No seats had been provided, but there was not more than room to stand up in the stuffy car.

Fortunately the spaces between the timbers of the car sides gave abundant ventilation.
Into cars to the rear the enlisted prisoners were packed.

To stomachs that had been empty of food all day the odors were especially distressing.
As the officer in charge of the prisoners came to the side door of the first car Dick made bold to prefer a request.
"We have had no water all day.

May we have a bucket of it in here before the train starts ?" "There will not be time," replied the German officer coldly, and moved away.

Yet two hours passed, and the train did not start.
Suddenly German guns behind the front, along a stretch of miles, opened a heavy bombardment.