Page:A French Volunteer of the War of Independence.djvu/310

286 that "a French general who had provisions, ammunition, and devoted soldiers could not surrender without shame.^ He had been privately informed that Rochambeau's convoy would pass near his fort on a certain night, and he cleverly got all his men on board ship, ran out under cover of the darkness and joined Rochambeau without being perceived by any of the British vessels. They got to Cuba, but De Noailles wished to join a French force at Havannah. He and a company of grenadiers who were faithful to him, embarked on board a small French ship, called the Cornier, mounting only four small guns. They fell in with a British sloop of war, the Hazard, seven guns. De Noailles displayed the British flag, and when hailed replied in such excellent English that the captain of the Hazard was deceived, and asked if they had seen anything of "General de Noailles" whom the Hazard had been commissioned to capture. De Noailles replied that he was on the same errand, and he would accompany the Hazard. In the middle of the night he ran his vessel into the Hazard and boarded her. The English though taken by surprise, fought well, and though the Hazard was captured De Noailles was mortally wounded, and many of