174 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF FRANCIS AKAGO. 



Thougli tliis sale of my watcli broaglit some comfort to us, it was doomed 

 at a later period to iiluiige a family into sorrow. 



The town of Eosas fell into the power of the French after a courage- 

 ous resistance. The prisoners of the garrison were sent to France, and 

 naturally passed through Perpignau. My father went in quest of news 

 wherever Spaniards were to be found. He entered a cafe at the moment 

 when a prisoner officer drew from his fob the watch which I had sold 

 at Rosas. My good father saw in this act the proof of my death, and 

 fell into a swoon. The officer had got the watch from a third party, 

 and could give no account of the fate of the ijerson to whom it had ori- 

 ginally belonged. 



The casemate having become necessary to the defenders of the fortress, 

 we were taken to a little chapel where they deposited for twenty'- four 

 hours those who had died in the hospital. There we were guarded by 

 peasants who had come across the mountain from various villages, and 

 particularly from Cadaques. These peasants, eager to recount all that 

 they had seen of interest during their one day's campaign, questioned 

 me as to the deeds and behavior of all m}' companions in misfortune. 

 I satisfied their curiosity amply, being the only one of the set who could 

 speak Spanish. 



To enlist their good will, I also questioned them at length upon the 

 subject of their village, on the work that they did there, on smuggling, 

 their principal sources of employment, &c., &c. They answered my 

 questions with the loquacity common to country rustics. The next day 

 our guards were replaced by some others who were inhabitants of the 

 same village. "In my business of a roving merchant," I said to these 

 last, " I have been at Cadaques;" and then I began to talk to them of 

 what I had learnt the night before of such an individual, who gave him- 

 self up to snuiggliug with more success than others, of his beautiful 

 residence, of the property which he possessed near the village ; in short, 

 of a number of particulars which it seemed impossible for any but an 

 inhabitant of Cadaques to know. My jest produced an unexpected 

 effect. Such circumstantial details, our guards said to themselves, can- 

 not be known by a roving merchant; this i)ersonage whom we have 

 found here in such singular society, is certainly a native of Cadaques; 

 and the son of the apothecary must be about his age. He had gone to 

 try his fortune in America ; it is evidently he, who fears to make himself 

 known, having been found with all his riches in a vessel on its way to 

 France. The report spread, became more consistent, and reached the 

 ears of a sister of the apothecary established at Rosas. She runs to 

 me, believes she recognizes me, and falls on my neck. I protest against 

 the identity. "Well i)layed!" said she to me; " the case is serious, as 

 you have been found in a vessel coming to France ; persist in your 

 denial; circumstances may perhaps take a more favorable turn, and I 

 shall profit by them to insure your deliverance. In the mean time, my 



