ms of slumber,
springing with both feet well together, as he sprang from the tub at
Stonnington, Scuddy laid hold of the iron bars which spanned the window
vertically, opened the lattice softly, and peeped out in quest of
sentinels. There were none on duty very near him, though he heard one
pacing in the distance. Then flinging himself on his side, he managed,
with some pain to his well-rounded chest, to squeeze it through the
narrow slit, and hanging from the bar, dropped gently. The drop was
deep, and in spite of all precautions he rolled to the bottom of a
grassy ditch. There he lay quiet to rest his bruises, and watch whether
any alarm was raised. Luckily for him, the moon was down, and no one
had observed his venture. Crawling on all fours along a hollow place, he
passed the outposts, and was free.

Free in mind as well as body, acquitted from all claims of honour,
and able without a taint upon his name to bear most important news to
England, if he could only get away from France. This would be difficult,
as he was well aware; but his plan had been thoroughly considered in his
prison, and he set forth to make the best of it. Before his escape had
been discovered, he was under M. Jalais' roof once more, and found his
good friends resolved never to betray him. "But I must not expose you to
the risk," said he, "of heavy fine and imprisonment. I shall have to say
good-bye to all your goodness in an hour. And I shall not even allow
you to know what road I take, lest you should be blamed for sending my
pursuers on the wrong one. But search my room in three days' time, and
you will find a packet to pay for something which I must steal for the
present. I pray you, ask nothing, for your own sake."

They fed him well, and he took three loaves, and a little keg of cider,
as well as the bag he had packed before he surrendered himself at
Etaples. Madame Fropot wept and kissed him, because he reminded her of
her lost son; and M. Jalais embraced him, because he was not at all like
any son of his. With hearty good wishes, and sweet regret, and promises
never to forget them, the Englishman quitted this kind French house, and
became at once a lawful and a likely mark for bullets.

The year was now filled with the flurry of Spring, the quick nick of
time when a man is astonished at the power of Nature's memory. A
great many things had been left behind, mainly for their own good, no
doubt--some of the animal, some of the vegetable,