Evening star., 1925-04-26

burly body Guards stood to arms,
bayonets clicked; we crept back to
our blankets and were snoring placidly
when a Turkish officer came round
to see what was the matter.
, 1t was a July night, when full
moon rode over the sea behind our
house that we decided to make our
next attempt.
We had determined to climb out of
a window set in a blank wall some
thirty feet above the street and in full
view of four sentrieS. This wall. /
had observed, was not as impossible
as it looked. Two little ledges of
molding ran along under the win
dow sill, giving us a foothold and a
handhold until we reached the roof of
the next house. And although we
would be visible during the whole of
our precarious transit of the wall face,
We knew that people in a street rarely
look up above their own height and
rarely look for things they don't ex-
pect.
We took off our shoes, coiled a rope
round our waists, filled our pockets
and knapsacks with escaping gear
consisting of map, an automatic we
had managed to buy a year before,
our shoes, some chocolate. hard bis
cult, sweaters, etc., and then blew
out the light in our room as II we had
gone to bed. From o'clock in
the evening until roll call at Z
the following morning we were u.s.
ually left undisturbed II a Jealous
officer made the rounds at midnight,
our absence would be discovered, but
We CHANGED that.
CROUCHED under the window sill,
we roped ourselves together.
Then we looked over the edge The
Two sentries on the opposite side of
the street were lolling against the
door, chatting to each other, with their
rifles slung over their shoulders, as
casual and unconcerned as we could
wish. The moon. rising behind our
house, while still leaving the street
IN shadow, had just caught their
faces, lighting up pair of encourag-
ingly bovine countenances. Directly
below us, we knew, another pair of
Watchdogs were Willing away the
Summer night in much the same way
Paul went first and 1 followed
Once the first step was taken, anxiety
vanished, leaving nothing but a thrill
of pleasure. AS we clambered slowly
along the string-course OF the wall,
we were in full view OF four armed
sentries, not 10 yards away, with
large-hore old-fashioned rifles.
We were mighty happy men when
we had finished that part of our
escape and lay fat and breathless be-
hind the parapet of the next roof.
After few moments rest, we began
to wriggle and worm our way slowly
along the gutter, until we had gone
about 20 yards. Looking at my watch,
1 saw an hour had passed since get
ting out of the window
And now a new difficulty confronted
us. Directly overlooking the part Of
the roof from which we contemplated
our descent and only separated from
us by the breadth of a side street,
sat an officer of the Psamattia fire
brigade. He sat by an open win
dow, looking anXiously up and down
the street we hoped to escape by.
We lay stock-still watching him,
and it became apparent, as time
passed and he still stood disconsolate
by the window, that he was expecting
some one to keep an appointment
Meanwhile the moon was creeping
up. Soon she would flood us with
her radiance, so that even a love-sick
officer of the fire brigade could not
help noticing us, lit by the spotlight
of the universe.
For an hour this annoying Romeo
kept watch. But at last, just as our
protecting belt of shadow had mar
rowed to yard and we had decided
to let go the painter and have a run
for our money anyway, he gave one
prodigious yawn and shut the win
dow.
That was our moment. We had al
ready uneoiled the rope from our
waists. We made one end of the
rope fast to the parapet and cautious
ly lowered away the other end. Then
we stood up. There were no passers-
by in the street, fortunately. The
sentries were huddled in their long
coats, for the night had turned chilly.
Uptown dog yapped its voice
seemed to stab the silence.
It takes two seconds to slip down
80 feet of rope, but two seconds is
long time when your liberty, If not
your life, is at stake. 1 half kicked
down the signboard of a store in my
descent and expected to get a slug
from a sentry's rife. There came
no sound or stir, however, save that
of my descent. In the street, / waited
for Paul and to my amazement
noticed that the two Of the sentries
were fast asleep, one was strolling
away with his back to us, and the
fourth, with a cigarette in his mouth
and his rife slung over his shoulder,
had a Persian cat in his arms, which
he was fondling.