ve had a few days' rest here. At present I
seem altogether unattached. The marshal's staff is, of course,
broken up; but as I served on the king's own staff twice, during
the last campaign, I trust that he will put me on it again."

"That he will do, of course," the count said. "After saving his
life at Zorndorf, he is sure to do so."

Supper was now announced, and after it had been removed and the
party drew round the fire, Fergus told them the story of his
escape.

"It was excellently managed," the count said, when he had finished.
"I do not know that it was quite as dramatic as your escape from
Spielberg, but I should think that, of the two, the escape from
Linz must have seemed the most hopeless. The plan of getting the
shutters open and of swimming the moat might have occurred to
anyone; but the fact that you were in uniform, and that it would
have been impossible to smuggle in a disguise, would have appeared
to most men an insuperable obstacle to carrying out the plan.

"You certainly are wonderfully full of resource. As a rule, I
should think that it is much more difficult for two men to make
their escape from a place than it is for one alone; but it did not
seem to be so, in this case."

"It certainly did not add to the difficulty of getting out of the
fort, count. Indeed, in one respect it rendered it more easy. There
were three of us to work at the heads of the rivets, and it
certainly facilitated our getting clothes from the boatmen, besides
rendering the journey much more pleasant than it would have been
for one of us alone.

"On the other hand, it would have been impossible to carry out the
escape from Spielberg in the manner I did, if I had had two
officers with me in the cell. We could not have hoped to obtain
three uniforms, could hardly have expected all to slip by the
sentry unnoticed. Lastly, the three of us could not have got post
horses. Still, it is quite possible that we might have escaped in
some other manner."

"Then you have not the most remote idea where you will find your
servant and horse?"

"Not the slightest. If Captain Lindsay got safely through the
battle of Hochkirch, I should say that my man would stick by him.
His servant, a tough Scotchman, and Karl are great chums; and I
have no doubt that, unless he received positive orders to the
contrary, Karl has kept company with him."

"Of course you can find out, from the authorities here, who has
taken command of Marshal Keith'