“He will not say; but I suspect from Givet.”
“There are two who have escaped from Givet,” replied he: “how they escaped no one can imagine; but,” continued he, again looking at O’Brien, “Avec les braves, il n’y a rien d’impossible.”
“That is true,” replied O’Brien; “I have taken one, the other cannot be far off. You had better look for him.”
“I should like to find him,” replied the gendarme, “for you know that to retake a runaway prisoner is certain promotion. You will be made a corporal.”
“So much the better,” replied O’Brien; “adieu, mon ami.”
“Nay, I merely came for a walk, and will return with you to Malines, where of course you are bound.”
“We shall not get there to-night,” said O’Brien, “my prisoner is too much fatigued.”
“Well, then, we will go as far as we can; and I will assist you. Perhaps we may find the second, who, I understand, obtained a map of the fortress by some means or another.”
O’Brien observed, that the English prisoners were very liberal; that he knew that a hundred Napoleons were often paid for assistance, and he thought that no corporal’s rank was equal to a sum that would in France made a man happy and independent for life.
“Very true,” replied the gendarme; “and let me only look upon that sum, and I will guarantee a positive safety out of France.”