In Search of Liberty
"Getting nearer Germany," said Jim laconically.
Larry kicked the sides of the cattle-truck in which they were
incarcerated, pulled that tin hat of his down over his brow--his
unconscious yet characteristic habit--scowled and then grinned.
Nobby got angry; he doubled his fist, projected his head until his face
was within a few inches of Larry, and growled something at him.
"You're always laughin'--you, Larry," he said. "If we gits into a tight
hole, 'stead o' bein' serious-like all the time, you gits a-laughin'.
Now, look 'ere!"
Bill took the huge fellow by the shoulder and pulled him back.
"Stop talking rot, Nobby! We're alone for a moment, but you never
know when the train'll stop and the guard'll put his head in. 'Nearer
Germany,' Jim said."
"Aye--sure," the latter grunted. "I'm thinking of it all the time. Here
are we--come all this way, been through all these things--and say,
boys, we've enjoyed it, haven't we?"
"Aye, aye," they grunted.
"Well, we've been all through these times waitin' for our boys to come
out and join in with 'em, and then we gets scooped up by the Hun, and
won't have a chance of seein' all the fightin'."
"No?" lisped Larry. "I ain't so sure. I ain't going to Germany, Jim,
not if I can help it. See here, chums! we're gettin' near Germany, and
we've got to do something."
That was the sort of speech that pleased Nobby. He grunted his
approval. He was the sort of man--steady, strong, and fearless--who was
ready to carry out any sort of desperate enterprise; but to think one
out, to make plans, that was entirely beyond the genial, hard-fighting
Nobby.
"You get in at it, Bill," for, like his comrades, he had a great
appreciation of that young fellow's shrewdness. "How 'ud you do it?"
It was Bill's turn to shrug his shoulders. "Do it?" he asked. "Ah! But
chaps have jumped from a train before now--eh? What's to prevent us?"
"Them doors!" declared Nobby, pointing to the iron-bound doors which
had been bolted on them.
"Aye, but there's a roof and a floor," said Jim.
"Sure!" Larry exclaimed, beginning to peer about him in the
semi-darkness of the truck.
The very suggestion, patent though it was, brought them all to their
feet, and for the next few minutes they were walking about the truck,
feeling in all directions, they and half a dozen comrades with them.
Then came a sharp, shrill cry from one of the men.
"What is it?" demanded Nobby roughly. "Ah! A loose board! Let's get
there! Loose at one end. You wait--get out of the way! Christopher!
It's coming!"
Nobby came with it too! For, getting his fingers underneath the end of
the board which one of the men had discovered to be loose, he threw all
his bull-like strength into it, tore the board up, and fell backward.
But a moment later he was on his feet again, and had his fingers at the
next board to that which was already wrenched out of position. This
one, too, came away to the sound of thudding, thumping iron wheels on
steel rails, and to the sound of splitting timber. A third time he
ventured to pull, and there, at his feet, lay a hole through which
three men could have gone together, a hole through which what little
light there was outside penetrated, a hole which might easily lead to
liberty, perhaps even to the road back to their comrades.
"There!" exclaimed Nobby, mopping the sweat from his forehead with the
dirty sleeve of his khaki jacket.
"Sure!" grinned Larry, peering over the hole and watching the ground
fleeing away from them.
"Interesting!" Jim ventured, lying flat on the floor, his head thrust
through the square which Nobby's powerful fingers and muscles had
provided for them. "But this here raises a conundrum; droppin' through
on to the road would mean getting smashed by the axle of the wagon just
behind it. One man might have a bit of luck, but t'others would get
brained. Here's the hole right enough--but yet----"
"But, yes," said Bill thoughtfully.
"Ha!" gurgled Nobby, pushing his way nearer to them now that he had
recovered from his effort, while other men pressed round them.
"Only," ventured Bill, breaking the long silence which followed, "only,
you know----"
Nobby interrupted him. "I know what you're after, young Bill," he said.
"It's always you as is makin' plans and thinkin' things out while
the rest of us is puzzling. You shut up, mates; give him a moment to
think. Now then!" he said when a few more minutes had passed--passed
painfully, be it mentioned; for the opening at their feet, the gleam
of light which came through it, the swiftly-passing road it disclosed,
were tantalizing to the prisoners. In a measure their cage was broken
open and they were free to go; but that rushing train, the swiftness of
its pace, made escape from their open cage still an almost impossible
matter.
