She learned how to send secret messages in Morse code, how to fix wireless radios, and how to spy without being caught. She moved from place to place to stay hidden and often slept in forests, finding her own food. She kept it hidden inside a hair tie. Once, when the Germans briefly detained her and searched her, she took out the hair tie and let her hair fall, showing she had nothing to hide. In the summer of 1944, Phyllis sent 135 coded messages, helping Allied bombers find German targets.