Peter Klein took hold of the swinging creeper and did his best to climb. Presently he looked round at Harry with an expression of despair upon his face.
"I can't do it!" he groaned in broken English.
"You must," said the boy. "Your life depends upon it. Once you get to the top you are safe. They cannot follow you. They have no rope, and will be obliged to go a long way round."
These words had the desired effect upon the spy. Fear, on occasion, is a great stimulant; it sometimes leads a man to perform prodigies of strength that he could never accomplish in calmer moments. Hand over hand the man scrambled to the top of the ravine, and there lay down, panting and exhausted.
Harry followed quickly. At the top he hauled up the creeper, and then looked down again.
The soldiers were still asleep. The commanding officer himself was snoring like a pig.
Shaking in all his limbs, Peter Klein rose to his feet and seized Harry by the hand.
"Heaven reward you!" he exclaimed. "You have saved my life, for I verily believe those villains would have shot me."
[CHAPTER XI—A Shot from the Clouds]
It is a remarkable fact that all this time Jim Braid had been sound asleep. Once inside the trunk of the hollow, shattered tree, he had found himself unable to overcome a feeling of drowsiness which by degrees completely got the better of him. Klein, on the other hand, had apparently received such a shock to his nervous system that in spite of his extreme exhaustion he found it impossible to sleep. Also he had a dread of being left alone. He implored Harry, who had led him some way back into the forest, to remain at his side till dawn.