a thin rope, that will bear our weight well, some
twenty yards long. You had better go to a smith's and get him to make a
strong iron hook, by which we can fix the rope on to the edge of a wall
should it be needed. You had better have it made a good nine inches
across the hook, and the shank fifteen inches long."

After again studying the map he took it to the general.

"We have our disguises, sir, and shall be ready to start tomorrow
morning."

"You have lost no time," the general said approvingly. "You will, of
course, ride to Chivasso. I will give you an order to the governor
there, to take charge of your horses and clothes, telling him that you
are about to proceed on a mission in disguise, and requesting him to
send an officer to pass you through the outposts beyond the bridge
across the Po, that is if the other side is not guarded by the Spanish
troops. I should advise you to make straight south so as to strike the
road from Casale two miles west of Turin. I do not like letting you go,
lad, and yet I feel it is of such importance that the garrison should
know that aid will be at hand before long, that I feel I ought not to
prevent you from carrying out your enterprise. When do you think of
starting?"

"At eight in the morning, sir. If we do so we shall easily reach
Chivasso before dark, and may be near Turin by morning."

"I will have my note for the commandant ready by the time your horses
are at the door. I will make it as small as possible, and you had better
before you start sew it up in the lining of your coat, so that if you
are searched--which I own I do not think to be likely, unless in some
other way you excite the suspicions of the Spaniards--it may not be
found upon you."

"I think, sir, that I would rather make it into a little pellet which
I can swallow. I fancy that if they were suspicious enough to search me
they would rip all the linings open."

"That would be a better way certainly, Campbell; I see that you have
thought the matter over thoroughly. Of course, you will take no arms
with you."

"Nothing but a long knife each. Every peasant carries one, and it may be
possible that we shall be compelled to silence a sentinel. If you would
not mind, sir, I should like to have six copies of your letter to the
commandant. I could manage to swallow six as well as one, and as it is
not likely that I shall be able to enter the citadel it would be as well
to give them a better chance of finding the