"Well, here we are, Terence," Ryan said cheerfully, as the door of
their cell closed behind them; "and now, what next?"
"The next thing is to look round, Dick. Other matters can wait. One
cannot form the remotest idea as to the possibilities of an escape,
until one has found out everything about the place. I should say
that it will be quite soon enough to discuss it, in another couple
of months.
"Now, as to the room; there is nothing to grumble at here. Two
truckle beds, not altogether luxurious in appearance but, at any
rate, a good deal softer than the ground on which we have been
sleeping, for months past. A couple of chairs, designed for use
rather than comfort; but which will do to sit on, while we take our
meals, and at other times we can use the beds as sofas. A
good-sized piece of carpet, a table, and what looks like a pudding
dish to wash in.
"Things might have been better, and they might have been a great
deal worse. As to our food, we must reserve comment until they
bring us some.
"Now, as to funds, I had only twenty-five crowns on me when I was
captured. You were rather better off, as you had ten pounds in gold
and eight crowns in silver. You see, had we given our parole like
the others, and gone in for luxurious feeding outside, our stock
would soon have given out; and money is an essential for carrying
out an escape, when that escape involves perhaps weeks of
travelling, and certainly disguises of different kinds. We have not
a penny too much for that, and must resolve to eschew all luxuries
except tobacco, and perhaps a bottle of wine on Sundays."
"Our windows, as you observe, are very strongly barred. They look
westward, but that range of buildings opposite prevents our getting
a view of the sea. One thing is evident, at once: that it is no
manner of use for us to think of cutting through those bars, or
dislodging them; for we should only, on lowering ourselves, be in
the courtyard, and no nearer escape than we were before we began
the job. It is a good thing to get at least one point off our mind.
"Now, Dick, before we go further, let us make an agreement that we
will always talk in French. I know enough of it to be able to
assist you, and it will be an amusement, as well as a help, to
accustom ourselves to talk in it."
"All right," Ryan said, resignedly; "but I bargain that, for an
hour a day, we drop it altogether. It will be an awful nuisance;
and one must give one's tongue a rest, occasionally, by letting it
straighten itself out a bit."
The door now opened, and one of the warders entered with two large
bowls of broth, a fair-sized piece of the meat from which it was
made, a dish of vegetables, a large piece of bread, and a bottle of
wine.
"This is your supper, messieurs. In the morning you have coffee and
a piece of bread; at twelve o'clock a meal like this, with a bottle
of wine between you."
"Thank you," Terence said cheerfully, "that will do extremely well.
Are there any other British officers here?"
"None, except your comrades. There were some naval officers here
last week, but they have been sent into the interior. We do not
have many prisoners here. Those captured at sea, by warships or
privateers, are generally taken to Brest and, so far, we have not
had many of your nation sent from Spain. There are Spaniards,
sometimes, but they do not count. Those that are taken are
generally drafted into the Spanish corps of our army."
"Can we buy tobacco?" Terence asked.
"Certainly, monsieur. There is a canteen in the courtyard. It is
open from eight till nine o'clock in the morning, and from five to
six in the evening. But you are not allowed to get things in from
the town; but nevertheless--" and he smiled, "--as your comrades
are on parole, doubtless, should you need anything beyond what is
sold in the canteen, it may chance that they may bring you just the
things you want."
"Thank you. You had better get something from the canteen for
yourself," Terence said, handing him a crown.
"Thank you, monsieur. I have heard, from the soldiers who came in
with you, that you fought bravely with them against the Spanish
brigands; and they think that it is very hard that you and your
companion should be shut up here, after having proved such good
comrades. I have a cousin among them. He, like myself, is a native
of Bayonne and, should it be in his power, I am sure that he and
his comrades would do anything they could for Monsieur--as far, of
course, as their duty as French soldiers will allow them."
"Thanks. By the way, what is your name?"
"Jean Monier, monsieur."
"Well, Jean, will you please tell your cousin that I am obliged to
him for his goodwill? It was a pleasure to fight side by side with
such brave soldiers and, should an occasion offer, I will gladly
avail myself of his services. The detachment is not going farther,
is it?"
"No, monsieur. They will remain here for perhaps two or three
months, till the good French air has invigorated them; then they
will join some column marching south again. There is nothing more
that you will want tonight, monsieur?"
"No, thank you, Jean. Good evening!"
"Good evening, good sleep!" and the warder retired.
