afraid to
venture out by the secret passage. He didn't know how thoroughly he had
frightened the soldier who had so nearly caught him. If the man had
recovered his wits and decided that it was no ghost, but a very
substantial and real person who had bowled him over, there would
doubtless be a guard in the hollow, by the outer entrance of the tunnel.
And, in any case, it was too risky to seek egress by that means again in
broad daylight.

"Vladimir," he said, when he found the old servant, "I want you to make
me look like a German, if you can. Disguise me, so that I may go down
toward the village safely. Is it possible?"

Vladimir studied him for a moment.

"I think so," he said. "There are plenty of clothes here, and there is
a man who has often helped when there were to be private theatricals."

The transformation was soon completed, and when he looked at himself in
a glass Fred had to laugh. His clothes were those of a Prussian peasant,
and a few very slight changes in his appearance had been made by the man
to whom Vladimir had spoken. They worked wonders, and Fred decided that
he could go anywhere in Prussia now with impunity.

"Is it safe for you to leave the house?" he asked Vladimir.

"Yes, for they think that I am harmless," said the old man.

"I wish to know how to open the door of the tunnel from the outside,"
said Fred. "But I think it would be unsafe to go there directly. It will
be better for you to start out and get there as if you had gone by
chance. It is near the parsonage where my cousin is, and if anyone
questions you, you could say, I should think, that you wanted to be near
your master."

"Yes," said Vladimir. "That would be safe."

"Then do you go there and stay, unless they drive you away. I will go
there, too, if I can, and if the coast is clear and no one is watching,
you can show me. Unless, indeed, you can tell me now?"

"It will be better for me to show you," said Vladimir. "The looks of the
outside change constantly. A storm will destroy a bush, or some other
landmark there, and, though I could touch the proper spot in the
darkness myself, I would find it hard to describe it to you. I will
start at once?"

"Yes. And I will come to you, if it is safe, as soon as I can. I should
not be more than ten minutes behind you in reaching the hollow."

Nothing about the whole adventure upon which he had embarked so
strangely, and with so little intention on his own part, impressed Fred