DARING ESCAPE

Evening Star, Issue 19773, 25 January 1928, Page 12

DARING ESCAPE

FROM THE FOREIGN LEGION ENGLISHMAN'S ORDEAL : After running (lie gauntlet of death—and worse—in a desperate escape _ across the desert from the french Foreign Legion, wherein his life had been a hell, Mr Franklin Brook, an ex-Scots Guardsman, has returned to Halifax, and told the full story of his nightmare adventures. Out of work after twelve years with Iho colors, he determined to lind employment at all costs, and, unknown to his relatives, joined the V Legion of Ihe Lost,” stories of which had fired his imagination as a youth. He .served for nine months, and then escaped. How, a broken man, lie is determined to remain in his native town for the rest of'his life. With such a splendid military record Mr Brook had i no difficulty in joining Ihe 4th Esoradon. of 'th® • Legion- Cavalry. He was sent to' Tunis, and later to Susa, further down the dpast. ■ “From there,'’' he said,’ “I was sent to an out post,'which we in the Legion called Citilane, tdwards the Tripolitan frontier—about forty miles from anywhere. There life was hell. The sparseness of food virtually meant starvation. The toil of illness was terrible I .' ■ Men sold all they • could to get enough money to escape to the coast. On an average ten men deserted every day, but only a few won freedom. At last I became desperate. The conditions were beyond human endurance. I realised that 1 must either escape or die.” His opportunity came unexpectedly. He was out in the desert, far south of the outpost, in charge of a patrol of forty men. The desert shimmered in the noonday heai; ihe men slept. Ho saddled Monastic, his splendid Arab horse, and, followed by an Austrian named Pippin and , a Russian, left the bivouac, and rode for the nearest caravan route towa'rds the Gulf of Gabes. SHOT THEIR HORSES. Ten miles further on they overtook an Arab goumier. The men opened fire on the three fugitives. Two continued their headlong flight. The Russian had fallen, “Wo reached the gulf,” Mr Brook continued, "and with hearts burning with joy we saw ihe sun rise over the still waters. But my horse,' Monastic, was stumbling. His beautiful coat was lathered with foam. He had been galloping for twelve hours. It hurt, but in mercy I unshmg my carbine and shot him. Pippin wasted four bullets before he could bring himself to do the same for his mount. “There was no British ship in sight, so for five - days, .w.a. tramped, up ..the, coast, burying irt The sand "oh the beach during the day, and continuing pur journey at night,.. Then, almost exhausted, we wandered-, from four prearranged course. Imagine‘ our horror when, early one morn-ing,-we’found ourselves in surroundings we recognised, ■ We were on the outskirts of Susa!'- It-jwas just round the headland.” The two Hugutivos were in a sad plight. They i climbed- the headland, and all that day lay -hidden among cactus plants, torn by thousands of cruel spikes. ' They looked down on tjieir old base, saw the activities in the square, Saw the Briga making (he rounds. A 1 ship was riding at anchor in the harbor. It flew a red flag at the ! stern; they prayed that it was a red ensign.

THE SHIP OP HOPE. The sun sank, and the fateful night came quickly. They beard their own band playing in the town square. They heard the thin silvery notes of the Apel—“Lightsout” —float up from the barracks. Then they decided to make their great effort. Their own band proved their salvation. They mingled with the crowd, and in such circumstances their uniform raised no suspicion. They passed Iho gendarmes at the end of the quay, and hid themselves among hales of esparto glass, within 20ft of the ship's gangway. Not far away a gendarme leaned negligently on his rifle. "To our joy we found that the vessel was registered at Cardiff. We remained hidden for three hours, in imminent danger of discovery. Then the sentry nodded. Ho started when I approached. I broke my knuckles on his jaw, and he fell like a log.” Pippin wished to hoard an Italian vessel, and the two quarrelled. Pippin remained in hiding, and was caught. The Englishman fled up the gangway, and, stumbling in the dark, received a frightful gash under the left eye. He found a door ajar, lapped, and entered. Four officers were sitting at a table. They were thunderstruck. The fugitive was a sorry spectacle. Blood was streaming down his face. His uniform hung in shreds. He was covered with dirt, and on the verge of collapse. “ For God's sake hide me,” he gasped. “In a minute a horde will be aboard this vessel after me.” “Abaft the wheel there is a HI tie hatchway,” said one. “ Get down there.” “ I found the spot A couple of deck hands pulled up a trapdoor, and I entered a tiny chamber about 4ft long and 2ft high, immediately above the propellers. “Ten minutes Infer the Arab police were on the ship. I heard (hem searching n little chamber I had just left. They even thrust sticks through cracks in the floor, and T crouched back in the darkness as widening strips of light showed I hat the boards were yielding. “Presently their footsteps died away, and a kindly scamon handed down a huge Scotch ‘ slice ’ spread with inm half an inch thick. I ate it ravenously.” The gendarmes remained on the ’’assel for four davs. At least twenty times ihey scrutinised the hatchway aft. Cargo was taken aboard, and at, last (be prisoner knew by flic tremendous vibration beneath him that the ship was getting under way. MOTHERS ANXIETY. “ I created some consternation when I stepped ashore in my tattered uniform at Glasgow,” ho said. “ I didn't mind. I to see my wife, and throe kiddies and my mother. After those terrible experiences the name of the French Foreign Legion will always make me shudder." During the time he served with the Legion Mr Brook sent six letters to his mother. One was delivered, and so she discovered his whereabouts. She was induced to see the film ‘ Beau Geste.' and was tortured by (ho glimpse of what her boy was enduring. 1 “That picture, and the anxiety of it all, lias made me an old woman,” she said to me pathetically.