he postern. Now, if you
could manage during the night to slip into one of the waggons, say one
that has brought in flour, you might be so covered over by the empty
sacks they take out, that no one would dream anyone was hidden there."

"Capital, Paolo! It is evident that your head is not so thick as you
thought it was just now. Yes, I have noticed that as a rule if eight
or ten waggons came in together, the full sacks are carried in, and the
same number of empty ones are placed in one of the carts, being counted
as they are put in. Certainly I could hide myself easily enough if you
were there to assist in arranging the sacks as regularly as before over
me. As I do not generally get up until eight o'clock, and my first meal
is not brought to me till nine, I might be on my way two hours before it
was discovered that I was missing. How would you manage?"

"I would get a countryman's suit, master, would go out soon after the
gates were open, find some quiet spot where I should have hidden the
clothes the day before, and slip them on over my own. Then I would join
the carts as they came along. They don't generally begin to harness the
horses up till the gates are open, so that I should get a quarter of an
hour's start of them, and I should go out with them without question, as
it would be thought that I belonged to the party. I should pay for some
beer at the first cabaret we come to, and make signs that I wanted a
lift in a waggon. I must, of course, pretend to be deaf and dumb, as,
although I have picked up a little German since we came into these
parts, I could not possibly pass as a countryman."

"It would be better still, Paolo, for you to put a blister on to your
cheek, then before you join them put a great lump of tow into your
mouth, so as to swell your cheek out almost to bursting point, and then
tie a bandage round your face; you could then by pointing to it make out
that you had so terrible a swelling that you were unable to talk."

"That would be better certainly, master, indeed, it would be a capital
plan. Of course I should get into the waggon in which you were, and
gradually shift the sacks so that you could crawl out. When we smuggled
you in we would try and put in with you a couple of brace of pistols,
and if we were armed with them the carters would not venture to
interfere with us. Of course, master, I should have to get a disguise
for you. We could never be tramping across the country with you dressed