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Even after they were joined by five police officers at Ye train station, Mahn Nyein and U Aung Ngwe decided that this might be their best, and perhaps last, opportunity to escape. After the soldiers gave them something to eat, Mahn Nyein started to make conversation. He suddenly became curious about the soldiers’ guns, German-designed G3s, and asked whether bullets could come out of the holes around the barrel. The soldier laughed and explained that the holes were for ventilation—sometimes, he boasted, they fired off so many shots that the barrels overheated and fell off. He added that factories in Burma could produce enough of these guns for every person in the country. Mahn Nyein seemed duly impressed with this bit of information, so the soldier offered to let him hold the gun so he could feel the power for himself. Mahn Nyein declined, saying he was afraid to hold a gun. The soldier laughed again, and decided that he could trust this “sincere” student. Later the prisoners asked to move to a different compartment, because they felt dizzy sitting at the head of the train. The soldiers agreed, and moved their prisoners to a compartment in the middle of the train normally reserved for security guards. Just as they had hoped, the police officers stayed behind. Mahn Nyein and U Aung Ngwe now found themselves sitting face to face with their guards. Mahn Nyein’s guard placed his gun between them, within Mahn Nyein’s reach, but U Aung Ngwe’s guard kept his gun under his legs. Mahn Nyein decided he would grab the gun and shoot it into the air, hopefully creating enough of a distraction for both of them to jump out of the train. When he tried this, however, he could not fire the gun off quickly enough, and as he and the soldier were struggling for control of it, he saw U Aung Ngwe and his guard roll out of the compartment, falling to the side of the tracks. Some off-duty soldiers soon came to the assistance of Mahn Nyein’s guard, quickly overpowering the prisoner. The train came to a sudden stop, and the last thing Mahn Nyein remembers seeing before losing consciousness (he recalls feeling a sudden flash of heat at the back of his head) was the sight of his friend in the distance, hitting the soldier over the head with something, then running into the jungle with his gun. After that, all he could remember before reaching his destination was being beaten every time he regained consciousness, and bleeding from his mouth, nose and eyes. When he was finally taken to the detention center at LIB 31, the guard in charge was angry that he was still alive. Even under these circumstances, Mahn Aung’s mind was still set on escaping. He could not think clearly, but to give himself a chance to look around a little, he asked to be allowed to relieve himself by the side of the road as they moved him to a cell in a different building. Although it was night by this time, he could see by the light of the stars that there was nowhere to run: no trees, no mountains. He finally felt there was nothing left to do. On October 10, he was transferred—in a car with ten soldiers holding bayonets, and with his hands fastened to a steel pole—to Moulmein Prison. There he was placed in a cell for prisoners facing the death penalty. He was angry and frustrated at being back in the hands of the military again, without any knowledge of what had happened to his friends. He also felt physically weak, and when he opened his eyes, everything was a blur and a hot pain shot through the back of his head. But after several months in custody, he regained his strength on a meager diet of beans, fish paste and soup served in a condensed milk tin. After a while he was exercising in his cell in anticipation of his next escape attempt. In February 1971, he was taken to Insein Prison and placed in solitary confinement. His trip there was uneventful, but he recalls the kindness of some fellow passengers in the ordinary train compartment he was riding in, who took pity on this man in shackles and handcuffs and gave him some food. When he arrived at Insein, he wiped the dust off his clothes, cleaned out his cell, and said to himself, “I’ll be here for a couple of years.” He was finally released on April 13, 1973, as part of a general amnesty. He returned to his home village with a gastric ulcer, and in July 1974, went to the area under the control of the Karen National Union. He worked for a while with KNU President Mahn Ba Zan and is now a member of the KNU’s Central Committee. Written by an Irrawaddy staff writer.