objection, and that is a serious one. As raftsmen we should
certainly speak the Bavarian dialect, which none of us can do. For
that reason I think it would be safer to leave the Danube at
Passau, and make down through Munich. We should be at Passau
tomorrow morning, and can put up at any little place by the
riverside. Two days' walking will take us to Munich.

"Certainly no one would suspect us of being escaped prisoners. We
can get some other clothes tomorrow morning, and finish the rest of
our journey as countrymen.

"The principal thing will be to get rid of these high boots. I
think in other respects there is nothing very distinctive about our
dress. It will be more difficult to concoct a story, but we must
hope that we sha'n't be asked many questions, and I see no reason
why we should be. We shall look like peasants going from a country
village to a town, but if we could hit upon some story to account
for our not speaking the dialect, it would of course be a great
advantage."

They walked along in silence for some time. Then he went on:

"I should say we might give out that we are three Saxons who,
having been forced at Pirna to enter the Prussian army, had been
taken prisoners at Hochkirch and had been marched down with the
others to Vienna; and that there, on stating who we were and how we
had been forced against our will into Frederick's army, we were at
once released, and are now on our way back to Saxony; and are
tramping through Bavaria, so as to avoid the risk of being seized
and compelled to serve either in the Austrian army or the Prussian;
and that we are working our way, doing a job wherever we can get a
day or two's employment, but that at present, having worked for a
time at Vienna, we are able to go on for a bit without doing so.

"I think with that story we could keep to the plan of going up
through Ratisbon. It would be immensely shorter, and the story
would be more probable than that we should make such a big detour
to get home."

"Yes, I should think that would do well," Ritzer said, "and will
shorten the way by two hundred miles. But after leaving Passau, I
should think that we had better not follow the direct road until we
get to Ratisbon.

"I grant that as far as that town we ought to be quite safe, for
there is no chance of their finding out that we have escaped until
eight o'clock in the morning; then our colonel will have to report
the matter to the commandant in the town. No doub