Page:A French Volunteer of the War of Independence.djvu/116

92 I was very happy to meet my cousin, the Chevalier de F——, y now the Comte de F y Grand Cross of the Order of St. Louis, and Vice Admiral: he was then a midshipman on board La Provence. He had heard of my escape from Pierre-en-Cize, and we now met, eighteen hundred leagues from home, in the midst of a campaign;—the proper place for both of us, however. I was greatly obliged to him for many kindnesses, and more particularly for a small supply of clothes, with which naval officers are always well supplied, and which, as I greatly needed them, I took care not to refuse.

At last I took leave of Comte d'Estaing, who entrusted me with dispatches for the commander-in-chief. I remember that he also gave me some kegs of lemons and pine-apples, which he had found on board a prize he had taken. To regain the camp, I had a voyage of twenty miles to make in a boat. I was so hungry during the night that I devoured several of the pine-apples; and they nearly killed me.

The plan of campaign of 1778 was