Page:The Jail, Experiences in 1916.pdf/62

 a heroic spirit, with a most firm will; he says to himself: Prison,—good; loss of liberty,—never mind; a jailer,—there must be one: a warder,—there must be one also,—but the reality comes and the prison turns out to be a military jail, a cold and dismal room; loss of liberty turns out to be a complete loss of your own personality; the jailer turns out to be a prison governor, and the warder a Beschliesser; the reality is cruel, coarse, uncouth, and a series of trifles of which you have never thought, here play a very important part.

We sat down together on the straw mattress of one of the beds,—it was Dušek's bed which the superintendent, a decent German had put there for him, and we talked together. Dušek was as thoroughly versed in all the details of jail life, as if he had grown up there. He knew the life history and circumstances of all the jailers and prisoners, the whole building had not a single secret or mystery for him, he was acquainted with all the conditions of life there and he initiated me into them. Like the chorus of a song, the question was repeated: what are you really here for? That I was there did not surprise him,—he had expected me with absolute certainty from that day in December when I gave evidence in the Kramář trial—but what could be the immediate cause? If it had been something political, they would not have locked me up with him, "accomplices" are not allowed to be together; therefore it can be nothing which is connected with the "Čas", or the Pastor (as we called Professor Masaryk); besides, I had not been concerned with politics, could not be in touch with abroad—well, it is certain that they have something and that they will tell what it is very soon, for every prisoner must be allowed to make a statement within 24 hours—"but it does not matter why they have locked you up", he observed, "you may be prepared to remain here for the duration of the war, and it is agood thing that we are together."