Page:Narrative of a captivity and adventures in France and Flanders between the years 1803 and 1809.djvu/105

 so that their refusing to go, afforded me an opportunity of making an offer to accompany them, which was immediately accepted. Whitehurst, Hunter, and two or three others, requested to go with us; four other gendarmes were ordered to attend, and we went in a tolerably large party. We took different directions round the ramparts, kicking the grass, under pretence of looking for rabbits; few were found, and none killed. But we succeeded in making our observations, and in about an hour, returned, fully satisfied of the practicability of escape, though the difficulties we had to encounter were—scaling a wall, ascending the parapet unseen, escaping the observation of three tiers of sentinels, and the patroles, descending two ramparts, of about forty-five feet each, and forcing two large locks. These were not more than we expected, and we, therefore, prepared accordingly. On our return, we fixed the night of the 15th of November, for the attempt. Through a friend in town, I got iron handles put to a pair of steel boot hooks, intending to use them as picklocks. The