Page:Narrative of a captivity and adventures in France and Flanders between the years 1803 and 1809.djvu/142

 At eight A. M., being surprised by an old woman collecting wood, who immediately fled in the utmost consternation, we also decamped, deeming it imprudent to remain in any spot where we had been seen; scarcely had we quitted the copse, when two sportsmen were observed to enter it, we immediately jumped over a ditch, hobbled about two miles to the eastward, crept into an almost impenetrable thicket, and there remained in the rain till nine P. M. We then gained the high road, and continued our route to Blankenberg, a village on the coast, a few miles to the eastward of Ostend. At ten, passing by a solitary public house, we observed through the window, an old man, two women, and a boy, sitting round a comfortable fire, at supper; Hunter and myself entered for the purpose of purchasing provisions to take on board any vessel we might be enabled to seize, being then about four miles from the sea; we asked for gin, the woman of the house rose and stared at us, apparently alarmed at our appearance; we repeated the demand without obtaining