Mercer to leave him, caught in a trap set for just such
trespassers as they? Had he urged his chum to leave him in his
agony, for the ankle was badly wrenched, and seek safety in
flight? The terrible pain in his ankle and the agonizing fear
both for himself and his chum made moments seem like hours and the
happenings of these same moments appear as an awful dream.

He could hear, plainly enough, the advance of the two searchers
who had scared Dick into hiding in the rhododendron bush, he could
even see the gleam of their flashlights, and was able, therefore,
to guess what they were doing. For the moment it seemed
impossible to him that Dick should escape. He was sure of capture
himself in a few minutes, and, as a matter of fact, there were
things that made the prospect decidedly bearable. The pain in his
ankle from the trap in which he had been caught was excruciating.
It seemed to him that he must cry out, but he kept silence
resolutely. As long as there was a chance that he might not fall
into the hands of the spies who were searching the grounds, he
meant to cling to it.

But the chance was a very slim one, as he knew. He could imagine,
without difficulty, just about what the men with the flashlights
would do, by reasoning out his own course. They would look for
footprints. These would lead them to the spot where he and Dick
had watched the raising of the wireless mast, and thence along the
path they had taken to return to the wall and to safety. Thus
they would come to him, and he would be found, literally like a
rat in a trap.

And then, quite suddenly, came the diversion created by Dick's