y
would have to see who it was that was missing, and then they would take
some time to organize the search."

"That is so, Dimchurch; still, we will take every precaution."

So saying they started. When they were half-way to the wall they saw a
number of soldiers and convict guards come running along, questioning many
people as they passed. They trembled lest they should be discovered, but
fortunately no question was put to any of them, and they kept on their
way. Presently Will emerged upon the open space of ground between the wall
and the houses, and when Dimchurch and Tom had come up they went together
along the foot of the wall until they came to the place where they had
been working.

"Keep your eyes open," Will said as they climbed up, "there are crowbars
and hammers lying about, and, where the stone-cutters were working,
chisels. A crowbar or a heavy hammer is a weapon not to be despised."

In a few minutes each was armed with a chisel and a light crowbar. They
then went to the edge of the wall, and, throwing these weapons down,
lowered themselves as far as they could reach and dropped to the ground.

"Thank God we are out of that place!" Will said fervently; "we won't enter
it again alive. Now, the first thing is to get as far away as possible,
keeping as nearly parallel to the line of the coast as we can, but four or
five miles back, for we may be sure that when they cannot find us in the
town they will suspect that we have made for the coast, and a dozen
horsemen will be sent out to look for us along the shore. It is no use our
thinking of trying to get to sea until the search has been given up. Our
principal difficulty will be to live. From the walls the country looked
well cultivated in parts, and even if we have to exist on raw grain we
shall not be much worse off than when we were in prison."

"I don't care what it is," Tom said, "so long as there is enough of it to
keep us alive; but we must have water."

"I don't think there will be much difficulty about that, Tom, as every one
of the houses scattered over the plain will have wells and fountains in
their gardens. Thank goodness, they won't miss any we take, and we could
go every night and fetch water without exciting any suspicion that we had
been there!"

"One of the first things we must do," said Will, "is to dirty these white
jackets and trousers so that we may look like field labourers, for then if
anyone should catch sight of us in the dista