ch case, a monk who followed at a distance of
fifty yards was able to perceive that they were watched. The town is
full of rough men, the hangers-on of the army; some, indeed, are
followers of laggard knights, but the greater portion are men who merely
pursue the army with a view to gain by its necessities, to buy plunder
from the soldiers, and to rob, and, if necessary, to murder should there
be a hope of obtaining gold. Among these men your enemies would have
little difficulty in recruiting any number, and no appeal that we could
make to the mayor would protect you from them when you have left the
walls. We must trust to our ingenuity in smuggling you out. After that,
it is upon your own strength and shrewdness that you must rely for an
escape from any snares that may be laid for you. You will see, then,
that at least another three or four days are needed before you can set
forth. Your countrymen are so far away that a matter of a few days will
make but little difference. They will in any case be delayed for a long
time at Marseilles before they embark; and whether you leave now or a
month hence, you would be equally in time to join them before their
embarkation--that is, supposing that you make your way through the
snares which beset you."

Cuthbert saw the justice of the reasoning, and it was another week
before he announced himself as feeling absolutely restored to strength
again, and capable of bearing as much exertion as he could have done
before his attack.

A long consultation was held with the prior and a monk who had acted as
his leech, as to the best plan of getting Cuthbert beyond the walls of
the city. Many schemes were proposed and rejected. Every monk who
ventured beyond the walls had been closely scrutinized, and one or two
of short stature had even been jostled in the streets, so as to throw
back their hoods and expose a sight of their faces. It was clear, then,
that it would be dangerous to trust to a disguise. Cuthbert proposed
that he should leave at night, trusting solely to their directions as to
the turnings he should take to bring him to the city walls, and that,
taking a rope, he should there let himself down, and make the best of
his way forward. This, however, the monks would not consent to, assuring
him that the watch was so strictly kept round the monastery that he
would inevitably be seen.

"No," the prior said, "the method, whatever it is, must be as open as
possible; and though I cann