e
pressure of his foot on Dave's locked hands and squirmed the rest of the
way up like a snake.

"Get your feet out and then let yourself down by your hands," Dave
cautioned. "The roof shouldn't be more than a few inches under your
toes. But, watch out. The darn thing slants down a bit, you know."

"I'll make it, all right," Freddy said and twisted around on the sill so
that he was hanging on his stomach. "Can you make it alone, though?"

"A cinch!" Dave whispered. "Don't wait for me. Sneak down the roof and
drop to the ground. I'll be right behind you. Go ahead, Freddy."

Dave waited until he heard the soft thud of the English boy's feet
touching the roof, then he grabbed hold of the sill with his hands and
swiftly and silently hoisted his body upward. For a brief instant he sat
poised on the sill grinning back into the darkened room. Then he
swiveled over and lowered himself down. In almost no time he had
cat-crawled down the gently sloping roof to its lip. He pressed flat on
his stomach and stuck his head over the edge of the roof. Below him was
nothing but a sea of inky darkness. For some crazy reason a twinge of
panic shot through him.

"Freddy!" he whispered.

"Here, Dave," came the welcomed reply. "I'm on the ground and to your
left. It's all clear down here. The ground's soft. Come on down."

"Here I come!" Dave said, and twisted over and let himself lightly down
onto the ground.

No sooner had his feet touched than Freddy had a hand on his arm.

"Well, that's the first part!" the English youth breathed excitedly.
"Now, what's the next move?"

"Our shoes," Dave said and pulled the other down onto the ground. "Then
we head straight up that hill, there, and keep going north."

"North?" Freddy said in a puzzled whisper. "Why not west toward the
Belgian lines? We want to get there as fast as we can. I got a good look
at that map, Dave. I think this town, here, is called Estalle. And...."

Freddy cut off his words and both boys froze back against the rear wall
of the building as a shaft of yellow light suddenly cut the darkness of
night. Dave's heart rose up to clog in his throat as he waited with fear
in his heart for the shaft of light to sweep over to reveal them in its
glow.

Then suddenly truth dawned and he was almost overcome with an insane,
crazy desire to burst out with hysterical laughter. His taut nerves
twanged like plucked fiddle strings and his whole body seemed to melt
with relief. A li