host understand that our comrade had been taken suddenly
ill, that I wished to get him to bed as soon as we could,
and that we preferred remaining with him to going into
town, as it was then late. He politely told us we should
be instantly accommodated.

At about half-past eight we were shown to bed, and
were in great spirits. The next morning would decide our
destiny, and we were very sanguine. We knew it was
necessary to be cautious also in Austria, but considered
that the great point would be attained when we should be
out of the power of the Confederation of the Rhine, I
confess I sometimes thought how unfortunate we should
be if arrested in the vicinity of the last Bavarian town,
and again conducted back to the horrible Mansion of
Tears. I frankly declare, I would have preferred death as
the alternative.

At the dawn of day on the 17th of October we rose,
ordered a cup of coffee each, and pushed forward with
great circumspection for the town of Reichenhall, and saw
very few people moving. Everything, we imagined,



256 ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN O'BRIEN

favoured us ; but the next moment we discovered a bridge,
which we inevitably must pass ; at the end of it was a
turnpike and the Bavarian colours, blue and white, which
we were tolerably well acquainted with. There were two
men who appeared at a short distance from the turnpike.
We were on the bridge. The two men entered a house
close to the turnpike. We advanced rapidly. Supposing
it to be a most favourable opportunity, we passed the turn-
pike very fortunately, and turned short round to the right,
which led us directly as we wished, and also clear of the
town. We then passed another barrier, where there was
not a house to be seen, and being so near to that we just
passed, we conjectured that both were superintended by
the same people.

Having anticipated all aggravations of difficulties as we
approached the frontier, we were overjoyed at finding the
system of police not so strict as we expected : we now con-
sidered ourselves safe. We advanced a mile, and thought
ourselves in the Austrian territories. Our happiness was
inconceivable. Our dangers, we thought, were over, and
we were now in a country which, though not in alliance
with England, had been subsidised on former occasions to
the extent of so many millions by her, and had so common
a cause with us in putting down the general enemy. We
felt almost as if we were at home. So secure were we that
we began to be less attentive to dangers of any sort.

The road became excessively heavy; and, although I
had passed through by far worse roads under more diffi-
cult circumstances, my prospects of triumph made me
fastidious or sportive. A cut, or pathway, appeared to
lead through fields in one direction, and I chose to take it,
as I thought it would shorten our distance, while Hewson



A NARROW ESCAPE 257

pursued the high-road in preference. On looking back, I
found that Barklimore was following my steps a good
way behind, though in a short time I entirely lost sight
of Hewson. I had made an obtuse angle, and saved
some distance, and I soon got into the road again ;
but, to my great uneasiness, in vain did I look for my
friend. I conjectured that, although he had the longest
route, he must have walked so very fast as to more than
make up for the difference ; and that, consequently, he
was ahead of me. Presently, to my great astonishment
and utter dismay, I made the woeful discovery that we
were still in the Bavarian territories ; for I perceived close
to me a turnpike, with the adjacent house bearing the
Bavarian arms. Fortunately, the door was shut, and I
passed it with a palpitating heart, thanking Heaven for
my hair-breadth escape. I then quickened my pace ; and,
looking back with great anxiety, to my unspeakable joy
I found that Barklimore had passed with equal success.

I now became exceedingly alarmed for the safety of our
friend Hewson, and concluded that, under the idea that
he was in the Austrian dominions, he might have in-
cautiously approached the barrier we had just escaped,
and have been captured. I stopped to wait Barklimore's
coming up, that we might counsel what was best to be
done. In the midst of our perplexity and distress, to my
unspeakable joy I perceived Hewson a long way ahead
of us, and making towards us with precipitation. How
he could have got so far in advance was to me inexpli-
cable. I hastened towards him, and expressed my astonish-
ment at his separating from us at such a critical moment.
He briefly retaliated, and said, that as we had cut off such
a large angle by crossing the fields, he naturally concluded



258 ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN O'BRIEN

that we were further advanced than himself. But there
was no time to be lost in recriminations ; for our danger
was extreme. Hewson, with much trepidation, told us
that we were still on Bavarian ground, and that a short
way in advance he had come to the line of demarcation
between the two countries, and at the nearest point of
which there was a barrier, with a guard ; and he added,
" The Austrian officer had stopped me, and demanded my
passport. With all the presence of mind I could assume, 11
said Hewson, " I told him that my companions, who were
following me, had all our papers, and he desired me to
wait until you arrived, but I contrived to elude his vigi-
lance, and have hastened to acquaint you with our danger."

