494 Narrative of an Escape from the [Nov. 



wife. She had, however, seen Mansell, who was concealed in the house: he told 

 her that he had not been able to procure money ; and that he had gone out to 

 Windmill Wood, but that his search for us had been ineffectual. She also learnt 

 that Moitier was gone into Holland, and was expected back in the course of the 

 week. All this the boy related with as much feeling as if he thought our situation 

 the most deplorable and wretched that human nature could endure: he promised 

 to bring us bread and eggs so long as we remained in the neighbourhood, but 

 thought it much better to be in prison than to perish with cold in the woods. 



" In order to recompense him for his trouble, and to ensure his future assistance, 

 I made him a present of my watch, the only valuable I possessed. Two days more 

 were passed in this basket fort, when we were alarmed by the approach of an old 

 peasant. Well knowing that the Flemings entertained the utmost horror of the 

 conscription, we passed ourselves off for conscripts. The old man seemed to sym- 

 pathize incur distresses, and promised to bring us a loaf of bread; but as it would 

 have been imprudent to have suffered him to depart, and to have waited his return, 

 he was kept in conversation until nearly dark, and, when he left us, we broke up 

 the camp, and fled. Scarcely had we gone a mile, following each other at some 

 little distance, when Fox and his master were discovered : the latter advised us to 

 go to a thick wood, about two miles east of the house, and gave information of 

 Moitier's return. Soon after taking up this position, the weather set in intensely 

 cold ; and, literally clad in armour of ice, we lay listening to the whistling wind, 

 and shivering with exposure to the chilling blast, which not only defied repose, but 

 threatened the most calamitous effects. Indeed, the limbs were sometimes so 

 benumbed, that it became absolutely indispensable to shake and twist ourselves 

 about to promote the necessary circulation of the blood. Nor did there appear 

 any prospect of the termination of this misery; for, as the black and ponderous 

 clouds passed swiftly over us, the wind increased, the hail beat furiously down, 

 and the trees trembled, until the raging violence of the storm seemed to threaten 

 the uprooting of the very wood we occupied. In this exposed situation, with 

 variable, though piercing cold weather, we remained until the 15th, when the 

 boy, with the help of Fox, again traced us out, and said his mother had seen and 

 detailed to Moitier our exact situation : he pretended surprise, declaring that 

 Mansell had never given him reason to suppose that he had companions, and 

 lamenting, at the same time, his inability to be of service at present, promised to 

 assist in a day or two." 



This condition, which is ill enough, rap'dly becomes wor.=e. 



" Whitehurst now suffered so severely from illness, that doubts arose as to the 

 possibility of his continuing much longer in this state of exposure; and, had not 

 his complaint taken a favourable turn, his patience and fortitude must soon have 

 yielded to stern and absolute necessity. 



" In addition to our anxiety for the sufferings of our companion, a degree of 

 gloomy restlessness pervaded every thought, auguring nothing but evil ; but whe- 

 ther these feelings proceeded from pain and despondency, or bore any affinity to 

 that instinctive foresight which teaches the tenants of the forest to prepare for 

 tempestuous weather, I will not determine. With this presentiment, how- 

 ever, we prevailed on the boy to bring a horse-cloth ; and, as neither of us 

 had a second coat, it proved one of the greatest comforts I had ever experienced. 

 Indeed, it so renovated our strength, that we were more firmly bent than ever 

 upon marching into Germany; but the increasing severity of the season confined 

 our attention to present preservation, rather than heedlessly running into greater 

 dangers. The dark and cheerless clouds, upon which our eyes were continually 

 fixed, soon discharged flakes of snow in such profusion as to threaten our being 

 cut off from the * Cat ;' but. fortunately, to prevent the too frequent passing and 

 reposing, Madame Derikre had sent us a stock of bread, gin, and a little meat, 

 which were economized to the best advantage. At the commencement of the fall 

 of snow, we moved about the wood, and finding a hollow, from which a tree 

 had been dug, we plucked a quantity of twigs and laid in it, so as to make a dry 

 bed : the' horse-cloth was then spread loosely over, propped up by a stick in the' 

 centre, fastened down with pegs, and dead leaves strewed round the edge thus 



