DARING ESCAPE.

Waikato Times, Volume 102, Issue 17277, 13 December 1927, Page 4

DARING ESCAPE.

. . —— 1 ~ ■** FROM THE FOREIGN LEGION" A NSGHTIWARE AffiWENT'ORE. j j ENGLISHMAN’S ORDEAL. After running the gauntlet of death —and worse-—in a desperate escape* across the desert fronu toe French Foreign Legion, wherein' iris life had , been a hell, Mr Franklin Brook, an S ex-Scots Guardsman, lias* returned to Halifax, and told the full story of his nightmare adventures. Out of work after 12 ye tars with the colours, he determined Uo find employment at all costs, and, unknown fo his relatives, joined the “Liegion of the Lost,” stories of which had fired his imagination as a yomth. Tie served * for nine months —and then escaped. Nouv, a broken man he is determined to remain in hi. native town for Ufa rest of his life. With such a spilendid military record Mr Brook tund no ' difficulty in joining the 4th Escadron of the Legion Cavalry. He was sent to Tunis, .and later to Susa, further down the' etvast. ‘'‘From there,” he said, “I was sent to ah outpost which we in the Legion called Citilane, towards the Tripolitan frontier —about 40 miles from anywhere : There, life was hell. The sparsencsif of food virtually meant starvation.' The toll of illness was terrible. Mem sold all' they could to • o-ct enough .money to escape to the coast On an average :10 meh deserted every day, hut only a few won freedom. At last I became desperate. The conditions .were lneyond human endurance- I realised that I must either escape or die.” His opportunity came unexpectedly. I-le.was out IF the desert, far south of the outpost, in' charge of a patrol of 40 men. The desert shimmered an the noonday heat; the men slept, lie saddled Monastir, his splendid A mb ; horse, and, followed by an Austrian named Pippin, and a Russian, left the , bivouac, and rode Mr. toe nearest caravan route towards the Gulf of j Gabes. Shot Their Horseo. Ten miles further on they overtook an Arab goumier. The men opened •Are on the three fugitives. Two continued their headlong flight. The RusW:f^reached the gulf,” Mr Brook continued, “and with hearts bursting with joy wc saw the sun rise over the still waters. But my horse, Monastir, was Mumbling. His beautiful coat was lathered with foam. He had been galloping for 12 hours. It hurt, km i n mercy I unslung my carbine and . shot him. Pippin wasted four b'Hlets before he could bring himself to da I the same, for his mount. _ _ . > . . “There was no British, ship in si c ht._ i so far five days we tramped up the- ' coast, burying ourselves m the sand T on the. beach during the day, and coni tinuing our journey at night. Then, > almost, exhausted, we wandered irom . our ■ pre-arranged course. Imagine ! our horror when, early one morning, ! we found ourselves m surroundings i we recognised. Wc were on the out- - skirts of Susa. It was just round the j - llC The lU iwo fugitives were in a sad 3 nil-tot ’They climbed the headland, 1 £ all that day lay hidden among tiro i cactus plants, lorn by thousands of ~ ,„m Jakes They looked down on . their old base, saw the activities in-1 he . enuare saw the Briga making the “ i-ounets'. A ship was riding at anchor - in the harbour. It flew a red Hag at t £c‘ stem; «.« PW«> 11 » l , ' od '“'“"The Ship of Hope. I The sun sank, and the fateful night n ltlv They heard their own ; SpWDB ln mi™ square. The,; i hcaril the thin silvery notes of the Apel r “iltoLs out”—float up from the bar-. a racks Then they decided to make ° provcd r r salv T tion They mingled with the, crowd, and in such circumstances, their uniform raised no suspicion, they pass n ed The gendarmes at the end of he ■- quay, and hid among the t hales .of esperanto grass, within -Oft nf Ihe ship’s gangway. Not tar awe*. , i, a gendarme leaned negligently on Ins ; rif u To our joy, wc found that. the ves- j ’ set \vas° registered at Cardiff Wc re- t ?i main™ hidden for three Jours m imminent danger. oI.WL I the sentry nodded. H 6 started Wien 4) Coached. A broke par knuckles*

on his jaw, and h e fell like a log.” Pippin wished to hoard an Italian vessel, and the tvro quarrelled. Pippin remained in hiding and was caught. The Englishman fled up the gangway and, stumblirog in the dark received a frightful gash under the left eye. He found a. door ajar, tapped, and entered. Foi ir officers were sitting at a tables 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 sal to hide me,” he gasped. “In a mini itc a horde will be: aboard this vess el after me.” “Abaft the wheel there is a little hatchway,” said! one. 1 “Get down j theme.” • j “■J. found the spot. A couple of! deck hands pull ?d up a trap door and j J entered a tin:f chamber, about 4ft. j long and 2ft. h.'tgh, immediately above j the propellers. _ J “Ten minute ? later the Arab police! were on the ship. I heard them j searching a lit tie chamber I had just, left. They evijn thrust sticks through cradles in the floor, and I crouched hack in the darkness as widening strips of light showed that the boards were yielding. “Presently their footsteps died away, and a kindly seaman handed down a. huge Scotch ‘slice’ spread with jfcm half an inch thick. J. ate it ravenously.” Tire gendarmes remained on the vessel for four days. At least 20 ; limes 1 hey scrutinised the hatchway , ufl. (Ccii’go was taken aboard, and at j last the 'prisoner knew by the tremcn- j dous vibration beneath him that' the strip was. getting under way. Mother’s Anxiety. “I created some consternation when I stepped ashore in my tattered uniform at Glasgow,” ire said. “I didn’t mind. I only wanted to see my wife and three kiddies and my mother. Alter litas® terrible uxbcrieuccs, the