as a French officer."

"Get something that I could put over the clothes I wear. A long frock,
some loose breeches, and rough cloth to wrap round the legs below them,
and of course a pair of countryman's shoes. The best plan would be for
you to stand treat again at a cabaret a few miles out of the town, get
them all in there, then I could slip out of the waggon and throw the
sacks back into their place. Of course you would choose some spot where
the cabaret either stands alone or is at the end of a village, so that
there may be no one standing by, and I could, when I got down, walk
quietly back along the road. You can make signs to them that you
live hard by, and would leave them there; then if there should be any
suspicion that I had escaped in the waggons, and a troop of cavalry were
sent in pursuit, the men would be all able to declare that they had seen
nothing of me, and so could give no clue whatever that would set them on
our track.

"Well, it is quite settled that we will try that way, but it may be some
time before the opportunity occurs. However, you may as well get the
two disguises and the two brace of pistols, and stow them away somewhere
where they are not likely to be found."

"There are plenty of places where one can do that, master; there is
a row of old trees inside the fortifications, and I warrant that if I
cannot find one with a hollow large enough to stow them away in, I can
hide them in the branches with small chance of their ever being seen."

Another month passed. Paolo made a point of occasionally going out soon
after the gates were open, saying casually that his master had a fancy
for a bottle of better wine with his breakfast, or that he was going to
get some eggs to make an omelette for him. Hector was in no particular
hurry, for the news had come that Turenne with his own troops and
those of Hesse had, with the Swedes, marched away for the Rhine. It was
rumoured that they would be joined by another army, for in no other way
could the Imperialists account for Turenne having retired when he had
a force at least equal to any that Merci could set in the field against
him. Hector saw that at any rate there was no chance of a great battle
being fought just then, and felt, therefore, no impatience to be off.
Two or three times carts with faggots had been unloaded after the gates
were closed, but as they took nothing out, it was impossible for him to
conceal himself in them.

At last, to his sa