"What is all that jabber about, Terence?"
"Very satisfactory jabber, and jabber that is likely to lead to a
very good result. A cousin of his is one of the guard that came
down with us. He has told this warder about our fight, and asked
him to say that he and his comrades were very angry at our being
shut up here; and as much as said that they would aid us to escape,
if it was in their power, so we may consider that our first
difficulty is as good as arranged. No doubt in a short time they
will be put on regular garrison duty, and will take their turn in
furnishing prison guards. This warder is evidently ready to do
anything he can, so that we may look upon our escape from prison as
a matter of certainty. I don't suppose that, in any case, the guard
is a very vigilant one; for they would not expect that prisoners of
war here would try to escape. At Verdun, and other prisons within a
few days' journey of the frontier, it would be different."
"Well, that is good news, Terence, though I see myself that our
difficulties will really begin only when we get out. There is no
doubt that the fight with the guerillas was a lucky thing for us. I
would not have missed it for anything, for I must say there was
much more excitement in it than in a battle, at least as far as my
experience of a battle goes. At Talavera we had nothing to do but
stick up on the top of a hill, watch the French columns climbing
up, and then give them a volley or two and roll them down the hill
again; and between times stand to be shelled by Victor's batteries
on the opposite hill. I cannot see that there is any fun about
that. This fight, too, has turned out a very good thing for us. I
expect we should not have been so well treated if it had not been
for it, and the fact that some of these French soldiers are ready
to give us a helping hand is first rate.
"You see, it is all your luck, Terence. There never was such a
fellow for luck as you are."
"There is no doubt about that," Terence agreed. "Now, Dick, you
must really break into French."
"Tomorrow morning will be time enough for that," Ryan said, in a
tone of determination. "I want to talk now, really talk; and I
can't do that in French, especially after what you have just told
me. By the way, I don't see, myself, why we should make this
journey through France. Why not try to get a boat, and land
somewhere on the coast of Spain?"
"I have been thinking of that, Dick; but it seemed to me, before,
altogether too difficult. Still, if we can get help from outside, I
don't know why we should not be able to manage it. We should have
to go some distance along the Spanish coast, for there are sure to
be French garrisons at Bilbao and Santander; but beyond that I
should think we might land at any little village. Galicia must
certainly have been evacuated by the French, for we know that Ney's
corps were down in the Tagus valley; and I should think that they
cannot have any great force in the Asturias. The worst of it is, we
have not got enough money to buy a boat; and if we had, the
soldiers could hardly bargain with a fisherman for one. Of course,
if we were free we might arrange with a man to go with us in his
boat, and pay him so much for its hire, for three or four days."
"We might make our way down the river, and steal one, Terence."
"Yes, we might do that, but it would be a heavy loss to some poor
fellow. Well, I shall look forward to the morning, when we can go
out and see all about the prison arrangements."
"Then you have given up the idea of waiting for two months before
you do anything, Terence?" Ryan remarked.
"Certainly. You see, these French convalescents may be marched back
again, in another month's time and, at present, our plans must be
formed upon the supposition that they are ready to help us. It
would never do to throw away such an opportunity as that. It would
be little short of madness to try and get out, unless we had
disguises of some sort. My staff officer's uniform, or your
scarlet, would lead to our arrest at the first village we came to.
"Besides, before this news one was willing to wait contentedly, for
a time, till some good opportunity presented itself. Now that we
have such an unexpected offer of assistance, the sooner we get out
of the place the better."
The next morning they went out into the courtyard of the prison.
The soldiers who had been captured with them were walking about in
groups; but the sentry who accompanied the two British officers led
them through these, and took them up to the top of the wall
surrounding the prison.
"Messieurs," he said, "when the others are shut up you can go where
you please, but my orders are that you are not to communicate with
your soldiers."
He then fell back some distance, and left them free to wander about
on the wall.
From this point they had a view over the city. Bayonne was a
strongly fortified place, standing on the junction of the Nive and
Adour, and on the south side of the latter river, two miles from
its mouth. The Nive ran through the town, and its waters supplied
the ditches of the encircling wall and bastions. The prison was
situated on the Nive, at some three or four hundred yards from the
spot where it entered the Adour.