"Only it ain't altogether impossible," said Bill. "No, not altogether."
"Ah! Oh!" Nobby gurgled.
"You see," said Bill, "a chap might sling himself out here with his
head to the back of the wagon. T'other chaps would then hold his
two legs and his two hands, so that he could get his head 'way out
under the last beam and take a squint round. There'll be buffers,
perhaps--that's certain in fact; there'll be couplings, perhaps
there'll be handles. He'll get slung back here and give directions;
and then out he goes again, and you chaps'll let go one hand, when he
shouts or wriggles you'll let go the other, and the fellows with the
feet'll help him to move backward; finally one leg will go, then the
second, and after that----"
"Ah! ah!" lisped Larry. "Yep, it is after that. You ain't yet out of
the wood--not by a long bit. Say, sonny, it's a bright idea; it's a
really bright brain-wave, but----"
"Here, catch hold!" said Bill with decision. "Larry, you stand by
and direct operations. Jim will hold one hand, Tom, here, the other.
Nobby's the boy for the legs; I should be safe, I know, if he'd got a
grip of 'em. Now then, swing me down. Don't be frightened! Here I go!"
And go he did. They gripped him by all four extremities and lowered him
through the opening as they would have lowered a bundle or a bed, then
very carefully they allowed his form to drift, as it were, backward
till his head was under the farthest edge of the wagon. Peering up
through a cloud of dust, which almost smothered him, Bill caught sight
of a coupling clanging just overhead, and, on either side, of buffers,
as he had suspected. Better than all, there was a strong iron handle
or grip beside the coupling, and one immediately opposite it on the
next truck, while below it was a foot-rest by means of which one could
mount the side of this truck, which, like the one in which they were,
was covered. He wriggled, and at the signal was hauled back.
"Waal?" demanded Larry hoarsely, while Nobby leaned over the opening
and peered into his face, breathing heavily on him.
"Can't say," came from Bill, "only the trick can be done right enough.
Next time I'll clamber along and see if the doors can be opened. Now
you swing me down again, holding my wrists and ankles. When I double
up my right hand, let it go, and keep me as far swung back as you can.
When I've got a grip I'll move the other hand and you can let that go
too. I'll jiggle my feet in turn as I want you to liberate 'em--get me?"
"You bet!" Nobby grunted. "Got you square! Take care, young Bill, now.
We don't want to see you dashed to pieces, but----"
"But someone's got to do it," said Bill, "and I'm as active as any one
of you and fairly light. Down I go! Hang on tight. And don't be afraid
to let go when you get the signal."
He was swung through the opening again, and then allowed to drift
backward. Once more he caught a glimpse of the clanging couplings
just above his head, and of the grating buffers on either side. Then,
measuring his distance, he closed the fingers of his right hand, and
rather reluctantly that member was released, while he felt the grip on
the ankles and the other wrist tighten as if the men were fearful of
his escaping from between their fingers. Then he reached upward and
without difficulty gripped the first of the handles. Shifting his grasp
along it, he then closed the fingers of the other hand, and a minute
later was holding on to the single broad handle, while the men inside
the van allowed his form to drift still farther backward.
There was team work there between them all--intelligent team work.
For though Larry and Jim and the others could not see what Bill was
attempting, they could imagine it well enough, and the writhings of
his body gave them a hint as to how they were to behave under every
circumstance. Yet it was not without reluctance that they let his
right leg loose, as he wriggled the ankle, and Nobby, who released
it, was more than relieved when Jim, bending over the hole, called
to two of them to grip his wrists, and was himself lowered through
the opening, head downward, his feet and legs resting on the floor
of the wagon. Twisting his head, he could see Bill's right leg swing
backward, and presently watched as it was hooked over the foot-rest.
Then came another wriggle of the other ankle, and a minute later Bill
had practically disappeared, one leg only still showing hooked over the
foot-rest.
By the time Jim had been hauled back, Bill had gone, and those within
were left staring at the ground below fleeing past them. It seemed ages
before there was a clang at one of the doors--the clang of a bolt
being shot backward. Then a crevice of light appeared, and, to the
amazement and joy of all, a hand was pushed into the compartment--a
hand which Nobby gripped and presently drew on--drew on until he
finally pulled Bill in amongst them.
