Part 5 (2/2)
”My word!” exclaimed Jules as Henri entered; ”two baskets of provender this time, and full--both of them. Now listen to us, Henri; we've found a beautiful little hole in a bundle of hay in the loft close handy, and, from the position of the place, we believe it to be seldom entered. It's just the spot in which to pa.s.s the night, and sleep throughout the following day if need be.”
”And you listen for a moment,” said Henri, speaking swiftly. ”A party of Germans from Ruhleben have just reached the farm, and I met them face to face. I thought they would have recognized me, for amongst them was one whom I remember to have seen doing sentry duty; but I'm such a scarecrow in these clothes, and so dishevelled, that they took me for some farm hand or village lout, and let me pa.s.s. But in a little while they will be asking questions of the farmer, there'll be a hue and cry, and they'll know that one of the prisoners who escaped has been close to them. We must move. That comfortable little spot, which sounds so inviting, is out of the question. Let's pick up our clothes and make a dash into the open. It looks to me almost as if we should have to swim the river again, for there are two bloodhounds with the party I accosted, and they may easily trace us.”
Pulling on their still damp clothing as rapidly as they could, they sent Jules first of all to the bottom of the staircase, to make sure that there was no sign of the farmer or his visitors; then Henri and Stuart each picked up a basket, and, stealing down into the yard, made their way out of it, and, skirting the house, gained the highway.
Pressing along it, walking at a rapid rate, they pushed on during the hours of darkness, and just as the light began to grow, seeing some buildings away to their right, turned off along a country lane which led towards them, and presently discovered themselves to be close to a sugar factory, at one end of which a water-tower was erected.
Carefully looking around them, to make sure that no one was about, they sought for a door, and, entering a yard round which buildings were erected, presently discovered a wide door which was unbolted. Entering without hesitation, and closing it after them, they found themselves in a huge apartment with bins on every side, with overhead shafts and pulleys. At the far end a staircase led to another floor, and, ascending that, they found themselves in an apartment of similar dimensions, the floor s.p.a.ce of which was occupied by machines of various patterns. At the far end, where the tower was erected, there was another doorway, and pa.s.sing through it they clambered up the steep stone stairs, which finally led them to a small room at the top, above which was an iron-girdered ceiling supporting a huge water-tank, to which supplies were pumped no doubt from the river. Having groped their way in the semi-darkness to this spot, they barred the door of the room by driving a wedge in above the latch, and then, thoroughly tired out after their long tramp and their adventures of the previous day and night, they lay down to sleep, careless almost of the consequences.
Two whole days pa.s.sed during which Henri and his friends were unable to move from the room to which they had gained access--two days during which they slept in turns, and rested, while the one who watched posted himself at one of the four windows which looked out from each side of the tower, and surveyed the surrounding country. From that post of vantage they were able to see the river which they had crossed higher up, and even the roof of the farm where they had obtained food and temporary shelter; they could observe every feature of the country, the yard below, the hosts of women workers in the sugar factory, the coming and going of important-looking factory officials, and even the pa.s.sage of search-parties along the road in their quest for the prisoners.
”It looks to me as though we'd found a safe haven,” said Henri, when he had been on duty for some hours and the others had awakened. ”I watched a party coming down the road with two dogs, and I'm sure that they are the fellows who so nearly captured me at the farm yonder.
They turned up towards this factory, called loudly for the manager, and made a survey of the buildings. For all I know they may even have come to the foot of the tower, but they certainly did not ascend the staircase. You can imagine that I took particular notice of the bloodhounds who accompanied them.”
”Ha!” exclaimed Stuart. ”Show any signs of excitement--eh? Did they look about them and sniff as though they had scented us?”
”Not a bit of it. They were as quiet as lambs, and seemed utterly bored with the whole business, and as if they were thoroughly tired of being dragged at the heels of the search-party. As for the men, they looked weary and f.a.gged out after their tramp, and I imagine that they take little interest in the business. You've got to remember that we've been now something like three days away from Ruhleben, and the authorities must know that we've had plenty of time to get farther away from the camp. They'd hardly be looking for us now so near it, and no doubt they've telegraphed our description across the country. That being so, it seems to me that the wisest course for us is to stay here as long as possible, until the hue and cry has died down and the event has been forgotten.”
”And then,” asked Jules inquisitively, ”what's to happen? We are still a precious long way from France or from any of the neutral countries.
It's time, I should think, that we made a plan for the future, for up to now we've followed the road, as it were, of least resistance; we took the direction which seemed best under pressing circ.u.mstances, and did not head for any particular destination.”
”Then what about Holland?” demanded Stuart; ”the people are friendly enough, and, if one only knew the truth, are precious frightened of the Germans. Once across the frontier there we shall receive hospitality; and, seeing that the Germans are hardly frightened of the Dutch, the frontier will not be so very heavily guarded. But in the direction of France and Belgium there's that trench-line we've heard so much about, and where I'd give a lot to be fighting.”
