whizzed through the air like a bullet; and its point went an inch and a
half into the frame of the door. I had ducked just in time or it would
have been all off with me. I didn't wait to give him another chance,
but made a bolt out of the door and over to Ruskie's hut. He went away
raging, for he knew that I had slipped one over him.

While we were waiting two Russians were brought back; they had seen us
go and made their escape the same way. They had neither map nor
compass, and they were soon caught. The day they were brought back we
saw them being conducted over to the coal shed; and I said, "I bet
those dubs won't know any better than to show them how they escaped,"
and sure enough that is just what they did, so our chances in that
direction were cut off, the door was securely locked and iron bars put
across.

After we had been at work a little more than a week the Germans decided
we needed further punishment for our attempted escape; so we were
called up and the following sentences read to us by an officer who
spoke a little English:

"You shall be put in a dungeon for ten days."

"You shall not see no daylight."

"You shall not have no blankets."

"You shall not take your coats."

"You shall live on bread and water."

"If you shall try to get away you shall have to die."

We couldn't keep from smiling at his attempt to write commandments. We
were taken to the little prison that was in the centre of our yard. It
was a tiny brick building containing only six cells; it had neither
light nor ventilation, and the sanitary conditions were simply awful.
It was worse than the filthiest pigpen you ever saw; and even pigs have
straw to lie on, but we had nothing but the cold wet ground. The cells
were more like coffins than anything else--they were just six feet by
three and contained no furniture of any kind. Well, this was where we
were put, and I assure you we didn't enjoy the prospect of spending ten
days there. We tried to pass the time by calling to each other through
the walls, but even this was forbidden, and our guard would stop it
whenever he happened to overhear us. Old Blackie was very fond of good
things to eat, and he always had the last of everything in sight; so
Sammy and I amused ourselves by planning menus for him now that we had
nothing but bread and water. We pretended that we were his servants
and whenever we thought that it was getting near a mealtime we would
read the menu to hi