a few hours.  You see, were I to go out in disguise I must do so in broad daylight, for my supper is served almost directly after the gates are closed; and were I missing there would be a search for me at once, the sentries on the wall would all be warned, and it would be impossible to get past them.  If I could get out two or three hours before the gates are closed at nine o’clock I might, as soon as it became dark, attempt to get over the walls before the alarm was given, or I might possibly go out in the same disguise that I left here in, through the city gate and across the bridge.”

“I see that, sir, and it seems to me that this would be easier than trying to find a hiding place for you in the town.  However, I will set my wits to work.  I have been able to think of nothing in here; but one’s eyes always help one’s wits, and if I were in the town I might see something that would give me an idea how the matter might be set about.”

Day after day Paolo went into the town, always returning discouraged.

“I must be growing a downright numbskull,” he said one evening in disgust; “I have been three weeks at it and no single idea has come to me.”

“You need not be discouraged at that, Paolo; it’s not such a simple thing to plan an escape from a fortress like this as it was to get into the citadel at Turin, where we also had the advantage of starting with disguises.  I can no more think of a disguise in which I can pass the gates than you can.  I am a good deal too tall to pass as a woman.  My face is perfectly well known to every soldier in the castle, and even if we hit upon a disguise it would be very difficult to get it brought in.  It struck me today that if I am to get out it must be in some vehicle that has come in with supplies.”

“That is a great idea, master; if I had not been a thick headed fool I should have thought of that before.  But at the same time it will not be easy to manage.”

“I quite see that, Paolo; even if the driver were bought over it would be difficult indeed to manage to get into the cart with so many soldiers standing about.”

Paolo shook his head.

“Yes, I don’t see that that could be managed at all, master.”

He stood thinking a minute.

“I have it!” he exclaimed joyfully.  “You know, sir, sometimes a train of waggons containing faggots, or flour, or other things, comes in late.  Those that are unloaded before the gate is closed go out at once; the others are unloaded that evening, but the empty carts have to remain in the castle till morning, as the great gates 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.”