ARRIVAL AT ALGIERS. 63 



" In cha Allah ! ' : they exclaimed with one voice. And 

 it was then that the scene took place which I have just 

 described. 



We arrived in sight of Algiers the 25th December, 

 1808. We took leave of the Arab owners of our mules, 

 who walked on foot by the side of us, and we spurred 

 them on, in order to reach the town before the closing of 

 the gates. On our arrival, we learnt that the Dey, to 

 whom we owed our first deliverance, had been beheaded. 

 The guard of the palace before which we passed, stopped 

 us and questioned us as to whence we came. We re- 

 plied that we came from Bougie by land. " It is not 

 possible ! " exclaimed all the janissaries at once ; " the 

 Dey himself would not venture to undertake such a jour- 

 ney ! ' " We acknowledge that we have committed a 

 great imprudence ; that we would not undertake to re- 

 commence the journey for millions ; but the fact that we 

 have just declared is the strict truth." 



Arrived at the consular house, we were, as on the first 

 occasion, very cordially welcomed. We received a visit 

 from a dragoman sent by the Dey, who asked whether 

 we persisted in maintaining that Bougie had been our 

 point of departure, and not Cape Matifou, or some neigh- 

 bouring port. We again affirmed the truth of our recital ; 

 it was confirmed, the next day, on the arrival of the pro- 

 prietors of our mules. 



At Palamos, during the various interviews which I had 

 with the dowager Duchess of Orleans, one circumstance 

 had particularly affected me. The Princess spoke to me 

 unceasingly of the wish she had to go and rejoin one of 

 her sons, whom she believed to be alive, but of whose 

 death I had been informed by a person belonging to her 

 household. Hence I was anxious to do all that lay in 