"I should say this quite decides it," Terence said, when they had
made the circuit of the walls, upon which sentries were placed at
short intervals. "Once out of the town the river would be open to
us, but it would be next to impossible to pass those semicircles of
fortifications on both sides of the town. You can see the masts of
the craft lying at the quays and, though I should not like to rob a
fisherman of his boat; I should not feel the smallest scruple in
taking a ship's boat, which would be, comparatively, a small loss
to the owner. The worst of it would be that, directly we were found
to be missing, and the owner of the boat reported its loss, they
might send out some of their gunboats in search of us, and we
should very soon be overtaken."
Discipline was not very strict in the French army, except when in
an enemy's country; and the sentries, knowing well that there was
really no occasion for watchfulness, answered willingly the
questions that Terence asked them as to the names of places within
sight.
"It must be rather tedious work for you, on the wall here," Terence
said to one whose post was shielded by a building close by, from
observation from below.
"Very dull," the soldier said, "and we shall be glad enough when we
are relieved and marched into Spain. Here we are doing no good.
There is no chance whatever of the prisoners attempting an escape,
for if they did get out of here they could get no further; but they
say that we shall not stop here long, and we shall be heartily glad
when the order comes. They say the convalescents who came in
yesterday will take over the prison duties next week."
Terence's motive for speaking to the men was to discover whether
they were forbidden to talk, and it was satisfactory to find that,
if there was such a rule, it was by no means strictly observed.
Leaning on the parapet, he and Ryan stood for some time looking at
the sea. There were many fishing boats dotting its surface, and the
tapering masts of two schooners could be seen near the mouth of the
river.
"I have no doubt that they are privateers," Terence said. "They
have just the appearance of that fellow we captured on the way out.
One would not have much chance of getting far in a boat, with those
fellows after us.
"It seems to me that, if it could possibly be managed, our safest
plan would be to lie quiet in the town for a week or so, after we
got out; then it would be comparatively safe to get hold of a boat
and make off in it."
"Yes, if that could be managed, it certainly would be the safest
plan. If we changed our minds about making off by sea, we might
then be able to pass out through the fortifications, without
question. Of course, they would be vigilant for a short time after
we were missing; but I suppose that, at ordinary times, the country
people would go in and out unquestioned, just as in any other town
for, with no enemy nearer than Portugal, there could be no occasion
whatever for watchfulness."
Terence and his companion had seen nothing of their friends on
parole, as these, they found, although lodged in prison for their
own convenience, were not permitted to have any communication with
the other prisoners. Ten days after they arrived at Bayonne, the
warder, who had, since he first spoke to them, said nothing beyond
the usual salutations, remarked carelessly:
"The soldiers who came down with you took up the prison duties last
night. My cousin told me to say that you will know him, and four or
five of his comrades of the 72nd of the line, all of whom are
thoroughly in agreement with him, by their saying as you pass them:
"'The morning is fair, Colonel.'
"To any of them you can speak, when you find an opportunity of
doing so, unobserved."
"Thank you; but will it not be safer for them were you to carry my
messages?"
"No; I cannot do that," the warder said. "I think that it is quite
right that my cousin, and his comrades, should do anything in their
power to aid those who stood by them when attacked; but I wish to
know nothing about it. It must be between you and them, for I must
be able to swear that I had no hand in the matter, and that I
locked you up safely, at night."
"You are quite right, Jean. It is much the best plan that it should
be so. I certainly should not, myself, like to know that in making
my escape I might endanger the life of one who had acted simply
from kindness of heart; and trust that no suspicion, whatever, will
fall upon you. I thank you most heartily for having brought me the
message from your cousin, and for the goodwill that you have shown
us."
When Terence and Ryan went out as usual, after breakfast, all the
sentries they passed saluted, as if to one of their own officers.
They of course returned the salute, and made a cheery remark to
each, such as "Rather a change, this, from our work up in the
hills, lad," to which each gave some short and respectful answer,
three of them prefacing it with the words: "The morning is fair,
mon Colonel ".
Two of these had the number of their regiment on their shako. The
other, who had a deep and scarcely-healed scar over the ear, only
wore a forage cap, having evidently lost his shako when wounded.
"What do you mean by saluting a prisoner," a French staff officer,
when he was passing, angrily asked an old soldier. "You have been
long enough in the service, surely, to know that prisoners are not
saluted."
The soldier stood at attention.
"Monsieur le Capitaine," he said, "I am not saluting a prisoner. I
am saluting a brave officer, whose orders I have obeyed in a hard
fight, and to whom I and my comrades probably owed our lives. A
mark of respect is due to a brave man, whether a prisoner of war or
not."
