It was painful to us, hut what must it have been
to them!

The parting over, we scrambled through the
hole, and our enterprise began.

Arrived in the upper room, we had a clear
view of the two sides of the building. It was a
dark wild morning, blowing wild and squally,
and by a break in the clouds we could see the
distant sentry snug in his box.

The first of us who went down, carried the
rope with two pieces of iron to stick in the walls
to keep it firm. It was Alison, the heaviest;
but the spout held firm and made no noise.
One of those who remained, threw down the
rope when we were all safe, and the last man
threw it over the wall. In the course of a few
minutes we found ourselves safe at the bottom
of the second rampart. Our first descent had
been seventy or eighty feet: our second, forty
or forty-five. We now began to congratulate
each other on being clear of the fort without
having hurt a hair of our heads.

But, we had not proceeded more than forty
yards, when we came to another rampart, and
then Wheelan (one of our party) suddenly
remembered that there were three ramparts, and
bursting into tears, said, "And this is the very
place where Davis broke his thigh last year;"
but still he could not remember the height.
Determining to go on and make a leap in the dark,
we cut off about nine feet of rope. It was
agreed that the two last should hold the rope for
the others, and that their predecessors, if safe,
should catch the others, and break their fall.
After three had landed, Alison begged me to let
him go before me, and I consented. I in my turn
arrived safe. Wheelan, who came last, fell, and
broke his tendon Achilles.

Poor fellow! He begged that we would carry
him up to the fort gate, but we were in the
situation of soldiers on the field of battle; we
had no time to mourn fallen companions, but
had to push on or be vanquished. We could do
no more than place him in an easy position,
shake him by the hand, and wish him good-by.

On looking round, we were surprised and hurt
to find two of our party gone, and much more
so when Alison told us that they had tried to
persuade him and Innis to go with them, saying
they were safe, and why should they risk waiting
for the others? We were now in the ditch;
we ran along it until we came to a flight of steps
leading to the glacis; on arriving at the top, we
made straight for the mountains. At daybreak
we scrambled up a hill, and, sighting a small
wood between two roads, made for it. We saw
people pass and repass the whole day, but we
still lay there undisturbed, although we could
hear the signal-gun, and knew we were not yet
more than five miles from the fort.

As soon as it was dark we came to a village,
which, by the number of lights, seemed to be
a large one. We tried to get round it, but in
doing so Alison fell, first into a quarry and then
down a declivity. Fearing to make any further
attempts, we waited until midnight in an old roofless
building, and while we were there it rained
heavily. When all was quiet, and the lights
were out, we entered the village, which was
knee-deep in mud. We had not got far, when a
dog barked. This brought a man out and he
blew his horn, so we ran across a swampy common,
and followed the course of a large river
till we came to a wood, where we slept till daylight.

During the next forenoon we skirted the
wood, looking for a lone house, and at last found
one. Just at dark we went up to it and found
a man in the court-yard dressing a pig. Inside
was another man, who told us we could have
some wine; he recognised Alison, and said:
"But you are from Bitche, I heard the gun
yesterday morning." We did not deny it, but he
cheered us up and promised not to betray us;
and he bade us go up-stairs lest any of the forest
guards should come in. All that his house
afforded he brought out in a frank open way,
and for six crowns lent us his own servant as a
guide.

Next day we rested under a cliff in a fir
wood, where, except some goats with bells round
their necks, there was nothing to disturb us.
The same night we ascended one of the Vosges
mountains, in a dreadful thunder-storm, and with
the rain bursting down like a water-spout. Finding
no cover, we had to make a gigantic effort for
tired men and scramble to the summit.

Alison, a robust man standing six feet high,
and able to take a chair in his teeth and
throw it over his head, was here seized with a
fever and unable to go further, so we sat by him,
though we heard voices all round us. In a little
while two woodmen approached, told us there
was no fear of gendarmes, lighted us a fire, and
went and got Alison some soup, and the rest some
bread and wine. Alison having revived, one
of these honest fellows offered to see us out of
the mountains. He procured us a man at midnight,
who, for six francs, offered to guide us
through the adjoining village, which was half a
mile long, intersected by two rivers, and close
to the Rhine. To our great joy we got through
unmolested, without even a dog barking. That
night we slept in a swamp, on beds made of
branches that we tore down from the trees. We
were by this time so accustomed to fatigue that
we slept soundly in this horrible place, although
it rained hard all night.

Our new guide did all he could to terrify us,
declaring that every horseman he met was a
gendarme, and demanding his money beforehand.
Next day, another guide took us across the
Rhine on a sort of raft made of five boards,
and, after a fresh demand for crowns, we leaped
ashore in Baden, about five leagues below
Strasburg. This was the seventh day since
we left Bitche, yet in direct distance we were
not yet more than twelve leagues from the
fortress.

We now (with seven Louis in our pockets)
commenced our march of four hundred miles
through an enemy's country. Unfortunately,
we had forgotten the names of all the places
between the Rhine and Ulm, for which place