try. A sentry was always posted outside the building, but he had
three sides to watch and we knew that, if we could only move that bar,
we could manage to elude the sentry. So we started to work on the bar.

[Sidenote: Four months' steady work.]

I had found a bit of wire which I kept secreted about me and every
night, after washing up, we would dig for a few minutes at the brickwork
around the bar. It was slow, tedious and disappointing work. Gradually,
however, we scooped the brick out around the bar and after nearly four
months' application we had it so loosened that a tug would pull it out.

[Sidenote: Night in a bog.]

The next day Masters and I were the last in the bathroom, and when the
sentry's round had taken him to the other side of the building, we
wrenched out the bar, raised the window and wriggled through head first,
breaking our fall in the bush outside. We got through without attracting
attention and ran across the country into a swamp, where we soon lost
our way and wallowed around all night up to our knees in the bog,
suffering severely from the cold and damp. Early in our flight the
report of a gun from the camp warned us that our absence had been
discovered. Our adventure in the swamp saved us from capture, for the
roads were patrolled by cavalry that night.

We found our way out of the swamp near morning, emerging on the western
side. By the sale of more soap to miners we had acquired another map and
a compass, so we had little difficulty in determining our whereabouts
and settling our course for the border. For food we had each brought
along ten biscuits, the result of several weeks' hoarding.

That day we stayed on the edge of the swamp, never stirring for a moment
from the shelter of a clump of bushes. One slept while the other
watched. No one came near us and we heard no signs of our pursuers.
Night came on most mercifully dark and we struck out along the roads at
a smart clip.

We traveled all night, making probably twenty-five miles. It was
necessary, we knew, to make the most of our strength in the earlier
stages of the dash. As our food gave out we would be less capable of
covering the ground. So we spurred ourselves on to renewed effort and
ate the miles up in a sort of frenzy.

This kept up for four days and nights. We kept going as hard as our
waning strength would permit and we were cautious in the extreme. Even
at that we had many narrow escapes.

[Sidenote: Crossing the Lippe