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the soldiers should be awakened by the disturbance of his exit; but their slumber was unbroken, I am delighted to say, and away we started as fast as our legs would carry us. In after days I encountered one of the merchant Captains who had been in the same room with us at the time of our escape. He told me that he had seen us leave, and that one of the guards got up shortly afterwards, walked over to the window, closed it, and then lay down and went to sleep again. The opium had stupefied him. The merchant Captain's bed-fellow had been awake also, and, perceiving our escape, wanted to follow, but was prevented by his companion, who knew that detection must inevitably ensue if they attempted to do likewise at that juncture.

We kept to the road until morning dawned, when we came upon what looked like a large common, or piece of waste land, on one side of which ran a ditch of sufficient depth to serve our purpose of concealment; so into it we went, and, ignoring the discomfort of such an uncongenial and damp lodging, we remained therein, not venturing to raise our heads above the banks again until nightfall, when we once more took to the high road. After a few hours' journey, guided by the map that Whitehurst had preserved, we approached a village, and, hunger beginning to assert its supremacy, we debated what

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who spoke French as well, if not better, than his native tongue, settled to go into the town and get some food. He returned with a loaf of brown bread, which was gratefully and greedily devoured; and we pushed on, nor halted again until the night had disappeared, when we made for some fields and looked up another friendly ditch, where we stretched ourselves for the day.

We had taken up our quarters not far from a gate, and to our discomfiture a man began to repair it during the morning. We kept close to the bottom of the ditch, not stirring a muscle all the time he was so unpleasantly near, and we could plainly hear him talking occasionally to himself. But this danger passed away, and right glad we were when the moment for venturing forth on our journey again arrived. Whitehurst repeated the commissariat duty at the next place through which we passed, and then we resolved to get more agreeable shelter if possible for the ensuing day.

On our road we met a man, and asked him to direct us. He informed us that we were in the right course, and then asked us if we were deserters. We replied in the affirmative, and he promised to assist us, saying that he thought he could procure us horses, which he did, and we rode off, followed by a boy who beat the horses over about the worst road I ever travelled on. The mud

was over the boy's ankles; he was barefooted, and ran the whole distance behind us.

Arrived at another village, we entered an inn, and asked for beds. They could give us none, but had no objection to our sitting round the fire for the rest of the night. We were too glad of such a chance to hesitate a minute, and so took our places with alacrity. Two maids were already nodding over the embers with their arms under their aprons; and as we had our pockets to take advantage of, we thrust our hands therein, to be as much in the fashion as practicable, and were soon in dreamland.

Towards daylight some of the customers left, and we were awakened and accommodated with their room. Our experience in the ditches had given us a fresh relish for a genuine bed, and the exertions we had made on the road prepared us for any amount of rest; therefore we gave ourselves up to a luxurious oblivion with a right goodwill, and slept so late into the hours of the ensuing day that our landlady came up to know if we were alive, or what had come to us. We ordered breakfast, and dispatched it in our room, after which Whitehurst sallied out for a look round.

During his absence the landlady reappeared, and began to ask me some questions with great volubility. My knowledge of French was extremely limited, and I could trust myself with no confidence to any

expressions in that language but the word "Oui," and that I kept on using at all hazards whenever she looked inquiringly after a speech. I must have put it in a wrong place more than once, as she testified by her manner, and what might have happened I can't say if Whitehurst had not made his appearance on the scene. She turned to him, and, as he told me, pronounced me to be English. He vociferated to the contrary, and maintained that I was purely German; but it would not do-the good woman was not born yesterday, and knew an Englishman when she saw one. At last she declared she had no desire to betray us, and if we trusted her we should be kindly treated. So Whitehurst, with my consent, made a clean breast of it. this she recommended us to sign her visitors' book, putting any fictitious names we liked, and then she advised our going to St Malo to a house where the owners, whom she knew, would do the best in their power for us.

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In the evening, therefore, we resumed our flight, and were supplied by our good landlady with horses, which carried us to the place in question. Here we were conducted to a spacious room and locked in. Our meals were brought to us by a servant in regular succession next day, and at night we left again on horseback. We were told by our kind friends that we should not meet with similar attentions after we had got

beyond Brittany. This intelligence was proved true at our next attempt to find a restingplace, for we were refused admission by the landlord, who how ever declared he would not betray us. This was at Avranches. Our guide then took us to the house of two poor women, sisters, who gained their livelihood by keeping an infants' school. They found a man who engaged to take us to Granville, whither we accordingly proceeded. There I lost no time in looking up the Danish Captain, whom I found in bed suffering from dropsy. He was glad to see me, and renewed his former offer of assistance. I mentioned Whitehurst, and he declined to have anything to do with him. I left him, and returned next evening with Whitehurst, hoping that he might mollify the Dane and induce him to alter his determination, assuring him that no offence had ever been intentionally offered-which I quite believe to be correct, but no, the Dane remained obdurate, and under no condition whatever would listen to any proposal on Whitehurst's behalf.

