t tell if one was going to look in on us or
not. At last a fellow came bringing a jug of water and a bowl of greasy
rice with some bits of meat in it, and a loaf of brown bread; he made us
understand that it was for us.

"`I hope you're going to give the young lady something better than
this,' said Mr Rogers, pointing to Miss O'Regan's room.

"You'll understand that when we heard him coming we had got back into
our own room and had shut the door. `Si! Si!' he said, nodding his
head, and so we hoped that it was all right. Though the food was coarse
we were not sorry to get it, as we had had nothing to eat all day, and
at first we thought they were going to starve us outright. There was
only one wooden spoon for all of us; the young gentlemen laughed, and
said that didn't matter, as it was given us so that we might each get
our fair allowance.

"We heard the old woman come back into the young lady's room, and when
she was gone Mr Rogers knocked and asked if he might come in, and he
found, when Polly opened the door, that the dame had brought them some
pastry and fruit, and some white bread and a bottle of wine, and we knew
from that that they were not going to ill-treat them at all events.

"In the meantime we talked over what was to be done; at last it was
agreed that Mr Desmond should go with me, and that we should try to
find our way to the British Consul's the first night we could get out.
We concluded that it would take some time to file through the bar, and
we did not expect to get free for at least several nights to come. The
young lady told us that she and Polly would keep watch, and would let us
know when we might come in to do the work. In the meantime we lay down
on our beds of straw, for as we hadn't been to sleep the night before we
could with difficulty keep our eyes open. Nor had she for that matter;
but her anxiety on account of her father made her wakeful. At last she
knocked at the door, and I stood up and awoke Mr Rogers. We went in as
softly as we could and began working away at the bar, Polly and Miss
O'Regan watching at the door to listen if any one was coming. We soon
got the rust off; but Mr Gordon's file made very slow progress. We
worked while they watched. When daylight came at last we found that we
had not got through more than the tenth of an inch; still that was
something. To prevent what we had been doing being discovered we
covered the marks of the file with rust, stuck on