He went once more to the window. In the front of the house was an old vine, one stem of which was near to the side of the window.
When he made this discovery he at once determined upon his mode of escape. Hanging the bag containing the stolen property round his neck he crept out of the window, and supported himself by the stem of the vine by means of which he managed to reach the grass-plot in front of the house.
He had hardly succeeded in doing this when he heard shouts and cries of alarm proceeding from some persons in one of the rooms at the basement of the habitation. He did not wait to ascertain the reason for the cries, but fled as fast as his legs could carry him, and vaulting over the railings which encircled the garden he reached a narrow bye-lane.
He still heard cries in the distance, and saw several persons emerge from the side gate of the garden.
Two or three shouted to him, and ordered him to stop, but Peace knew a trick worth two of that. He fled, but found, to his dismay, that a party of gentlemen had rushed off in pursuit of him.
He heard the clatter of their footsteps on the hard road.
Shouldering his bag he rushed madly on until he reached a dense thicket of trees; into this he crept and passed on as quickly as the nature of the trees and underwood would admit.
He now arrived at the open country again; running across two meadows he came to a narrow pathway skirted by two hedges.
At the end of this was an old dilapidated-looking mansion, on the front of which was a board with the words “To be Let or Sold” written on its face.
Peace passed through the hedge by the side of the mansion, and made for the back door. He succeeded in turning the lock of this by means of one of his skeleton keys.