d them. One of the condemned, driven mad by the
announcement of his doom, had sprung to the window and was tearing at
the bars with such superhuman force that they promised at any moment to
yield.

The jailer and his men made a dash to seize him, and in that moment I
slipped out of the half-closed door, stopping only to wipe out my name
with my cap as I passed, and crept into the courtyard.

No one could have seen my departure, for though I lay hid an hour under
the shadow of the wall, and even saw the jailer and his men cross the
court, there was no hue and cry or alarm of an escape. Nor, I surmise,
did any one even of my fellow-prisoners, distracted as they were by
their own concerns and the excitement of the madman's attempt, miss me.

My only hope now lay in patience and prudence. To scale the wall I knew
was impossible. To steal through the governor's office would mean
instant detection. But to wait where I was was my only chance.

I had studied the ways of the place enough to know that on the stroke of
six the outer gates swung open to admit the carts which were to carry to
the scaffold the victims of the day. I knew, too, since the horse-
master I had served had often supplied carts on an emergency, that these
vehicles were usually sent in charge of common carters, one man often
being in charge of two or three. These men, having deposited their
carts in the yard, were wont to go off to breakfast and return in an
hour to convey their freight under an escort of Guards to the place of
execution.

Their daily arrival was now so common an occurrence that it attracted
little attention inside or out. Indeed, the gate was often left
standing open a minute or two while some parley was taking place; for no
prisoners were allowed in the court till after the departure of the
procession, and no precautions therefore seemed necessary for closing it
with special celerity.

This, then, was my hope. Could I but lie _perdu_ beside the gate till
the time of opening, I might in a happy moment slip out. As if to
favour me, a cart of straw intended for the floors of the prison rooms
had been admitted into the court the night before, and stood drawn up
close to the gate. It was not difficult to conceal myself at the tail
of this, under the straw, and so remain unseen, not only by the carters
that entered, but by the turnkey that let them in. By equal good
fortune, the owner of the cart had left his coat and whip and c