this logical 
 conclusion, we returned toour beds and went 
 to sleep. At eight o'clock the examiners re- 
 turned to the charge. We went into a long 
 room with a raised dais. There were long 
 tables ranged down it, covered with stained 
 cardboard mounts for beer-glasses. Cigar 
 [ 28 ] 
 
ashes were in saucers, cigar ends on the floor. 
 The smell of stale beer permeated the atmos- 
 phere. It was an engaging mise en scene. 
 
 Kitty and I were greeted by the head of 
 police, two sergeants (one of them the 
 bucolic hero of the vanity bag), and one of 
 the girl searchers. The wearisome process 
 began afresh. By the time the turn of my 
 trunk came, the men were clearly bored. I 
 had quantities of papers, — notes, MSS., 
 sketches for lectures, extracts, charts, — pa- 
 pers which would have caused wild inter- 
 est the evening before, but excitement was 
 on the wane. By eleven o'clock everything 
 had been seen thoroughly. The chief of po- 
 lice beamed upon us kindly. "It has to be 
 done," he explained. 
 
 Later the burgomaster reappeared, more 
 paternal than ever, and most kindly disposed. 
 He was really sorry for all we had gone 
 through, and promised he would do all in 
 his power to get us over the border, and he 
 certainly kept his word. Out of his pockets 
 came all our confiscated belongings, and from 
 [ 29 ] 
 
some safe hiding-place was produced the 
 fatal vanity bag ! 
 
 At about one o'clock we went off again in 
 the car, escorted by a now friendly police- 
 man and one of the searchers . We were armed 
 with a most reassuring pass, signed by the 
 burgomaster himself, but when we arrived at 
 the frontier and confidently handed it to the 
 official there, he shook his head. ''Impossi- 
 ble! Impossible!" he said. With a sudden 
 rush our spirits sank to zero. This was the 
 ' ' most unkindest cut of all, " but out of the 
 darkness came light. We were at cross-pur- 
 poses, and the man thought we wished to 
 motor across the little bridge connecting Ger- 
 many and Holland. We assured him we had 
 no such desire, that I would take a trolley car 
 to Einschede, charter a Dutch automobile to 
 take us to Amsterdam, and return to the fron- 
 tier to collect the girls and the luggage. Then 
 came the hoped-for permission, and we all 
 jumped out of the car. There was the little 
 bridge — Kleine Brucke — and beyond Hol- 
 land, the promised land. A few formalities, 
 [ 30 ] 
 
a few good-bys, a few planks traversed, and 
 we were safe in a country that was neutral 
 for the nonce : Holland, the stepping-stone to 
 America. 
 
 S.S. JVieuw Amsterdam 
 A iveek later