Methinks I saw the muzzle
of a fusil sticking out of the coach." The painter, hearing these
tidings, that instant thrust himself half out at the window, with
his helmet still in his hand, bellowing to the coachman, as loud
as he could roar, "Drive, d-- ye, dive to the gates of Jericho and
the ends of the earth! Drive, you ragamuffin, you rascallion, you
hell-hound! Drive us to the pit Of hell, rather than we should be
taken!"
Such a phantom could not pass without attracting the curiosity of
the people, who ran to their doors and windows, in order to behold
this object of admiration. With the same view, that coach, which
was supposed to be in pursuit of him, stopped just as the windows
of each happened to be opposite; and Pallet, looking behind, and
seeing three men standing upon the footboard armed with canes, which
his fear converted into fusils, never doubted that his friend's
suspicion was just, but, shaking his Jordan at the imaginary guard,
swore he would sooner die than part with his precious ware. The
owner of the coach, who was a nobleman of the first quality, mistook
him for some unhappy woman deprived of her senses: and, ordering
his coachman to proceed, convinced the fugitive, to his infinite
joy, that this was no more than a false alarm.
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