MY ESCAPE FROM GERMANY [Illustration: MAP ILLUSTRATING THE ROUTE OF AUTHOR’S ESCAPE. The Dotted Line shows the Route taken.] MY ESCAPE FROM GERMANY BY ERIC A. KEITH [Illustration] NEW YORK THE CENTURY CO. 1919 Copyright, 1920, by THE CENTURY CO. _Published, January, 1920_ INTRODUCTION There is an element of chance and risk about an attempt to escape from an enemy’s country which is bound to appeal to any one with a trace of sporting instinct. Viewed as a sport, though its devotees are naturally few and hope to become fewer, it has a technique of its own, and it may be better, rather than interrupt the course of my narrative, to say here something about this. As always, appropriate equipment makes for ease. But its lack, since a prisoner of war cannot place an order for an ideal outfit, may be largely compensated for by personal qualities. In considering the chances of success or failure, it must always be assumed that the route leads through a country entirely unknown to the fugitive. Yet this is not so great a disadvantage as one might suppose. Once free from towns and railways, a man with a certain knowledge of nature and the heavens, and with some powers of observation and deduction, can hardly fail to hit an objective so considerable as a frontier line, even if a hundred miles or so have to be traversed, provided he knows the position of his starting-point and is favored with tolerable weather. With the sky obscured, he must at least have a pocket compass by which to keep his direction; though when the stars are visible it is easier and safer to walk by their aid. Next in importance come maps. With fairly good maps, as well as a compass, the chances of evading discovery before approaching the frontier, with its zone of sentries and patrols, are, in my opinion, about even.