The officer passed on without answering and, arriving at
headquarters, reported the circumstances to the general.
"I am not surprised, Captain Espel," the latter replied, with a
slight smile. "A French soldier knows how to respect bravery, and
in this case there is little doubt that, but for the assistance of
their prisoners, it would have gone very hard with that detachment.
That young officer who, strangely enough, is a colonel, was a
prisoner when he fought side by side with these men; and it is but
natural that they scarcely regard him as one, now. He has refused
to give his parole, and I am afraid he means to try to make his
escape. I am sorry for, should he do so, he is sure to be captured
again."
The third one of the 72nd men, the one with a forage cap, chanced
to be posted at the point of the wall that was not overlooked and,
after he had repeated the formula agreed upon, Terence said to him:
"You are one of those lads who sent me a message that you would
assist me, if you could."
"That is so, mon Colonel. You assisted us when we were somewhat
hotly pressed, and tis but good comradeship to repay such a
service, if one can. We have been thinking it over and, although it
would not be difficult for you to escape from here, we do not see
how you are to be got out of the town."
"That is the difficulty I see myself," Terence replied. "We could
not hope to pass through the circle of fortifications and, were we
to take a boat and make off, we should be pursued and recaptured,
to a certainty; for of course, as soon as our escape was known,
there would be a hot search made for us.
"There are two things needed. The first is disguises. The second is
a shelter, until the search for us slackens, after which it would
be comparatively easy for us to make off."
"What sort of disguises would you want, monsieur?"
"If we go by land, peasant dresses; if by water, those of
fishermen. We have money, which I can give you to purchase these."
"That we could do for you, monsieur, but the hiding place is more
difficult. However, that we will see about. I am a native here, and
have of course many friends and acquaintances in the town. When we
have made our plans I will let you know. I will manage that, when
it is my turn for duty, I will always be posted here; and then I
can tell you what is arranged, and give you whatever is necessary
to aid you to make your escape. My cousin, Jean Monier, will shut
his eyes; but he will not do anything himself, and I think that he
is right, for of course he will be the first to be suspected.
"As for us, it will be no matter. Everyone knows how you stood by
us, and they will guess that some of us have had a hand in it; but
they will never find out which of us was chiefly concerned. I
expect that soon we shall all be taken off this prison duty, for
which we shall not be sorry, and sent back to Spain with the first
detachment that comes along; but after all, one is not so badly off
in Spain, and certainly Madrid is a good deal more lively than
Bayonne."
"I suppose," Terence said, nodding towards their guard, who was
standing a few paces away gazing over the country, "he knows
nothing about this."
"No, monsieur, we have kept it to just the men of our own regiment;
but all feel the same about your being kept a prisoner, and there
is no fear of his telling anyone that you spoke to one man more
than another, when it is found out that you have escaped. Still, it
might be as well that you should not speak to me again, until I
tell you that it is a fine morning; for although all our own men
can be trusted, if any of the regular prison warders was to notice
anything he would not be slow in mentioning it, in hope of getting
promotion."
Accordingly Terence made a point of only passing along that part of
the wall once a day, and merely saying a word to the soldier, as he
did to others, on the occasions when he was on duty.
Ten days later the man replied to his salutation by remarking that
it was a "fair day." It happened that the man told off to guard
them on this occasion was another of the 72nd; there was therefore
nothing to be feared from him.
"I have arranged the matter, monsieur," the soldier said. "My
sister's husband, Jules Varlin, will shelter you. He is a
fisherman, and you can be safely hidden in the loft where he keeps
his nets and gear. He is an honest fellow, and my sister has talked
him over into lending his aid so far and, although he has not
promised it yet, I think we shall get him to go down the river with
you, so as to reply if you are challenged. You can put him ashore a
mile or two along the coast.
"Now as to the escape, monsieur. Here is a sharp saw. With it you
can cut round the lock of your door. There are two outside bolts,
whose position I dare say you have noticed; by cutting a hole close
to each of them, you can get your hand through and draw them. Here
is a short-handled augur, to make a hole for the saw to go through.
"There are four sentries at night, in the courtyard. We shall
manage to get all our men on duty, tomorrow evening. Our sergeant
is a good fellow and, if he guesses anything, will hold his tongue;
for I have heard him say, more than once, that it is monstrous that
you should be kept a prisoner.
