Page:A French Volunteer of the War of Independence.djvu/240

216 bought two fine saddle horses, and arranged to have them taken to a certain spot at a certain hour on an appointed day. Bollman also provided a couple of pairs of pistols, and plenty of money. When they arrived at the place arranged, they jumped out of the carriage, and the doctor with one hand presented a pistol at the head of the astonished soldier, and with the other offered him a purse of gold. Then the horses appeared, and the two fugitives sprang to the saddle and rode off. After going some distance they separated. M. de la Fayette rode fifty miles on the same horse, which at last dropped dead, and he was imprudent enough to stop to buy another. In Germany it is the custom to fire a cannon when a prisoner has escaped, and the peasants, being therefore on the look-out for any suspected person, arrested M. de la Fayette for the sake of the reward they would get for his capture, and took him back to Olmutz. The doctor, who acted more circumspectly, got away, and returned to America alone."

Such was the story told by my friend