ld be impossible for Alberdin to get inside
of the camp; and, moreover, the ramparts were so high that he could
not look over them to see what sort of antagonist he was to have. Old
Salim did not tell the boy why he brought him here to live. It would
be better to wait until he was older before informing him of the
battle which had been decreed. He told Phedo that it was necessary
for him to have a military education, which could very well be
obtained in a place like this; and he was also very careful to let
him know that there was a terrible soldier in that part of the
country who might at any time, if it were not for the intrenchments,
pounce down upon him, and cut him to pieces. Every fine day, Phedo
was allowed to take a ride on his donkey outside of the
fortifications, but during this time, the old tutor kept a strict
watch on the mountain; and if a horseman had made his appearance,
little Phedo would have been whisked inside, and the drawbridge would
have been up in a twinkling.

After about two weeks of this life Phedo found it dreadfully stupid
to see no one but his old tutor, and never to go outside of these
great ramparts except for donkey-rides, which were generally very
short. He therefore determined, late one moonlight night, to go out
and take a ramble by himself. He was not afraid of the dreadful
soldier of whom the old man had told him, because at that time of
night this personage would, of course, be in bed and asleep.
Considering these things, he quietly dressed himself, took down a
great key from over his sleeping tutor's head, opened the heavy gate,
let down the drawbridge, mounted upon his donkey, and rode forth upon
the moonlit plain.

That night-ride was a very delightful one, and for a long time the
boy and the donkey rambled and ran; first going this way and then
that, they gradually climbed the mountain; and, reaching the brow,
they trotted about for a while, and then went down the other side.
The boy had been so twisted and turned in his course that he did not
notice that he was not descending toward his camp, and the donkey,
whose instinct told it that it was not going the right way, was also
told by its instinct that it did not wish to go the right way, and
that the intrenchments offered it no temptations to return. When the
morning dawned, Phedo perceived that he was really lost, and he began
to be afraid that he might meet the terrible soldier. But, after a
time, he saw riding toward him