“Well, don’t be discouraged,” returned Dave grimly. “It may be that the worst is yet to come.”
In that surmise our hero was correct, as events a little later proved.
CHAPTER XXIV
TRYING TO ESCAPE
The next day found Dave and about one hundred prisoners herded in a long, low building which had once been used as a horse-stable. It was located at a place which had evidently been a fairgrounds, for close behind were the remains of a race-track and a grand-stand.
“I wonder how long we’ll have to stay in this place?” grumbled Ralph Thompson.
“Pretty bum quarters, eh?” added Oscar Davis.
“Anyway, it’s better than that cattle-car we were herded in,” remarked Dave. “There are more windows and we can get better air.”
That afternoon the young lieutenant was called out and made to march to a military quarters not far away. There he was asked his name and the name of the command to which he belonged, and then a great number of questions were put to him. He answered as well as he could, taking care, of course, that he did not give the enemy any information of military value.
“You have evidently been well drilled concerning what to say if captured,” remarked the questioner, a burly German officer, as he glared at Dave. “If you expect good treatment at our hands you will have to loosen your tongue a little.”
“I have answered every question put to me,” was our hero’s prompt reply.