‘Ha, hum! Jack, you’re a fine fellow; you’re a--a---- Jim Linham, you’re a fool,’ he concluded. Then in more husky tones he said, ‘Jack, you’ll go. I’m an old war-horse that it doesn’t matter a snap about. I don’t say much, but the wound in my leg troubles me a great deal. I fear I shall never do much more soldiering. Go and leave me.’ ‘Never.’ ‘But you must. What’s the good of you’re staying here? You can’t do us any good. You’ve got all your life before you, so what’s the good of being silly, now, I want to know?’ ‘Then you must find out, my dear Jimmy. I’m not going to leave you.’ That night the little cavalry clique gathered together in one corner of the general room, and Linham solemnly put to them the facts of the case. ‘Blair has a chance of escape,’ he said, ‘and he won’t take it.’ Then the details were gone into, and the unselfish fellows unanimously agreed that Jack must go. ‘Not without Jim,’ said Jack. But they told him that was nonsense. Next morning Jack again sought Sergius, and fought a big fight with him. In the end he agreed to include Linham in the party, though he said it would increase the risk of detection. Then Linham was obstinate and refused to go till Jack declared he would not go without him, and so at last it was decided. The secret was told to most of the prisoners, who immediately set about writing letters to relatives and friends, which Jack and Linham were to take with them. Final arrangements were made with Sergius, and on the fourth day Jack and Linham were to make their attempt. They had a sort of farewell supper, and all sorts of messages were given to the two Lancers for friends and comrades in camp should they ever reach it. Next morning, with a number of others, they left the prison as usual, their hearts beating wildly, for if all went well by that time to-morrow they hoped to be many miles away. The caravan was to start about midday, and bartering had been finished. Sergius had a van driven by a lad and a droshky in which he himself travelled. Jack and Linham with their friends went down to the arch under which Sergius’s van and droshky were kept at night, and they stood round talking and watching Sergius stow away his wares for the journey. They were at the back of the wagon, with the other prisoners all round them. Waiting until Sergius made them a sign that there was no one about, Jack and Linham popped into the wagon, were promptly hidden between two bales, and covered with a pile of rugs. It seemed a very long time to them before they started; but presently, with a rumble, off they went, and as the wheels rolled from the stones to the more even metalled road a cheer burst forth. ‘That’s a signal from those friends who have followed us that we are safely out of the town,’ said Jack. ‘Ha, hum! I wish I were safely out of the wagon too,’ growled Linham; ‘I’m half-suffocated.’