y, while
wandering about the streets seeking a mode of escape, the pilot of a
steam-packet to Riga asked him if he would like to sail with them the
next day, and named a very moderate fare. His heart leapt up, but the
next instant the man asked to see his passport: he took it out
trembling, but the sailor, without scrutiny, cried, "Good! Be off with
you, and come back to-morrow morning at seven o'clock." The next
morning at seven he was on board, and the boat was under way.

[Illustration: CROSSING THE FRONTIER.]

From Riga he had to make his way on foot across Courland and Lithuania
to the Prussian frontier. He now made a change in his disguise, and
gave himself out as a dealer in hogs' bristles. In Lithuania he found
himself once more on his beloved native soil, and the longing to speak
his own language, to make himself known to a fellow-countryman, was
almost irresistible; but he sternly quelled such a yearning. As he
neared the frontier he had the utmost difficulty in ascertaining where
and how it was guarded, and what he should have to encounter in
passing. At length he learned enough for his purpose: there were no
guards on the Prussian side. Reaching a rampart of the fortifications,
he waited until the moment when the two sentinels on duty were back to
back on their beats, and jumped down into the first of the three
ditches which protected the boundary. Clambering and jumping, he
reached the edge of the third: shots were fired in several directions;
he had been seen. He slid into the third ditch, scrambled up the
opposite side, sprang down once more, rushed on until out of sight of
the soldiers, and fell panting in a little wood. There he lay for
hours without stirring, as he knew the Russian guards sometimes
violated the boundary in pursuit of fugitives. But there was no
pursuit, and he at last took heart. Then he began a final
transformation. He had lately bought a razor, a pocket-mirror and some
soap, and with these, by the aid of a slight rain which was falling,
he succeeded with much difficulty in shaving himself and changing his
clothes to a costume he had provided expressly for Prussia. When night
had closed he set forth once more, lighter of heart than for many long
years, though well aware that by international agreement he was not
yet out of danger. He pushed on toward the grand duchy of Posen, where
he hoped to find assistance from his fellow-countrymen, who, being
under Prussian rule, would not be c