s of horses in waiting, and again
set out on our way. The day was declining when we reached the Bois de
Boulogne, and entered the long avenue that leads to the Barriere de
l'Etoile. The heavy wheels moved noiselessly over the even turf, and,
save the jingle of the troopers' equipments, all was hushed. For above
an hour we had proceeded thus, when a loud shout in front, followed by a
pistol-shot, and then three or four others quickly after it, halted the
party; and I could mark through the uncertain light the mounted figures
dashing wildly here and there, and plunging into the thickest of the
wood.

"Look to the prisoners," cried an officer, as he galloped down the line;
and, at the word, every man seized his carbine, and held himself on the
alert.

Meanwhile the whole cavalcade was halted, and I could see that something
of consequence had occurred in front, though of what nature I could
not even guess. At last a sergeant of the gendarmes rode up to our side
splashed and heated.

"Has he escaped?" cried one of the men beside me.

"Yes!" said he, with an oath, "the brigand has got away; though how
he cut the cords on his wrists, or by what means he sprang from the
charrette to the road, the devil must answer. Ha! there they are firing
away after him. The only use of their powder is to show the fellow where
they are."

"I would not change places with our captain this evening," cried one of
the gendarmerie. "Returning to Paris without the red beard--"

"_Ma foi_, you're not wrong there. It will be a heavy reckoning for him
with dark Savary; and as to taking a Breton in a wood--"

The word to march interrupted the colloquy, and again we moved forward.

By some strange sympathy I cannot account for, I felt glad that the
chief had made his escape. The gallantry of his defence, the implicit
obedience yielded him by the others, had succeeded in establishing an
interest for him in my mind; and the very last act of daring courage
by which he effected his liberty increased the feeling. By what an
easy transition, too, do we come to feel for those whose fate has any
similarity with our own! The very circumstance of common misfortune is a
binding link; and thus I was not without an anxious hope that the chief
might succeed in his escape, though, had I known his intrigue or his
intentions, such interest had scarcely found a place in my heart.

Such reflections as these led me to think how great must be the charm to
the huma