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ANTWERP THE DAY AFTER ITS FALL 219
This, as I have said, happened at three o’clock on the (jtli
of October. It was now seven in the morning of the loth,
and I was on the way to the Palais of the Governor-General
in the Rue de la Loi, opposite the Park. At the entrance I
was met by three cheerful young oflicers, who greeted me as
if we had been boys together. They had been instructed by
the Field-marshal to accompany me to Antwerp. "If it
pleases you, we will start at once, the car is ready." " Ex-
cellent." The chauffeur immediately started the engine and
took his place at the wheel. At his side sat a soldier and inside
the open car were the three officers and myself. All the
Germans carried revolvers. We had also three carbines con-
veniently at hand. It was plain that the road was considered un-
safe, and that the visit to the conquered city was not altogether
without danger. As yet we had received no information to
show the mood of the inhabitants of the captured city during
the night and early morning. " To me it is quite the same
whether I am shot now or later, one has to die in any case,"
said Lieut. Classen, who was a great philosopher and full of
comical fancies and stories. My other two travelling com-
panions were Lieut. Dr. Hiitten of Stettin and Lieut. Dr. Walter
Kes of Steglitz. The latter was on the active list even in
peace time, and yet a doctor of philosophy, a combination
which I am told is very rare.
The moment we were ready we started off. The pace from
the first was terrific. The journey was exciting and remark-
able in every way. It must not be wondered at that my notes
were few and scanty—the blame must be put on the speed at
which we were travelling. We sat in a state of tense excite-
ment. To my travelling companions the northern portion, at
all events, of this road was unknown, as was the city itself,
and a road over which an army has just passed is obviously
full of tracks and ruts. Merely to take in what one sees under
such circumstances is no bad achievement, and demands,
from a layman at least, a certain quickness of perception.
Before one had heard the end of the explanation of one pheno-
menon, something fresh has to be noted, which in a trice cuts
off the previous train of thought. The v«^hole becomes a chaos
of fragments which leave a confused and dazed general im-
pression. But to follow certain threads from their inception
to their logical conclusion is impossible. I will, therefore, give
the fragments as they were impressed on my mind, leaving
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