“Mind what you are doing,” he said in a whisper.  “This is a breastwork and, probably, the path is cut away on the other side.  Fortunately, we are so far down the hill now, that there is not much risk of their hearing any slight noise we might make.  You stand here, till I find out what’s on the other side.”

James climbed over the breastwork, and cautiously let himself go on the other side.  He fell some five or six feet.

“Come on,” he said in a low voice.  “Lower yourself down by your arms.  I can reach your legs then.”

The gap cut in the path was some ten feet across, and six feet deep.  When, with some difficulty, they clambered up on the other side, they found the path obstructed by a number of felled trees, forming a thick abattis.  They managed to climb the steep hillside, and kept along it until past the obstruction.  Then they got on to the path again, and found it unbroken to the bottom.

“So far, so good,” James said.  “Now, do you stop here, while I crawl forward to the water.  The first thing to discover is whether they have a sentinel stationed anywhere near the bottom of this path.”

The time seemed terribly long to Middleton before James returned, though it was really but a few minutes.

“All right!” he said, as he approached him.  “There is no one here, though I can hear some sentries farther up the river.  Now you can come forward, and have a drink.  Fortunately, the river is high.”

After having satisfied their thirst, Middleton asked: 

“Where are you going now?  I don’t care how far we have got to march, for, after that drink, I feel ready for anything.”

“It won’t do to hide anywhere near,” James said; “for, if the boat which comes to take us off were to be seen, it would put them on their guard, and there would be plenty of sentries about here in future.  No, we will keep along at the foot of the precipice till we are about halfway, as far as we can tell, between Samos and Sillery, and then we will climb up, as high as we can get, and show our signal in the morning.  But you must be careful as we walk, for, as I told you, there are some sentries posted by the water’s edge, higher up.”

“I will be careful, don’t you fear,” the midshipman said.  “There is not much fear of a fellow, walking about in the dark without boots, not being careful.  I knocked my toe against a rock, just now, and it was as much as I could do not to halloa.  I will be careful in future, I can tell you.”

An hour’s walking brought them to a spot where the hill was rather less steep than usual.  They climbed up, until they gained a spot some fifty feet above the level of the river, and there sat down in a clump of bushes.

“As soon as it’s daylight, we will choose a spot where we can show a signal, without the risk of it’s being seen from below,” James said.  “We mustn’t go to sleep, for we must move directly the dawn commences, else those sentries below might make us out.”