Escape with the Dream Maker by Gilbert L. Morris Page A

quickly that there was a prison in Acton where criminals of all kinds were kept—not just lawbreakers from the town itself but from all the territory round about. The prison had abad reputation, evidently well earned. According to some reports, there were murderers and thieves and every sort of tough in the world behind those red walls.
    Now,
Wash thought in despair,
I got to break into jail. Bad enough trying to break out. I wish Reb was here with me.
    He lurked around until Oliver came out nearly four hours later. Wash followed the inventor to his house, made certain that he was inside, and then went walking down an alley.
    â€œHow do you get into a jail?” he said. He had absolutely no idea, but he was a sturdy young man, this Wash Jones, and determined to get inside even if he never got out again.
    Â 
    It took Wash two days to get into the jail. He discovered that bread was delivered every morning by a dull-witted young man who brought it from across town in a cart. Wash noticed both mornings that a guard would let him in and leave the door open until the boy came out again.
    Wash thought about what he did.
He lets the boy with the bread in, takes him to someplace inside, lets him deliver the bread, then brings him right back out again,
he thought.
What I’ve got to do is be right near that door when that bread boy goes in. I’ll wait and give ’em time to get to wherever it is they take the bread. Then I’ll dart inside and hide
.
    It was a desperate scheme, and Wash had little hope of it working. “But it’s all I know to do,” he said. “If they catch me, then that’s the end of it.”
    The next morning he timed his walk so that he was there when the bread boy came, whistling a tuneless song. The door opened at the boy’s knock, and he stepped inside carrying the huge box of bread on hisshoulders. Through the half-open door Wash saw the boy disappear, being led by a guard.
    Quickly Wash stepped inside and gave a sigh of relief when there was nobody else in sight. A long hall led from the foyer, and he took it at once, his heart beating fast. As he came to the bottom of stairs, he saw that the first floor was divided into two sets of cells, one on each side of the hall. He peeked into a cell and saw a prisoner lying flat on his back, dressed in a dirty gray uniform.
    Yanking his head back, Wash thought,
They can’t be in this place.
    He got to the second floor, then to the third, and was feeling discouraged when he came to the stairs that led to the top floor. He heard footsteps coming and in desperation scrambled up the steps. The door at the top was unlocked—he stepped inside and shut it behind him, breathing hard. He turned around, and, in the faint light given by lanterns mounted from the ceiling, he almost stopped breathing.
    Along both sides of the room were single cots. On each cot a person lay, and attached to his temple was a headset. The wires led to black boxes such as Wash had seen on the dream machine.
    Quickly he moved down the aisle between the two lines of cots, looking at faces. Most were strangers, but on one cot lay his friend Josh Adams. He checked the other cots in the large room and breathed a sigh of relief.
They’re all here.
He stopped by Reb, whose face was composed into a dull look, seeming almost dead. Leaning over him, Wash said, “Don’t you worry, Reb. I’ll get you out of this.”
    He walked back to Josh, thinking,
I’ll have to get Josh to come back first. He’s the leader. He’ll have tobring back the rest.
“Come on, Goél,” he said, “give me some help!”
    He found that each box was indeed equipped with two headsets. He read the dials, which were meaningless, then looked at Josh’s face. Josh was half smiling, but he did not look good at all to Wash. Clipping the unused headset to his own head, he lay on the floor beside Josh’s cot. He reached up to where there