ouched lower, and then I recognized the
lean agility of Hussin. He must have doubled back, keeping in the dusk
to the left of the pursuit, and taking big risks in the open places.
But there he was now, exactly in front of us, and separated only by the
width of the narrow street.

He took a step backward, gathered himself for a spring, and leaped
clean over the gap. Like a cat he lighted on the parapet above us, and
stumbled forward with the impetus right on our heads.

'We are safe for the moment,' he whispered, 'but when they miss me they
will return. We must make good haste.'

The next half-hour was a maze of twists and turns, slipping down icy
roofs and climbing icier chimney-stacks. The stir of the city had
gone, and from the black streets below came scarcely a sound. But
always the great tattoo of guns beat in the east. Gradually we
descended to a lower level, till we emerged on the top of a shed in a
courtyard. Hussin gave an odd sort of cry, like a demented owl, and
something began to stir below us.

It was a big covered wagon, full of bundles of forage, and drawn by
four mules. As we descended from the shed into the frozen litter of
the yard, a man came out of the shade and spoke low to Hussin. Peter
and I lifted Blenkiron into the cart, and scrambled in beside him, and
I never felt anything more blessed than the warmth and softness of that
place after the frosty roofs. I had forgotten all about my hunger, and
only yearned for sleep. Presently the wagon moved out of the courtyard
into the dark streets.

Then Blenkiron began to laugh, a deep internal rumble which shook him
violently and brought down a heap of forage on his head. I thought it
was hysterics, the relief from the tension of the past hour. But it
wasn't. His body might be out of training, but there was never
anything the matter with his nerves. He was consumed with honest
merriment.

'Say, Major,' he gasped, 'I don't usually cherish dislikes for my
fellow men, but somehow I didn't cotton to Colonel Stumm. But now I
almost love him. You hit his jaw very bad in Germany, and now you've
annexed his private file, and I guess it's important or he wouldn't
have been so mighty set on steeple-chasing over those roofs. I haven't
done such a thing since I broke into neighbour Brown's woodshed to
steal his tame 'possum, and that's forty years back. It's the first
piece of genooine amusement I've struck in this game, and I haven't
laughed