Some of the women who had come up to the hermit had seen him at work; and might have mentioned, on their return, that the priest had a man at work clearing away the bushes.

The matter might have come to the ears of some officer anxious to distinguish himself, and the idea that this was the prisoner for whom a search was being made occurred to him.
Stanley shrank back into his cell, took up the bundle of clothes that served as his pillow, got on to the bed and, standing on it, was able to get his fingers on to the top of the wall.

He hoisted himself up, made his way through the boughs of the roof, and dropped on to the ground outside.

Then he went round by the back of the temple, until he stood outside the priest's cell, and could hear the voices within without difficulty.
"Then you know nothing whatever of this man ?" "Nothing whatever," he replied.

"As I have told you, he came to me and asked for shelter.