The Cornhill Magazine (vol. XLII, no. 247 new series, January 1917)Various
History
The Cornhill Magazine (vol. XLII, no. 247 new series, January 1917)
Various
England -- Periodicals; English literature -- Periodicals; Short stories, English -- Periodicals
I could in comparative security listen to the howls of the mob outside.
Keating, for some reason—perhaps because he always laughed—escaped the
full wrath of the mob, though his passenger spat at him, and was brought
in safely.
The Burgomaster was charming and, what mattered far more, was possessed
of infinite discernment. He examined our baggage, now falling into ruin,
and the car, in public, in a gallant attempt to allay suspicion. Despite
this, I firmly believe that the villagers of Oldendorf will believe to
their dying day that we were two anarchists of Russian extraction. After
an anxious hour we were allowed to drive away. At this village, the day
before, two Russians, disguised in women’s clothing, had been dragged
from a car and shot on the spot.
We had hoped to reach Osnabruck before dark, but it was actually ten
o’clock when we finally arrived at the hotel. At the entrance to the
town, which we reached shortly after nine o’clock, we were taken in
charge by a military patrol. But the police alone could give us the
necessary permission to travel onwards.
So, attended by a N.C.O., we drove to the head police office at
Osnabruck. Again we were made to spread our belongings on the floor and
explain each scrap of paper. The deadly sheet of celluloid we offered
to the police in the hopes of ending the recurrent trouble, but with no
effect. Full of suspicion as to its uses though they might be, yet they
would not take it.
We were delayed here about twenty minutes before we were given permission
to stay at the Kaiserhof Hotel for the night and to leave Osnabruck
early on the following morning. As we left the office our car was held
up by the passage of several hundred Russian workmen who had been placed
under arrest on the outbreak of war and who were now being taken to an
internment camp. Dejected and hopeless they moved miserably through
a hissing and booing crowd to the prison which was to be their home
until peace came again. Such is discipline in Germany that half a dozen
policemen sufficed to keep the mob, ever ready to strike, at bay.
At the Kaiserhof Hotel we were greeted with singular charm by the
proprietor, who, though a possible future enemy, did not show any
suspicion or displeasure. Nay, rather did he go out of his way to make us
truly comfortable, he himself superintending the cooking of our belated
dinner.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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