Page:Narrative of a captivity and adventures in France and Flanders between the years 1803 and 1809.djvu/196

 determine. With this presentiment, however, we prevailed on the boy to bring a horse-cloth, and as neither of us had a second coat, it proved one of the greatest comforts I had ever experienced; indeed, it so renovated our strength that we were more firmly bent than ever upon marching into Germany; but the increasing severity of the season confined our attention to present preservation, rather than heedlessly running into greater dangers. The dark and cheerless clouds, upon which our eyes were continually fixed, soon discharged flakes of snow in such profusion, as to threaten our being cut off from the "Cat;" but fortunately, to prevent the too frequent passing and repassing, Madame Derikre had sent us a stock of bread, gin, and a little meat, which were economized to the best advantage. At the commencement of the fall of snow, we moved about the wood, and, finding a hollow, from which a tree had been dug, we plucked a quantity of twigs and laid in it, so as to make a dry bed; the horse cloth was then spread loosely over, propped up by a stick in the