d I'm sure I was not much smaller round the shoulders
than he was."

"And now about your route," the count said. "You must not lose time.
Do you both quite agree with me that it would be next to impossible
for you to pass through the lines of our army and to gain your own?"

"Quite impossible," Dick agreed. "Jack and I have talked it over again
and again, and are of opinion that it could not be done even in
Russian uniforms. We should be liable to be questioned by every
officer who met us as to the reason of our being absent from our
regiment, and should be certain to be found out. We thought that it
might be possible to get hold of a fishing-boat, and sail down to join
the fleet. There would be of course the risk of being blown off the
shore or becalmed, and it would be difficult to lay in a stock of
provisions."

"Besides," the count said, "there is no blockade at Odessa, and our
small war-steamers cruise up and down the coast, so that you would be
liable to capture. No, I am sure your best way will be to go by land
through Poland. There are still large bodies of troops to the
southwest, facing the Turks, and it would be better for you to keep
north of these into Poland. You can go as wounded soldiers on furlough
returning home; and, being taken for Poles, your broken Russian will
appear natural. I will give you a letter which the countess has
written to the intendant of her estates in Poland, and he will do
everything in his power."

"I would rather not carry a letter," Dick said, "for it would
compromise you if we were taken. It would be better, if I might
suggest, for the countess to write to him direct, saying that when two
persons arrive and give some pass-word, say, for instance, the names
of your three daughters, we shall not forget them, he is to give us
any help we may require."

This was agreed upon, and the party chatted until the count said that
it was time for them to dress. Going into another room, the boys clad
themselves in two peasant costumes, with the inseparable sheepskin
coat which the Russian peasant clings to until the full heat of summer
sets in, and which is, especially during a journey, invaluable. The
count then insisted upon their taking a bundle of rouble notes to the
value of 200 l., and upon their urging that they could have no possible
need of so much money, he pointed out that there was no saying what
emergencies might occur during their journey, and that after passing
the front