“He tried to get hold of my bridle-rein, but I knocked the gate-keeper down with one blow, and started off at a hard gallop. “‘Stop thief! murder! robbers! thieves,’ shouted the prostrate official, in stentorian lungs. “The cry was quickly taken up by the rabble of the town, and I thought it best to gallop right off and gain the open country again. “‘Stop thieves! robbers! murderers! stop him!’ shouted the excited mob, in full cry. “Onward I galloped through the dirty, narrow streets of the straggling town as hard as possible. “Once or twice my horse slipped, and fell under me. “I raised him again. “But from every hand came stones and dirt and rubbish, which was hurled at me on all sides. “I did not know the right direction of the opposite gate, and so had to guess at it as best I could. “Far behind me were my pursuers, panting and yelling like so many half-bred hounds, when suddenly my flight was stopped by a high dead wall. “Escape seemed impossible. “My pursuers gave a loud shout of triumph as they perceived my progress was arrested, and I had almost given up every hope of escaping, when a sudden thought struck me that the wall might be nothing less than the city wall. “‘I could regain my liberty through a window of one of the houses down the street, and against the city wall,’ I thought. “I saw one with the door open. “I jumped off my horse, and entered the house with a pistol in each hand. “My pursuers, however, had seen it, and as I entered one of the rooms I heard them thundering at the street door. “There was no one save an old woman in the room I entered. “Seeing a fierce-looking man suddenly enter with a brace of pistols cocked she fainted, and fell on the floor. “I rushed to the window and looked out. “Judge of my joy, the fields were beyond. “I threw out some pillows and the bed into the field below. “Next I locked and barred the door. “After this I strongly barricaded it with the table, chairs, and whatever else I could. “My next performance was to get up the spacious old chimney, and there I hid myself, wailing impatiently until night should come. “As I imagined, all my plans proved successful. “After banging at the door for a long time they broke it open, and rushed in headlong over each other. “They were staggered when they found I was not there. “‘He has escaped from the window,’ said one. “‘Yes, sure; see the bed and pillows lying on the grass yonder.’ “‘Oh, the cunning knave,’ said a third; ‘he threw those things out to soften his fall.’ “They searched the room, and, in fact, all the house; but I was so well concealed up the winding chimney that although they looked up they could not perceive me. “The old woman and her friends left the room, and there I sat among the soot thinking what should be done next. “The bed was brought up again, and the old woman tidied her room, and towards night went out, for, as she said, she was afraid to sleep there alone that night.