. I don't think the fellow would have the
bare-faced impudence to come through Prague," one said.

The other laughed.

"I should think that he would have impudence for anything, major.
And in truth, I rather hope that they won't lay hands upon him--a
fellow who devised and carried out such a scheme as he did deserves
his liberty. Of course, his overpowering the warder was nothing;
but that he should have had the impudence to go down into the
major's quarters, appropriate his clothes, leave his own uniform
behind him; and then, taking advantage of the arrival of another
regiment, march calmly out through them all, pass the sentries--who
took him for one of the newly-arrived officers in charge of the
waggons--was really splendid!

"How it was that they did not overtake him the next morning, I
cannot make out. He had no sword with him, and no horse; and the
spectacle of a field officer on foot, without even a sword, should
have attracted the attention of the very first person who met him.
He had not been gone two hours when troops started in pursuit; for
when the major, whose door he had locked, had it burst open and
found that his uniform was gone, he suspected something was wrong,
and had all the sergeants in charge of prisoners mustered.

"One was missing, the man who had charge of this young Scotchman.
As he could not be found, the fellow's cell was broken open, and
there was the warder, bound and gagged. The bird had flown, and
parties of horse were sent off by all the roads leading to Bohemia
and Silesia, but no signs of the man have, as far as we have heard,
yet been discovered.

"The only thing that I can imagine is that, when he heard the
cavalry in pursuit, he left the road and hid up somewhere; and that
afterwards he tried to make his way by unfrequented paths, and was
starved in the snow. In that case his body is not likely to be
found until the spring."

"I cannot help thinking that a fellow who could plan and carry out
that escape would hardly be likely to lose his life in a snowdrift.
You see, it was not a sudden idea. On no other evening would he
have found the gate open after sunset, nor would he have been
certain to have found the major absent from his quarters. He must
have been waiting patiently for his opportunity and, as soon as he
heard that another battalion was coming into the garrison, he must
have resolved to act. More than that, he must have calculated that
instead of arriving at four o