“I will go first. Then when the tension relaxes, you follow.”
She pressed his hand as he slid his feet out of the window and paused
crouching on the ledge listening. Then he waved his hand and slowly
went down. He knew that the angle of the building quite hid him from
the garden path, and he slid down the improvised rope as quickly as he
could until his feet dangled in space. He looked below him, but in the
darkness the distance was uncertain. Had Lindberg miscalculated? Or had
Doris used too much of the sheet at the upper end? He let himself down
until his hands groped the end of the sheet while he felt for a landing
with his toes. He touched nothing, and still swayed and spun in the
air like an apple on a string at All Hallowe’en, a fine mark for an
automatic from any of the windows that stared blankly at him from the
second story. There was nothing for it but to drop, stretching his toes
down to meet the impact. Fortunately it was not far, but he lost his
balance and toppled sideways, catching himself upon an arm and knee.
Here again the wind saved him from discovery, but he drew his weapon
and kept a look on the corner of the garden, meanwhile watching for
Doris.
She came at once, slowly but fearlessly, and in a moment he had her
safely in his arms, drawing her back near the bulk of the building
to crouch and wait and listen again. They did not dare to speak, but
Hammersley’s blood was surging madly with hope. If they had not been
discovered now, the chances were that some time would elapse, enough at
least to enable the fugitives to get a good start of their pursuers.
But the dangling sheet warned Hammersley that they must move quickly.
He peered over the edge of the roof. A light was burning in the
kitchen, but whether the room was occupied or not, he could not tell.
He did not dare risk a sprained ankle by jumping, but found that by
lowering himself he could easily reach the fuel box that stood near the
kitchen door. In a moment they were on the ground and moving along in
the shelter of the hedge toward the hangar.
Hammersley exulted. It was something to have brought Doris away, but
it was something more to have circumvented von Stromberg. The bundled
figure of Lindberg, lying up there bleeding in the dark, shot a pain
through his heart, but in action, moving toward the goal of his hopes,
even Lindberg was put behind him. He had no fear for the wound in
Lindberg’s shoulder. The old man was as tough as a pine knot and would
survive the loss of blood. It was Lindberg’s ordeal with von Stromberg
that bothered him.
When they reached the shelter of the woods the tension relaxed.
“We’re going to get off, Doris,” he said joyously. “I know every stick
of these woods, and they can never find us. But I’m afraid the strain
has been too much for you. How are you feeling?”
“Never better,” she said bravely. “Which way now?”
Hammersley had paused a moment to slip on his shoes, and as he got to
his feet,
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