Sixteen Months in Four German Prisons | Page 4

and joked as if bound on a
wayzegoose. Badinage was exchanged freely with friends standing on
the platform. Anticipating that things would probably grow lively
during the journey, I preserved a discreet silence, and my presence was
ignored.
The whistle blew, the locomotive screeched, and the next moment we
were gliding out of the station to the accompaniment of wild cheering,
good wishes for a safe journey and speedy return, and the strains of

music which presently swelled into a roar about "Wacht am Rhein."
The melody was yelled out with such gusto and so repeatedly that I
hoped I might ever be spared from hearing its strains again. But at last
Nature asserted herself. The throats of the singers grew hoarse and tired,
the song came to a welcome end, and music gave way to vigorous and
keen discussion upon the trend of events, which was maintained, not
only during the train journey, but throughout the cross-Channel passage
to Flushing, which we reached at six o'clock the following morning.
At the Dutch port the wild excitement and hubbub broke out with
increased virulence. The report was circulated that the train now
awaiting us would be the last through express to Berlin. There was a
frantic rush for seats. Men, women, and children participated in the
wild mêlée. The brutal shouts of the men contrasted vividly with the
high-pitched adjurations of the women and the wails and cries of the
terrified children. Within a few minutes the train was packed to
suffocation, not an inch of standing-room being left, while the corridors
were barricaded with the overflow of baggage from the guards' vans.
For two hours we stood there scarcely able to breathe. The heat of the
waxing summer's day began to assert itself, with the result that it was
not long before the women commenced to show signs of distress. Their
spirits revived, however, as the train commenced to move. There was
one solace--one and all were advancing towards home and the
discomfort would not last for long.
So keen was the desire to get to Berlin that the great majority of the
passengers had neglected to provide themselves with any food, lest
they should lose their seats or miss the train. But they confidently
expected that the train would pull up at some station to enable
refreshments to be obtained. They were supported in this belief by the
withdrawal of the usual dining car from the train. Those who trusted in
luck, however, were rudely disappointed. The train refused to stop at
any station. Instead, it evinced a decided preference for intermediate
signal posts. It was described as an express, but a tortoise's crawl would
be a gallop in comparison. It travelled at only a little more than a
walking pace and the stops were maddeningly frequent.

The women and children speedily betrayed painful evidences of the
suffering they were experiencing, which became accentuated as we
advanced. The close confinement rendered the atmosphere within the
carriages extremely oppressive. The weaker men and the women
commenced to faint but no assistance could be extended to them. One
could move barely an arm or leg. The afflicted passengers simply went
off where they were, sitting or standing, as the case might be, and
prevented from falling by the closely packed passengers around them,
to come round as best they could when Nature felt so disposed. The
wails of the children were pitiful. Many were crying from cramp and
hunger, but nothing could be done to satisfy them, and indeed the men
took little notice of them.
The arrival--in time--at the frontier station at Goch somewhat revived
the distressed and drooping. Everyone seized the opportunity to stretch
the limbs, to inhale some fresh air, and to obtain some slight
refreshment. The Customs officials were unusually alert, harrying, and
inflexible. There was the eternal wrangling between the passengers and
the officials over articles liable to duty and it was somewhat amusing to
me, even with war beating the air, to follow the frantic and useless
efforts of old and experienced travellers to smuggle this, that, or
something else through the fiscal barrier.
The Customs were so far from being in a conciliatory mood as to be
absolutely deaf to entreaty, cajolery, argument, explanation or threat.
They cut the operations summarily short by confiscating everything
liable to duty. As may be imagined a rich harvest was garnered at the
expense of the luckless returning patriot. While the Customs were busy
the military officials, who appeared to be swarming everywhere, were
equally exacting. They boarded the train and literally turned it inside
out. Every man and woman and child was subjected to a close personal
investigation and cross-examination. Foreigners were handled with
even greater stress and with less ceremony. I saw four fellow
passengers sorted out