They did nothing to me for mashing Erna’s nose. I explained it to the sentry with a self-defence touch, and, as he did not like Erna himself, he let me off with a reprimand and the usual admonition:
“Don’t forget that you’re a Gefangener!”
I learned from this affair that, aside from the protection which a passing knowledge of German gave me, one could take a great many liberties with these simple country people, if one only made a bold face of it. On the other hand, the more one submitted to, the more one had to endure. I knew an Italian who had to work almost every Sunday, simply because he consented to work the first Sunday. I also knew of several Russians who were imprisoned in pig-stalls and others who were kicked and cuffed and slashed with knives by the same sentries who guarded us and for smaller offenses than we were constantly committing, but—until my attempted escape—none of the Englishmen there were touched.
CHAPTER VIII
For the Name of Old England
The one great pastime of the Mecklenburg peasants was arguing about the war with the prisoners. For us, it was impossible to avoid it. We were placed there for the amusement of the natives as well as for toil, and neither the utter ignorance of the subject on the part of the German nor the ignorance of the native tongue on the part of the prisoner furnished any immunity.
“England, nicht gut!” or “England kaput!”[6] was the usual challenge.
New prisoners often found their rebuttal limited to a simple, but vigorous, “Nay, nay, nay!”[7]
Older prisoners with a greater flow of language would gallantly defend the name of old England in a tirade similar to the following:
“Deutschland kaput! England nicht kaput! England besser! Ja! Ja! Englische Soldaten kommen immer fester! Passe mal auf. Immer fester!”
At first I tried serious argument, but this fell on barren ground. They knew no facts and believed none which I asserted. For my part, they thought it absurd that I should pretend to know anything about the subject which they did not know,—a Gefangener being a sort of benighted heathen.