18 Feb 1944, Journal of Lt. Donald W. Kerr

((Lt Kerr has been hiding in a “charcoal cave” for several days…))

6:15pm  Y.T. arrived  He asked me to hurry and eat, he said that tonight we’d go to another place…

Our course was generally East – first over into another valley and then up a long, long slope to a mountain pass.  The path was narrow but steps of stone were laid in the steeper places and with the dim light from a half hidden moon we got along pretty well.  …  The whole hike was made in silence, with Y.T.’s brother going a hundred yards ahead of me and Y.T. the same distance behind.

At length we reached the top of the pass…Two young Chinese materialized out of the night…There was an exchange of some notes and then more talk.  Y.T. came over to where I was stretched out on the grass and said, “Now, you go with these,” and indicated the boy and girl.

The boy was about 12, the girl perhaps 15.  Both were small and dressed in dark Chinese coats – the girl’s had a sort of dark hood on it…

Well, we walked.  And walked.  And walked yet more.  First we’d head toward the coastal lights, then we’d turn and go another way.  Up and down hills, on large paths and tiny trails.  We did work closer to the sea, though, and I could sometimes see the reflections on the water of moving lights…We struck off across a mountainside.  No path at all now.  The slope was ridged with rocky patches and narrow bushy gullies – it was generally mean going.  At the foot of the slope, perhaps two miles away, was a collection of dim lights that looked like a town, and once a pair of headlights moved along a road away below us.

… The boy took the big bundle and sneaked off with it into a clump of especially dense vines and reedy grass.  The girl put the basket in my hands and pantomimed that it held things to eat.  And cigarettes.  She acted out how I should light them under cover of my hat.  

… I clambered into the indicated thicket carrying the basket [and saw] A sheaf of straw spread out a little and a quilt!  I rearranged it a little, rolled my coat for a pillow and was rapidly asleep.