Boy Scouts -- Juvenile fiction; Courage -- Juvenile fiction; Spy stories; World War, 1914-1918 -- England -- Juvenile fiction
There was no arguing with such a man, especially when he was sleepy. So
Harry submitted, very quietly, to being put into a cell. He was not
treated like a common prisoner; that much he was grateful for. His cell
was really a room, with windows that were not even barred. And he saw
that he could be very comfortable indeed.
"You’ll be all right here," said one of the constables. "Don’t worry,
my lad. You’ll be let off with a caution in the morning. Get to sleep
now–it’s late, and you’ll be roused bright and early in the morning."
Harry smiled pleasantly, and thanked the man for his good advice. But
he had no intention whatever of taking it. He did not even take off his
clothes, though he did seize the welcome chance to use the washstand
that was in the room. He had been through a good deal since his last
chance to wash and clean up, and he was grimy and dirty. He discovered,
too, that he was ravenously hungry. Until that moment he had been too
active, too busy with brain and body, to notice his hunger.
However, there was nothing to be done for that now. He and Dick had not
stopped for meals that day since breakfast, and they had eaten their
emergency rations in the early afternoon. In the tool case on his
impounded motorcycle Harry knew there were condensed food tablets–each
the equivalent of certain things like eggs, and steaks and chops. And
there were cakes of chocolate, too, the most nourishing of foods that
are small in bulk. But the knowledge did him little good now. He
didn’t even know where the motorcycle had been stored for the night. It
had been confiscated, of course; in the morning it would be returned to
him.
But he didn’t allow his thoughts to dwell long on the matter of food.
It was vastly more important that he should get away. He had to get his
news to Colonel Throckmorton. Perhaps Dick had done that. But he
couldn’t trust that chance. Aside from that, he wanted to know what had
become of Dick. And, for the life of him, he didn’t see how he was to
get away.
"If they weren’t awfully sure of me, they’d have locked me up a lot more
carefully than this," he reflected. "And of course it would be hard. I
could get out of here easily enough."
He had seen a drain pipe down which, he felt sure, he could climb.
"But suppose I did," he went on, talking to himself. "I’ve got an idea
it would land me where I could be seen from the door–and I suppose
that’s open all night. And, then if I got away from here, every
policeman in this town would know me. They’d pick me up if I tried to
get out, even if I walked."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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