As to just how he would try to get away, he did not try to plan.  He felt that somewhere along the route some chance would present itself, and that it would be better to trust to that than to make some plan.  He was ordered to the front of the squad — so that a better eye could be kept upon him, as the lieutenant put it.  Harry had irritated him by his attempts to cause a change in the disposition of Graves and himself, and the officer gave the impression now that he regarded Harry as a desperate criminal, already tried and convicted.

Harry counted upon the traffic, sure to increase as it grew later, to give him his chance.  Something accidental, he knew, there must be, or he would not be able to get away.  And it was not long before his chance came.  As they crossed a wide street there was a sudden outburst of shouting.  A runaway horse, dragging a delivery cart, came rushing down on the squad, and in a moment it was broken up and confused.  Harry seized the chance.  His bicycle, by a lucky chance, was a high geared machine and before anyone knew he had gone he had turned a corner.  In a moment he threw himself off the machine, dragged it into a shop, ran out, and in a moment dashed into another shop, crowded with customers.  And there for a moment, he stayed.  There was a hue and cry outside.  He saw uniformed men, on bicycles, dashing by.  He even rushed to the door with the crowd in the shop to see what was amiss!  And, when the chase had passed, he walked out, very calmly, though his heart was in his mouth, and quite unmolested got aboard a passing tram car.

He was counting on the stupidity and lack of imagination of the lieutenant, and his course was hardly as bold as it seemed.  As a matter of fact it was his one chance to escape.  He knew what the officer would think — that, being in flight, he would try to get away as quickly as possible from the scene of his escape.  And so, by staying there, he was in the one place where on one would think of looking for him!

On the tram car he was fairly safe.  It happened, fortunately, that he had plenty of money with him.  And his first move, when he felt it was safe, was to get off the tram and look for a cab.  He found a taxicab in a short time, one of those that had escaped requisition by the government, and in this he drove to an outfitting shop, were he bought new clothes.  He reasoned that he would be looked for all over, and that if, instead of appearing as a Boy Scout in character dress of the organization, he was in ordinary clothes, he would have a better chance.  He managed the change easily, and then felt that it was safe for him to try and get into communication with Dick.

In this attempt luck was with him again.  He called for the number of the vicarage at Bray, only to find that the call was interrupted again at the nearest telephone center.  But this time he was asked to wait, and in a minute he heard Jack Young’s voice in his ear.