We received this woeful intelligence with pallid faces
and knit brows, but our alarm was increased when Hewson
continued, " I met the wife of the man who looks out at
yon Bavarian gate, or turnpike, and she asked me if I had
shown my passport and papers to her husband ; of course
I answered that I had."

Here, then, we were in as desperate a situation as any
we had ever been in. Never had we had to contend with
dangers more numerous or extreme. It appeared but too
evident to us, that, when the woman told her husband of
what Hewson had stated to her, a pursuit of us would be
commenced, and a hue and cry raised for our apprehension.
If the Austrian officer had refused to let Hewson pass with-
out a passport when he was unsuspected, it was evident
that he would not let us go through when the Bavarian
soldiers were in chase of us. It was hopeless to go directly
to the Austrian guard, confess who and what we were, and
surrender ourselves as prisoners, on the confidence of the
amity which had formerly existed between England and



A DASH FOR AUSTRIAN SOIL 259

Austria, and of the good feelings which the Austrians
ought to entertain towards the English. Whichever way
we turned, new difficulties presented themselves, and we
were distracted with the thought of being taken after
having overcome so many dangers, travelled so many
hundred miles, and arrived at a point at which even a
few yards over an imaginary line of separation might
save us.

I instantly proposed that we should try to elude and
pass the Austrian guard by avoiding the barrier, and
crossing the boundary how we could, at any other point ;
and then, if we were taken, our last resource would be to
claim the protection of the Austrian officer, as English
subjects, and formerly, though not now, the allies of the
emperor. At any risk, even at the cost of our lives, we
were to avoid falling into the hands of the Bavarians, for
then our inevitable fate would be a journey in chains back
to the Mansion of Tears, a trial at Metz, and a sentence
to the galleys.

Not a moment was lost. I surveyed the country,
and espied a narrow pathway that led into a thick wood
at the foot of an immense mountain. Into this by-path
we immediately struck, and proceeded as rapidly as the
nature of the track would admit of our using our legs.
We expected to be pursued by the Austrian troops ; and
our only hope was to get so far into their territory, that,
when captured, they would not think of returning us to
the dreaded Bavarians.

We pursued the route with all possible speed, running,
climbing, crawling, and scrambling, as the nature of the
ground admitted or required, until at length we stopped,
out of breath, in the middle of the wood, and, to our great



260 ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN O'BRIEN

joy, heard not the sound of a human voice or footstep in
pursuit.

We took breath, and again proceeded. It was impos-
sible to clamber the immense mountain, for its sides were
perfectly inaccessible, and often to a great height perpen-
dicular ; and yet we cast a longing, lingering look upon its
rugged steeps, and thought that if we could only gain one
of its caves or fastnesses, our security would be perfect.

We kept the path through the wood, and in a short
time we got a sight of the high-road: and, to the joy of
exhausted lungs and palpitating hearts, we 'found that we
were full a mile in the rear of the Austrian barrier. This
was indeed happiness : happiness so great, so unexpected,
and so much in contrast with all the circumstances of our
previous position, that we distrusted even our senses that
so plainly assured us of the fact.

