It would, of course, have been a mistake to concentrate on any one plan which did not absolutely guarantee success. I therefore looked round for other methods of escaping from the camp. With the help of a friend I contrived a jumping pole (made of broom-handles) with which I intended to jump over the barbed-wire fence. Unfortunately, the pole broke in two on its first 'trial voyage.' We were not discouraged, and we made another pole. And when this broke we made more. But all these attempts failed because it was impossible to smuggle a couple of good-sized poles into the camp. To the same fact, also, was due the failure of another scheme to reach a tree outside the fence from one inside by means of a long pole. This would have required a piece of wood or rope at least twelve yards long, for all the lower boughs, especially those near the fence, had been carefully cut off.
About the time when I was busy with these plans a small motor-car used to come nearly every day into camp. With a little address and the help of the chauffeur it would have been possible to hide in it, for it was easy to distract the attention of the sentry told off to guard it. The chauffeur was, as I soon discovered, very accessible. I covenanted with him to take me out of the camp for £500.
From my own resources and by borrowing from friends who had large sums of English money, I could raise about half of this amount. The remainder was to be paid after the war, and satisfactory guarantees were given. The payment was to be made by one of my friends as soon as the man proved that I was safely out of the camp. The day and the hour were agreed upon, and everything appeared to be in order. Very few knew about my plan, for I did not want to have it wrecked by incautious gossip.
On the appointed evening I stood in the yard near the garage, provided with all necessaries, and waited with bated breath for my deliverer. Half an hour—an hour—passed. I was beginning to wonder if I had been deceived, when suddenly I heard the well-known sound of the horn in the distance. A few moments later the headlights lit up the long passage that led to the yard. As the car passed the entrance doors I noticed two English officers sitting in it. Had the chauffeur led me into a trap?
I carefully crept along the wall into the darkest corner of the garage. 'Well, now, let's get to work,' I heard one of the officers say. Then I saw him look round the shed as if looking for something. My heart beat faster. Fortunately, the Englishman's remark had no reference to me, for the two of them walked away in the direction of the commandant's office. The chauffeur began to work on the car, and swore when he found he had run out of petrol, whereupon the sentry offered to get him some. This was contrary to his orders, for he was forbidden to leave the motor. I then showed myself and was about to get into my hiding place. But the chauffeur prevented me, declaring that he was risking ten years' imprisonment by this joke (as he called it), and that he must therefore have £500 in cash on the spot, and another £500 later.
This was a low trick. It was impossible for me to pay £500 at once, and I could not guarantee to pay the second instalment, for it was beyond my means. As discussion did not help matters and I could hear the footsteps of the sentry returning with the petrol, I had, with a heavy heart, to give up my plan.
FOOTNOTE:
[18] It only earned him six months' imprisonment. Let me state here that, instead of the three to fourteen days' arrest awarded in Germany for attempts at escape, the English, up to the conclusion of the Hague Agreement in July, 1917, never awarded less than six months' imprisonment!