looking at me in a
sidelong fashion from time to time, and biting his nails like one who is
deep in thought.

'Courage, my friend!' I cried, slapping him upon the shoulder. 'You will
see your guns before another month be past.'

'That is very well,' said he. 'But whither will you fly when you get
free?'

'To the coast,' I answered. 'All comes right for a brave man, and I
shall make straight for my regiment.'

'You are more likely to make straight for the underground cells, or for
the Portsmouth hulks,' said he.

'A soldier takes his chances,' I remarked. 'It is only the poltroon who
reckons always upon the worst.'

I raised a flush in each of his sallow cheeks at that, and I was glad
of it, for it was the first sign of spirit which I had ever observed in
him. For a moment he put his hand out towards his water-jug, as though
he would have hurled it at me, but then he shrugged his shoulders and
sat in silence once more, biting his nails, and scowling down at the
floor. I could not but think, as I looked at him, that perhaps I was
doing the Flying Artillery a very bad service by bringing him back to
them.

I never in my life have known an evening pass as slowly as that one.
Towards nightfall a wind sprang up, and as the darkness deepened it blew
harder and harder, until a terrible gale was whistling over the moor. As
I looked out of my window I could not catch a glimpse of a star, and the
black clouds were flying low across the heavens. The rain was pouring
down, and what with its hissing and splashing, and the howling and
screaming of the wind, it was impossible for me to hear the steps of the
sentinels. 'If I cannot hear them,' thought I, 'then it is unlikely that
they can hear me'; and I waited with the utmost impatience until the
time when the inspector should have come round for his nightly peep
through our grating. Then having peered through the darkness, and seen
nothing of the sentry, who was doubtless crouching in some corner out of
the rain, I felt that the moment was come. I removed the bar, pulled out
the stone, and motioned to my companion to pass through.

'After you, Colonel,' said he.

'Will you not go first?' I asked.

'I had rather you showed me the way.'

'Come after me, then, but come silently, as you value your life.'

In the darkness I could hear the fellow's teeth chattering, and I
wondered whether a man ever had such a partner in a desperate
enterprise. I seized the bar, however, and