for I expect it will take us the best part of the night to file
through the bars. You must not cut quite through them, but just
leave them so that we can finish them off in a short time, tomorrow
night."

"But the warder might notice them?"

"He is not likely to look very sharply, Dicky; but at the same
time, it is just as well not to put too great a strain on his
loyalty. We will keep a piece of bread over from our supper, work
it up into a sort of paste, fill up any cuts we make, and rub it
over with dirt till it well matches the bars. Certainly they have
planned the affair capitally, so as to throw doubt as to which way
we descended, and so divide the blame between as many of the
sentries as possible."

It took four hours' work, that night, to get through the bars. They
were most careful not to let any of the filings fall outside for,
had any of them dropped into the courtyard below, they might well
catch the eye of a warder; and in that case an examination of all
the windows of the rooms above would certainly be made, at once.
Before the warder's visit the next morning, the holes had been
filled up with bread worked into a putty and smeared over with
dust; which so nearly matched the bars that it could not be
observed, except by a careful examination.

The next day they abstained from saying more than a passing word to
any of the French soldiers. They waited, after being locked up for
the night, for two or three hours; and then began their work at the
door. The saw was a very narrow one and, when they had made a hole
with the augur, they found no difficulty in cutting the wood;
therefore they thought it was well to leave that for the last
thing, and so betook themselves to their files, and soon removed
enough of the bars to enable a man to crawl through. Then they
returned to the door, and had cut round the lock, and made holes
through which they could pass their hands to draw back the bolts, a
short time before the clock struck twelve.

Then they went to the window, and listened. They heard the bells
strike midnight, and then a stir below, as the sentries were
relieved. Waiting for a few minutes, until all had become quiet
again, they drew back the bolts, took off their shoes, and went
noiselessly down the stairs.

The night was very dark and, although they could hear the tread of
the sentries in the courtyard, they could not make out their
figures. They crossed the yard, keeping as far as possible from