"Will you be good enough to repeat, Herr Lieutenant?" called the corporal, glancing backward down the length of train.
Heavy footsteps were heard approaching. Corporal and private turned to take a few steps back to meet their officer. Dick, standing in the open doorway, saw that a fog had settled down over the night.
Acting on a sudden impulse, without an instant's hesitation, he leaped down, striking softly on the balls of his feet. Without even turning sideways to see if German eyes had observed him, Prescott stole across another track, and down to the foot of an embankment.
"They'll shoot me for this!" he muttered. "Let them! Death is better than being a German prisoner!"
CHAPTER XXI
SEEKING DEATH MORE THAN ESCAPE
In another instant the French officer who had been standing next to Dick attempted the same trick. He had just gained the ground when the German lieutenant, turning his gaze from the corporal's face, and glancing ahead, broke off in the middle of his instructions to cry out:
"There's a prisoner escaping! Halt him or shoot him!"
Realizing that he was hopelessly caught, and trusting to better luck next time, the Frenchman held up his hands.
"Get back into the car," ordered the German lieutenant. "Corporal, take the lantern and see that all the prisoners are in there."