ty soon that there were two kinds among
the prisoners. There were the real prisoners, mostly English and
French, and there were humbugs. The humbugs were treated, apparently,
like the others, but not really, as I soon perceived. There was one man
who passed as an English officer, another as a French Canadian, and the
others called themselves Russians. None of the honest men suspected
them, but they were there as spies to hatch plots for escape and get
the poor devils caught in the act, and to worm out confidences which
might be of value. That is the German notion of good business. I am
not a British soldier to think all men are gentlemen. I know that
amongst men there are desperate _skellums_, so I soon picked up this
game. It made me very angry, but it was a good thing for my plan. I
made my resolution to escape the day I arrived at Neuburg, and on
Christmas Day I had a plan made.'

'Peter, you're an old marvel. Do you mean to say you were quite
certain of getting away whenever you wanted?'

'Quite certain, Cornelis. You see, I have been wicked in my time and
know something about the inside of prisons. You may build them like
great castles, or they may be like a backveld _tronk_, only mud and
corrugated iron, but there is always a key and a man who keeps it, and
that man can be bested. I knew I could get away, but I did not think
it would be so easy. That was due to the bogus prisoners, my friends,
the spies.

'I made great pals with them. On Christmas night we were very jolly
together. I think I spotted every one of them the first day. I
bragged about my past and all I had done, and I told them I was going
to escape. They backed me up and promised to help. Next morning I had
a plan. In the afternoon, just after dinner, I had to go to the
commandant's room. They treated me a little differently from the
others, for I was not a prisoner of war, and I went there to be asked
questions and to be cursed as a stupid Dutchman. There was no strict
guard kept there, for the place was on the second floor, and distant by
many yards from any staircase. In the corridor outside the
commandant's room there was a window which had no bars, and four feet
from the window the limb of a great tree. A man might reach that limb,
and if he were active as a monkey might descend to the ground. Beyond
that I knew nothing, but I am a good climber, Cornelis.

'I told the others of my plan. They said it was good, but no o