I had two views.

The first was, naturally, to get clear of Edinburgh Castle and the town, to say nothing of my fellow-prisoners; the second to work to the southward so long as it was night, and be near Swanston Cottage by morning.

What I should do there and then, I had no guess, and did not greatly care, being a devotee of a couple of divinities called Chance and Circumstance.

Prepare, if possible; where it is impossible, work straight forward, and keep your eyes open and your tongue oiled.
Wit and a good exterior--there is all life in a nutshell.
I had at first a rather chequered journey: got involved in gardens, butted into houses, and had even once the misfortune to awake a sleeping family, the father of which, as I suppose, menaced me from the window with a blunderbuss.

Altogether, though I had been some time gone from my companions, I was still at no great distance, when a miserable accident put a period to the escape.