Algernon Blackwood

“ One man in particular stood for a long time and shouted at us. He asked if we had the necessary papers and passports, and what we should have to say when the police came to turn us off, and a lot more besides that the great width of the river only just enabled us to hear. Naturally, we took no notice of any of them, but just went on with our cooking as though we did not hear them, and when the dusk came down and hid the opposite shore in shadows, they all moved on to the little inn half a mile lower down and left us in peace. ”

“ And one of these was that all the way down a narrow strip of the banks on both sides belongs to the German Government; no private property can run down quite to the river’s edge as it does, of course, on the Thames. This ensures the banks being kept in good repair, and the rule is probably intended in case of war; but the important thing for campers like ourselves was that the only people who had the right to interfere with our tents and nightly bivouacs were the police⁠—die Polizei. No mere private individual or gamekeeper could ever turn us off. ”

“ I knew the police at Regensburg from the experiences of a former trip. They were the most polite and reasonable people in the world, and, instead of asking for papers, they volunteered all sorts of useful information about the river, with advice where to camp, and what dangerous rapids to look out for, etc. I was quite certain then that the man’s sole object was to extort a good fat tip on the plea of allowing us to proceed. And the group of men standing on the grass behind were watching the fun. ”

“ All day long a head wind had delayed us, and made paddling a weariness to the flesh. The map showed a long string of villages for a dozen miles or more, no one village being far enough from the next one to ensure a really safe and quiet camp. ”

“ In almost every case previously the police had been amply satisfied with a passport. It rather impressed them as a rule. This man was so very quick to object and find fault, and for some reason it struck me as a little overdone.
“We are English people,” I explained, “and we are making a holiday trip down the river to Buda-pesth. These papers are all we have, and they have always been held sufficient by the police everywhere. What more do you want?” ”

“ The answer came a little too pat, and made me suspect a lesson carefully learned in the beer-room of the inn where the plot had been hatched. But, of course, I could not be sure yet of my suspicions.
“I have been down the Danube before,” I said, “and have made friends with the police all the way down; but I never heard of the Strand Polizei before.”
“Our duties are to watch the banks and to prevent trespassing, and see that no damage is done. Fires, for instance”⁠—here he pointed to ours⁠—“are not permitted at all. And your explanation of a holiday trip is not enough. ”

“ Thus, although our own bank was deserted⁠—consisting of fields and rows of willow-bushes close to the water⁠—we did not feel very secure from interruption.
We made a small fire for cooking, put up one tent for the ladies to sleep in, and hauled the boat high up the shingly shore to be safe in case the river rose farther in the night. My cousin and myself decided not to put up our own tent, but to use it as a sleeping-bag We often did this on hot nights, and very easy it was. By spreading our cork mattresses on one side of the tent, we could draw the other side over us lke a blanket. ”

“ But in every case we had learned that our best plan was to be very polite and quiet with them, to show them our things readily, and to answer all their (often stupid) questions without demur, because if we made them angry they had the nght to arrest us, to seize our baggage, and to hold us in the local lockup until by one way or another we had proved to their satisfaction that we were really what we said we were⁠—innocent holidaymakers. ”

“ The one in front was a fine-looking fellow, who held himself like an officer; he had a red beard and was smartly dressed, and he was followed closely by another man in a sort of peasant’s overall. The man with the red beard drew his heels together with snap and saluted.
“Good evening,” he said in German. “Have you got your papers of identification? Kindly show them.”
“It’s the police,” whispered my cousin’s wife, turning to her husband, who, suspecting nothing, began laboriously to produce his passport from the leather pocket of his belt. ”

“ The second man, meanwhile, had made good his escape into the darkness without a scratch, and at that minute, to our great delight, the women-folk came running down from their tent with a couple of lanterns. ”