When it is understood that the only drive led through one or other of these barriers, it may be imagined how provoking and vexatious such a course of proceeding became. Representations were made to the mayor ever and anon, explaining that the passports once produced no further inconvenience should be incurred; but all to no purpose. Any one who knows France will acknowledge how totally inadequate a common-sense argument is in the decision of a question before a government functionary. The mayor, too, was a royalist, and the matter was decided against us.
Argument and reason having failed, the gallant Eighteenth came to the resolution to try force; and accordingly it was decided that next morning we should charge the barrière in full gallop, as it was rightly conjectured that no French employé would feel disposed to encounter the rush of a four-in-hand, even with the law on his side. To render the coup de main more brilliant, and perhaps, too, to give an air of plausibility to the infraction, four dashing thoroughbred light chestnuts—two of the number having never felt a collar in their lives—were harnessed for the occasion. A strong force of the wildest spirits of the regiment took their places on the roof; and amid a cheer that actually made the street ring, and a tantarara from the trumpets, the equipage dashed through the town, the leaders bounding with the swingle-bars every moment over their backs. Away we went, the populace flying in terror on every side, and every eye turned towards the barrière, where the dignified official stood, in the calm repose of his station, as if daring us to transgress his frontier. Already had he stepped forward with his accustomed question. The words, 'Messieurs, je vous demande,' had just escaped his lips, when he had barely time to spring into his den as the furious leaders tore past, the pavement crashing beneath their hoofs, and shouts of laughter mingling with the uproar.
Having driven for a league or so at a slow pace, to breathe our cattle, we turned homewards, rejoicing in the success of our scheme, which had fully satisfied our expectations. What was our chagrin, however, as we neared the barrière, to discover that a strong force of mounted gendarmes stopped the way, their drawn sabres giving us plainly to understand the fate that awaited our horses if we persisted in our plan! What was to be done? To force a passage under the circumstances was only to give an opportunity to the gendarmerie they were long anxious for, to cut our whole equipage in pieces. To yield was the only alternative; but what an alternative!—to be laughed at by the whole town on the very day of our victory!
'I have it!' said O'Grady, who sat on the box beside the driver—'I have it, lads! Pull up when they tell you, and do as they direct.'
With some difficulty the four dashing nags were reined in as we came up to the barrière; and the commissaire, bursting with passion, appeared at the door of the lodge, and directed us to get down.
'Your passports will avail little on the present occasion,' said he insolently, as we produced our papers. 'Your carriage and horses are confiscated. St. Omer has now privilege as a fortified town. The fortresses of France enforce a penalty of forty thousand francs——'
A burst of laughter from the bystanders at our rueful faces prevented us hearing the remainder of the explanation. Meanwhile, to our horror and disgust, some half-dozen gendarmes, with their long caps and heavy boots, were crawling up the sides of the drag, and taking their seats upon the top. Some crept into the interior, and showed their grinning faces at the windows; others mounted into the rumble; and two more aspiring spirits ascended to the box, by one of whom O'Grady was rudely ordered to get down, a summons enforced by the commissaire himself in a tone of considerable insolence. O'Grady's face for a minute or two seemed working with a secret impulse of fun and devilment which I could not account for at such a moment, as he asked, in a voice of much humility—
'Does Monsieur the Commissaire require me to come down?'