It is sure, sooner or later, to take us to some small hamlet, and I can go into a cabaret and get a couple of flasks of wine and buy enough bread to last us until tomorrow, and perhaps a sausage, they are not likely to have any other meat in a place of that sort.

My German is good enough to pass muster, and even if it sounds strange to their ears, they will merely suppose that I have come from a different part of the country, for the dialects differ greatly from each other." As soon as it became quite dark they found it impossible to follow the rough ground, and after one or two falls had to stop.

Hector said, "This won't do, we shall twist an ankle or break a bone if we go on." "Shall we light a fire, master?
I have brought flint and steel with me, for I knew that we should want it." "No, it is better to run no risks; there may be a road near for aught we know, and if anyone passing saw a fire among the trees, he might come to see who had made it." "Not he, master; there are too many robbers about, deserters from their army, or men who have been ruined by the war.

You may be sure that if any belated villager had the courage to go through this forest by night he would, on seeing a fire, hurry on as fast as his legs would carry him." "Well, no doubt you are right, Paolo; and though the night is warm enough the air is damp under this thick covering of leaves, and it will certainly be more cheerful.

We will go a short distance among the trees before we light it." Feeling their way--for it was pitch dark in the forest--they went on until Hector stumbled over a fallen trunk.
"This is the best place for a halt," he said, "for here is wood ready to hand.