ed on wandering about the cellar, and near
noon I missed her for two hours. When she came back she was covered with
plaster dust, but she made no explanation.

"I have been thinking over the situation, Lizzie," she said, "and it
divides itself into two parts. We must wait until nightfall and then
search again for Aggie, in case my judgment is wrong as to her escape.
And then there is a higher law than that of friendship. There is our
duty to Aggie, and there is also our duty to the nation."

"Well," I said rather shortly, "I guess we've done our duty. We've taken
a prisoner. I owe a duty to my backbone, which is sore from these rocks;
and my right leg, which has been tied in a knot with cramp for three
hours."

"When," Tish broke in, "is a railroad most safe to travel on? Just after
a wreck, certainly. And when, then, is a town easiest to capture? Just
after it has been captured. Do you think for one moment that they'll
expect another raid tonight?"

"Do you think there will be one?" I asked hopefully.

"I know there will."

She would say nothing further, but departed immediately and was gone
most of the afternoon. She came back wearing a strange look of triumph,
and asked me if I remembered the code Aggie used, but I had never
learned it. She was very impatient.

"It's typical of her," she said, "to disappear just when we need her
most. If you knew the code and could get rid of the lookout they keep in
the tower, while I----"

She broke off and reflected.

"They've got to change the lookout in the tower," she said. "If the one
comes down before the other goes up, and if we had a hatchet----"

"Exactly," I said. "And if we were back in the cottage at Penzance, with
nothing worse to fight than mosquitoes----"

We had no midday meal, but at dusk Tish was lucky enough to capture a
knapsack set down by a German soldier just outside the machine-gun
aperture, and we ate what I believe are termed emergency rations. By
that time it was quite dark, and Tish announced that the time had come
to strike, though she refused any other explanation.

We had no difficulty in getting out of the cellar, and Tish led the way
immediately to the foot of the tower.

"We must get rid of the sentry up there," she whispered. "The moment he
hears a racket in the street he will signal for reenforcements, which
would be unfortunate."

"What racket?" I demanded.

But she did not reply. Instead she moved into the recess below the to