210 SUFFERINGS OF LIEUTENANT o'bRIEN. 



corered over with straw, to our great mortification, and annoyance, the owner 

 came, having repented of his granting permission to enter it, and insisted upon 

 our instantly quitting his premises ; all rhetoric with this fellow was in vain ; 

 we were obliged to quit our habitation about eleven o' clock, and march 

 towards another more respectable village. We advanced now boldly, verify- 

 ing the old proverb, that " necessity has no law." We inqqired of a shepherd, 

 on entering the village, if he could direct us to a public house, and he pointed 

 us out one. We advanced, but with little hopes of escaping from being disco- 

 vered : however, we determined to call for a private room, the moment we 

 arrived at the cabaret : being in hopes (if we could avoid police officers in 

 passing to a private apartment) we might stand a chance to remain unnoticed 

 until night. We succeeded in being supplied with some refreshment, and 

 were provided with a suitable apartment immediately. 



The only person in the house was a girl, about 18 years of age : she made 

 ns a comfortable fire, and arranged two beds that were in the room, for us to 

 rest a little, if we wished. We pretended to be quite careless, (seeing there 

 was no danger), and asked her were her father and mother were { She 

 replied, the former was watching sheep outside of the village: the latter was 

 gone to Estaples. We found, by the description the daughter gave of him, 

 that our landlord was the very man who directed us there. She asked us if 

 we were not conscripts going to the camp near Boulogne? We answered in 

 the affirmative, and told her to be particular in preventing any person 

 whatever from coming into our room, as we had a few affairs to settle. She 

 promised she would— informed us there was then a gen d'arme, in peasant's 

 attire, in the kitchen, who had just come from Boulogne, with a party of 

 people, to procure forage for the gens d'armes' horses quartered there. We 

 informed her, we had not the least desire to see any body, except her father, 

 with whom we wished to have some conversation. She promised to send for 

 him, as soon as her guest in the kitchen had quitted. I must confess, I did 

 not much approve of this fellow's being under the same roof with us ; we 

 were all a little uneasy. However, he soon parted ; the girl sent for her 

 father, and the mother also returned. 



We were in great hopes, that as these were very poor people, we might be 

 able to procure a boat, through their acquaintance with some fishermen on 

 the coast, and the influence of a few louis d'ors: convinced that nothing could 

 be accomplished without this all-powerful metal, each began to search in the 

 different parts of his garment, for his quantum. We had been obliged to take 

 the precaution of stitching it in the seams, &c., to prevent losing it in case of 

 being arrested. To our great sorrow, Mr. Essel discovered, that his money, 

 to the amount of £45., had slipped out of a pad made for the purpose, 

 which he had kept in his neck-kerchief; nor could he recollect having untied 

 it, but once, since we set out, and that was at the baker's cottage, where he 

 suspected he had left it. This poor fellow appeared to be an honest kind of 

 man, and as I before observed, behaved excessively kind to us : the loss was 

 to us, at that moment, very considerable, but not irreparable, as we still had 

 a tolerably good sum, and two gold watches : sufficient, as we trusted, to 

 inspire the shepherd, and induce him to assist us ; he arrived, and after 

 taking every feasible means of enjoining secresy, relying upon this fellow's 

 honesty and good principles, (as we informed him) we disclosed our situation, 

 who we were, &c., and promised to reward him very liberally, provided be 

 could procure us a conveyance across the Channel. We were certain (as we 

 observed), that he must have a number of sea-faring acquaintances on the 

 sea coast ; and we would make it well worth their trouble. He hesitated very 

 much at first; but having shown him a purse, and repeating our promises of 

 reward, he assured us he would try every possible means ; and that, at all 



