About midnight I left my refuge. Cautiously I clambered over the old planks and the litter strewn over the ground. The rain came down noisily, and, though I had taken my bearings during the day, it was almost impossible in the pitch-dark night to find the two barges which I had seen near the lumber pile. Creeping on all fours, listening with straining ears and trying to pierce the surrounding blackness, I came closer to my object. However, I perceived with dismay that the two barges which, in daytime, had been completely submerged, lay high and dry. Luckily, at the stern, a little dinghy rode on the water. With prompt resolution I wanted to rush into the boat, but before I knew where I was I felt the ground slipping from under my feet and I sank to the hips into a squashy, slimy, stinking mass. I threw my arms about, and was just able to reach the plank, which ran from the shore to the sailing-boat, with my left hand. It took all my strength to get free of the slime which had nearly proved my undoing, and I was completely exhausted when I at last dragged myself back to my bed of hay. When the sun rose on the third morning of my escape, I had already returned to a bench in Gravesend Park, and was watching the _Mecklenburg_ as she slipped her moorings at 7 a.m. and made for the open sea. All that day, as well as later on, I loafed about London. For hours, like so many other wastrels, I watched from the bridges the position of the neutral steamers, the loading and unloading of cargoes, noting their stage and progress, in order, if possible, to take advantage of a lucky moment to slip on board. I fed all these days in some of the worst eating-houses of the East End. I looked so disreputable and dirty, often limping or reeling about like a drunkard, and put on such an imbecile stare that no one bothered about me. I avoided speech, and sharply observed the workmen’s pronunciation and the way in which they ordered their food. Soon I had acquired such facility and quickness—to say nothing of amazing impudence—that I no longer even considered the possibility of being caught. In the evening I returned to Gravesend. This time a new steamer lay at anchor in the river, the _Princess Juliana_. I now proceeded to pay still more attention to the conformation of the riverside, so as to safeguard myself against further accidents. At midnight I found myself at the spot I had chosen. The bank was stony and the tide just going out. I quietly discarded my jacket, boots and stockings, stowed the latter, with my watch, shaving-set, etc., in my cap, and put it on, fastening it securely on my head. After that I hid the jacket and the boots under a stone, tightened the leather belt which held my trousers, and, dressed as I was, slipped gently into the water and swam in the direction of the boat.