Two whole days passed during which Henri and his friends were unable to
move from the room to which they had gained access--two days during
which they slept in turns, and rested, while the one who watched posted
himself at one of the four windows which looked out from each side of
the tower, and surveyed the surrounding country. From that post of
vantage they were able to see the river which they had crossed higher
up, and even the roof of the farm where they had obtained food and
temporary shelter; they could observe every feature of the country, the
yard below, the hosts of women workers in the sugar factory, the coming
and going of important-looking factory officials, and even the passage
of search-parties along the road in their quest for the prisoners.

"It looks to me as though we'd found a safe haven," said Henri, when he
had been on duty for some hours and the others had awakened. "I
watched a party coming down the road with two dogs, and I'm sure that
they are the fellows who so nearly captured me at the farm yonder.
They turned up towards this factory, called loudly for the manager, and
made a survey of the buildings. For all I know they may even have come
to the foot of the tower, but they certainly did not ascend the
staircase. You can imagine that I took particular notice of the
bloodhounds who accompanied them."

"Ha!" exclaimed Stuart. "Show any signs of excitement--eh? Did they
look about them and sniff as though they had scented us?"

"Not a bit of it. They were as quiet as lambs, and seemed utterly
bored with the whole business, and as if they were thoroughly tired of
being dragged at the heels of the search-party. As for the men, they
looked weary and fagged out after their tramp, and I imagine that they
take little interest in the business. You've got to remember that
we've been now something like three days away from Ruhleben, and the
authorities must know that we've had plenty of time to get farther away
from the camp. They'd hardly be looking for us now so near it, and no
doubt they've telegraphed our description across the country. That
being so, it seems to me that the wisest course for us is to stay here
as long as possible, until the hue and cry has died down and the event
has been forgotten."

"And then," asked Jules inquisitively, "what's to happen? We are still
a precious long way from France or from any of the neutral countries.
It's time, I should think, that we made a pla