a job to slip between him
and the next."

At dusk a meal was served, and having eaten their portion, Phil and Tony
threw themselves down upon a blanket, and spread the second over them,
for the nights were already chilly, and they had discovered that with
only one blanket apiece greater warmth and comfort could be obtained in
this way.

"It won't do to fall asleep now," whispered Phil. "We have had a tiring
uphill march, and are both in need of a snooze and inclined to take it.
Let us talk about something interesting, so as to keep awake."

Tony yawned loudly and rubbed his eyes.

"I was precious near off then," he answered. "Tell yer what, Phil,
teach me a few words of this Russian lingo. That'll wake me up."

Accordingly Phil commenced with the simpler words, and when Tony had
heard and repeated as many as he was likely to remember, they commenced
to chat about their life in the menagerie, taking care only to whisper,
and keeping a vigilant watch upon the sentries close at hand.

"We must clear out of this about an hour before midnight," whispered
Phil. "The sentries are changed at twelve o'clock, and the Cossack
outposts too. If we wait till then they are all sure to be wide-awake
in expectation of relief, and after midnight there will be little chance
of slipping past the fresh ones. As it is, I see it will be a far more
difficult job than we had imagined."

"That's so," grunted Tony, staring at the nearest sentry. "In course if
we could get alongside that feller we could double him up like a rag
before he'd got time to shout, and I doubt that the ones on either side
can see him. But I fear it would be a failure. We'd never be able to
get close enough to smash him before he pulled his trigger."

"I have it, Tony," whispered Phil after a few minutes' silence, during
which he cudgelled his brains for a means of escape. "We should never
get away together, for where one might slip through two would be certain
to be discovered. Fortunately many of our comrades are still moving
about or sitting up talking, so that my little scheme has a chance of
working. Tony, we must have a row and separate."

"Have a row, Phil? That we don't, while I can help it!" exclaimed Tony
hotly.

"Not a real one, Tony," answered Phil, with a smothered laugh. "We must
pretend. Listen. It now wants two hours before we must make our
attempt, and we must do our best to judge that time pretty nearly. No
doubt the sentry