“It is all right, master, we have a good ten minutes; there is no one about, but you had better keep below the waggon rails until you have got your disguise on.”

A couple of minutes sufficed for this, then Hector leapt to the ground, while Paolo replaced the sacks in their position; and then together they hurried across some twenty yards of broken ground and entered a wood.

“That was a capitally managed business, Paolo.  Now we have to find our way across country.  We cannot keep by the river, for it turns away to the south, and would take us far from the point we want to reach.  At any rate, for a day or two we must travel at night, after that I think we can venture boldly along —­ for it is not likely that the news that a prisoner has escaped will travel very far —­ although no doubt a strict search will be kept up for a day or two.  I think that for today we had better make our way north, keeping in the woods as much as possible; they are less likely to search for us in that direction than to the west.”

They found that the forest was fully two leagues across, and agreed that it was unlikely in the extreme that any attempt would be made to search so extensive an area, where two men could anywhere conceal themselves.  Paolo had on the previous afternoon placed a couple of loaves and some cold meat in the bundles, and they now sat down by a little stream and ate a hearty meal, then, crawling into a thick growth of underwood, they lay down to sleep and did not awaken until the sun was setting.

“There must be some country tracks through this forest, Paolo.  We cannot do better than keep along the edge of the stream until we come to one and then follow it.  It is sure, sooner or later, to take us to some small hamlet, and I can go into a cabaret and get a couple of flasks of wine and buy enough bread to last us until tomorrow, and perhaps a sausage, they are not likely to have any other meat in a place of that sort.  My German is good enough to pass muster, and even if it sounds strange to their ears, they will merely suppose that I have come from a different part of the country, for the dialects differ greatly from each other.”

As soon as it became quite dark they found it impossible to follow the rough ground, and after one or two falls had to stop.  Hector said, “This won’t do, we shall twist an ankle or break a bone if we go on.”

“Shall we light a fire, master?  I have brought flint and steel with me, for I knew that we should want it.”

“No, it is better to run no risks; there may be a road near for aught we know, and if anyone passing saw a fire among the trees, he might come to see who had made it.”

“Not he, master; there are too many robbers about, deserters from their army, or men who have been ruined by the war.  You may be sure that if any belated villager had the courage to go through this forest by night he would, on seeing a fire, hurry on as fast as his legs would carry him.”