the trap-door, and he and Tony having
gained their hiding-place, once more waited anxiously for what was to
follow. But the Cossacks evidently preferred the comfort of a warm room
to searching for a thief who was, for all they knew, far away already.
So, grumbling that they would see to it on the morrow, they turned in
again, and soon all was quiet.

"We shall have to clear away from here, Tony," said Phil as they waited.
"The disappearance of food is certain to lead to suspicion, and we
shall be caught. To-morrow night we will make a bolt for it."

On the following morning it was evident that more than suspicion had
been aroused, and a hot search was instituted, for, from what Phil
overheard, none in the farmhouse doubted that the escaped prisoners were
close at hand. Saddling up, the Cossacks searched every corner of the
fields, and returned utterly baffled at mid-day. A feed of corn was
tossed into the shed close at hand, and the ponies driven in ready for
an instant start; then the Russians betook themselves to their favourite
bottle, and when they reappeared were evidently the worse for its
contents. But they were far from giving up the search.

"They must be close at hand," the man, whose voice Phil had heard so
often, exclaimed with an oath. "We must find them too, comrade, and
then we shall be rewarded. Where can the fools be? Ah! let us try the
coach-house again. These English, I have heard, are dense and slow, but
perhaps these two have more wits than their brothers."

"Tony, we're done for, I fear," said Phil, hastily withdrawing his head.
"This shed is to be searched again."

"We must just chance it then," grunted Tony. "It's a bad scrape we're
in, but we were lucky the other day. If this fellow does find us in
here, why, we must just silence the two of them. It's their lives or
our liberty, and I'm determined to get out of their hands. Lie low, old
boy, and if these coves spot us it'll be the worse for them."

Tony shook his stick threateningly, and was on the point of launching
into an elaborate explanation of the exact punishment he would mete out
to the Cossack who had promised his friends to thrash the fugitives,
when the door of the shed was thrown open with a bang, and the two
Russians reeled in.

"Search the loft, comrade," said the big man authoritatively. "This
spirit of our friend's is good and powerful stuff, and my legs are none
too steady."

The man did as he was told, an