The cuts could hardly have been perceptible, and had probably been filled in with dust or black lead, each night, after the work was done.

The difficulty must have been great, for he had learned that sentries patrolled the street outside the prison, and the work could only have been carried on for two or three minutes at a time.

How he was to get down to the courtyard he knew not, but probably a sentry had been found more amenable to a bribe than the old sergeant had been.
To his bitter disappointment the night passed without anything unusual taking place, and the scheme had evidently failed.

He broke up his loaf eagerly the next morning; and found, as he expected, another message: "Authorities suspicions.

Sentries changed.