il by the shoulders, whispered, "Hush!
I hear something." Both listened intently, but for some minutes could
neither see nor hear anything; the moon, however, was rising, and very
soon they were able to make out a solitary horseman patrolling the road.

"That settles it," muttered Phil. "Of course by creeping up to the wall
we might manage to silence that fellow, but it would do more harm than
good. At present they are uncertain of our whereabouts, but his
disappearance would tell them at once that we were in the immediate
neighbourhood. As it is, I doubt if they will think we have got so far,
for the sentries are certain to declare that they noticed our sleeping
figures up to the last moment. Tony, we must make a move, and find some
better hiding-place than this."

Stealing through the corn-patch they were not long in reaching its
margin, and then, to their chagrin, nothing but open fields met their
view.

"I fear it means lying where we are," said Phil dejectedly. "We might
easily slip across unobserved, but as far as one can see in this light
there is not a vineyard or cover of any sort in sight. We must do
something, for a couple of horsemen would quickly rout us out of this."

"I seem to remember some kind of house along this way," muttered Tony,
trying to recall the spot. "Yes, I'm sure of it, and it's away over
there, half a mile or more, I should think;" and he stretched his arm
and pointed to the right.

"Then we'll try to find it," said Phil with decision. "There is nothing
else for it, and we cannot be in a worse spot than we occupy now. I
blame myself for not having kept a better watch on our surroundings as
we passed along the road with our escort. That Cossack has ridden away
a little, so now is our time; we'll strike straight across, and trust to
luck. We haven't time to pick roads, for it will be dawn in another
hour. If they come over here they are certain to see our footmarks, but
no doubt we shall get on to grassy land soon, and that will throw them
off the scent."

Standing up for a few moments, to make sure that no enemy was near, they
plunged into the fields and walked steadily on for an hour; but still no
house was in sight. Half an hour later, when they were almost in
despair, and when a faint flush in the east and a waning of the pale,
silvery gleams of the moon heralded the approach of dawn, they caught
sight of some outbuildings on their left, and were hurrying towards
the