lled; if one succeeded, one would get
away somewhere over there. For a time Bert tried to imagine what it
was like over there. His mind ran over possibilities, deserts, angry
Americans, Japanese, Chinese--perhaps Red Indians! (Were there still Red
Indians?)

"Got to take what comes," said Bert. "No way out of it that I can see!"

Was that voices? He realised that his attention was wandering. For a
time all his senses were very alert. The uproar of the Falls was very
confusing, and it mixed in all sorts of sounds, like feet walking, like
voices talking, like shouts and cries.

"Silly great catarac'," said Bert. "There ain't no sense in it, fallin'
and fallin'."

Never mind that, now! What were the Germans doing?

Would they go back to the flying-machine? They couldn't do anything with
it, because he had those nuts and screws and the wrench and other tools.
But suppose they found the second set of tools he had hidden in a tree!
He had hidden the things well, of course, but they MIGHT find them.
One wasn't sure, of course--one wasn't sure. He tried to remember just
exactly how he had hidden those tools. He tried to persuade himself they
were certainly and surely hidden, but his memory began to play antics.
Had he really left the handle of the wrench sticking out, shining out at
the fork of the branch?

Ssh! What was that? Some one stirring in those bushes? Up went an
expectant muzzle. No! Where was the kitten? No! It was just imagination,
not even the kitten.

The Germans would certainly miss and hunt about for the tools and nuts
and screws he carried in his pockets; that was clear. Then they would
decide he had them and come for him. He had only to remain still under
cover, therefore, and he would get them. Was there any flaw in that?
Would they take off more removable parts of the flying-machine and then
lie up for him? No, they wouldn't do that, because they were two to
one; they would have no apprehension of his getting off in the
flying-machine, and no sound reason for supposing he would approach it,
and so they would do nothing to damage or disable it. That he decided
was clear. But suppose they lay up for him by the food. Well, that they
wouldn't do, because they would know he had this corned beef; there was
enough in this can to last, with moderation, several days. Of course
they might try to tire him out instead of attacking him--

He roused himself with a start. He had just grasped the real weakness of