LAND & WATER 
August lo, 1916 
day had started bright and clear but a wrack of grey clouds 
soon covered the skv, and a wind from the east began to 
whistle As I stumbled along tlirough the snowy under- 
growth I kept longing for bright warm places. I thought ot 
those long davs in the veld when the earth was like a great 
vellow bowl with white roads running to the horizon and a 
tinv white, farm busking in the heart of it, with its blue dam 
and patches of bright green lucerne. 1 thought of those 
baking days on the East Coast when the sea was like mother- 
of-pearl and the skv one burning turquoise. But most ol al 
I thought of warm scented noons on trek, when one dozea 
in the shadow of the waggon and sniffed the wood-smoke 
from the fire where the boys were cooking dinner. 
From these pleasant pictures I returned to the beastly 
present— the thick snowv woods, the lowering sky, wet clothes, 
a hunted present and a dismal future. I felt miserably de- 
jiressed, and I couldn't think of any mercies to count. It 
btruck ine that I might be falling sick.. 
\bout mid-dav I awoke with a start to the belief that l 
was being pursued. I cannot explain how or why the feeling 
came except that it is a kind of instinct that men get who 
have lived much in wild countries. My senses, w uch had 
been numbed, suddenly grew keen, and my brain began to 
work double quick. 
I asked myself wliat I would do if I were Stumm. with 
' hatred in mv heart, a broken jaw to avenge, and pretty well 
limitless povvers. He must liave found the car in the sandpit 
and seen my tracks in the wood opposite. I didn t know 
how good he and his iumi might be at following a spoor but 
I knew, that anv ordinarv Kafiir could have nosed it out 
easily But he didn't need to do that. This was a civilised 
country full of roads and railways. I must sometime and 
somewhere come out of the woods. He could have all the 
roads watched, and the telephone would set everyone on my 
track within a radius of fifty miles. Besides he would soon 
pick up mv trail in the village I had visited tliat morning. 
ivom the map I learned it was called Greif, and it was likely 
to live up to that name with me. 
Presently I came to a rockv knoll which rose out of the 
forest Keeping well in shelter 1 climbed to the top and 
cautiously looked around me. .\way to the east I saw the 
vale of a river with broad fields and church-spires. \\ est and 
south the forest rolled unbroken in a wilderness of snffwy 
tree-tops. There was no sign of life anywhere, not even a 
bird but I knew very well that behind me in the woods were 
men' moving swiftly on my track, and that it was pretty well 
impossible for me to get away. 
There was nothing for it but to go on till I dropped or was 
' taken.' I shaped my course south with a shade of west in it, 
for the map showed me that in that direction I would soonest 
strike the Danube. What I was going to do when I got 
there I didn't trouble to think. I had fixed the river as my 
immediate goal and the future must take care of itself. 
I was now pretty certain that I had fever on me. It was 
still in my bones, as a legacy from Africa, and had come out 
once or twice when I was with the battalion in Hampshire. 
The bouts had been short, for I had known of their coming 
and had dosed myself. But now I had no quinine, ancl it 
looked as if I were in for a heavy go. It made me feel des- 
■;. perately wretched and stupid, and I all but blundered into 
" capture. 
For suddenly I came on a road, and was going to cross it 
blindlv. when a man rode slowly past on a bicycle. Luckily 
I was 'in the shade of a clump of hollies, and he was not looking 
my wav though he was not three yards off. I crawled forwa, d 
'■' to reconnoitre. I saw about half a mile of road running 
;. straight through the forest and every two hundred yards 
■ ^was a bicyclist. They wore uniform and appeared to be 
acting as sentries. 
, This could only have one meaning. Stunmi had picketed 
• all the roads and cut me off in an angle of the woods. Ihere 
was no chance of getting across unobserved. As I lay there 
with my heart sinking. I had the horrible feeling that the 
pursuit might be following" me from behind, and that at 
any moment I would be enclosed between two fires. 
For more than an hour I staved there with my chin in tiie 
snow I didn't see any wav out, and 1 was feeling so ill 
that I didn't seem to care. Then my chance came suddenly 
out of the skies. 
The wind rose, and a great gust of snow blew from the 
cast In five minutes it was so thick that I couldn t see 
acros-. the road. At first I thought it a new addition to my 
troubles, and tJien very slowly I saw the opportunity. I 
slipix-d down the bank and made ready to cross. 
1 almost blundered into one of the bicyclists. He cried 
out and fell oft liis machine, but I didn't wait to investigate. 
