From the plan the chums fell to talking of other days. In the end, however, their whispers became more indistinct, then died out. Both were asleep.
Dick, as he slumbered and tossed, still felt the motion of that hideous prison train, but at last fell into deep slumber.
When he finally awoke he beheld Tom Reade, fully dressed in his uniform, seated at some distance under a little opening in the roof, reading a book.
"Awake, eh?" asked Tom, when he heard his chum stir. After glancing at his wrist watch, he added:
"You've slept nine hours and a half, and I guess you needed it. There is water for washing, and I'll consult our host about breakfast. What do you think of this way of letting in daylight? Toward night I shove this black cover over the hole in the roof, so that candle light may not show through the roof and give us away to the Germans."
Stepping to the chimney, from which the "ventilator" brick was still absent, Reade put his hand inside, finding a cord and giving it a gentle tug.
By the time that Prescott was partly dressed the door opened and the old peasant looked in.
"We are wondering what you can give us for breakfast?" Tom said in French. "Are eggs to be had to-day? Omelettes?"
"Yes, I can get eggs," nodded the old man.
"As you've not seen the color of my money yet," Tom continued, "please take this on account."