y had melted the snow that
had fallen in the morning, but light flakes were again beginning to come
down fast.

"I don't care how hard it snows as long as it keeps on," Hector said in
a low voice in answer to an exclamation from Paolo when the first flake
fell upon his face. "The harder the better, for in that case no sentry
could see us half a dozen paces away. There is another advantage. The
wind is from the north, and we have only to keep the driving snow on our
right cheeks to make our way straight to the fortress, whereas with an
overcast sky on such a dark night as this we should very soon lose all
idea of the direction that we were going in."

Being obliged to use great caution to avoid noise while getting over the
walls, it took them half an hour to reach the end of the street. They
had, while waiting before commencing their operations, twisted one of
their sashes, and then wound it round the hook so thickly that this
would fall almost noiselessly upon the ground. The snow prevented them
from seeing six feet below them, but they felt sure that there must be
a narrow lane between the house and the wall. They had during the day
bought a length, equal to that of their rope, of strong string.

"I have got it as you ordered it, master," Paolo said as they came out
of the shop, "but it would never bear our weight."

"I think it might do in case of necessity," Hector said. "In fact, I am
sure it would. It does not require a great thickness of new cord to hold
a man's weight; but I don't want it for that."

Paolo walked silently along for some time, and then said: "If it is not
wanted to carry our weight, master, I cannot think what it is wanted
for."

"It is wanted to get the hook down with. You see when we get down into
the street there would be little chance of getting the hook off its
hold. We shall most likely want it again, and certainly we shall want
the rope. I have been puzzling over it, and I think I have found a way
at last. My idea is to fasten this thin rope to the point of the hook,
then, on pulling upon it the point will rise until it gets level with
the top of the wall on which it is fixed, and we can then shake it down
without difficulty. I don't know whether it will act, but I think that
it ought to do so; an upward pull at the point must, I should think,
lift it as far as the edge."

"I should think that it must," Paolo agreed. "I should never have
thought of that."

"We will try it on thi