, his sister
Pauline gave a ball, to which all the officers of the Elbese army were
invited. A brig (the _Inconstant_) and six small craft, had meanwhile
been prepared for the voyage, and at dead of night, without apparently
any previous intimation, the soldiery were mustered by tuck of drum, and
found themselves on board ere they could ask for what purpose. When the
day broke, they perceived that all the officers and the Emperor himself
were with them, and that they were steering for the coast of France; and
it could no longer be doubtful that the scheme which had for months
formed the darling object of all their hopes and dreams was about to be
realised.

Sir Neil Campbell, who had been absent on an excursion to Leghorn,
happened to return to Porto Ferraio almost as soon as the flotilla had
quitted it. The mother and sister of Buonaparte in vain endeavoured to
persuade the English officer that he had steered toward the coast of
Barbary. He pursued instantly towards Provence, in the _Partridge_,
which attended his orders, and came in sight of the fugitive armament
exactly when it was too late. Ere then Napoleon had encountered almost
an equal hazard. A French ship of war had crossed his path; but the
Emperor made all his soldiery lie flat on the decks, and the steersman
of the _Inconstant_, who happened to be well acquainted with the
commanding officer, had received and answered the usual challenge
without exciting any suspicion. Thus narrowly escaped the flotilla which
carried "Caesar and his fortune."

On the 1st of March he was once more off Cannes--the same spot which had
received him from Egypt, and at which he had embarked ten months before
for Elba. There was no force whatever to oppose his landing; and his
handful of men--500 grenadiers of the guard, 200 dragoons, and 100
Polish lancers, these last without horses, and carrying their saddles on
their backs--were immediately put in motion on the road to Paris.
Twenty-five grenadiers which he detached to summon Antibes were arrested
on the instant by the governor of that place; but he despised this omen,
and proceeded without a pause. He bivouacked that night in a plantation
of olives, with all his men about him. As soon as the moon rose, the
reveille sounded. A labourer going thus early afield, recognised the
Emperor's person, and, with a cry of joy, said he had served in the army
of Italy, and would join the march. "Here is already a reinforcement,"
said Napol