Page:The Campaign of the Jungle.djvu/320

288 "A fall? Where?"

"I fell over the high cliff just below here."

"And you live to tell it? Impossible!"

"No, it is true. I fell into a large tree, and that broke my fall. But I was badly scratched up, and my ankle was sprained."

"A rare fall truly, boy. It would have been better, though, if you had been killed."

"Thank you; I like that!"

"I say it because you are a prisoner who has tried to escape from us. Do you know the fate of all such?"

At these words Larry could not help but shiver. He knew what the officer up at the cave prison had said,—that any prisoner trying to escape would be shot at the first opportunity which presented itself.

"Surely, you would not kill me for trying to get away?" he cried quickly.

The under-officer shrugged his shoulders. "It is not for me to change our regulations of war, boy. Your words prove that you knew beforehand the risk you were running."

"Yes, yes—but— You would try to get away, too, if our soldiers caught you."