Page:Memoirs of Vidocq, Volume 1.djvu/113

 the gendarmes, "Here is the guard of Lille; is there any one for the prison?" Two men of the Lille brigade came to the prison and asked if there was any game in the trap? "Yes," said the fellows who took me, "we have one named Leger (my assumed name) whom we found without a passport." They opened the door, and the brigadier or Lille, who had often seen me at the Petit Hôtel, cried "By Jove, 'tis Vidocq!" I was compelled to confess it, and setting out, I entered Lille a few hours afterwards, between my two body guards.

I at the Petit Hôtel the greater number of the prisoners who had been emancipated before my escape. Some of them had made but a very short absence, and were speedily apprehended, charged with fresh crimes, or fresh offences. Amongst them was Calandrin, of whom I have spoken about: enlarged on the 11th, he was retaken on the 13th, charged with burglary, and being an accomplice of the Chauffeurs, whose name alone inspired universal dread. On the strength of the reputation which my various escapes had procured for me, these men looked on me as one on whom they might rely. On my side, I could scarcely separate myself from them. Accused of capital offences, they had a powerful motive for being secret concerning our attempts, whilst the unfortunate "petty larceny rascal" might denounce us, in the dread of being accused of being privy to our designs. This is the logic of the prison. This escape, however, was