"Therefore you need not be afraid of them. They will take care to
keep their eyes shut. I shall be on sentry duty here, and will get
the disguises up, and a rope. When you have got down I shall let
the rope drop, and you will carry it off and take it away with you;
thus there will be no evidence where you descended.
"Here are two sharp files, with which you can cut through the bars
of your window, and remove some of them; then it will not be known
whether you escaped that way, or down the stairs; and the men on
sentry in the courtyard at the bottom cannot be blamed because, for
aught the governor will know, you may have gone out through this
window into the other courtyard, and got over the wall on that
side; so they would have no proof as to which set of men were
negligent.
"No doubt we shall all be talked to, and perhaps kept in the
guardroom a few days, but that won't hurt us; and soldiers are
scarce enough, so they will hardly keep ten or twelve men long from
duty. There are not enough in the town, now, to furnish all the
guards properly; so you need not worry about us.
"I will give you instructions how to find my sister's house,
tomorrow night. You must not escape until you hear the bell strike
midnight. Our party will relieve guard at that hour. You see, we
have four hours on duty and, as you may have gone either on the
first watch, the second, or the third, they will not be able to
pitch on us more than on the others; so that, in fact, the blame
will be divided between forty of us. You will, of course, put on
your disguises over your uniforms, and destroy your clothes, when
you get to Jules' house."
"I thank you very warmly, my good fellow, for running all this risk
for me. Here are two hundred francs to pay for the disguises."
"That will be more than enough," the soldier said. "Jules put it
down at a hundred and fifty."
"Things may cost more than he expects. At any rate, please hand
these to him. I can arrange matters with him when I see him.
"Then at about a quarter past twelve we will sally out. We will
walk on now, lest any of the warders should happen to notice that
we have been a long time on this part of the wall."
Ryan had understood but little of what was happening and, when
Terence told him what had been arranged, he exclaimed:
"Well, after this, Terence, I will never say a word against a
Frenchman. Here are these soldiers going to run a lot of risk, and
a certainty of getting into a row for us, merely because we did the
best we could against those wretched Spaniards; and without getting
any reward whatever, for they must know that prisoners are not
likely to have any money to spare about them."
"Quite so, Ryan; and what is more, if I had a hundred pounds in my
pocket, I would not offer them a penny; for certainly they would
take it as an insult if I did so. They would feel that it would be
a sort of bribe and, though they are ready to help us as comrades,
I am sure they would not do it for money. I sincerely hope they
won't get into any serious row. As he said, authorities won't be
able to tell which party was on guard at the time we went, and they
could hardly put the whole of them under arrest--at least, not keep
them under arrest. No doubt there will be a close search in the
town for us, but there is little fear of our being discovered.
"Our dangers won't begin until we are fairly afloat. I know nothing
about sailing. I have rowed a boat many a time, at Athlone; but as
for sailing, I have never once tried it."
"Nor have I," Ryan said. "But I suppose there is no difficulty
about it. You put up the sail, and you take hold of the rope at the
corner, and off you go."
"It sounds all right, Dicky, and I dare say we shall manage to get
along, somehow; but these things are not half as easy as they look.
Now we had better have four or five hours' sleep this afternoon,
for I expect it will take us the best part of the night to file
through the bars. You must not cut quite through them, but just
leave them so that we can finish them off in a short time, tomorrow
night."
"But the warder might notice them?"
"He is not likely to look very sharply, Dicky; but at the same
time, it is just as well not to put too great a strain on his
loyalty. We will keep a piece of bread over from our supper, work
it up into a sort of paste, fill up any cuts we make, and rub it
over with dirt till it well matches the bars. Certainly they have
planned the affair capitally, so as to throw doubt as to which way
we descended, and so divide the blame between as many of the
sentries as possible."
It took four hours' work, that night, to get through the bars. They
were most careful not to let any of the filings fall outside for,
had any of them dropped into the courtyard below, they might well
catch the eye of a warder; and in that case an examination of all
the windows of the rooms above would certainly be made, at once.
Before the warder's visit the next morning, the holes had been
filled up with bread worked into a putty and smeared over with
dust; which so nearly matched the bars that it could not be
observed, except by a careful examination.