"So you did it! Bravo!" he cried, while Jim pushed the sliding door,
which Bill had liberated, farther back. As for the latter, he grinned
upon his comrades.
"Easy as eating dinner," he said. "There wasn't a padlock, but only
bolts, and they didn't take much opening. After that the trick was
done. Here we are, boys--there's the road to liberty--only, of course,
we've got to slow the train up first. Another conundrum I hadn't
thought of."
"I have," Jim joined in. "See here, boys, this train may go rushing on
for hours yet, and every foot of the way takes us farther into Germany.
You might shout yourself hoarse and the driver of the locomotive would
never hear. If we was to take those planks that we've torn from the
floor and chuck 'em on the rails, they'd be cut up like carrots, and
wouldn't no more derail her than if you was to chuck out Nobby there."
At that the worthy and pugnacious Nobby looked threateningly at the
American, and opened his mouth to expostulate.
"No," went on Jim, in deep earnest, unmindful of what he had said, "you
couldn't wreck the train if you wanted to. So next thing is to stop
her."
"Aye, stop her!" Nobby grinned. "Ain't we all aware o' that? Clever,
Jim--eh?"
"And to stop her," said Jim, unperturbed by Nobby's sudden explosion,
or by his sarcasm, "ain't such a difficult task, I should reckon.
Bill's done his bit; you boys wait here while I do my share; I'm going
to uncouple the chains right here in front of us."
That, too, was no easy matter. Indeed it was one full of danger, as
Jim himself appreciated when he gained the end of the truck, and,
standing upon the foot-rest and clinging to the handles, endeavoured
to manipulate the couplings. The truck in front wobbled and swayed
horribly; that upon which he rested jerked to and fro, threatening to
throw him from his hold, and the couplings were drawn tight--so tight
that there was no possibility of unhooking them--while the buffers
were parted by an inch or more of space. And so the position continued
for a long ten minutes--those coupling chains in strongest tension,
the buffers separated, no power that he could exert, nor indeed that a
hundred men could exert, being able to unhook them.
And then came the sudden scream of the vacuum brakes, the buffers
tapped gently together, and at once the ends of the two trucks between
which he clung drew closer together. They were on a decline, and the
driver of the engine had applied his brakes all along the train to keep
her in control and steady the trucks as they ran downwards. As for
the couplings, taut a moment before, they swung loosely now, so that
Jim, bending over, picked up the link hooked upon the coupling in front
and threw it off with an ease which surprised him. That link provided
the only means of attaching them to the forward part of the train, and
when, perhaps a minute later, the long line of trucks had gained the
level again, and steam was given to the engine, of a sudden the truck
in front leapt away from him, sped away, rushed off at uncommon speed,
leaving Jim clambering there with only space in front of him.
It was a very hot and dishevelled Jim who clambered back into the
compartment, and it was a very dishevelled and excited party that stood
at the open doorway as the speed of this latter half of the train
slowly diminished. Then anxiety took possession of them, for far away
in the distance they heard the shrill whistle of the locomotive--the
locomotive which had dragged the train from which they were now parted.
"Driver's discovered it--sure! Yep. Awkward! That means that he'll stop
the blamed train, and perhaps come back to us--what's that, eh?"
"Conductor right behind has wakened up and made the same sort of
discovery," said Bill; "reckons the train has broken in half--as it
has--eh? There go the hand-brakes. Couldn't ask for anything better.
Boys, make ready!"
From outside the car came the scream and scrape of brakes, while
the landscape, which had been flashing past them, now glided by at
respectable speed, which encouraged the prisoners immensely. They
crowded to the door, waited till Bill gave the order, and then, as the
car slowed down to quite reasonable speed, that made a leap to the
ground quite practicable, they dropped off one by one--some fifteen of
them--and presently, gathering together, moved off along the track. But
first of all, as the last man left the car he had been careful to close
the doorway.
"You never know," said Bill, as he warned them. "Perhaps they'll think
that putting the brakes on down that decline somehow unhooked the
coupling. If they saw the door open they'd realize at once that a trick
had been played on them. Let 'em talk about the breaking in two of
the train and wonder how it happened, and get to work to hook the two
trucks together again. Perhaps they won't suspect that we've got out,
for there won't be anything to tell 'em. Now, boys, here we all are!
About turn! Quick march! This trek ought to take us, with a little more
luck, into the lines of the Allies."