"Follow me," he said at length.
He led the way beyond where His Lordship was sleeping, and, swinging himself out of a rear window, quickly clambered into the house next door.
"Maybe they won't look for us here," he said. "Then, when they have gone, we can escape."
"Maybe," said Chester dubiously, "but I don't think so."
The boys approached the front of the house and looked out the window, taking care to keep out of sight from the street. But just then there came a sound of a shot.
"Wonder what that is for?" asked Hal.
He peered through the window. At the far end of the street he beheld a squad of German troops gazing toward the house they had just left.
"Guess they are afraid we'll take a shot at 'em if they rush us," said
Chester. "They don't know we have left."
At that moment, from the house they had so recently quitted, there came the sound of a shot. A German soldier tumbled in his tracks.
The enemy was just beyond the town, and the others, instead of rushing forward when their companion hit the ground, scattered and took refuge behind the nearest possible shelter.