When we had got the powder away, we halted at Madame Hutin's house; for it was four o'clock in the afternoon and none of us had broken his fast, with the exception of Bard, who had eaten three plums. He was dying with eagerness to carry away the four-inch gun and I was equally anxious to make him a present of it; but the worthy keepers of the magazine implored me so urgently to leave it them, that I had not the heart to rob them of it. A good dinner awaited us at Hutin's; but, hungry though we were, we ate it hurriedly while the post-horses were being harnessed to the trap. Finally, by five o'clock, we started; Hutin, Moreau and Bard behind the waggon in the trap and I on Moreau's horse, walking by the side of the wheels, one hand on my holster, ready to blow up the waggon, myself and half the town, if anybody attempted to stop our going away. But no one made any objections: we even heard some patriotic shouts behind us as we travelled on. We could not help being grateful to the people for expressing themselves thus, as in 1830 no one knew exactly the right cry to utter. The most dangerous spot we had to pass was the gate of the town; for as soon as we had reached the gateway the portcullis might be dropped in front of us, and they would attack us from the two guard-houses. But we passed these Thermopylae without harm and found ourselves on the outside of the walls and in the open country. Our men awaited us fifty yards beyond the gate: then, and not until then, I confess, I dared to breathe freely. "By Jove! my friend," I said to Hutin, "do go back into the town and send us out twenty bottles of wine to drink the health of General La Fayette.... We have well earned them!" A quarter of an hour later, we were raising our glasses and drinking to the general's health--a toast which the inhabitants of the town received with acclamation, many having climbed up on the walls to witness our departure. When we had emptied the twenty bottles, we resumed our journey. At Verte-Feuille, half-way between Soissons and Villers-Cotterets, I left Moreau's horse with the posting-master: I could not have sat in the saddle ten minutes longer, for I was dropping with fatigue. Whilst they were putting four post-horses to the waggon (for I began to perceive that we should never get to our destination with the Soissons horses) I lay down on the edge of a ditch and fell into such a deep sleep that they had the greatest difficulty in the world to wake me at the time of starting. Moreau then rode his horse, for he wished to accompany us as far as Villers-Cotterets. I took his seat in the trap and was hardly in it before I fell asleep again. I had probably been sleeping for an hour when I felt myself being shaken vigorously. I opened my eyes and saw it was Hutin. "Oh! do wake up!" he said. "What for?" I asked, yawning. I was sound asleep.