"Ah, now I feel a split, too. Has the rat gnawed it through?" whispered Benedetto, gleefully.
"Certainly. The courageous animal has been working to free us for over a month. As you might have noticed, I smeared the floor of our pontoon with grease, in consequence of which our shrewd rat has spent all his spare moments here, and now his business is ended. The boards are gnawed through."
"Ah! then we are to escape by swimming?" asked Benedetto, surprised.
"Have you finally found out? You are not afraid, are you?"
"No, no!" exclaimed Benedetto hastily. "Freedom at any price."
"Now you please me! Let us go now and take up our work again before our absence is noticed."
"One word more! Have you thought of our clothes?"
"I have thought of everything. Trust in me."
The convicts returned to their work, but soon after the weather became so bad that the jailers stopped work and formed the prisoners in columns to return them to the pontoons. The storm broke with such fury that the masts snapped and the sails flew about. A piece of a mast knocked a convict overboard, and when he was fished up his skull was found to be fractured. A cry of terror ran through the lines and the jailers hastened to bring the columns to the pontoons. Benedetto and Anselmo cowered in their corners and listened to the roar of the mistral. The louder it became, the more their hearts beat with joy.