Page:Narrative of a captivity and adventures in France and Flanders between the years 1803 and 1809.djvu/123

against the rampart, and not letting them slip so fast as his hands, got himself in nearly a horizontal position; seeing his danger, I seized the rope, and placed myself in rather an inclined posture under him; he fell upon my arm and shoulder with a violent shock; fortunately neither of us were hurt: but it is somewhat remarkable, that within the lapse of a few minutes, we should have preserved each other from probable destruction. We all shook hands, and, in the excess of joy, heartily congratulated ourselves upon this providential success, after a most perilous and laborious work of three hours and three quarters. Having put our knapsacks a little in order, we mounted the glacis, and followed a footpath which led to the eastward. But a few minutes elapsed, before several objects were observed on the ground, which imagination, ever on the alert, metamorphosed into gens d'armes in ambush; we however marched on, when, to our no small relief, they were discovered to be cattle. Gaining the high road, we passed, (two and two, about forty paces apart,) through a very