Every
man of us will be surfeited with food and fuddled with wine. You and I
must be exceptions. Be sure to eat less than you want and to make a mere
show of drinking. We must keep awake."
We did, and, in our tent, discussed in whispers our situation.
"North of Nuceria," Agathemer said, "I judged that we should be safer by
ourselves than with these fools and rabble, but they kept such close watch
on us that the risks of escape were too great. South of Narnia I have
judged us better off where we were than if wandering alone. Now whatever
the risks of an attempt to escape, whatever the perils we may encounter if
we escape, try to escape we must. I have an intuition that this camp is,
tonight, the most dangerous spot in all Italy."
We peered out of the tent at intervals; without hindrance or danger, for
our tent-mates were utterly asleep. The night was windless and warm. A
moon, more than half full, rose about midnight and, as it climbed the sky,
shed a pearly light through a veil of mist which deepened and thickened.
Near the ground the mist was so thick that it made escape easy, though
blundering likely.
We tried to judge our time so as to start a full hour before the first
streak of dawn. We traversed unhindered a camp sunk in sleep, where we
heard no sound but crapulous snorings.
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