At dark we stole out, after taking our direction with the compass while we were in the ditch.  When we came out, we observed the direction of the wind, and started straight south.  We would follow this course until we rounded Bremen, and then it was our purpose to go west to the Holland boundary.  From our maps we knew that to strike straight across from where we were would bring us to a well-settled country, and the chief desire of our lives now was for solitude!

CHAPTER XXI

TRAVELLERS OF THE NIGHT

The country we travelled over in the first hours of the night was poor and evidently waste land, for we saw no cultivation until near morning, when we crossed through a heavy oat-field, soaking wet with the night’s rain.  When we came out we were as wet as if we had fallen into the ocean.  We took some of the oats with us, to nibble at as we went along.

We came to a wide stream, with wooded banks, which looked deep and dangerous.  So we made a pack of our clothes, and cautiously descended into it, expecting to have to swim over.  However, we found we could easily wade it, for we had made our crossing at a ford.

On the other side we found ourselves stumbling over a turnip-field, and very gladly helped ourselves, and carried away two of them for provisions for the next day.  When morning came we took cover in a thin wood.

On the other attempts we had been able to carry something to eat, and an extra pair of socks.  This time we had nothing but what we had on.  I had selected from the stockings I had a pair knit by Miss Edna McKay, of Vancouver, which were the first pair she had knit, but were very fine and well made.  We removed our socks the first thing each morning, and rubbed our feet and put the socks in a tree to dry, being careful not to have them so high they would be seen.  We were trying to take every precaution this time!

The first day we were near some farm-buildings, and as we lay in the woods, pretty chilly and wet, we could hear the hens scolding and cackling.  Cackling hens always bring me back to the pleasant days of childhood, and I was just enjoying a real heartsome visit to the old home at Delmer... and was chasing Willie Fewster around a straw-stack... when the farmer’s dog, an interfering, vicious-looking brute, came peering through the woods and gave us heart spasms, barking at us for a few minutes.  But we did not move a muscle, and, seeing that he couldn’t start a row with us, he went away, muttering to himself about suspicious characters being around.

A woman passed through the wood, too, going over to one of the neighbors—­I think to borrow something, for she carried a plate.  But she did not see us, as we lay low in the scrub.

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