are never opened between sunset and sunrise, though officers come
in by the postern. Now, if you could manage during the night to
slip into one of the waggons, say one that has brought in flour,
you might be so covered over by the empty sacks they take out,
that no one would dream anyone was hidden there."

"Capital, Paolo! It is evident that your head is not so thick as
you thought it was just now. Yes, I have noticed that as a rule if
eight or ten waggons came in together, the full sacks are carried
in, and the same number of empty ones are placed in one of the
carts, being counted as they are put in. Certainly I could hide
myself easily enough if you were there to assist in arranging the
sacks as regularly as before over me. As I do not generally get
up until eight o'clock, and my first meal is not brought to me till
nine, I might be on my way two hours before it was discovered that
I was missing. How would you manage?"

"I would get a countryman's suit, master, would go out soon after
the gates were open, find some quiet spot where I should have
hidden the clothes the day before, and slip them on over my own.
Then I would join the carts as they came along. They don't generally
begin to harness the horses up till the gates are open, so that
I should get a quarter of an hour's start of them, and I should
go out with them without question, as it would be thought that
I belonged to the party. I should pay for some beer at the first
cabaret we come to, and make signs that I wanted a lift in a waggon.
I must, of course, pretend to be deaf and dumb, as, although I
have picked up a little German since we came into these parts, I
could not possibly pass as a countryman."