"You must not lose time.
Do you both quite agree with me that it would be next to impossible for you to pass through the lines of our army and to gain your own ?" "Quite impossible," Dick agreed.

"Jack and I have talked it over again and again, and are of opinion that it could not be done even in Russian uniforms.

We should be liable to be questioned by every officer who met us as to the reason of our being absent from our regiment, and should be certain to be found out.

We thought that it might be possible to get hold of a fishing-boat, and sail down to join the fleet.

There would be of course the risk of being blown off the shore or becalmed, and it would be difficult to lay in a stock of provisions." "Besides," the count said, "there is no blockade at Odessa, and our small war-steamers cruise up and down the coast, so that you would be liable to capture.