Page:Narrative of a captivity and adventures in France and Flanders between the years 1803 and 1809.djvu/45

 hinting at the same time, that we had not conducted ourselves properly; this being unintelligible, and having often found on such occasions, a deportment bordering on "hauteur" to produce the best effects, with the "canaille," we scarcely noticed them. In the evening we entered a public house, and on passing through the kitchen, observed the entrance of an adjoining prison, and suspecting it was intended for our quarters, a feint of resistance was made; it was, however, a fruitless effort, and we were compelled to enter. In vain we remonstrated and assured them they would be punished for disobeying the order which had been shown to us by the late guard, from the general at Auch, relative to our treatment. They became excessively enraged, and, at length, one said, "You are in prison by a counter order lately received from Auch, for having put Buonaparte's head into a 'pot-de-chambre.'" A silent gaze of astonishment, was followed by sudden gusts of laughter, which so thundered through the prison, as to drown the voice of the incensed orator; and nothing