He could hear, plainly enough, the advance of the two searchers who had scared Dick into hiding in the rhododendron bush, he could even see the gleam of their flashlights, and was able, therefore, to guess what they were doing.  For the moment it seemed impossible to him that Dick should escape.  He was sure of capture himself in a few minutes, and, as a matter of fact, there were things that made the prospect decidedly bearable.  The pain in his ankle from the trap in which he had been caught was excruciating.  It seemed to him that he must cry out, but he kept silence resolutely.  As long as there was a chance that he might not fall into the hands of the spies who were searching the grounds, he meant to cling to it.

But the chance was a very slim one, as he knew.  He could imagine, without difficulty, just about what the men with the flashlights would do, by reasoning out his own course.  They would look for footprints.  These would lead them to the spot where he and Dick had watched the raising of the wireless mast, and thence along the path they had taken to return to the wall and to safety.  Thus they would come to him, and he would be found, literally like a rat in a trap.

And then, quite suddenly, came the diversion created by Dick’s daring dash for escape, when he sped from the bush and climbed the wall, followed by the bullets that the searchers fired after him.  Harry started, hurting his imprisoned ankle terribly by the wrench his sudden movement gave.  Then he listened eagerly for the cry he dreaded yet expected to hear that would tell him that Dick had been hit.  It did not come.  Instead, he heard more men running, and then in a moment all within the wall was quiet, and he could hear the hue and cry dying away as they chased him along the road outside.

“Well, by Jove!” he said to himself, enthusiastically, “I believe Dick’s fooled them.  I didn’t think he had it in him!  That’s bully for him!  He ought to get a medal for that!”

It was some moments before he realized fully that he had gained a respite, temporally at least.  Obviously the two men who had been searching with flashlights had followed Dick, there was at least a good chance that no one else knew about him.  He had decided that there was some system of signal wires that rang an alarm when a trap was sprung.  But it might be that these two men were the only ones who were supposed to follow up such an alarm.

He carried a flashlight himself and now he took the chance of playing it on his ankle, to see if there was any chance of escape.  He hooded the light with his hand and looked carefully.  But what he saw was not encouraging.  The steel band looked most formidable.  It was on the handcuff principle and any attempt to work his foot loose would only make the grip tighter and increase his suffering.  His spirits fell at that.  Then the only thing his brief immunity would do for him would be to keep him in pain a little longer.  He would be caught anyhow, and he guessed that, if Dick got away, he would find his captors in a savage mood.