is second can
was the one he took. That would be more than enough to get the monoplane
back to headquarters, and there was no reason for burdening himself with
too great a load. He picked up the can, and at the same moment his heart
leaped up into his throat, for overhead there came the sound of heavy
footsteps. For a moment he stood as if paralyzed, listening.

The footsteps continued; guttural voices sounded,--the voices of
Germans. It was impossible to distinguish what they were saying; and it
made no difference, in any case. The only point that mattered was that
they were there; that they blocked the only means Frank had of getting
away with the precious petrol he had so luckily found.

He was safe enough personally. Even if they were led to come down into
the cellar the chances were all in favor of his being able to conceal
himself. What he feared was that some use was to be made of the place,
and that the men whose voices he heard would stay there, thus preventing
him from getting out of the building and so getting the petrol to
Greene. It was more than possible, he thought, that the German
commander, knowing that the presence of his troops in the woods had been
discovered, would decide to use this place for headquarters.

And what he could hear confirmed this idea. There was a continual
tramping overhead. Men came and went. That seemed to indicate that the
occupation was to be permanent. He racked his brains for some means of
escape. Windows there were none in the cellar. He found no trace of a
trap door, such as there would have been in almost any American cellar.
And then the saving thought came to him like a flash. He debated for a
moment, then decided that the risk was worth taking. First he took his
can of gasoline to the steps. Then he poured a little into a broken
bottle, and poured this, in turn, on the wood under which he had found
the cans. He dragged the full can of petrol to the other side of the
cellar. And then, very deliberately, he set a match to the gasoline
soaked wood and retreated to the steps.

The fire he had started blazed up at once, owing to the petrol. And at
once a thick, acrid smoke filled the place. He was well up on the
stairs, and thus safe from being choked. But he was in danger should the
Germans come down, though even so, since the steps were wide, there was
a chance for him. But he did not expect them to come down. He thought
the smoke would drive them out, since as nearly as