After this, not seeing his way to making much money at Nice, he departed, changed his costume, and appeared at Fréjus as plenipotentiary of the Emperor, an inspector-general, charged with seeing to the equipment of the army of Catalonia. He presented his credentials, which seemed to be in order; he took a high hand, and required the head of the Gensdarmerie to furnish him with a mounted escort to Draguignan, and he sent on an orderly before him to announce his purpose in visiting the town, requiring proper lodgings and provisions to be furnished for him. Then he appeared at Draguignan, with breast covered with Orders, and there he formed his staff. A retired captain became his aide-de-camp; the son of the Sub-Prefect of Toulon he graciously received as his secretary; he named two officers of artillery, one as paymaster, the other as his steward; and finally, with a staff of twenty persons, he went to Marseilles, where he so imposed upon the authorities that he was allowed to draw 130,000 francs from the government treasury. Thence he went to Montpellier, and there his star began to pale. One day, after having reviewed the troops, he dined with the Préfet, to whom he had promised the cordon of Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour, when, during the meal, the hôtel of the préfeture was surrounded by gensdarmes, a party of police entered the dining-room, and the Organiser of the Army of Catalonia was arrested and led to gaol. All his staff shared his fate, but were released after an imprisonment of twenty days. One day the Préfet was giving a dinner party, and, to amuse his guests, offered to produce the prisoner who had so befooled him and the rest of the good people of Montpellier. Accordingly he sent to the gaol for Collet, who expected every moment to be brought forth and shot. Three gensdarmes conducted Collet from prison to the préfeture, and till the guests were ready to see him he was thrust into an ante-room, and two gensdarmes were posted at the door. Collet’s quick eye detected, lying in a corner, the white cap and apron of a cook, and a dish of caramel on the table. In the twinkling of an eye he had dressed himself as a cook, taken up the dish, kicked at the door, till the gensdarmes opened and allowed him to pass forth between them; they supposing him to be the cook. Collet slipped out of the house and concealed himself next door. A hue and cry ensued, and the alarm bell rang; the gensdarmes galloped along the roads about Montpellier, and Collet looked on complacently from the window, till, after fifteen days, the search for him was relaxed, and then he left the town.