ale but it had boxes to sit on and a table. There
was a box on the table.

"Your food," the German said, nodding toward the box.

He turned away and went upstairs again. They heard him close the door
and rake straw over it. O'Malley opened the box at once. It contained a
loaf of heavy bread, a few pieces of cold sausage and three boiled
potatoes. Also there was a jug which contained milk.

Sim produced a heavy clasp knife and cut the bread. The boys made
sandwiches and munched them. The jug was passed around and they drank
out of it.

"Sure, an' this is not a bad dinner," O'Malley said. "It compares
favorably with the last roast duck dinner I had in London." He grinned
at Stan.

After finishing their meal the boys sat waiting for their guide.

"He has to care for his horse and dispose of the hay," Sim explained.

CHAPTER IX

TRAPPED

The boys left the cellar very soon after finishing their meal. Their
guide led them down a country lane. They hiked along steadily for
several hours, then detoured through a field, making a wide circle.

"We have to go around the patrol stations on the road," Sim explained.

"It's nice to have a guide who knows the way," Stan said.

"I understand the patrol posts are cleverly hidden. Without a guide a
man walking down the lane would trip an alarm wire and be caught in no
time at all." Sim seemed to know all about the methods used by the Nazis
to trap anyone fleeing the country.

They kept walking until midnight. Then they rested for a half-hour,
lying in a hedge beside the road. After midnight they moved more
slowly. Several times they dived into the fields along the road to avoid
patrols moving swiftly along the lane on motorcycles. Once they almost
ran into a bicycle patrol. The cyclists did not make any noise and were
upon the boys before they had time to duck. A leafy hedge saved them
from being sighted.

"We will have to cross the Dutch border soon," Sim said after talking
with their guide.

"There won't be much of a guard there, will there?" Stan asked. "The
Germans have made Holland a part of Germany."

"There is a strict border control," the guide answered. "The Dutch are
just pigs and are kept in their pen."

"That's what the Nazis say," Sim added.

"Sure," the guide agreed. "The Nazis say that."

"How are we to get through?" Stan asked. "You must have a method which
works."

"Sure," the guide said. "But it has always been risky. We may be
separat