vessel, with whom I was able to make a bargain. He agreed to take me, and four or five persons with me, to England, at the rate of ten pistoles each, and it was arranged that we should assemble at Tremblade for embarkation. I went immediately to fetch your dear mother, Anne Elizabeth Boursiquot, and her sister Elizabeth, and my niece Janette Forestier; the latter was my god-daughter, and I felt it incumbent upon me to provide for her safety.
I mentioned the plan to some few persons, and I expected they would have rejoiced at the prospect of getting away, but their fears were stronger than their hopes, and they dared not venture to encounter so many dangers. The coast was carefully guarded both by sea and land to prevent emigration.
We went to Tremblade to be ready, and took up our abode in the house of a man who was to act as our pilot because he could speak English. He was a very imprudent as well as a drunken man, which made our situation very dangerous while under his roof.
After several days of cruel suspense, the Captain sent us word that he should be ready to sail the next day, and he wished us to be in readiness also. He said that he should pass between the Isle of Oleron and the main-land, and that if we would be on the sands near the Forest of Arvert. He would send a boat ashore for us.
We set off during the night, and had two horses to carry the few little possessions we were able to take with us. In the course of the following day, upwards of fifty persons assembled on the sands, with the hope that they might be taken on board the vessel, and make their escape with us. Most of them were very young, and they had not taken due
