e thrown into a dungeon.

However, on the 17th September, Murat left Viscovato; General
Franceschetti and several Corsican officers served as escort; he took the
road to Ajaccio by Cotone, the mountains of Serra and Bosco, Venaco and
Vivaro, by the gorges of the forest of Vezzanovo and Bogognone; he was
received and feted like a king everywhere, and at the gates of the towns
he was met by deputations who made him speeches and saluted him with the
title of "Majesty"; at last, on the 23rd September, he arrived at
Ajaccio. The whole population awaited him outside the walls, and his
entry into the town was a triumphal procession; he was taken to the inn
which had been fixed upon beforehand by the quartermasters. It was
enough to turn the head of a man less impressionable than Murat; as for
him, he was intoxicated with it. As he went into the inn he held out his
hand to Franceschetti.

"You see," he said, "what the Neapolitans will do for me by the way the
Corsicans receive me."

It was the first mention which had escaped him of his plans for the
future, and from that very day he began to give orders for his departure.

They collected ten little feluccas: a Maltese, named Barbara, former
captain of a frigate of the Neapolitan navy, was appointed
commander-in-chief of the expedition; two hundred and fifty men were
recruited and ordered to hold themselves in readiness for the first
signal.

Murat was only waiting for the answers to Othello's letters: they arrived
on the afternoon of the 28th. Murat invited all his officers to a grand
dinner, and ordered double pay and double rations to the men.

The king was at dessert when the arrival of M. Maceroni was announced
to him: he was the envoy of the foreign powers who brought Murat the
answer which he had been awaiting so long at Toulon. Murat left the
table and went into another room. M. Maceroni introduced himself as
charged with an official mission, and handed the king the Emperor of
Austria's ultimatum. It was couched in the following terms:

"Monsieur Maceroni is authorised by these presents to announce to
King Joachim that His Majesty the Emperor of Austria will afford him
shelter in his States on the following terms:--

"1. The king is to take a private name. The queen having adopted
that of Lipano, it is proposed that the king should do likewise.

"2. It will be permitted to the king to choose a town in Bohemia,
Moravia, or the