He resumed his efforts discount pandora beads, but with less violence It was in vain Though the ropes about his right arm were fairly loose, the wrist was solidly fastened to the chair, and do what he would, he could not wrest it free He clawed desperately with his fingers and thumb, but all in vain.
In the midst of his struggles he was arrested by the sound of whistling Somebody in the distance outside was whistling, clearly and musically, a quaint, jingling sort of jig that struck familiarly on Desmond's ear Somehow it reminded him of the front It brought with it dim memory of the awakening to the early morning chill of a Nissen hut, the smell of damp earth, the whirr of aircraft soaring through the morning sky, the squeak of flutes, the roll of drums why, it was the Grand Reveille," that ancient military air which every soldier knows.
He stopped struggling and peered cautiously out into the dusk The time for darkening the windows must be at hand, he thought, for in most of the houses the blinds were already drawn Here and there, however, an oblong of yellow light showed up against the dark mass of the houses on the upper slopes of the hill The curtains of his bedroom at Mrs Viljohn-Smythe's were not yet drawn and the light still burned brightly above the bed.
The whistling continued with occasional interruptions as though the whistler were about some work or other And then suddenly "Buzzer" Barling, holding something in one hand and rubbing violently with the other, stepped into the patch of light between the window and the bed in Desmond's bedroom.
Desmond's heart leaped within him Here was assistance close at hand Mechanically he sought to raise his hand to open the window, but an agonising twinge reminded him of his thongs He swiftly reviewed in his mind the means of attracting the attention of the soldier opposite.
Should he shout Should he try and break the window Desmond rejected both these suggestions.
Then Desmond's eye fell upon the electric candle which had slid to the very edge of the table.

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