Page:Augusta Seaman--Jacqueline of the carrier pigeons.djvu/263

Rh and not bother with these window bars any longer. I feel certain the wood of the door will yield to this knife, and when we have  made a hole big enough, we can crawl out,  or burst it open, or pull back the bolts, or  something. But we must be quick about it, for we want to get ahead of Dirk and warn  the city before October third. That is the day after to-morrow.” In the pitchy darkness they groped and found the door. Gysbert began immediately to hack away at one of the panels, finding that it offered much  less resistance than did the deeply imbedded  iron bars of the window.

“Courage, Jacqueline!” he called at intervals. “We are going to make it soon, without fail. But thou hadst best keep watch at the window.” The storm far from abating, increased in violence. The wind shifted again from the northwest to the southwest,  piling up the waters of the German ocean in  huge masses, and dashing them against the  broken dykes. At about eleven o’clock, the