"We'll see," returned Al. "Hold me up while I look at this window. Be
mighty quiet, so the sentry won't hear us."
Wallace bent his back, and Al stepped on it and felt the iron bars of
the high window overlooking the river. Every one was firm and solid.
"We can't get through there," he whispered, after descending to the
floor again. "It would take two weeks' work to loosen one of those
bars."
Total darkness had fallen by this time, for in the middle of October
night comes much earlier than in the months of July and August, during
which the boys had been campaigning in Dakota and Montana. They started
around the room in opposite directions, feeling of the boarded windows.
When they came together again, Wallace said,
"There's one over here may do. The planks are spiked fast to the window
sill, but the sill seems to be rotten or loose."
He crept again to the window referred to, followed by Al. They found
that by working the planks back and forth they could move the portion of
the casing to which they were fastened. In a few moments they had an
opening large enough at the bottom for them to crawl through.
"This is mighty lucky, but let's wait a while," cautioned Wallace.
"There are too many people moving around, and the sentry is wide awake
yet."
They waited one hour, and then two. The sounds of voices and footsteps
gradually died away outside. For a long time their guard walked back
and forth on the ground before the door, then they heard him fling
himself down with a grunt.
"It'll be an hour and a half at least before he's relieved," whispered
Al. "He'll doze or sleep."
They waited fifteen or twenty minutes longer, then cautiously pulled out
the bottom of the planks and propped them with a small piece of board
they had found on the floor, so that they would not spring back. Then
one at a time they crept through the narrow opening. Once outside, they
tip-toed toward the river.
"I can't swim," whispered Wallace. "My arm hurts like fury since it was
tied back this afternoon."
"Then if we can't find a boat along here somewhere, you'll have to stay
or run off in the woods," replied Al. "It will be a long pull for me,
but I'll try to swim the river before I'll give up getting to Glasgow."
They made their way along the bank for some distance and presently, as
luck would have it, came to a small row-boat pulled out on shore. They
could find only one oar in it but they worked the boat down to the
water, got in and shoved off. The rapid current carried them quickly
away from the Arrow Rock bank and then, by vigorous paddling, Al
succeeded finally in bringing the boat to the opposite shore a mile or
so down stream. They stepped on land and pushed the boat out again to
drift on down river.