re are
strategic ways, deep sunk roads where soldiers marching should be
sheltered from an enemy. I knew that if I could gain this road I would
be safe, but in the darkness I could not see any sign of it, so, in
blind hope of striking it, I ran on.

Presently I came to the edge of a deep cut, and found that down below
me ran a road guarded on each side by a ditch of water fenced on
either side by a straight, high wall.

Getting fainter and dizzier, I ran on; the ground got more
broken--more and more still, till I staggered and fell, and rose
again, and ran on in the blind anguish of the hunted. Again the
thought of Alice nerved me. I would not be lost and wreck her life: I
would fight and struggle for life to the bitter end. With a great
effort I caught the top of the wall. As, scrambling like a catamount,
I drew myself up, I actually felt a hand touch the sole of my foot. I
was now on a sort of causeway, and before me I saw a dim light. Blind
and dizzy, I ran on, staggered, and fell, rising, covered with dust
and blood.

'Halt la!'

The words sounded like a voice from heaven. A blaze of light seemed to
enwrap me, and I shouted with joy.

'Qui va la?' The rattle of musketry, the flash of steel before my
eyes. Instinctively I stopped, though close behind me came a rush of
my pursuers.

Another word or two, and out from a gateway poured, as it seemed to
me, a tide of red and blue, as the guard turned out. All around seemed
blazing with light, and the flash of steel, the clink and rattle of
arms, and the loud, harsh voices of command. As I fell forward,
utterly exhausted, a soldier caught me. I looked back in dreadful
expectation, and saw the mass of dark forms disappearing into the
night. Then I must have fainted. When I recovered my senses I was in
the guard room. They gave me brandy, and after a while I was able to
tell them something of what had passed. Then a commissary of police
appeared, apparently out of the empty air, as is the way of the
Parisian police officer. He listened attentively, and then had a
moment's consultation with the officer in command. Apparently they
were agreed, for they asked me if I were ready now to come with them.

'Where to?' I asked, rising to go.

'Back to the dust heaps. We shall, perhaps, catch them yet!'

'I shall try!' said I.

He eyed me for a moment keenly, and said suddenly:

'Would you like to wait a while or till tomorrow, young Englishman?'
This touched me to the