"
Churchill discovered that the house into the garden of which he
had so unceremoniously introduced himself was brilliantly lighted,
and that the owner was giving a party. At one time two of the
guests walked into the garden and stood, smoking and chatting, in
the path within a few yards of him.
Thinking his companion might yet join him, for an hour he
crouched in the bushes, until from the other side of the wall he
heard the voices of his friend and of another officer.
"It's all up!" his friend whispered. Churchill coughed tentatively.
The two voices drew nearer. To confuse the sentries, should they
be listening, the one officer talked nonsense, laughed loudly, and
quoted Latin phrases, while the other, in a low and distinct voice,
said: " I cannot get out. The sentry suspects. It's all up. Can you get
back again?"
To go back was impossible. Churchill now felt that in any case he
was sure to be recaptured, and decided he would, as he expresses
it, at least have a run for his money.
"I shall go on alone," he whispered.
He heard the footsteps of his two friends move away from him
across the play yard. At the same moment he stepped boldly out
into the garden and, passing the open windows of the house,
walked down the gravel path to the street. Not five yards from the
gate stood a sentry. Most of those guarding the school-house knew
him by sight, but Churchill did not turn his head, and whether the
sentry recognized him or not, he could not tell.
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