We now set firm foot upon the spacious high-road,
and were about to proceed with the elated feelings that
made us think we could defy the world, and laugh at the
book of fate or the tricks of the treacherous and fickle
goddess, when, at our first step, a hoarse voice called on
us to surrender, and up sprung four German soldiers from
their hiding-place, behind a rock on the verge of the
wood, and each presented a rifle at our heads. We
concluded they were bandits, and had little to apprehend
from them, as we had no property to lose, and knew that
such gentry were not desirous of taking life, when there
was no advantage to 'Jbe derived from shedding ^blood.
But we were soon undeceived, for whilst three of the
fellows kept the muzzles of their pieces at our heads, the
foremost of them very politely took off his hat to us.
This was very like the scene in Gil Bias, when the



FEIGNING TO BE AMERICANS 261

beggar piteously implored the traveller, in the name of
the Holy Virgin, to drop a marvadie in his cap, whilst he
kept his carbine aimed at his head, as a broad hint of
what he was to suffer if he was uncharitable. But the
cases were not in point, and these turned out to be
Austrian soldiers, and the leader civilly asked us for our
passports. I showed him an old pocket-book, and pre-
tended to look for mine, and which of course I could not
find; but I showed him some envelopes in the German
character, which I had provided for such an emergency.
The phlegmatic German sergeant defeated all my excuses,
by simply declaring that he was not a judge in such
difficult cases, not a scholar (in fact, he could not read),
and that his duty was to take us before his officer, point-
ing to the direction in which we knew the Austrian
barrier lay. "Will you surrender ?" said he; and what
option of an answer was left to us in any case, when each
had a rifle presented to his head? "Most willingly," I
replied, " but are we not in the Emperor's dominions in
Kaiser sland ? " How my heart beat with joy when he
answered the "Yes, Sir," Ya Mynheer. Never did the
sun behold more willing prisoners. We accompanied our
captors to the officer. He was a young man, and spoke
no other language than the German. However, we com-
prehended perfectly that he was displeased at our attempt-
ing to elude him and the guard. He examined us, and
we made him understand as well as we could, " That we
were Americans, who had escaped from the Danes at
Altona, and were making the best of our way to Trieste,
where we expected to procure a passage to our native
country." He desired one of his soldiers to go and inform
the Bavarian at the next barrier that he wanted him.



ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN O'BRIEN

This circumstance occasioned me much uneasiness. I
endeavoured to learn from him if he intended to send us
to Salzburg. He said we should be conveyed to that
city immediately. We were much pleased at this intelli-
gence, as we dreaded being given up to the Bavarian,
who now had arrived, and was astonished when the officer
told him that he had let us pass without examining
or interrogating us. Our friend from the barrier was
excessively nettled at the information, and, had we been
handed over to his tender mercies, he would have amply
revenged himself for the manner in which our success had
exposed him to the taunts of the officer of the rival
nation.



CHAPTER XVI

Our arrival at Salzburg The Director of Police Perseverance in
our tale of being Americans Suspected of being spies Austrian
feelings favourable towards England and Englishmen Confes-
sion of the truth Treated well as English officers An excel-
lent inn A kind governor Great civility Despatches from
Vienna Passports ordered for us A remittance of money
from Vienna Passports for Trieste Our journey German
students and dog Latin Clagenfurt Laibach Banditti A
mountain scene An Irish watch-fire Arrival at Trieste
Ecstasies at beholding the Gulf and the English frigate in the
offing Our embarkation Picked up by the Amphion's boat
An old friend and shipmate Discovering an enemy A
desperate and unsuccessful fight The killed and wounded
Shot through the right arm Valour of Lieut. G. M. Jones His
wound Excessive kindness of the Amphion's captain and
officers The Spider brig Corfu Malta Sir Alex. Ball
Unexpected meeting with old friends escaped from Bitche
Promoted to a lieutenancy in the Warrior (a seventy-four)
The glories of the naval service opened to me.

WE had now reached about the noon of the 17th of
October 1808, when an escort or guard was appointed
for our custody, and we were put upon our march for
Salzburg. Our fate depended on what might be the
momentary disposition of the Austrian Government
towards England and America. We resolved to persevere
in our American fiction, if nothing arose to induce us to
the contrary. At about two we arrived at Salzburg.

