Page:Statement of the attempted rescue of General Lafayette from Olmutz.djvu/23

 entering the village. This the man undertook, and directed him to proceed along a lane at a little distance, promising to return to him at the end of it. The peasant then ran to the police, and gave information of the stranger, and his request for a horse. General Lafayette had not advanced far along the lane before he was met and surrounded by a party of soldiers, and immediately carried before a Magistrate. But he did not lose his presence of mind; he told a plausible story of his being in the country upon business, but had been detained and had lost his way; had ridden hard, as he was very anxious to reach his home on the frontiers before night, and told his story with such coolness and apparent accuracy, that the Magistrate seemed to hesitate, when a young man among the spectators in the Court-room called out, “I believe that is General Lafayette—I am almost sure I saw him when he was arrested at Neisse.” Then decided the Magistrate, on the bare possibility that such is the case, you must remain my prisoner till we hear from Olmutz. There being no farther hope, therefore, General Lafayette calmly acknowledged his identity, requesting some refreshment, and his evening cup of coffee, and was the next day taken back to his old quarters in Olmutz. This treatment he reports, was much the same as before.