boom of heavy guns, or of bombs
exploding. And once a flight of planes droned by high up in the night
sky.

He held his breath and listened to all those various sounds. He listened
to another sound, too, A sound he could feel as well as hear. It was the
pounding of his own heart. His chest ached from the pounding, and his
throat and mouth were bone dry from the excitement and the suspense.
For almost five hours he and Freddy had remained stretched out
motionless on the cots. Every second had seemed like a minute, every
minute like an hour, and every hour like an eternity. A hundred times it
had been all he could do to restrain himself from leaping to his feet
and shouting at the top of his voice. Anything to give release to the
charged emotion pent up within him.

Four times the guard had opened the door and played the beam of his
flashlight on them. The first time Colonel Stohl had been with the
guard, for Dave had heard the German officer's voice. He had muttered
something about "making them sing a different tune in the morning," and
then had gone clumping down the stairs.

Five long hours, and now Dave couldn't stand the waiting any more. Every
fiber of his entire being screamed for action. He had waited long enough
to make their captors believe they were done in for the night. The guard
had taken another look at them only a couple of minutes ago. It would be
awhile before he looked in again. It was now, or never. It had to be!

He slipped silently off the cot and crept over to Freddy's cot. He held
one hand ready to clap it over the English boy's mouth in case he woke
up with a startled yell, and put his lips close to Freddy's ear.

"Freddy, wake up!" he breathed, and shook the youth gently with his
other hand.

"I'm awake, Dave," came the whispered reply. "Shall we try it now?"

"Yes," Dave said. "The guard just took another look at us. He won't
again for awhile. Have you been asleep?"

"Not a wink, Dave. I couldn't, possibly. Look, Dave. You don't want to
change your mind and have a go at it alone? I'll understand. You might
get to an American Consul before they caught you. They'll come looking,
you know."

"That's out!" Dave hissed. "Pipe down! Take off your shoes. We can't
risk making a single sound. That guard may have big ears. Okay, Freddy,
let's go!"

Taking hold of the English youth's hand Dave led the way across the room
to the window. There he let go, and took out his spoon screw driver and