Even then, as we sat in the forest listening in vain for sounds of pursuit, it seemed incredible that we had won the day so easily, and during a full half hour we gloated over the victory. Then, when it seemed certain the Britishers had not succeeded in keeping upon our trail, we began to realize that the danger, instead of having passed, was hardly more than begun. We were on that long, narrow neck of land known as the North Foreland, and, as Leon said, the enemy had a line of sentinels stretched across the narrowest portion, nearest the main shore, to prevent desertions and keep the curious at a proper distance. In other words, we were penned up with no means of escape save by water, and the lad upon whom we depended as a guide had entirely lost his bearings in the darkness. “It is only a question of time before we will be captured,” I said gloomily, when coming fully to understand the situation, “and we cannot live in the thicket many days without food!” To this dispiriting remark Alec made no reply, and I believed the lad was disheartened until he said cheerily, and in much the same tone he might have used when discussing some excursion for pleasure:-- “We are captured to a certainty if we make up our minds to such a fact; but I have the idea that by a show of half as much pluck as you displayed when we were confronted by the soldiers, we can leave this point of land in due season.” “Perhaps you already see your way clear to get out of the snarl,” I said, with a fine tinge of sarcasm in my tones. “Ay, that I do,” he replied, giving no heed to my ill temper. “In case you two are minded to follow my instructions, it will go hard indeed if we fail of setting sail in our boat between now and sunset to-morrow.” He spoke so confidently that I pricked up my ears at once, a new hope coming into my heart, and Leon said quietly, much as if he was safe from all harm, and we the only ones who had anything to fear from the Britishers:-- “I stand ready to do whatever you shall say.” “Then set about finding your home, leaving us here--” “I cannot play so cowardly a part,” he interrupted. “Anything else, and you have only to command me.” “It was not a part of my plan that you should desert us, my bold Frenchman; but in order that we get off you must be free to act. Suppose you succeed in reaching your home before daylight, what will be more easy than to provide us with food in case we are forced to remain some time in hiding? Then, again, should our boat be seized, you could do something toward procuring another. My only hope of escaping depends upon your being at liberty to go and come.” Now it was that I, as well as Leon, began to understand what Alec had in mind, and both of us caught eagerly at the chance, slight though it was.