"Now, which way?" whispered Detroit. "To the Unterland?"
"Rather not," replied the Sub. "It's too well guarded. We'll strike inland and make good use of our liberty until the alarm is raised."
Guided by the chain of searchlights, which were now in full swing, Hamerton and his companion set off in a north-westerly direction. Once clear of the buildings they felt the force of the wind, which had now backed to the north-west. It was a struggle for them to keep their feet. Every now and again a vicious blast would bring them up "all standing", as Hamerton would have described it in naval parlance. As for the rain, it was too torrential to aid their flight, for at any moment they might blunder upon the sentries, since they could see barely twenty yards ahead, and that only very indistinctly.
Away on the right a wind motor, perched on a cast-iron tower, added to the din. It was one of several used for generating electric current for the searchlights, and could, if necessary, be lowered into a concrete-lined pit, so as to be out of reach of a hostile fire.
Hamerton pushed forward, counting the number of the steps he took. At the sixty-first he stopped abruptly and threw himself flat upon the grass, an example that Detroit promptly imitated.
Just in front of them was a high barbed-wire fence. On the furthermost side a sentry was standing, his hands resting on the muzzle of his rifle and his head bowed till the brim of his flat-topped cap touched his fixed bayonet.
For nearly five minutes the man remained in this position, though fortunately his face was turned slightly away from the two recumbent figures on the ground. Then, sloping his rifle, the sentry faced about and stolidly marched away, following the direction of the fence.
"There must be some object in posting a sentry so far from the road and away from the cliff," thought Hamerton. "I'll investigate."
With that he rose to his feet, grasped the lowermost of the barbed wires, and held it up as high as the tension would allow. The quick-witted American understood, and, throwing himself flat on the ground, crawled under the formidable fence. In turn he performed a like service for the Sub, and the two adventurers found themselves within an entanglement out of which they could not easily escape should their presence be detected by any of the sentries.
While negotiating the fence Hamerton noticed one remarkable thing: the standards supporting the spiked wires were set in hinged sockets. Also, about five feet from the fence lay several half-rounded pieces of metal, each about ten feet in length.