the women: “Do you have any weapons on you, do you?” Of course we did not have any weapons. They let us go and announced: “Men, you stay off the wagon, or you’ll run the horses down otherwise”.
In a settlement whose name I do not recall, peasants were catching men for work. Two men were caught, but they soon returned, having bought theirway out.
Fearing another similar adventure, we drove off the road and found a cot-tage, where we stayed until 3. Our host promised to take us to our destination, but ultimately failed to do so, so at dusk we went to [3] Brok,43 a summer resort on the River Bug. It was already dark. We alighted from the wagonbecause the wheels got stuck in the mud. We were six kilometres from the Bug. We were not allowed to speak. When we approached the Bug, it was completely dark. By the river, there was a hut where the carrier lived. We entered. The household was perfectly clean. We received a very warm welcome. Then we crossed the Bug in a boat. The farmer had warned us that they might shoot. They tried to frighten us on purpose; it seems that they wanted an excuse to take more money from us. Crossing the Bug took several minutes. Before boarding the boat we gave our valuables to the carrier, who hid them in his boot and returned them to us while we were on the river. The border was behind the Bug. Having led us to some peasant’s hut, our guide disappeared. The hut’s owner was supposed to take us across at 3. [4] We set off. We were on foot, our things on the wagon. The guide walked ahead, and I with him, and I held him by the coat the whole time because I was afraid he might run away. We came to the bridge, where there was supposed to be a German checkpoint. We decided that the guide would go to see if anyonewas there. If not – he was supposed to cough and then we’d follow him. And indeed, after a while he gave us a sign that we could move on. It was stilldark but now we could make out some shapes. We went deeper into the forest. Each tree seemed to me to be someone’s shadow. From a distance, a lightflickered. It was the cottage of the famous Frank family, known for robbing
