It was with the very greatest difficulty that we got out of that ghastly drain, owing to having lost the use of our lower limbs. Eventually my companion was the first to get clear, but it took a good quarter of an hour’s work to accomplish this, and it was brought about by my placing my right arm (my left was pinned underneath me) round his neck and endeavouring to draw him over on the top of me, he at the same time pressing with both his hands against the opposite wall of the drain, and the two of us pulling and pressing in jerks, until finally he succeeded in rolling over on top. I was now able to edge my body into a flatter As soon as he was clear and I had had time to recover from my previous exertion, I succeeded in dragging myself out in the same way, the two of us edging along until we found a broader part of the drain, when, pulling ourselves to a sitting position, we tried to induce the circulation to return to our legs, which we did by putting our hands under the knee-joints and raising them up and down. After about twenty minutes of this, both of us began to experience excruciating pain as the blood came back. However, we worked away with joy, the return of pain also indicating the return of circulation, and Crawling to the wood had still further aided our circulation, so that before long we were practising walking, which at first was not at all reassuring, but improved as we began to warm up. The two of us could not help laughing at ourselves during the time we were trying to walk about, when a leg would suddenly give way, precipitating the owner to earth. Very gradually we began to get the full use of our legs. This difficulty having been overcome, we proceeded to take off our clothes, in order that we might wring the water from them. I then cautiously returned to the drain for my boots, which I had Our object now was to strike the railway on which we had passed through the town the night before, when we had left it in order to avoid the party of workmen coming towards us. We had then rushed to our left; consequently the line must be somewhere to our right, so that we now travelled in the direction we judged to be north-west, according to our calculations during the day. As the stars were not yet visible we had nothing definite to guide us. Every moment we expected We had not proceeded along the track more than half a mile when we passed a small cottage at the side of the line. Hurrying past this as noiselessly as possible, we were brought up sharp by a railing and large five-barred gate across the line. At the moment when we were about to climb the gate, the door of the cottage opened and a man stalked out. Possibly he did not see us, but he could not fail to hear us. We were over the gate in the twinkling of an eye, and were preparing to run for it; but fortunately our presence of mind returned as quickly as it had fled, and we walked on at a comfortable and leisurely pace. The man followed us, and was gaining. If he was a guard, why did he not call on us to halt? He could not have been more than forty yards away. We quickened our pace a bit, just enough to keep the distance between us equal. The blood was beating On we walked, our imagination running riot. We must have proceeded in this manner for a good half-mile, when suddenly I perceived that we were in the middle of a lake. We were indeed walking on the very embankment running over the lakes that we had calculated on. That we had actually arrived at the lake and walked over it for some distance without noticing it showed the state of nervous tension we were in. Nothing had taken our minds off the man, who was still following us, inexorable as fate itself. Very soon the reason why he had not challenged us was borne in upon us. Of course on the other side of the lake there would be another gate and guard, into whose arms we should walk and be taken like rats in a trap. Should I stop and hold him in conversation whilst my companion struck him down from behind? A little farther on we noticed a clump of small bushes growing on the sloping sides of the embankment. This would be a good place in which to make an end of him. Silently we waited. The man reached the sluice-gate and stopped. He had missed us and was listening for our footsteps, we thought. But no! after a minute or two we heard the sluice-gate screeching out its note through the night air, to be followed by a rush of water. He must be the attendant of the sluice-gate. Thank God! Perhaps we had not raised his suspicions, so we hoped to hear him walking away, or that he would walk past us, and thus perhaps give us warning of what lay in front of us. But the rush of I returned to my companion, and we moved off again, but soon decided that, walking as carefully as we could, we were making too much noise. To alleviate this, we stopped whilst I took off my boots. I had been wearing three pairs of socks till now, so I drew off the two thickest pairs, replaced my boots, and handed one pair of socks to my companion, when we both put them over our boots. This muffled the sound of our footsteps considerably. As we advanced, we noticed the embankment getting perceptibly wider; also that, whereas as heretofore there had been no mist hanging over the water of the lake itself, we were now running into a thin white vapour, which increased as we proceeded. From this we concluded that The moon now thought it was about time she showed her presence on the scene. Fortunately she was baulked of her full design by a veil of thin clouds, to which we sent up prayers of thankfulness, with a courteous request not to move off. Suddenly a brilliant speck of light shone out in the centre of the track, which Without waiting for any further developments, we crawled into the bog on our left. Fortunately it was fairly dry here, so we did not sink very much, but found it difficult to advance without making a certain amount of sucking noise as we crawled, caused by pulling our hands and knees out of the mud. We must have made more noise than we thought, for we undoubtedly raised his suspicions, as he came out of his hut and stood listening. The reader may be surprised that we were able to distinguish his movements so well, but it must be remembered that he was standing on the railway embankment, whilst we were about thirty feet below him in the bog; consequently to us his figure stood out quite clearly against the skyline. For a while he remained motionless (needless to say we did the same); then he walked to the far side of the track, and descended out of view for a few seconds, a fact of which we took instant advantage to creep away another ten yards. This time he must have heard us again, for It was perfectly evident that his suspicions were fully aroused, for he was walking about like a cat on hot bricks. His actual movements we were now too far away to discern with any accuracy. The road we were lying on cut the railway line at right angles; hence the gate—it was a level crossing. The line, as we knew, was running west; therefore this The road as well as the railway line was built on an embankment. I essayed to wade the water. It was past my depth. Silently we returned to the hedge, and began to help each other over, when suddenly I felt my companion grip my arm. The two of us remained motionless; the grip on my arm gradually tightened, which I took to mean silence, so I stood without moving, asking no questions, and all the Great heavens! he could not be six feet away, and I realised that, had my friend got over the hedge, he must have fallen almost into his arms. For a moment I felt petrified by the impending danger which had come upon us. Suddenly out of the dark, but before my brain had seized upon a plan of action, we heard a bell clang out its warning from the direction of the level crossing. Simultaneously we heard the sentry shuffle round on the road and walk off. As the sound of his retreating footsteps grew fainter, we took the advantage of scrambling over the Here we essayed the swamp again, but found it impossible, so at last we decided to follow the road south till we found dry ground to our right. About half an hour’s walking brought us to a very small village on the edge of the marsh, really only a few Again we endeavoured to make the margin of the bog. After having made a wide detour round the barn we struck it in safety, but this time it appeared to be In one place was a rivulet about forty feet wide, which of course it was impossible to jump. Noticing a heavy log on our side, we pushed it into the water, and reached the opposite bank one by one Whilst still advancing northward we passed to higher ground, which grew drier as we proceeded, and before we had gone very far we suddenly stumbled on to the railway. Joy of joys! we had got our direction once more, when, following the railway for about a mile, which was still running due west, quite suddenly it branched southward. This rather put us off, but we decided to follow it for a little while longer; and a very good thing we did, as before long we were brought up sharp by numerous lines of lights, showing like pin-pricks in the darkness, some being For the first time we realised that we were both very tired, but, strange to say, not in the least hungry—in fact, neither of us could have eaten anything, even if we had had it. As we lay resting ourselves the bells of a neighbouring church chimed out the hour of twelve. Good heavens! only five hours to daylight; we must get on. Each said to the other we must start at once, but neither of us moved, our limbs refusing to obey us. I had a violent pain in the chest, my head ached, and my teeth would not cease from chattering. In the end the spirit gained over the flesh, and the two of us moved nearer to the lights, when, suddenly looking to our right, we discovered a bright light in the sky to the For the moment our pains were forgotten, as we made towards the welcome lights of V——. But our troubles had only just begun; the climax of the venture was to come. |