”Holland's the country we should make for undoubtedly,” agreed Henri, when they had discussed the matter a little further. ”But in which direction it lies, precisely, is rather difficult to determine; we shall have to leave that to the future, and of course must find out the way by asking questions. That means that we must discover disguises first of all, and that is a thing that wants a lot of doing. As to staying here, I feel quite sure that it's a wise procedure; and, thanks to the food and the drink we brought along, we have rations enough, if we husband them carefully, to last for quite four or five days longer.”
It was not particularly exciting or exhilarating in that lofty room at the top of the tower, and went little way towards meeting the wishes of any one of the party, yet the plan met with the hearty approval of the canny Stuart, and, since Henri himself had proposed it, met with the ready a.s.sent of Jules. That they had food sufficient to last them for several days was quite certain, while the question of drink was cleared up already--for they had discovered a trap-door in the girdered ceiling above them and an iron ladder outside the door of the room, which, when put in position, gave access to it. Clambering up that, one very early morning when a mist hung over the country, Henri had discovered a narrow gallery surrounding the huge water-tank, and, lifting the inspection-door over the latter, had found it full of water. It was from this that they replenished their supplies at night, and so made certain of the fact that, however long they remained as prisoners in that place, thirst would not a.s.sail them.
At the end of the week, however, impatience to be moving on was beginning to try them far more than their enforced idleness, and many a discussion did they indulge in with reference to their future movements. Numerous and various were the suggestions made by one or other of the party, but, excellent though some of them may have been, on discussion all were vetoed. Yet, something must be done, something definite decided upon; and finally, in desperation almost, Henri decided to emerge from their hiding-place and make a closer investigation of their surroundings.
”It stands to reason,” he told his friends at the end of one of these fruitless discussions--”it stands to reason that if we leave the place now--and in the course of a few hours we shall be forced to, seeing that our food-supply is almost gone--we shall be hardly any better off than we were at the commencement; for you have to remember that a full and complete description of us has been telegraphed broadcast, and, though the novelty of the event has now worn off, no doubt there are hundreds of police officers on the look-out for us. Thus it follows that to make our escape successful we must either march at night-time only--which renders the purchase of food almost an impossibility, and compels us to steal it or get it in much the same way as we got this supply from the farm building--or we must find disguises which will alter our appearance entirely and allow us even to board a train and travel with ordinary people. I'll take a look round while you fellows stay up here. If I'm caught--well, it's bad luck, that's all, and needn't spoil your chances.”
Slipping out of the room when dusk had fallen, and the voices of the work-people had subsided and their retreating footsteps had died away in the distance, Henri gained the huge room below, and, descending to the lower floor, made his way out into the yard; then, taking the utmost caution to guard against surprise, he visited each of the buildings in turn, narrowly escaping, in one of them, running face to face with a workman engaged in attending to a machine. Retreating hurriedly, he once more gained the yard, and finally gained a corridor which gave access to the manager's buildings. It was perhaps half an hour later, when Jules and Stuart were growing anxious, and were listening eagerly for sounds of their friend's return, that they heard steps on the stone staircase leading to their chamber.
”Henri without a doubt,” said Stuart, a note of relief in his voice, for the l.u.s.ty fellow had taken an enormous liking for Henri. ”That's good! I was really beginning to get awfully anxious about him.”
”And I had almost given him up for lost,” said Jules, equally relieved.
”There he is, just outside the door. Ha, Henri! we began to think that you would never return, and now----”
The two inmates of the room, peering through the dusk as the door opened, saw an unfamiliar figure enter: a man dressed in baggy clothing, a man whose eyes were encircled by the broad rims of heavy gla.s.ses, and upon whose head sat an absurdly small Homberg hat. He was a man getting on in years, one would have said--though the dusk made the question uncertain--yet a man who stepped actively, whose breath was not tried by the long ascent, and who knew his path well, and was thoroughly acquainted with the door-way. Could it be Henri?--Henri in disguise? A low chuckle escaped the man--a merry giggle--and then Henri's well-known voice awoke the silence.
”I do wish that it were daylight,” he told Stuart and Jules; ”you'd then see something that 'ud be good for sore eyes.”
”Sore eyes--eh? It isn't so very dark here, and I can see enough to startle me as it is,” came the astonished rejoinder. ”What on earth have you been doing, Henri; and what's the meaning of this get-up? Of course, it's a disguise; but, bless us! what a disguise!”
”Stop! How's this, then? I'll do the heavy German, and you can judge the effect.”
The gay, yet thoughtful, Henri closed the door of the room, and, with what was left of the fast-receding daylight illuminating his person, struck an att.i.tude. Leaning on the stick with which he had provided himself, he twirled the heavy moustaches--artificial affairs which he had contrived to become possessed of--and glared at his comrades through that pair of big-rimmed spectacles which so completely altered his appearance. Then he talked to them--cross-questioned his friends in the gruff, staccato accents one might have expected from such an individual as he represented himself to be.
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