644
PARTISAN REVIEW
stuffing openings with crumpled newspaper and patches of burlap ,
and tying string all around. When the shoes were large enough, a
layer of straw inside gave fine protection." The garbage is studied
meticulously. "We found our greatest treasure in a garbage can: a
map of all Germany and the northern part of Switzerland, a Shell
road map."
It's hard to say whose lot is worse - that of the prisoners or that
of the peasants , who've been there forever. These Pomeranian chap–
ters are interesting not only as an account of the war years, but also
as a picture of life forty years ago in the backwoods of Europe . The
farm is owned by a baroness, who runs a sort of ancient feudal
establishment.
When the weather was clear, the Baroness and her younger
daughter came after lunch, in a coach driven by an old crow: he
was assistant
Wachmann,
carried a pistol; and showed it to us ,
once in a while. He jumped to the ground, lowered the collaps–
ible steps, and the Baroness descended . Wearing high riding
boots, she went around, said a few words to
Tapageur,
who bowed
to her from the top of his horse ; to The Ox, who blushed and
stammered; and, here and there, to the peasants . The daughter ,
seventeen or eighteen, her long hair flying handsomely in the
wind , borrowed somebody's hoe , and dug a few potatoes, neatly ,
as if she knew how . She just stooped, of course, and lifted the
potatoes one by one, with the hoe, built a little heap, handed
back the tool and said with a smile: "Here you are ."
The peasant answered respectfully,
"Danke schon, Gniidiges
Fraulein,
»as if she did not mind hurrying to make up for the ten
minutes lost.
Helion plots an escape; but before he has a chance, he's trans–
ferred to a banana boat, in the harbor of Stettin-on-Oder, where
seven hundred and fifty men are kept, most of whom work at jobs in
the town during the days. Here, due to his skill at languages and his
general ability to take charge (an ability that had already stood him
in good stead back in the Abstraction-Creation days), Helion
becomes an assistant in the Commandant's Office, a sort of mid–
dleman between the prisoners and their captors . This part of the
book is perhaps less gripping -life begins to take on a slower, more
orderly day-by-day pace. But there are many marvelous vignettes ,
and Helion's affection for people - his sense of how liveliness bursts
