ew his arm round the man's
waist. They wrestled backwards and forwards, but the soldier was a
powerful man, and Hector found that he could not long retain a grasp of
his wrist. Suddenly he felt his antagonist collapse; the dagger dropped
from his hand, the other arm relaxed its hold, and he fell a lifeless
mass.

"Thank you, Paolo. You were but just in time. The fellow was too strong
for me. Now let us slip down the inside of the wall as quickly as
possible."

A minute later they both stood at the foot of the wall, the hook was
shaken off, and they proceeded along the wall until they came to a
street.

"It is not more than two or three hundred yards to the outer wall,"
Hector whispered.

Whether there were sentinels or not in the street they knew not. If so,
they had withdrawn themselves into deep doorways to avoid the blinding
snow, and the wind drowned the slight sound made by their feet on the
soft snow.

In a short time they reached the outer wall, crept along it until they
found the steps leading up, crossed it in safety, fixed their hook, and
rapidly descended. A run of fifty yards brought them to the edge of the
river bank.

"We will try to find a boat," Hector said. "There are sure to be some
along here."

They walked across the dry bed of the river till they reached the
water's edge, and then followed this. In a few minutes, to their
delight, they came upon a boat. The bow was hauled a few feet out of
water, and a rope, doubtless attached to a heavy stone anchor, stretched
from its bows. This they cut, put their shoulders to the gunwale,
and soon had her afloat. Then they scrambled in, put the oars out
cautiously, and began to row. Both had had some practice at the
exercise, and it was not long before the boat grounded on the opposite
shore.

"Pull it up a bit," Hector said. "No doubt it belongs to some poor
fisherman to whom its loss would be serious. Now we must keep along the
bank for some distance, until quite sure that we are well beyond any
patrols the enemy may have on the road. Let us get into a run, Paolo,
and see if we can't get our blood in motion again, for I own that I feel
half frozen."

They set off at a brisk trot, which they kept up for half an hour, and
then they struck off from the river and soon found the road. Following
this, after an hour's walking they came upon a little shed by the
roadside, and in one corner found a pile of old sacks.

"We are in luck again!" Hector excl