nd--as
the rope is plenty long enough--you keep hold of it here, at sixty
yards from the dummy; and I will fasten the slack end to the stone
so that, when I go in, I have only to hold the rope in my hand, to
be able to join you. I will take this heavy coping stone in my
hand; will crawl along on this shelving bank, till I arrive at the
dummy; and will then throw the stone in, and run back at full
speed, and be in the water a few seconds after you are."

"All right, Ralph, I understand. Keep your pistol cocked in your
hand, as you go."

Ralph crept quietly along, under the wall, until he saw the dummy
floating at the edge of the water, a few feet below him. He rose on
his feet, to throw in the stone; when he heard a deep exclamation
behind him and, looking round, he saw a dark figure within two feet
of him. Another moment, and the sentry would have brought his rifle
to his shoulder--for he sprang back, giving a loud shout--but
Ralph wheeled round instantaneously, threw up his revolver, and
fired at the sentinel's body.

He saw him fall; turned round, hurled the heavy stone with a loud
splash into the water, and then--crawling low under the wall--ran
at full speed back again. As he did so, two sentries in the garden
over his head fired, in the direction of the splash in the water;
and shouts were heard all along the bank.

In another instant Ralph grasped the line, and slid down the snowy
slopes into the water; entering so quietly that no sound, whatever,
betrayed his entry. It was icy cold, and almost took away his
breath. Twenty strokes, and he joined Percy.

"All right, old man, they can't see us now."

"You are not hit, are you, Ralph?" Percy gasped.

"No, it was my revolver. I had to shoot a sentry, to save my life.
It's lucky we have got these life belts on, for I am sure we should
never get across."

"There! There!" was shouted, in German. "I see his head bobbing up
and down," and eight or ten rifle shots were fired, from the garden
where the sentry had fallen, in the direction of the dummy.

The boys swam on desperately, then Ralph said:

"You can slip the string now, Percy. The dummy has done its work.
It must be quite out of sight from the bank.

"Do not you feel the benefit of the India rubber?"

"Yes," Percy said, "I am warm enough, in the body; but my legs are
in agony, from the cold. These gloves are helping us on, though, at
a great rate."

"Well, there is one blessing," Ralph said, "we ca