A sudden access of strength came to me. and I darted into the 
■ wood-, on the farther side. I knew I would be soon swallowed 
from sight in the drift and I knew that the falling snow 
would hide my tracks. So I ])ut m\- best foot forward. 
1 must have run miles before the hot fit passed, and I 
stopped; from sheer bpdily .weakness. There was no sounil 
except tile cruiK;h of falling snow. The wind seemed to have 
gone, and the place was very solemn and quiet. But Heavens ! 
how the snow fell ! It was partly screened by the branches, 
but all the same it was piling itself up deep everywhere. My 
legs seemed made of lead, my head burned, and there were 
fiery pains over all my body. I stumbled on blindly, without 
a notion of any direction, determined only to keep going to 
the last. For I knew that if I once lay down I would never 
rise again. 
When I was a boy I was fond of fairy talcs, and most of the 
stories I remembered had been about great (ierinan forests 
and- snow and charcoal burners and woodmen's huts. Once I 
had longed to see these things, and now I was fairly in the 
thick of them. There had been wolves too. and 1 wondered 
idly if I should fall in with a pack. I felt myself getting 
light-headed. I fell repeatedly and laughed sillily every time. 
Once 1 dropped into a liole and lay for some time at the bottom 
giggUng. If anyone had found me then he would have taken 
me for a madman. 
The twilight of the forest drew dimmer, bi.t I scarcely 
noticed it. Evening was falling, and soon it would be night, 
a night without morning for me. My body was going on 
without the direction of my brain, for my mind was filled 
withcia/iness. I was Hkc a drunken man who keeps running, 
for he knows that if he stops he will fall, and I had a sort of 
bet with myself not to lie down— not at any rate j'.ist yet. 
If I lav down I should feel tlie pain in my head worse. Once 
1 had ridden for five days down country with fe\-er on me 
and the flat bush tices had seemed to melt into one big mirage 
and dance quadrilles before my eyes. But then I liad more 
or less kept my wits. Now I was fairly daft, and every 
minute growing dafter. 
Then the trees seemed to stop and I was w'alking on flat 
ground. It- was a clearing and before me twinkled a little 
light. The change restored me to consciousness, and suddenly 
I felt with horrid intensity the fire in my head and bones and 
the weakness of my limbs. I longed to sleep and I had t 
notion that a place to sleep was before me. I moved towards 
the light and presently saw through a screen of snow the out- 
lines of a cottage. 
I had no fear, only aji intolerable longing to lie 
Very slowly I made my way to the door and knocked, 
weakness Was so 'great that' I cbuldhaidly lift my lian 
down. 
My 
great tiiat 1 couia iiaruiy uit my nand for 
tlie purpose. 
There were voices within and a corner of the curtain was 
lifted from the window. Then the door opened and a woman 
stood before me. a woman with a thin kindly face. 
" Griiss Gott," she said, while children peeped from behind 
her skirts. 
" Griiss Gott," I replied. I leaned against the doorpost, 
and speech forsook me. 
She saw my condition. " Come in. sir." she said. " You 
are sick and it is no weather for a sick man." 
I stumbled after her and stood dripping in the centre of 
the little kitchen while three wondering children stared at nie. 
It was a poor place, scantily furnished, but a good log-fire 
burned on the hearth. The shock of warmth gave me one 
of those minutes of self-possession which come sometimes in 
the middle of a fever. '' 
" I am sick, Mother, and I have walked far in the storm and 
lost my way. I am from Africa, where the climate is Iiot and 
your cold brings me fever. It will pass in a day or two if you 
will give me a bed." 
• " You are welcome," she said, " but first I will make you 
coffee." 
I took off my dripping cloak and crouched close to the hearth, 
She gave me coffee'— poor' washy stuff, but blessedly hot. 
Poverty was spelled large by everything I saw. I felt the 
tides of fever beginning to overflow my brain again, and 1 
made a great attempt to set my affairs straight before I was 
overtaken. With difticulty l" took out Stumm's pass from 
mv pocket-book. 
"" That is my warrant." I said. " I am a member of the 
Imperial Secret Service and for the sake of my work I must 
move in the dark. If you will permit it, Mother. 1 will sleep 
till I am better, but no one must know that I am Jiere. If 
anyone comes, you must deny my presence." 
She looked at th--big seal as if it were a talisman. 
" Yes, yes," she said, " you will have the bed in the garret 
and be left in peace until vou are well. We have no neigh- 
bours near, and the storm will shut the roads. I will be s'lent. 
I and the little ones. 
My head was beginning to swim, but I made one more 
effort. 
" There is food in my rucksack — biscuits and ham and 
{Continued on pajs 4.1; 
