In this costume, with our puttees, our leather waistcoats, and our goggles, I was convinced we could march on to any big flying-ground and enter any shed where no work was being done. The more we bluffed, the more likely we were to succeed. At an aerodrome of forty to fifty hangars one man often does not know another. If therefore an engine in a hangar were started up (W. had given me the necessary instruction) nobody would take any notice, especially if we showed enough self-confidence. In my opinion the greatest difficulty and danger would be in approaching the German coast, when we should certainly be fired upon. So long as we were flying over England we should be safe. Wind and weather were extremely favourable. We therefore determined to leave the inhospitable spot on Wednesday the 12th July, 1917. It was only then that I thought seriously about the dangers attendant on an attempt at escape. When Prondczinsky escaped, the commandant court-martialled a sentry who, out of kindness of heart, had failed to fire at once at the fugitive. But these were only passing thoughts. The thought that next morning we might be on German soil silenced all other considerations. Our faithful helpers believed so confidently in the success of our venture that they gave us letters for home. Next morning, when play in the tournament was continued, a couple of large wicker chairs were carried on to the tennis ground, and under the seats of these our kits were fastened. The chairs were placed thirty or forty yards from the drain, and during the whole of the day were occupied or kept under observation by the initiated, so that no unauthorised person should knock them over and reveal the whole secret. Lieut. Böttcher of the Marine Artillery, who was of the same height and had the same coloured hair as I, made the most frantic efforts all day to change the parting of his hair from the left side to the right, the side on which I wore it. He had very kindly offered to occupy my bed during the evening count, in order to make the English think I was still there. This experiment, as we afterwards discovered, succeeded splendidly. Lying in my bed he would pull up the clothes so that only the back of his head could be seen. Then, as soon as the orderly officer had passed, he would hastily regain his own room on the first floor by a roundabout way, and would be lying there in his own bed before the orderly officer arrived.