Page:Narrative of a captivity and adventures in France and Flanders between the years 1803 and 1809.djvu/125

 *casionally visible, we passed through without seeing a creature. About an hour after, still continuing a steady pace, four stout fellows rushed out from behind a hedge, and demanded where we were going. Whitehurst and Mansell immediately ran up; and, as we had previously resolved never to be taken by equal numbers, each seized his pepper and his knife in preparation for fight or flight, replying, in a haughty tone of defiance, "What is that to you, be careful how you interrupt military men:" then whispering, loud enough for them to hear, "la bayonette," upon which they dropt astern, though still keeping near us: in the course of a quarter of an hour, on turning an angle of the road, we lost sight of them, and continued a rapid march, frequently running, until about five A. M., when we were unexpectedly stopped by the closed gates of a town. We retraced our steps a short distance, in the hope of discovering some other road, but we could find neither a footpath, nor wood, nor any other place