“Who told you that, _mein Lieber_?” I asked, grinning condescendingly. “Laugh at me will you? You swine!” He roared and before I was aware he struck me a blow in the chest that sent me reeling. Aghast and indignant I started back at him. Quick as a flash he had drawn his bayonet and he struck my arm threateningly with the flat of it. “Go to bed, you swine!” he ordered. Confronted by cold steel, there was nothing to do but to obey. I climbed slowly upstairs to my room, the German close on my heels, striking me constantly with the bayonet to hurry me. I went to bed with that wretched and maddening feeling of a man who has received blows which he cannot repay. I could not sleep. I got up and sat down and smoked until they unlocked my door in the morning. [Illustration] I resolved to go to Parchim the next day and seek redress from the revolutionaries. I would see if the justice of which they prated was a reality. I had to wait until dusk, for flight was still _verboten_, and I must escape unobserved. Setting out in my English uniform with my buttons brightly polished and carrying my belongings in a neat little German haversack, I walked all the fifteen kilometers to Parchim, arriving in the _Komandatur_ at about eight o’clock. I found all young boys from the new movement in charge, and they listened to my story with sympathetic indignation. I could not however, see the officer of justice until the day after tomorrow, and being a runaway, I must spend the remaining time in the detention barrack. In this old house of misery I found every evidence of the “New Order.” The _Hungerstraf_ had been abolished. I was permitted to keep my cigarettes and tobacco. In the morning the guard asked me for the address of a friend in the camp, and went out, returning with a cup of hot tea and a generous meal! He repeated this performance three times a day. The new officer of justice was a studious looking young man from the _Soldatenrat_. The point of my having run away he magnanimously waived, and he carefully took down my charges against the sentry in a big book. He promised me complete satisfaction. “But when is this trial going to come off?” I asked, anxious to see it through myself. “I want to be there and testify against him to his face.” “I am sorry,” he apologized, “but this matter must be referred to the _Soldatenrat_. Your assailant will be arrested and the matter thoroughly investigated, but it will take time. See me in a fortnight and I will give you a good report of what has been done.” “I hope to be in England in a fortnight,” I said resignedly, “so I must trust you to see justice done.” FOOTNOTES: [21] It is forbidden. [22] Please. [23] Council of soldiers. CHAPTER XVII “_Auf Wiedersehen_”