als.

"It's the fighting," whispered Tom.

"Wherre do you suppose it is?" Archer asked, sobered by this audible
reminder of their nearness to the seat of war.

"I don't know," Tom said. "I'm kind of mixed up. That feller in the
prison had a map. Let's see. I think Nancy's the nearest place to here.
Toul is near that. That's where our fellers are--around there. Listen!"

Again the rumbling, faint but distinctly audible, almost as if it came
from another world.

"The trenches run right through there--near Nancy," said Tom.

"Maybe it's _ourr_ boys, hey?" Archer asked excitedly.

Tom did not answer immediately. He was thrilled at this thought of his
own country speaking so that he, poor fugitive that he was, could hear
it in this dark, lonesome dungeon in a hostile land, across all those
miles.

"Maybe," he said, his voice catching the least bit. "They're in the Toul
sector. A feller in prison told me. You don't feel so lonesome, kind of,
when you hear that----"

"Gee, I hope we can get to them," said Archer.

"What you _got_ to do, you can do," Tom answered. "I wonder----"

"Sh-h. D'you hearr that?" Archer whispered, clutching Tom's shoulder.
"It was much nearerr--right close----"

They held their breaths as the reverberation of a sharp report died
away.

"What was it?" Archer asked tensely.

"I don't know," Tom whispered, instinctively removing the short stick
and closing the trap door tight. "Don't move--hush!"

CHAPTER VI

PRISONERS AGAIN

"Do you hear footsteps?" Archer breathed.

Tom listened, keen and alert. "No," he said at last. "There's no one
coming."

"What do you s'pose it was?"

"I don't know. Sit down and don't get excited."

But Tom was trembling himself, and it was not until five or ten minutes
had passed without sound or happening that he was able to get a grip on
himself.

"Push up the door a little and listen," suggested Archer.

Tom cautiously pressed upward, but the door did not budge. "It's stuck,"
he whispered.

Archer rose and together they pressed, but save for a little looseness
the door did not move.

"It's caught outside, I guess," said Tom. "Maybe the iron hasp fell into
the padlock when I put it down, huh?"

That, indeed, seemed to be the case, for upon pressure the door gave a
little at the corners, but not midway along the side where the fastening
was. Archer turned cold at the thought of their predicament, and for a
moment even Tom's rather dull