arrest." It is not
easy to walk naturally when carrying a young wall out of sight under
one's coat, which is doing its best to give the show away by shedding
bits of plaster which fall to the ground and leave a trail, reminding
one strongly of a paper chase.

However, the sentries noticed nothing unusual. As soon as the Hun's
back was turned I slipped the sections together and squeezed into the
alcove, into which I was securely fastened by a friend, who whispered
that everything looked O.K., and asked me to be sure and write to him
when I got to England. Whether this was meant or not I do not know,
but at any rate it was just the encouragement I needed. It was an
anxious moment when everybody left the room with a final "Good luck,"
and I heard the sentry approaching to make sure that nobody had been
left behind. Previously I had determined not to watch the Hun, as my
gaze might render him more liable to look in my direction. Now, under
the stress of circumstances, this seemed a physical impossibility, and
all good resolutions went to the winds. I glued one eye to the
spy-hole and saw a German standing only a few feet away, with his back
to me, puffing solemnly at a long pipe, a rifle slung over his
shoulder. Almost immediately, as if in answer to my concentrated gaze,
he turned and looked straight in my direction. I promptly shrivelled
up to nothing, and developed acute suspended animation. I simply dared
not breath, and felt as if my thoughts were becoming audible. My
relief was indescribable when he turned away, and left in an ordinary
manner. Though one crisis was over, the strain had been such that it
took me several minutes to "defossilise" and grasp the fact that,
somewhere in the dim distance, the chances of success were increasing.

A few minutes later a N.C.O. came in, and searched about for soap. As
he was pocketing some small bits left behind, my wall threatened to
fall outwards, but I managed to hold it steady until he went away. A
five-and-a-half hour wait lay in front of me, and, my prison being
dark, stifling and hot, the time passed intolerably slowly. After
waiting patiently for what I judged to be anything from half to
three-quarters of an hour, I would glance at my watch, only to
discover that, in reality, four or five minutes had passed. My primary
success was evidently well known inside the camp, for most of the
fellows taking their evening stroll cast anxious veiled glances in my
direction, from