He offered his services as
stretcher-bearer in the German Army, and was given a German Red Cross
pass. Armed with this pass he left Liege, passed successfully many
sentries, and at last got to Antwerp by a circuitous route. On the way
he found a dead German and, being only a small boy after all, he took
off the dead man's stained uniform and bore it in his arms into
Antwerp!
There is no use explaining about that uniform. If you do not know boys
you will never understand. If you do, it requires no explanation.
Here is a fourteen-year-old lad, intrusted with a message of the
utmost importance for military headquarters in Antwerp. He left
Brussels in civilian clothing, but he had neglected to take off his
boy scout shirt--boy-fashion! The Germans captured him and stripped
him, and they burned the boy scout shirt. Then they locked him up, but
they did not find his message.
All day he lay in duress, and part of the night. Perhaps he shed a few
tears. He was very young, and things looked black for him. Boy scouts
were being shot, remember! But it never occurred to him to destroy the
message that meant his death if discovered.
He was clever with locks and such things, after the manner of boys,
and for most of the night he worked with the window and shutter lock.
Perhaps he had a nail in his pocket, or some wire.
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