At last the German officer, in a burst of rage, ordered the three prisoners taken away, and this was done with great roughness.  This coupled with their terrible night and the mental and physical torture inflicted at the inquisition, made the young soldiers sick at heart and body.  Once more they were thrust into their horrible prison, and not until nearly noon was any food given them.

Then it was only some greasy, slimy water, probably intended for soup, together with some chunks of mouldy bread.

“But we’ve got to eat it, boys!” said Jimmy.  “We’ve got to keep up our strength.”

“What’s the good of it!” sighed Bob, with a half cry of anguish.

“So we can escape, of course!” said Jimmy with more fierceness and energy than he really felt.  “Think I’m going to stay in this hole?”

“How are you going to get out?” Roger wanted to know.

“I’ll show you!” went on Jimmy, and by his strength of character, and by his forced spirits he bolstered up the courage of his companions.  They managed to choke down the food, vile as it was, and seemed to feel a little better for it.

Their miseries of the next few days I will not detail.  In fact, the boys themselves could not remember all of them, horrible as they were.  Again and again they were questioned, but always they remained steadfast, and gave no information that could be of any value to the Huns.

Then they were taken from their horrible prison and removed to a camp, some distance in the rear, where there were a number of other Allied captives, in as miserable a condition as that to which the three Khaki Boys were now reduced.

“Well, we’ve got a better chance now,” said Jimmy, with an assumption of cheerfulness, when they were thrust into the barbed wire enclosure.

“A better chance for what?” asked Bob.

“To escape,” was the answer, “It’s a common occurrence for prisoners to get out of German prison camps, though I won’t say that they all get back to their friends.  Anyhow, we’ll try the first chance we get.”

There was one advantage of being in the prison camp, and away from the dungeon that was partly underground.  The air and light were better, and the food was somewhat improved, though it was far from being good, satisfying, or even decent.

But the natural healthfulness of the boys kept them up, and they soon recovered from the slight wounds and bruises caused by the fight during which they were captured.

“Heard of any chance to escape?” asked Roger, when they had been in the camp about two weeks.

“No, though there is talk of digging under the barbed wire and a lot of the men going out,” Jimmy answered.  “You want to hold out and hide all the food you can.  Well need it if we do get away.”

His advice was followed, and, though the prisoners did not get much more than enough to keep them alive, the three boys managed to hide some scraps of bread and a bit of what was called “sausage,” though it was made mostly from the meal of peas and beans.