"Aye, but there's a roof and a floor," said Jim.
"Sure!" Larry exclaimed, beginning to peer about him in the semi-darkness of the truck.
The very suggestion, patent though it was, brought them all to their feet, and for the next few minutes they were walking about the truck, feeling in all directions, they and half a dozen comrades with them. Then came a sharp, shrill cry from one of the men.
"What is it?" demanded Nobby roughly. "Ah! A loose board! Let's get there! Loose at one end. You wait—get out of the way! Christopher! It's coming!"
Nobby came with it too! For, getting his fingers underneath the end of the board which one of the men had discovered to be loose, he threw all his bull-like strength into it, tore the board up, and fell backward. But a moment later he was on his feet again, and had his fingers at the next board to that which was already wrenched out of position. This one, too, came away to the sound of thudding, thumping iron wheels on steel rails, and to the sound of splitting timber. A third time he ventured to pull, and there, at his feet, lay a hole through which three men could have gone together, a hole through which what little light there was outside penetrated, a hole which might easily lead to liberty, perhaps even to the road back to their comrades.
"There!" exclaimed Nobby, mopping the sweat from his forehead with the dirty sleeve of his khaki jacket.
"Sure!" grinned Larry, peering over the hole and watching the ground fleeing away from them.
"Interesting!" Jim ventured, lying flat on the floor, his head thrust through the square which Nobby's powerful fingers and muscles had provided for them. "But this here raises a conundrum; droppin' through on to the road would mean getting smashed by the axle of the wagon just behind it. One man might have a bit of luck, but t'others would get brained. Here's the hole right enough—but yet——"
"But, yes," said Bill thoughtfully.
"Ha!" gurgled Nobby, pushing his way nearer to them now that he had recovered from his effort, while other men pressed round them.