The next day they abstained from saying more than a passing word to
any of the French soldiers. They waited, after being locked up for
the night, for two or three hours; and then began their work at the
door. The saw was a very narrow one and, when they had made a hole
with the augur, they found no difficulty in cutting the wood;
therefore they thought it was well to leave that for the last
thing, and so betook themselves to their files, and soon removed
enough of the bars to enable a man to crawl through. Then they
returned to the door, and had cut round the lock, and made holes
through which they could pass their hands to draw back the bolts, a
short time before the clock struck twelve.
Then they went to the window, and listened. They heard the bells
strike midnight, and then a stir below, as the sentries were
relieved. Waiting for a few minutes, until all had become quiet
again, they drew back the bolts, took off their shoes, and went
noiselessly down the stairs.
The night was very dark and, although they could hear the tread of
the sentries in the courtyard, they could not make out their
figures. They crossed the yard, keeping as far as possible from the
sentries. They had no doubt that all would happen as arranged; but
there was, of course, the possibility that at the last moment some
change might have been made; and it was, in any case, as well that
the men there should be able to declare, honestly, that they had
seen no one.
[Illustration: Stooping so that their figures should not show
against the sky.]
They were glad when they reached the archway leading to the stairs
that led to the top of the wall. Mounting, they kept along by the
parapet, stooping so that their figures should not show against the
sky for, dark as it was below, they might have been noticed had
they not done so. Presently they saw the sentry.
"Diable, messieurs!" he said in a low tone, as they came up to him,
"you gave me a start. I was expecting you, but I did not hear your
footsteps nor see you and, had you been enemies, you might very
well have seized and disarmed me before I could give the alarm.
"Well, here are your clothes."
They soon pulled the blue canvas leggings over their breeches, and
over these the high boots, in which their feet felt lost. A rough
blouse and a fisherman's oilskin cap completed the disguise. They
put their boots into the capacious pockets in the blouses, and were
then ready to descend. They had left their shakos in their cell
when they started.
While they had been putting on their clothes, the sentry had
fastened the rope and lowered it down.
"We are ready now, Jacques," Terence said. "Goodbye, my good
friend. We shall never forget the kindness that you have shown us,
and shall remember with gratitude, all our lives, how a party of
French soldiers were ready to show themselves good comrades to men
who had fought by their sides, even though the two nations were at
war with each other. We shall always feel a kindness towards the
French uniform, in future; and if you or any of your comrades of
the 72nd should chance to fall into British hands, and you can send
word to me or to Mr. Ryan, I can promise you that we will do all we
can to have you released at once and sent back, or to aid you in
any other way."
"We have done but our duty to brave comrades," the soldier said.
"Now, as to where to find my cousin. You will go down that street
below, and take the third turning on the right. That will lead you
down to the wharves. Keep along by the houses facing them until you
come to the fourth turning. It is a narrow lane, and there is a
cabaret at each corner of it. My cousin's house is the twelfth on
the left-hand side. He will be standing at the door. You will say
to him as you pass, 'It is a dark night,' and he will then let you
in.
"Don't walk as if you were in a hurry: fishermen never do that. It
is not likely that you will meet anyone, but if you do, and he sees
two fishermen hurrying, it will strike him as singular; and when
there came news of two prisoners having escaped, he might mention
the matter, which might lead to a search in the right quarter."
"Will you go first, Ryan, or shall I?" Terence said.
"Just as you like."
"Well, then, you may as well go, as then I can talk with this good
fellow till it is my turn."
Ryan shook the soldier's hand heartily, took hold of the rope,
slung himself over the parapet, and began the descent. Terence and
the soldier leaned over, and watched him until they could no longer
make out the figure with certainty. As soon as the tension on the
rope slackened, Terence grasped Jacques' hand, said a few more
words of thanks, and then followed his companion. As soon as he
reached the ground he shook the rope and, a minute later, it fell
on the ground beside him.
He coiled it up, and then they started down the street. Following
the instructions that they had received, in ten minutes they
reached the end of the lane.
"We were to throw away the rope, were we not?" Ryan said.
"Yes, but now we are here, there can be no use in our doing so. If
a length of rope were found lying in the road, people would wonder
who had thrown it away; besides, it is a good stout piece of new
rope, and may be of use to the fisherman."
Counting the doors carefully as they went along, they came to the
twelfth where, before they reached it, the red glow from a pipe
showed that a man was standing outside.
"It is a dark night, mate," Terence said in a low tone, as he came
up to him.
"That is right," the man replied; "come in."
He stood aside as they entered, closed the door behind them, and
then lifted a piece of old canvas thrown over a lighted lantern.