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252 WITH THE GERMAN ARMIES IN THE WEST
had fled and taken their child with her. She had not yet re-
turned, nor had he had any news of her. Further, he had seen
the ferries in Antwerp cast loose and allowed to drift down-
stream towards Flushing, to prevent their falling into the
hands of the Germans. He beheved that, in a month’s time,
most of the inhabitants of the town would be back. The young
men only hesitated to return for fear of being compelled by
the Germans to serve in their army against Russia. And
according to rumours which had been spread, the Russians
were standing near Berlin with immense armies.
Clearly, the defenders of Antwerp had feared that an attack
would also be made from the west, from the region of Ter-
monde, for one day General Bailer and his officers observed
entrenchments, several kilometres in length, thrown up at
the cost of at least a couple of weeks’ hard toil, and with
much skill. The material was earth and timber, which had
been dragged there by the civilian population from the sur-
rounding districts. But even this labour was in vain, and
they did not even make an attempt to defend these entrench-
ments.
On October 17th we commenced with a visit to the Zoologi-
cal Garden, one of the foremost of its kind in the world. Dr.
Hiitten, in his capacity as a German officer, was admitted
free ; I paid the usual admission. The Indian elephants,
hippopotami, rhinoceroses and giraffes were just as uncon-
cerned as the chimpanzees and the other simians, about the
radical change which had recently taken place in their im-
mediate surroundings. One of the elephants was gravely
shaking his head, but otherwise the bombardment did not
seem to have made the least impression on the animals ;
no doubt they mistook the roar of the guns for an approaching
thunderstorm.
But the most remarkable circumstance was that all beasts
of prey had vanished. This is the only way in which the
Zoological Garden has been affected by the war. The splendid
large summer cages were empty, and so were the indoor
winter quarters of the animals. An old keeper, who, grave
and bent, was raking the paths in the park, explained the
cause—shaking his head all the while just like the Indian
elephant.
" All beasts of prey were shot," he said. " Four splendid
lions, live fine tigers, all the leopards and panthers, all land
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