No Surrender! A Tale of the Rising in La VendeeHenty, G. A. (George Alfred)
History
No Surrender! A Tale of the Rising in La Vendee
Henty, G. A. (George Alfred)
France -- History -- Wars of the Vendée, 1793-1832 -- Juvenile fiction; Vendée (France) -- History -- Juvenile fiction
Day after day, Leigh went out into the town. More than once he saw
the fatal tumbrils going along in the distance, but he always
turned and walked in the opposite direction. Once or twice, having
changed his clothes for those of a workman, he fought his way into
the public galleries of the Convention and listened to the
speeches; in which it seemed to him that the principal object of
each speaker was to exceed those who had gone before him in
violence, and that the most violent was the most loudly applauded,
both by the galleries and the Assembly.
Patsey was most anxious to be off, but he urged that it would not
do to show haste. She did not leave the house at all, while he was
out almost all day. At the end of the fortnight, he told Monsieur
Tourrier that he had now finished his business, and asked him if he
could obtain from the maire of the arrondissement a pass down to
Havre.
"It is a pity that you did not get your pass direct from Arthenay,"
he said. "You say that your sister wants to make inquiries about a
husband there, and that you are taking her down, and you also say
that you are a sailor."
"Yes."
"Then, I should think that the best thing for you would be to dress
yourself as a sailor again. It will seem more natural than for you
to be in that civilian dress. I can go with you, and say that you
were strongly recommended to me by the maire's adjoint at Arthenay,
and that your papers are all en regle. If he asks why you did not
have your papers made out in the first place to Havre, say that you
had hoped to have been joined by your brother-in-law here; but as
he has not arrived your sister is anxious about him, and wishes
therefore to go on to Havre, which indeed he has requested her to
do, as it was uncertain whether he would be able to leave his ship.
"I know, of course, that it is all right, or my cousin would not
have recommended you so strongly to me; but in these days everyone
is suspicious, and one cannot be too cautious. I will get one of
the market authorities to go up with me. I am well known to them
all, and 'tis likely that none of the people at the mairie will
know me, seeing that I am a quiet man, and keep myself to myself."
Leigh had no trouble in buying a sailor's dress, at a shop down by
the wharves and, having put this on, went up with Monsieur Tourrier
and one of the market officers to the mairie. As the former had
anticipated, there was no difficulty. Leigh's pass was examined.
The market official testified to the grocer as being a well-known
citizen, doing business with the market people, and taking no part
in public affairs; while Monsieur Tourrier showed the letter that
he had received from his cousin, the adjoint at Arthenay.
"What is the name of the ship which your sister's husband
commands?" the maire asked.
"The Henriette, a lugger. Formerly she traded with England but,
since the war broke out, she trades between the ports on our
western coast."
"And you have been a sailor on board her?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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