It must have been a very amusing spectacle. Very slowly and very gingerly, hand under hand the colonel descended, and when he was within reaching distance the sentry helped him very gently to the ground and escorted him to the guardroom. The other [Illustration: A GALLANT ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE. [_To face page 162._ ] conspirators, seeing the fate of their chief, hastened bedwards with all possible speed, and when the orderly officer came round they imitated with considerable ability the righteous indignation of a man who is woken up after a three hours’ sleep. This attempt was the signal for frequent and repeated excursions. The lead once given, there were found many ready to follow it; and there was considerable comfort in the assurance that the sentries had orders not to fire unless they were charged. And so for the remainder of our captivity the camp buzzed with rumours. No one ever got away. Occasionally the first strand of netting was penetrated, but nothing more; and it must have been a poor form of amusement. For the desperadoes always chose a night of rain and wind in the hope that the sentries might have sought consolation within their huts, and it can have been no fun crawling on one’s stomach, over sodden gravel, getting soaked and cold; and as the night of capture was always spent in the guardroom, it was a sport that can have held out few inducements. For the cowardly, however, it did add a spice and flavour to existence. On these nights of danger we used to lie awake patiently listening. The hours would drift by. Twelve o’clock, one o’clock, it looked as if they had got away after all; and then, sure enough, would come the alarm, two whistles would shriek loud above the drip of the rain, there would be a scurry of feet; and then a few minutes later we would see the unfortunate beings escorted to the cells.... We would do all we could for them; we would clamber on to the window sill and would shout our condolences; and these friendly wishes would on the next day as likely as not serve as an excuse for the General to place upon us some further restriction, as punishment for what he considered an unmannerly exhibition of independence.