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They had failed to maintain stealth, revealed themselves, left behind a witness, and anxiety gripped Ivan with even greater force—will the Austrian report them or not?
After three attempts to escape, he was experienced enough to know that that was the riskiest situation for fugitives. Nowhere else—in the field or in the mountains—was it easier to fall into a trap than when they visited villages, farmsteads and hamlets and met people. As it happened, even the mistrustful were betrayed, even the careful ran into ambushes. That was often the end of the very difficult road to freedom and the beginning of the agonizing westward march back into captivity. And yet, it was impossible to avoid people altogether. They needed to eat, get directions and change their clothes. There was never any gu
