"Nothing to what our brave fellows have to put up with at the front," she replied; and without more ado she lay down with the suit case as a pillow and was soon fast asleep.
I crept out of the room, lit a pipe, and strolled round the cottage trying to think out a definite plan of operations. The most practical question was that of supplies. There would not be any serious risk of trouble with the police even if we kept to the main roads; and this would both shorten the tramp and enable us to get food at out-of-the-way inns.
The one thing that offered difficulties was Nessa's disguise. She was overacting her part considerably and, what was much worse, involuntarily had dropped now and then into her own dear self. The boy business was a blunder. She must turn woman again. It would be much safer if she passed as my sister or even my wife, or perhaps both at turns, according to circumstances.
She would probably kick against it a bit, considering the trouble she had taken and the pride and pleasure she felt in the part. But safety must come first. There was another consideration. If we were stopped, I should be asked for my identification card; and the lack of it might mean trouble. As my wife she wouldn't need one. I must therefore be re-christened and become Hans Bulich.
Over a second pipe the prudence of the change became more obvious, and I regretted the hurry we had been in to get rid of her dress, realizing the difficulty of replacing it without rousing suspicion. We should come across plenty of places where such things could be bought; but for a man and a boy to buy such things were almost certain to lead to awkward questions, especially anywhere near the frontier.
It was broad daylight before I finished wrestling with these new problems, and, as it was better not to run a risk of being seen about the cottage, I went into a little shed belonging to it, propped myself in a corner and dozed off. I was tired and must have slept heavily, and was awakened by a kick and the angry shout of a man asking what the devil I meant by sleeping on his premises. "Get up and be off with you, you lazy tramp," he said, when I rubbed my eyes and blinked at him.
"I'm not a tramp, guv'nor," I protested, getting up.
"Then I'm no farmer, you skulker;" and he looked like repeating the kick.
"Steady, man, steady. Keep your temper. I'm a mechanic on my way to a job in Osnabrück. My boy and I lost our way in the wood yonder and came here to ask the road. Finding the place empty, we decided to doss it till daylight. My mate's only a youngster and was regularly done up."
"You look dirty enough for a tramp anyhow," he growled. "I'm pestered with them. Got any money on you?" A rough-and-ready test of his tramp theory.