“Of course,” replied Morny; “and at last there came a time when we heard a little news from across the sea—news which seemed to make my father the Count half wild with longing, and one day he told me that he had had a lot of napoleons sent to him to help him to escape, and that the first fine day we were allowed out for exercise upon the moor we would make a dash for liberty.”
“You should have done it when you were out fishing,” said Rodd.
“Oh no. The fishing had been stopped for a long time—ever since the first attempts had been made to escape.”
“Oh, I see,” said Rodd.
“And at last the day came,” continued Morny, “and we made our attempt, but only to find that we were very closely guarded, and that soldiers were on the look-out in all directions; and in the attempt my father and I became separated, and I should have been taken if it had not been that—”
“Look here,” cried Rodd, springing up, “there’s Joe Cross signalling to me from the maintop. He can see something. I say, that happened luckily for you, young fellow, for you were just getting on to dangerous ground.”