Scarlet Fields: The Combat Memoir of a World War I Medal of Honor Hero

20. British Trouble

20 British Trouble About this time Jesse and I decided that we ought to get a look at some of Germany while we had the chance. We’d already been to Bonn and several towns not far from Meisenheim, but what we wanted to see was Cologne. We had enough money, and our medals made it easy for us to get passes. But Cologne was different. It was in the British area,and we weren’t supposed to visit it except in organized parties. These parties were conducted by Y.M.C.A. men, which was all right if you wanted to go that way. But Jesse and I couldn’t see ourselves in a party like that, so we decided to take a chance without passes.We caught a boat to Cologne.We were spick and span and had all our medal ribbons on our blouses. We ran into several M.P. details in Cologne, but they didn’t bother us, and we were beginning to feel like having a little fun. We hung around for a while outside a beer garden with a couple of British Tommies on guard at the door.We could hear music and singing ,and we kept seeing good-looking fraüleins at the windows.When we saw that the Tommies at the door were only armed with swagger sticks, and had no belts on, we decided to make a try for it. Jesse said,“We’ve been outstaring our own M.P.’s all day.We ought to be able to get by those babies.” When we started through the door the Tommies crossed their canes in front of us. “You can’t go in there,” one of them said. He didn’t have any front teeth and that made it sound funny. british trouble 229 “Oh, we can’t, can’t we?” Jesse said. “Now just watch and see!” He took a swagger stick in each hand, pulled them away from their owners, and threw them on the ground. Then he swung the doors open, and we marched into the beer garden. It was evidently a very exclusive hangout, reserved for British of- ficers. We couldn’t see anyone else at the tables. But we didn’t stop for that.We found an unoccupied table and sat down.The waitresses were unusually pretty German girls,and when Jesse pulled out a row of bills two inches thick several of them floated over to our table. Jesse flashed his gold tooth, and ordered half a dozen bottles of white Moselle wine.They brought a tray with a dozen bottles for him to inspect, and a pasteboard box to pack them in. “Never mind the boxes,” Jesse said. “We’ll furnish our own containers.” He knocked the head off a bottle, tipped his head back, and set the bottle down empty.Then he gave the fraüleins a handful of change and told them to buy pretties with it. Jesse and I could both talk pretty fair soldier German by this time, and we had a lot of fun with those girls. Our line was new, and they got quite a kick out of it. One of them asked if Jesse was an Indian. “Sure!”Jesse said.“My name’s Squatting Calf.My father’s name was Sitting Bull.” He pointed across the table to me. “That’s Pain-in-theFace . He’s Indian too.” The girls laughed and crowded around. About then, several British officers got up from one of the tables and came over to ours.They pushed the girls aside and sat down. I had the British D.S.O. ribbon on, and one of the officers was very inquisitive about it. I got the feeling that he thought there must be something funny about my having it.65 I answered as politely as I could because he was an officer.But I was uneasy about Jesse. He was doing very little talking, but his face was getting as innocent-looking as a papoose’s.I’d known him long enough to recognize that look. It always spelled trouble for somebody. The other officers couldn’t help being amused, but they didn’t like 230 chapter twenty the attitude of the one who was doing the talking. They showed that plainly. One of them suggested that they go on,and leave us alone.“They...