at 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."

"Well, no doubt you are right, Paolo; and though the night is warm
enough the air is damp under this thick covering of leaves, and it will
certainly be more cheerful. We will go a short distance among the trees
before we light it."

Feeling their way--for it was pitch dark in the forest--they went on
until Hector stumbled over a fallen trunk.

"This is the best place for a halt," he said, "for here is wood ready
to hand. This tree has been lying here for years, I can feel that it is
quite rotten."

Paolo set to work--took a handful or two of the crumbling wood, broke
it up into dust, then struck a spark on to the tinder, touched it with
a slow match and inserted this into the little pile of wood; a minute's
blowing and the flames sprang up. He drew out the slow match and putting
his foot upon it placed it in his wallet, then he broke off some more
wood and soon had a blazing fire.

"We have enough food left for supper, master, and if I spit some of this
cold meat on the ramrod of one of my pistols and hold it over the fire
it will be all the more tasty. I wish we had those flasks of wine that
you were speaking of. It seems to me that after sleeping for some ten
hours we shall find it hard to go off again for some time, even though
neither of us got any sleep last night. How furious the governor will be
when he finds that you have escaped!"

"He is a good fellow," Hector said, "and save that he will be
annoyed--because he will be blamed for my escape--I do not think he will
be sorry that I have got off. I left a note for him on the table saying
that I was about to make my escape, but that on my honour I had not
obtained anything that would aid me, by your assistance, and that you
had never brought anything into the castle save what you showed on
entering to the guards. I should not like him to think for a moment that
I had broken my promise and taken advantage of his kindness. How does
your face feel?"

"It is mightily sore, but it does not smart as it did at first. I can
tell you that I was very glad when I was able to slip that great lump of
tow out of my mouth as soon as I entered the forest."

"I don't think in future that you need use so large a wad, Paolo; half
that size will be ample; and of course you need only slip it into your
mouth when we are goin