from a chimney, half of which was in this blind attic.

"We must pay this peasant well," Dick proposed, when he had nearly
finished the meal, "for I'll wager he is not rich."

"I can pay him all right," declared Reade, striking a hand against
his waist-line. "In my money belt I have a stock of American
gold. Gold is a money that is very popular in Europe in these
days of hardship."

Later the chums disrobed and turned in. There was abundance of
covering to the bed.

"Now," proposed Tom Reade, talking in whispers, "for my plan of
escape. It's dangerous, and it sounds impossible, fantastic.
But now that you're here, Dick Prescott, I feel equal to putting
anything through! So here's for the plan!"

It was dangerous enough, certainly, as Tom Reade outlined it.
It didn't even strike Captain Prescott as being possible of performance,
but he didn't say so. It was the only plan of escape that presented
itself, and Tom had evidently put in all his hopes on that idea.

From the plan the chums fell to talking of other days. In the
end, however, their whispers became more indistinct, then died
out. Both were asleep.

Dick, as he slumbered and tossed, still felt the motion of that
hideous prison train, but at last fell into deep slumber.

When he finally awoke he beheld Tom Reade, fully dressed in his
uniform, seated at some distance under a little opening in the
roof, reading a book.

"Awake, eh?" asked Tom, when he heard his chum stir. After glancing
at his wrist watch, he added:

"You've slept nine hours and a half, and I guess you needed it.
There is water for washing, and I'll consult our host about breakfast.
What do you think of this way of letting in daylight? Toward
night I shove this black cover over the hole in the roof, so that
candle light may not show through the roof and give us away to
the Germans."

Stepping to the chimney, from which the "ventilator" brick was
still absent, Reade put his hand inside, finding a cord and giving
it a gentle tug.

By the time that Prescott was partly dressed the door opened and
the old peasant looked in.

"We are wondering what you can give us for breakfast?" Tom said
in French. "Are eggs to be had to-day? Omelettes?"

"Yes, I can get eggs," nodded the old man.

"As you've not seen the color of my money yet," Tom continued,
"please take this on account."

At first the old peasant hung back from accepting the proffered
gold coin, though at last he took