Page:Narrative of a captivity and adventures in France and Flanders between the years 1803 and 1809.djvu/135

 provisions; we accordingly marched on. Whitehurst entered one, which he found too full of company, and then a second, in which he saw four stupid looking young men, almost as wet as ourselves; we resolved all to go in, keeping the door at the elbow in case of necessity; we did so, and, asking for gin, drew round the stove. From the conversation of these men, it appeared, that a large party of conscripts had arrived that evening, on their road to Ghent, and were billeted about the town; this information we immediately turned to account. Our landlord was given to understand we were conscripts, who, in consequence of lameness, were allowed to travel at leisure, upon condition of reaching Ghent by seven on the following morning; but that, having been prevented, by the bad weather, from arriving in time to procure billets, we would pay for lodging and supper; to this he readily agreed. One of the drunken fellows in the room, rousing from his lethargy, wildly stared, and abruptly complimented us with the novel information that we were