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ALL QUIET

ming. After a few hundred yards they turn off and point to a house that stands a little distance away among the trees and shrubbery.

Leer asks if they live there.

They laugh—sure, that’s their house.

We call out to them that we would like to come, sometime when the guards cannot see us. At night. To-night.

They raise their hands, put them together, rest their faces on them and shut their eyes. They under­stand. The slim brunette does a two-step. The blonde girl twitters: “Bread—good———”

Eagerly we assure them that we will bring some with us. And other tasty bits too, we roll our eyes and try to explain with our hands. Leer nearly drowns trying to demonstrate a sausage. If it were necessary we would promise them a whole quarter­master’s store. They go off and frequently turn and look back. We climb out on the bank on our side of the canal and watch to see whether they go into the house for they might easily have been lying. Then we swim back.

No one can cross the bridge without leave, so we will simply have to swim over at night. We are full of excitement. We cannot last out without a drink, so we go to the canteen where there is beer and a kind of punch.

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