A ludicrous mischance happened on this occasion. A vessel full of slops was standing on a chair near the bed, and the Dane asked me if I would oblige him by emptying it out of the window. Misfortune never comes singly, they say, and an illustration of this adage was at hand. Whitehurst, in order to ingratiate

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himself with the Captain, seized the vessel, rushed to the window, and, without looking before him, flung the contents into the street below. "Que le diable vous emporte !" shrieked a loud voice at the moment the act was committed, and a figure rushed into the house fresh from the untoward splashing. The mistress of the establishment, who was, it may be recorded, a very pretty woman, ran out to learn the cause of the uproar, and met the furious intruder on the landing, who saluted her with the angry question, "Is it you that threw that infernal stuff out of the window just now? With all the natural readiness of a Frenchwoman's wit, she perceived her ground at once, and, assuming a most penitent mien, hoped that monsieur was not injured. He was not proof (what Frenchman is ?), even under the aggravations of such an indignity, against the seductions of a pretty face; and, bowing with a smile, he answered, "No hurt, madam, could proceed from so fair a hand." We learnt when he had gone that the sufferer was no less a personage than the Governor of the town. Poor Whitehurst's attempt to propitiate the invalid had only augmented his aversion. The Dane anathematised his clumsiness, and declaring that such a man could only bring his friends into trouble, he subsided into a stronger fit of contumacy than before. He still declared his wish to serve me,

but of this I could no longer hear. I impressed upon his mind that to Whitehurst I was entirely indebted for having got to Granville at all with my ignorance of the French language; but it was all to no purpose, and we took leave of each other for ever.

In this predicament we left Granville, getting over the walls of the town by means of a rope, and retraced our steps to the schoolmistresses at Avranches. We stopped at a farmhouse before it dawned, and, as well as we could in the dark, we took a survey of the place. There was a hay-loft open above some buildings, and we contrived to get up into it. We found it a capacious loft, half-filled with trusses of straw loosely packed. Between these we crawled, and got as far to the rear as possible. A dog was chained in the chambers below, and scented our intrusion at once. The noise he made gave us some apprehension, especially as he continued barking furiously till the whole household at the farm was astir. They did not appear to discover the cause of his excitement, and he therefore got a correction pretty often. Worse than the dog, however, was the sudden advent of a girl, who commenced peering about amongst the sheaves for eggs. However, she confined her search to a safe distance from us, and finally left, singing to herself, without a suspicion of our presence.

When all was quiet we again descended and pushed on to Avranches, where we arrived in the forenoon. We did not so much fear travelling by day through the town as through the country. In the former

we were not likely

to be much noticed. The two old ladies received us with pleasure, and I believe were really glad to see us. They turned us into the same room, and sent for the guide who had taken charge of us before. We had been without food for thirty-six hours this trip. We were assured by our friends that our safety had been more than once committed by them into the hands of some patron saint selected by them, and to render the goodwill of his saintship more certain, they had sold a pair of stockings we had left behind, and honestly recompensed the treasury of the Church with the proceeds.

As early as we could manage to do so, we took leave of our kind friends-God bless them!

and set off on horseback for Caen in Normandy. Our guide provided us with a new friend in Normandy, by trade a baker, who proved faithful in all things. He took us to a neighbour who lived in the suburbs, and placed us under his protection. This step was a politic one on his part. The second man had a son who was a prisoner in England, and he would aid our escape if possible in the hope that we might be of service to him in a corresponding way by exerting our

selves on behalf of the son. Here we lived in strict and often painful seclusion for nearly fourteen months. Twice only during this long seclusion did I venture out. The first occasion was to see Napoleon enter the town, and in the concourse of eager spectators there was little probability of my coming to grief. The other opportunity occurred at the instance of a priest, the only brother of our hostess, an Abbé Martin, somewhat distinguished in his generation, who obtained a passage for us on board a drogher bound for Dieppe. The Captain of this vessel took us as a mere speculation in the hope that if his boat were captured by any English cruiser he might be released on our account.

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Our good genius was absent, and no English vessel even seen. We returned perforce with the Captain, and resumed our old life.

Whitehurst had an advantage over me he could leave the house with less risk, from his perfect knowledge of the French tongue. It had been a scheme of mine for a considerable period to secure a boat from the shore one night and make boldly across the Channel for England. I fretted in this constrainment, and was ready for any resource that could be devised for escape; but Whitehurst opposed me, and the worthy padre shook his head when it was mentioned. I was out voted. Nevertheless, as month after

month rolled by and brought no improvement in our condition, my plan was at last reluctantly adopted. Whitehurst made a preliminary examination of the coast and the position and number of the boats. He ascertained one important and very satisfactory piece of information-namely, that no men were allowed to sleep on board any of the vessels or boats. The news of itself was sufficient encouragement to our enterprise. We had to wait until the wind and tide had become jointly auspicious, and then we sallied forth under cover of the darkness with a sheet for a sail, and began our excursion. After a nine miles' walk we arrived at the beach, and saw a boat not far from the shore, so we stripped to our shirts and trousers and swam out to it. It was flat-bottomed, and about 12 feet long. The painter was cut, and we moved off, and shortly after came alongside a good-sized fishing craft. This took my fancy, and I suggested an immediate change. Whitehurst, by constitution an objector, refused to entertain my proposal. Another, nearly as favourable to our needs, came in view, and I renewed my solicitation without avail. Then a third, "all cut and dried for our very purpose. Mast and sails all ready for a start. This I could not stand, so with a growl and an oath at Whitehurst for his pains, I pulled a hard stroke that brought us into contact with

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