On the strength of this, we decided to continue our search as long as this was possible without being seen; for we were now coming into inhabited areas. We would rest at some particularly favourable spot, and then continue our march during the night. It would be safer to avoid the high roads as much as possible and keep on one side of them. This was not so easy as it sounds, for in this district there was hardly a single field, no matter how small it was, that was not surrounded by a high fence or hedge. In the majority of cases this was supplemented with a strand or two of barbed wire. Many times during the next few days we had to retrace our steps because we had struck one of the numerous unbridged canals which intersect this district. This water also was undrinkable. I longed to enter one of the farm-houses and ask for a drink of water, but it might have caused suspicion. But we were at last so tortured by thirst that we threw ourselves full length on the grass and greedily drank the dirty water from a pool which, as all the signs too plainly showed, served as a watering-place for cattle. In order to fortify ourselves further we attacked our only tin of sausage ('bribery price, 30s.'), which was beginning to get bad in the excessive heat. We had long given up all hope of finding fruit or vegetables in the fields. In this horrible country there appeared to be nothing but grass, filthy canals hedges, and barbed wire, which was gradually tearing our clothes to pieces. Luckily we had sewing materials with us, which had already helped to repair the damage caused by the wire entanglement round the tennis-court. Three whole days we wandered round this district, now to the right, now to the left of the railway-line, hunting for the flying-ground. The nearest other aerodrome, of which we had exact details, lay too far away to be reached on foot without provisions for the journey. We had decided to travel by train only in the last extremity, for it meant jumping on a passing goods train and travelling as stowaways. If our escape had been discovered--and we were bound to assume that it had--the first precaution taken would be to have the railway stations watched. During the daytime, if we were not tramping, we hid in small thickets or in little hay-cocks which we made from scraps of hay left behind in the fields. In these hay-cocks we slept also. We employed our nights in scouring the country. But for all our search we found nothing--the little flying-ground remained a mystery.