"No; we separate," replied von Loringhoven in a tone that brooked no denial. "Now remember, Müller: if you should be spoken to, shake your head and point to your ear. You remember the English sentence I taught you?"
"'Sorry, mate; I'm deaf,'" replied Müller with parrot-like fidelity.
"That is quite passable English," said the kapitan-leutnant approvingly. "It will be an efficient passport. Now, comrades, I will leave you."
Solemnly shaking hands with his stolid and rain-soaked compatriots, von Loringhoven set off on his solitary bid for freedom.
Before he left the shelter of the wood he stopped and drew a small packet from the inside of one of his socks. From it he produced a folded paper, which he carefully placed in the breast-pocket of his jacket, a silver badge—the emblem of an honourably discharged British soldier—and two gold stripes which he deftly sewed to the sleeve of his overcoat.
"It is as well not to take others into your confidence," he soliloquised grimly. "So now for Birmingham, Gloucester, and Bristol."
The mention of Liverpool was a "blind" on his part. Von Loringhoven's consummate trust in himself was sure to go a long way towards his attempt to get clear of the country; but he had little or no faith in his brother-officer prisoners. Unintentionally, perhaps, they would have betrayed his plans had he given them genuine information as to the direction in which he intended to go.
Following a lane, von Loringhoven at length emerged into a broad highway running in a south-westerly direction. He followed it boldly. There was little chance of meeting any one on that inclement night, while the absence of the four Huns was not likely to be discovered until the morning roll-call. He had thus five hours before the prisoners' escape was noticed—and much might be done in that time.
Several villages, all shrouded in utter darkness, he walked through without meeting a single living creature; small towns he skirted, deeming it unwise to be seen by a policeman on his nocturnal beat.
The first blush of dawn found him within sight of an isolated farm close to the side of the road. The house stood at some distance back, but a walled-in yard, with two ranges of out-buildings, suggested possibilities of a few hours' rest. The storm was on the point of clearing, although a rosy tint in the eastern sky betokened a recurrence of the rain.