He must slip through the
sentry lines disguised as a workman, or perhaps by crawling through
the barbed wire at the barrier. For fear of capture some of these
bearers, working their way through the line at night, have dragged
their letters behind them, so that in case of capture they could drop
the cord and be found without incriminating evidence on them. For
taking letters into Belgium the process is naturally reversed. But
letters are sent, not to names, but to numbers. The bearer has a list
of numbers which correspond to certain addresses. Thus, even if he is
taken and the letters are found on him, their intended recipients will
not be implicated. I saw a letter which had been received in this way
by a Belgian woman. It was addressed simply to Number Twenty-eight.
The fire was burning better behind its automobile hood. An orderly had
brought in tea, white bread, butter, a pitcher of condensed cream, and
an English teacake. We gathered round the tea table. War seemed a
hundred miles away. Except for the blue uniforms and brass buttons of
the officers who belonged to the naval air service, the orderly's
khaki and the bayonet from a gun used casually at the other end of the
table as a paperweight, it was an ordinary English tea.
CHAPTER XXII
THE WOMEN AT THE FRONT
It was commencing to rain outside.
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