Page:Narrative of a captivity and adventures in France and Flanders between the years 1803 and 1809.djvu/43

 various little images in plaster of Paris, in the midst of which was the bust of the adored Buonaparte, and no one being near, I could not resist the temptation of placing it head downwards, in a vessel which was no ornament to a mantle piece, nor usually found there; the arrangement of the images I also altered, so as to make them appear ridiculing this misfortune of the "premier consul." In the midst of my amusement, the order of march was given, and I hurried out unseen. We journeyed on about six leagues with a morose set of gendarmes, who, on entering a public house in the evening, made private arrangements with the host to impose on the prisoners; in consequence of an attempt to frustrate this iniquitous design, we were enticed from the tavern, entrapped by an artifice similar to the one practised at Montauban, and locked up in an unfurnished house, with nothing but straw, and short commons. We, nevertheless, joked away the hours in good humour, preferring present inconvenience, to the more agreeable comforts of a tavern, at