Flashman's Escape by Robert Brightwell

Author:Robert Brightwell [Brightwell, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: War, Action, Military, Adventure, Historical
Amazon: B00NHPMFPS
Published: 2014-09-10T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

It took ten days for Marmont to organise a suitably sized escort for Grant. He was required to send a draft of three hundred men back to France to support the reinforcements for the invasion of Russia. To help protect this group against partisan attack, the column was provided with six cannon. There would also be the usual covered supply wagons and in one of these there would be a large ringbolt nailed to the floor. This was to transport Grant, who would be chained to the ring on the floor to stop him escaping or being carried off. The French had learned of Wellington’s offer to the partisans. They hoped by keeping Grant hidden in one of many wagons they could reduce the chances of losing their man.

Grant, however, was still adamant that he would not escape until he reached Paris, as he had given his word. He doggedly hung to the desperate hope that the letter I had shown him was a forgery. He was also convinced that his initial impression of Marmont as a man of honour stood true. I knew all this because Curtis had visited Grant twice more on his own after our joint meeting. Curtis thought he might make more progress with Grant alone. But Grant was a stubborn mule who insisted that his word of honour could not be broken. I have no doubt he would have changed his mind when they chained him to the rack, but he did not seem to have the imagination to work that out for himself. Marmont must have been getting reports on his prisoner for he heard about Curtis’s visits. When the priest tried to see Grant for the third time he was arrested and questioned.

I had been waiting outside the citadel for him, and as first one hour passed and then two, I realised that something was wrong. I quietly made my way to a tavern opposite the entrance to the university and there I watched a group of soldiers enter and head towards the priest’s rooms. They emerged a while later carrying books and a box of papers back to the citadel. It says something about the calm competence of the old priest that I never once considered that he would betray me. Curtis, a doctor of astronomy as well as a priest, was highly respected at the university. I was sure that the search of his room would have been reported to the academic authorities and that the chancellor would be sending representations to Marmont seeking the release of their professor.

Certainly if the French had their suspicions about an accomplice, then the city gates would be thoroughly guarded. The attempted escape of a junior French officer with no papers would only make things worse. It seemed to make sense to stay amongst the crowds within the city walls.

That afternoon and evening I moved between three taverns with views of the university, waiting to see if he would be released. I was playing

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