e dark night we contrived to remain in the yard without
being perceived, when the prisoners were locked up; and raising a long
pole, which lay in the yard, to the top of the wall, with a good deal of
scrambling we contrived to get over it, and made off as fast as we could
for the Table Mountain."

"What was your reason for going there, Ready?"

"Why, Hastings, who was the oldest, and, I will say, the sharpest of the
three, said that we had better stay up there for a few days, till we had
made up our minds what to do, and try if we could not procure a musket
or two, and ammunition; for, you see, we had money, as, when the
Indiaman was first taken, the captain divided a keg of rupees, which was
on board, among the officers and men, in proportion to the wages due to
them, thinking it was better for the crew to have the money than to
leave it for the Frenchmen; and we had spent very little while in
prison. There was also another reason why he persuaded us to go to the
Table Mountain, which was, that as soon as our escape was found out,
they would send parties to look for us; thinking, of course, that we had
made for the interior; and we should have less chance of being retaken
if we travelled after the first search was over. The soldiers had told
us of the lions, and other wild animals, and how dangerous it was to
travel, and Hastings said, that not finding us, they would suppose we
had been destroyed by the wild beasts, and would not look for us any
more."

"Foolish indeed," observed Mrs Seagrave, "to set off you knew not
where, in a country full of wild beasts and savages."

"True enough, madam," replied Ready. "We ran at first until we were out
of breath, and then we walked on as fast as we could--not going right up
the mountain, but keeping a slanting direction to the south-west, so as
to get away from the town, and more towards False Bay.

"We had walked about four hours, and began to feel very tired, when the
day dawned, and then we looked out for a place to conceal ourselves in.
We soon found a cave with a narrow entrance, large enough inside to hold
half-a-dozen of such lads as we were, and we crawled in. It was quite
dry, and, as we were very tired, we lay down with our heads on our
bundles, intending to take a nap; but we had hardly made ourselves
comfortable and shut our eyes, when we heard such a screaming and
barking that we were frightened out of our lives almost. We could not
think what it could be.