Many a time I contemplated looking back with pleasure and explaining to my American friends in years to come and to my grandchildren, when my hair should be gray, how I had bluffed my way through the German lines and observed the country and the German rule while he was still in possession. It would be a thing of which few men could boast, since it was against the military policy of every country to allow anybody to come from the enemy and go through their land and then go back to the enemy again. That was unheard of. Yet inwardly it was my intention, and, in fact, I had no other idea than that I should accomplish it successfully. Consequently I wrote down nothing. I mean I kept no diary on paper and I wrote no letters. I had many friends in France who would have liked to have a word from me, and also my folks in America expected me to write them letters for news and for souvenirs, but I was afraid to attempt to send any word to them, even indirectly through Holland, as I feared the Germans would open all mail, and finding me in touch with France, would decide that I intended returning there and then would see to it that I did not. Everything that I saw and heard in Belgium, all the information I received, was in my head and not on paper, as I felt that would save me much trouble; so I merely marked the maps with little crosses. CHAPTER XXVII THE "CAT AND MOUSE" GAME At length I went to the German Pass office in Brussels. It was called the "_Pass-Zentrale_," up in the Rue Royale, only a block from the King's palace. I there applied for a pass to Liége. I was told by the sentry to come back in the afternoon, at three o'clock. The office is only open from nine till twelve and from three to six. I went back at three. A young "smart aleck" of the name of Klenkum took my American passport from me and told me to come back the next morning between ten and eleven, giving me, as he spoke, a slip of paper which read, _Zwischen zehn und elf_. I went back next day and handed Klenkum the slip of paper, which he saucily laid on the other side of the desk and wrote another, telling me to come back in two days, or Sunday between ten and eleven. I was angry. He saw it, and said, "Prisoner, eh?" I did not answer. And so as I opened the door he rubbed it in, saying, _Sehr gut, eh?_ With a sickly smile on my face, I replied, "Yes, very good," and went out. But I was simply boiling. I went to the office of Von Bissing and had quite a talk with him, but nothing came of it. I then went up to Mr. Whitlock and told him what they were doing with me. I said the Germans were keeping my American passport, which was a breach of international law, and playing a kind of "cat and mouse" game with me. Immediately he wrote a letter curtly demanding my passport and ordering them to give me a pass where I wanted to go. I took this letter up and delivered it at headquarters. Well, they ignored the letter entirely, and the pass was given me at the last moment Klenkum had