Stealthily he entered and placed his burden beneath the couch, gazed a moment at the sleeping face whereon the firelight still played, and softly crept away. Cassandra should know that she had no need to thank the Englishman for his freedom.

Then came the weary tramp down the mountain, skulking and hiding by day, and struggling on again by night — taking by-paths and unused trails — finding his uncertain way by moonlight and starlight — barked at by dogs, and followed by hounds baying loudly whenever he came near a human habitation — wading icy streams and plunging through gorges to avoid cabins or settlements — keeping life in him by gnawing raw turnips which had been left in the fields ungathered, until at last, pallid, weary, dirty, and utterly forlorn, he found himself, in the half-light