76 EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURES OF, &C. 



the money which he had promised was all that remained of his 

 stock, and the boatman, notwithstanding his breach of contract, 

 demanded the whole; but with inexpressible coolness and reso- 

 lution. Grant gave him one Napoleon instead of ten, and a re- 

 buke for his misconduct The other having threatened a reference 

 to the police, soon found that he was no match in subtlety for 

 his opponent, who told him plainly that he would then denounce 

 him as aiding the escape of a prisoner of war, and would adduce 

 the great price of his boat as a proof of his guilt ! 



This menace was too formidable to be resisted, and Grant in 

 a few days engaged an old fisherman, who faithfully performed 

 his bargain; but now there were no English vessels near the 

 island ; however the fisherman cast his nets and caught some fish, 

 with which he sailed towards the southward, where he had heard 

 there was an English ship of war. In a few hours they obtained 

 a glimpse of her, and were steering that way, when a shot from 

 a coast-battery brought them to, and a boat with soldiers put off 

 to board them ; the fisherman was steadfast and true ; he called 

 Grant his son, and the soldiers by whom they expected to be ar- 

 rested were only sent to warn them not to pass the battery because 

 the Englisli vessel they were in search of was on the coast. The 

 old man who had expected this, bribed the soldiers with his fish 

 assuring them he must go with his son or they would starve, and 

 that he was so well acquinted with the coast he could always 

 escape the enemy. His prayers and presents prevailed, he was 

 desired to wait under the battery till night, and then depart ; but 

 under pretence of arranging his escape from the English vessel, 

 he made the soldiers point out her bearings so exactly, that when 

 the darkness came, he ran her straight on board, and the intrepid 

 officer stood in safety on the quarter-deck. 



After this Grant reached England and obtained permission to 

 choose a French officer of equal rank with himself, to send to 

 France, that no doubt might remain about the propriety of his 

 escape ; and great was his astonishment to find, in the first prison 

 he visited, the old fisherman and his real son, who had meanwhile 

 been captured notwithstanding a protection given to them for their 

 services. Grant, whose generosity and benevolence were as re- 

 markable as the qualities of his understanding, soon obtained 

 their release, and having sent them with a sum of money to France 

 returned himself to the Peninsula, and within four months from 

 the date of his first capture was again on the Tormes watching 

 Marmont's army ! Napier. 



