for a very
dangerous mission when he was only eighteen years of age.

At that time Murat held military rule at Madrid. He desired to send
important dispatches to Junot, then at Lisbon; but this was a matter of
great difficulty, for all the roads to Lisbon were in the possession of
Castagnos and his army of Spanish revolutionists. The dreaded guerillas
also infested the way.

Murat, in his perplexity, confided in Baron Strogonoff, the Russian
Ambassador at Madrid. Russia at this time was not the direct ally of
France, but distinctly the friend. Strogonoff--though it was a rash and
illegal act--offered help. He proposed that a Polish lancer, dressed in
the Russian uniform, should be sent with dispatches from _his_ Court to
Admiral Siniavin, then at the port of Lisbon, and that the messenger
should at the same time convey verbal messages from Murat to Junot. It
was improbable, said the Baron, that the insurgent army of Castagnos
would interfere with a messenger of Russia, whose goodwill, to the
extent of neutrality, at least, they were desirous to obtain. But this
opinion, as we shall see, proved a mistaken one.

Murat was delighted with the plan, and Krasinski, the Polish commander,
was immediately applied to for a suitable person. Leckinski volunteered
for the task.

Murat, himself a brave man, thought it right to point out to Leckinski
the perils of his mission.

The young Pole smiled. 'I owe your Imperial Highness a thousand thanks,'
said he, 'for having so greatly honoured me as to entrust me with this
duty. It shall be done to the best of my ability.'

Murat then gave him his secret instructions, and, dressed in the Russian
uniform, and carrying the written dispatches for the Russian admiral,
Leckinski started on his journey.

Just at first all went well, but on the third day Leckinski was
surrounded and captured by a Spanish troop. His captors dragged him
before their commanding officer, who chanced to be Castagnos himself.
Leckinski saw that if he were recognised as an emissary of the French,
his doom would be sealed. He therefore instantly determined to feign
complete ignorance of the French language, and to speak only Russian or
German, languages which he knew thoroughly.

In his determination he was strengthened by the terrible threats which
he heard from the Spaniards around him. He recalled, too, the horrible
fate of General Rene, who, a few weeks before, while executing a mission
similar to his own,