I carefully crept along the wall into the darkest corner of the garage. 'Well, now, let's get to work,' I heard one of the officers say. Then I saw him look round the shed as if looking for something. My heart beat faster. Fortunately, the Englishman's remark had no reference to me, for the two of them walked away in the direction of the commandant's office. The chauffeur began to work on the car, and swore when he found he had run out of petrol, whereupon the sentry offered to get him some. This was contrary to his orders, for he was forbidden to leave the motor. I then showed myself and was about to get into my hiding place. But the chauffeur prevented me, declaring that he was risking ten years' imprisonment by this joke (as he called it), and that he must therefore have £500 in cash on the spot, and another £500 later. This was a low trick. It was impossible for me to pay £500 at once, and I could not guarantee to pay the second instalment, for it was beyond my means. As discussion did not help matters and I could hear the footsteps of the sentry returning with the petrol, I had, with a heavy heart, to give up my plan. FOOTNOTE: [18] It only earned him six months' imprisonment. Let me state here that, instead of the three to fourteen days' arrest awarded in Germany for attempts at escape, the English, up to the conclusion of the Hague Agreement in July, 1917, never awarded less than six months' imprisonment! CHAPTER XXVI A BOLDER PLAN At last I got tired of these continual failures, and began to see that these methods would never succeed. If I was going to escape it must be by some method that no one had yet thought of trying. Only in this way, aided by unlimited bluff, should I succeed. I was thinking not only of the actual escape from the camp, but of the possibility of getting out of the country. Escapes from all the camps had been made by the dozen, but only one in a hundred was actually successful. The worst of it was that that big sheet of water, the North Sea, lay between England and Germany! How much easier it was for English officers in Germany, who, in two days' march, were in neutral territory, Holland, and consequently in safety! All who had so far attempted to escape from English camps had started out with the idea of finding a ship or a boat that would take them to Germany. The consequence was, that the coast, and particularly the ports, were closely watched, especially when it was known that prisoners had broken out of camp. If I were to succeed, then, I must find some other way. After weeks of anxious thought I hit upon a method that seemed to offer chances of success. I would go by air! The plan sounds very daring at first. I was therefore not very angry with my friends who declared me mad when I broached my scheme. All the same I was so persevering that I at last found a few friends who declared themselves willing to help me.