What should we do? If we crawled out, it would probably be hours before we got our legs to work, in the meantime being exposed to the view of everybody. No! we must stay, and pray that we were mistaken and had not been seen. From this time on, however, we were a prey to the most harassing fears, as we listened with bated breath for the slightest sound which might foretell the coming of our captors. One or two more pedestrians passed, and at the coming of each we thought the game was up, but all went by without incident. Towards 6 p.m. the rain ceased, but the sky was overcast with heavy grey clouds, which, with the coming of dusk, decided us to try to extricate ourselves.
CHAPTER XIV
MAKING FOR THE FRONTIER
It was with the very greatest difficulty that we got out of that ghastly drain, owing to having lost the use of our lower limbs. Eventually my companion was the first to get clear, but it took a good quarter of an hour’s work to accomplish this, and it was brought about by my placing my right arm (my left was pinned underneath me) round his neck and endeavouring to draw him over on the top of me, he at the same time pressing with both his hands against the opposite wall of the drain, and the two of us pulling and pressing in jerks, until finally he succeeded in rolling over on top. I was now able to edge my body into a flatter position at the bottom of the drain, owing to the removal of my friend’s body making more room, at the same time supporting his weight on the top of mine. We were now no longer wedged, so that he was able to pull himself out by pressing on the two sides of the drain with his hands, and thus gradually edging himself along, dragging his useless legs behind him.
As soon as he was clear and I had had time to recover from my previous exertion, I succeeded in dragging myself out in the same way, the two of us edging along until we found a broader part of the drain, when, pulling ourselves to a sitting position, we tried to induce the circulation to return to our legs, which we did by putting our hands under the knee-joints and raising them up and down. After about twenty minutes of this, both of us began to experience excruciating pain as the blood came back. However, we worked away with joy, the return of pain also indicating the return of circulation, and therefore the use of our limbs. It must have been nearly seven o’clock before we were able to scramble out of the drain and crawl to the shelter of the clearing close by. As it was not yet quite dark we felt that we should be safer in the clearing than in an open drain so close to the footpath; also we must get rid of some of the water in our clothes.
Crawling to the wood had still further aided our circulation, so that before long we were practising walking, which at first was not at all reassuring, but improved as we began to warm up. The two of us could not help laughing at ourselves during the time we were trying to walk about, when a leg would suddenly give way, precipitating the owner to earth. Very gradually we began to get the full use of our legs. This difficulty having been overcome, we proceeded to take off our clothes, in order that we might wring the water from them. I then cautiously returned to the drain for my boots, which I had the very greatest difficulty in putting on. However, we were equipped and ready for the final venture at a little past eight o’clock, when we moved off westward as jolly as a couple of sand-boys. All the horrors of the past twelve hours were forgotten; the farther we walked the warmer we got, and in consequence more optimistic. Good heavens! what feeble rats we had been! We were good for another week of this, and we felt that all was well with us.
Our object now was to strike the railway on which we had passed through the town the night before, when we had left it in order to avoid the party of workmen coming towards us. We had then rushed to our left; consequently the line must be somewhere to our right, so that we now travelled in the direction we judged to be north-west, according to our calculations during the day. As the stars were not yet visible we had nothing definite to guide us. Every moment we expected to strike the line, but it must have been quite nine o’clock before we eventually did so, although we had thought it could not have been more than half a mile away from our last hiding-place. On reaching it we carried out the same tactics as on the night before—that is, following the direction of the line at a distance of about one hundred yards. Several times our nerves were harassed by hearing voices; but we stuck to it for over an hour, when we found ourselves walking into a thin mist of white vapour, which got thicker as we advanced. We hoped greatly that this mist might be rising off the expected area of lakes, so that we advanced with added caution, and crossed two main roads, on which the level crossings were lit up. Distinct sounds of people in conversation could be heard at each crossing. Very soon we began to get into wet and boggy ground, which decided us to make for the track, walking along it as quietly as we could. The heavens were now beginning to clear up gradually, and one by one the stars appeared.
We had not proceeded along the track more than half a mile when we passed a small cottage at the side of the line. Hurrying past this as noiselessly as possible, we were brought up sharp by a railing and large five-barred gate across the line. At the moment when we were about to climb the gate, the door of the cottage opened and a man stalked out. Possibly he did not see us, but he could not fail to hear us. We were over the gate in the twinkling of an eye, and were preparing to run for it; but fortunately our presence of mind returned as quickly as it had fled, and we walked on at a comfortable and leisurely pace. The man followed us, and was gaining. If he was a guard, why did he not call on us to halt? He could not have been more than forty yards away. We quickened our pace a bit, just enough to keep the distance between us equal. The blood was beating in our temples and throats; we wanted to run, but we dared not even look behind us.
On we walked, our imagination running riot. We must have proceeded in this manner for a good half-mile, when suddenly I perceived that we were in the middle of a lake. We were indeed walking on the very embankment running over the lakes that we had calculated on. That we had actually arrived at the lake and walked over it for some distance without noticing it showed the state of nervous tension we were in. Nothing had taken our minds off the man, who was still following us, inexorable as fate itself. Very soon the reason why he had not challenged us was borne in upon us. Of course on the other side of the lake there would be another gate and guard, into whose arms we should walk and be taken like rats in a trap. Should I stop and hold him in conversation whilst my companion struck him down from behind? For it must be done silently. Yes, we must do this. But the idea of killing in cold blood is awful, and we walked on yet another one hundred yards. In doing so we passed a big iron wheel and sluice-gate, connecting the two sides of the lake through the embankment.
A little farther on we noticed a clump of small bushes growing on the sloping sides of the embankment. This would be a good place in which to make an end of him. Silently we waited. The man reached the sluice-gate and stopped. He had missed us and was listening for our footsteps, we thought. But no! after a minute or two we heard the sluice-gate screeching out its note through the night air, to be followed by a rush of water. He must be the attendant of the sluice-gate. Thank God! Perhaps we had not raised his suspicions, so we hoped to hear him walking away, or that he would walk past us, and thus perhaps give us warning of what lay in front of us. But the rush of the water seemed to drown all sound. Cautiously I crawled back to the sluice, nearer and nearer, until I stood upon it. There was no man; he must have gone back. His suspicions had not been aroused.
I returned to my companion, and we moved off again, but soon decided that, walking as carefully as we could, we were making too much noise. To alleviate this, we stopped whilst I took off my boots. I had been wearing three pairs of socks till now, so I drew off the two thickest pairs, replaced my boots, and handed one pair of socks to my companion, when we both put them over our boots. This muffled the sound of our footsteps considerably.