"Well, if I do get off," I answered, "I give you my word that I'll do my best for you."
We shook hands gravely upon it, and I continued—
"In what way do you propose to effect your escape? If we're going to make any plans, we'd better set to work upon them at once."
"Walk over here with me and I'll tell you all I think."
With that we began to pace the courtyard, and Veneda to propound his theory.
"Now," he said, "my idea is this. You see that further wall?"
I nodded. It was, as I have said before, a stone affair, perhaps thirty feet in height, surmounted by a bristling cheval de frise.
"Well, on the other side of it, as far as I can gather from the natives locked up in here, is a road, with a big paddy field on the other side of that again. At night, a sentry or patrol of some kind passes round the entire building once every ten minutes, and naturally our attempt must be made between his visits."
"But how do you propose to get over it?" I asked, looking at the wall's apparently unscalable height.
"Very easily," my intrepid companion replied, "if you will only carry out my instructions to the letter."