One of the towns through which they passed Dave recognized as a place he had seen before, and this gave him not a little satisfaction, for he felt that he was once more headed for the fighting front.
“I’ve got to get pretty close to it if I ever expect to get back to our lines,” was the way he reasoned. “It wouldn’t be any use for me to attempt to travel any great distance through Germany, especially wearing this uniform.”
As the train passed over the top of the second long line of hills and began to increase its speed down the other side, Dave resolved to make another move. He knew that sooner or later the freight would roll into some yard and there, if the place was lighted up and well guarded, it would be next to impossible to escape.
“I’ve got to leave this train before that happens,” was the way he reasoned. “And I had better take a look around and see what the prospects ahead are.”
At the end of one of the freight cars was a ladder-like arrangement, and with caution Dave mounted this, to peer out over the top. He could see nothing of the guards, and so sat down on the top of the freight car to get a better view of his surroundings. The sky was now clearing and a number of stars were beginning to show themselves.
They were going down the grade rather rapidly, and looking far ahead the young lieutenant saw a gleam of brightness which he rightly took to be a broad stream. On this side of the river was a good-sized town.
In a few minutes more they rattled into the outskirts of the town. It was quite dark, the lights evidently being extinguished on account of a possible air raid by the Americans or their Allies. But in a tall tower was located a searchlight, and this was suddenly turned on the train, flashing along the tops of the cars from end to end.
Evidently the guards had been expecting this light to fall upon them, for they were on the alert and their eyes, following the bright beams, fell full upon Dave before he had any chance to hide himself.
“Who are you? Throw up your hands!” came the cry in German. And then, as Dave started to drop down between the cars once more, a shot rang out, followed by another.
Both of the bullets whistled close over our hero’s head, and he made such a quick move out of range that he almost lost his footing. As it was, he dropped down on the bumper and had all he could do to keep himself from going clear through to the rails below. Had he done this, he would have been instantly ground beneath the wheels of the cars.