CHAPTER VIII

A FRIEND IN NEED

Harry listened, in an agony of fear rather than of pain, to such sounds as
came to him after Dick had, so reluctantly, left him pinned in the trap. He
could hear, plainly enough, the advance of the two searchers who had scared
Dick into hiding in the rhododendron bush; he could even see the gleam of
their flashlights, and was able, therefore, to guess what they were doing.
For the moment it seemed impossible to him that Dick should escape. It
would require more skill than he thought Dick possessed, and more of
another quality--concealment and patience. Dick, he thought, was likely to
shine more when impulsive action was required, or in following a leader.
His courage was unquestioned; Harry had seen him stand up to far bigger
boys without flinching.

As to himself, he was quite sure that he would be captured in a few
minutes, and, as a matter of fact, there were things that made the
prospect decidedly bearable. The pain in his ankle from the trap in which
he had been caught was excruciating. It seemed to him that he must cry out,
but he kept silence resolutely. As long as there was a chance that he might
not fall into the hands of the spies who were searching the grounds, he
meant to cling to it.

But the chance was a very slim one, as he knew. He could imagine, without
difficulty, just about what the men with the flashlights would do, by
reasoning out his own course. They would look for footprints. These would
lead them to the spot where he and Dick had watched the raising of the
wireless mast, and thence along the path they had taken to return to the
wall and to safety. Thus they would come to him, and he would be found,
literally like a rat in a trap.

And then, quite suddenly, came the diversion created by Dick's daring dash
for escape, when he sped from the bush and climbed the wall, followed by
the bullets that the searchers fired after him. Harry started, hurting his
imprisoned ankle terribly by the wrench his sudden movement gave it. Then
he listened eagerly for the cry he dreaded yet expected to hear, that would
tell him that Dick had been hit. It did not come. Instead, he heard more
men running, and then in a moment all within the wall was quiet, and he
could hear the hue and cry dying away as they chased him along the road
outside.

"Well, by Jove!" he said to himself, enthusiastically, "I believe Dick's
fooled them! I didn't think he had it in him! That's bully for h