Page:Narrative of a captivity and adventures in France and Flanders between the years 1803 and 1809.djvu/187

 never definitively arranged that Mansell should be the one who was to be introduced to Moitier, for the purpose of getting away, and returning in the night to take off the others; yet, knowing from his youth, that he was incapable of undertaking the journey at present meditated; we were now unanimous that he should profit of this chance.

Not having had time to dry our clothes at the "Cat," we were in a most deplorable state, shivering with cold, and wet to the skin; the tails of our jackets, solid boards of ice, and not a shoe amongst us worthy the name. In this wood we remained three days, each succeeding hour seeming to redouble the sufferings of the last; for, besides bodily exposure, the knowledge that we must fly the coast, and traverse the continent at this inclement season without a certainty of adequate means, excited the keenest anxiety. As Mansell did not appear with the promised supplies, we concluded, he had either forgotten the situation, or was taken prisoner; and, being apprehensive that