A Journal From Our Legation in BelgiumGibson, Hugh
History
A Journal From Our Legation in Belgium
Gibson, Hugh
Belgium -- History -- German occupation, 1914-1918
Our little German General, von Jarotzky, has kept clicking his heels
together and promising us anything we chose to ask. We have run around
day after day with our telegrams, and not one has got farther than the
Hotel de Ville. Being naturally somewhat touchy, we got tired of this
after a few days, and decided that the only way to get any news to
Washington was for me to go to Antwerp and get into direct communication
over the cable from there. We got our telegrams ready and made a last
try on the General Monday morning. He was still effusively agreeable and
assured us that he had determined to place a military field wire at our
disposal so that we could communicate with Washington via Berlin. Our
previous experiences had made us suspicious, so it was decided that
while depositing our messages here, I would make a try at getting
through the lines and send whatever I thought best from Antwerp or any
other place I could reach. We told the General frankly what we intended
to do, and he was all smiles and anxiety to please. At our request he
had an imposing passport made out for me, signed with his hand and
authorized with his seal. The Burgomaster wrote out an equally good
letter for us when we reached the Belgian lines. Providence was to take
care of us while we were between the lines, and, just to make it
unanimous, He did.
We wanted to get away during the morning, but one thing after another
came up and I was kept on the jump. We had to stop and worry about our
newspaper correspondents, who have wandered off again. Morgan came
sauntering in during the morning and announced that he and Davis had set
out on foot to see whether there was any fighting near Hal; they had
fallen in with some German forces advancing toward Mons. After
satisfying themselves that there was nothing going on at Hal or Enghien,
Morgan decided that he had had enough walking for one day, and was for
coming home. Davis felt that they were too near the front to give up,
and with a Sherlock Holmes sagacity announced that if they stuck to
these German troops, they would succeed in locating the French and
British armies. Morgan thought this so probable that he was all for
coming back, and left Davis tramping along behind an ammunition wagon in
search of adventure. He found it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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