CHAPTER XXVI 

TOGETHER ONCE MORE 

"Tom!" 

"Dick and Sam!" 

"How in the world did you get here?" 

"Where are the others?" 

These and a dozen other questions were asked and answered as the three Rover boys shook hands over and over again. Even though prisoners, they were delighted to be together once more, and doubly delighted to know that each was well. 

"Oh, these chaps are first-class rascals," said Dick after they had settled down a bit. "They have treated us most shamefully. At first, they gave us pretty good eating, but now they are starving us." 

"Starving you?" cried Tom. 

"Yes--they want us to tell all we know," put in Sam. "They are very suspicious." 

"Didn't you try to get away?" 

"No use of trying. The walls are too solid and so is the door," said Dick. He caught Tom by the arm and added in a faint whisper in his brother's ear: "They are listening. We have a hole." 

"Then we'll have to stay here," said Tom loudly, catching his cue instantly. 

"Yes, and it's a shame," added Sam in an equally loud voice. "I suppose the others have gone on?" 

"Certainly," said Tom calmly. "I was a chump to remain behind--only I wanted to find you. I got hold of a letter by accident." 

A moment later, they heard the guards walk away, and then Tom told the truth about the letter, and Sam and Dick led him to the hole in the wall. 

"It is not quite big enough to use, yet," whispered the eldest Rover. "But we hope to have it big enough by to-morrow. It's slow work, when you have got to be on your guard all the while." 
When?
 to-morrow