263



264 ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN O'BRIEN

This is a fine fortified city, the capital of the duchy of
Salzburg, with a strong castle on the mountain. It has
a university, and two noble palaces. The town lies on
both sides of the river Salza, and is situated between three
mountains. The buildings of the town were very remark-
able, but we were not in a humour, or under circumstances,
to attend to such subjects, or to indulge in the taste of
amateurs.

We were conducted to one building, the town house,
where we were put under strict interrogatories by the
Director of the Police. Our inquisitor, however, was a
well-bred, gentlemanly officer, and he spoke four languages
with great fluency.

He first asked us in French, what countrymen we
were. We would not understand him. He then put to
us the same question both in Italian and German : we
were equally ignorant. He next asked us our country
in English. Now we understood him, and promptly
answered that we were Americans.

" How have you contrived," he demanded, " to enter
the Emperor of Austria's dominions without regular pass-
ports ? You will be considered as spies. 1 '

I laconically asked him, Whether spies would not
furnish themselves with passports, in order to facilitate
their designs ? and I further asked him, What knowledge
of a country could be obtained by spies, in our destitute
condition and humble class of life ? We had not a sheet
of paper or a black-lead pencil amongst us, and were, in
point of money, paupers.

This gentleman seemed struck by these obvious truths,
but he insisted upon our giving some account of ourselves.

I was the spokesman, and I replied as follows : " We



A FRIENDLY POLICE OFFICER 265

belonged," I said, " to an American ship which was taken
by the Danes (under the Berlin and Milan decrees) for
having been boarded and overhauled by two English
frigates in the English Channel, on her passage to the
Baltic. 1 Our names," I added, " are Manuel (alias Hew-
son), chief mate ; Henderson, surgeon (alias Barklimore) ;
and myself, Lincoln, who unfortunately happened to be a
passenger."

He then requested that each of us would make out, in
writing, a regular specification of who and what we were,
and bring it to him the next morning. He should send
us to a tavern for the night, and requested we would not
stir from it without his permission. He expressed also
his astonishment at our having crossed the Continent
without being able to speak any other language than
English, and added, That if we were even Englishmen, we
had nothing to fear from the Austrian Government. My
God ! I never felt more happy than at hearing these
words how they soothed my mind ! I however feigned
not to comprehend him perfectly, that my ears might
again hear them repeated ; and my heart rebounded with
joy when he reiterated that, were we English, we should
have nothing to fear from the Austrians. I felt so
confident that a man in his station would not tell an
untruth, that I was actually on the point of declaring
who and what we really were. However, I governed
myself and restrained my desire to relate the truth,
although I am at a loss to explain how I was able to do

1 Napoleon's last wild extension of the Continental System
provided that a neutral ship should be considered fair prize if it
had visited a British port, or even been searched by a British
cruiser.



266 ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN O'BRIEN

so; and, turning to my companions, I observed that we
had better proceed to the tavern, as we were Aery much
fatigued. The Director ordered a sergeant to show us
the way. We took a cordial leave of this worthy old
gentleman, and followed our guide.

At the tavern we were received as American travellers,
and had an excellent supper and good beds; we felt
superlatively happy. What a vast difference between our
present situation and that of only a few hours before,
when between the two barriers !

The next morning (Tuesday the 18th) we rose early,
and endeavoured to dress ourselves as well as we could
at least, as well as our tattered garments would admit of ;
so we procured a change of linen, and prepared to wait
on the Director. We agreed to continue the American
story, until we could be well assured of the disposition
of the Austrian Government towards Englishmen. At
ten we visited the Director, who again expressed great
astonishment at our travelling with such success so great
a distance, and wondered that we had nothing whatever
about us to certify that we were Americans. "Mr.
Manuel" was at the same time writing his declaration.
The old gentleman again observed to me that there were
frequently Englishmen passing through Salzburg, who
had escaped from France, and who always found an asylum
in Austria. I paid very great attention to this important
information. The chief mate had now finished his
declaration ; and " Mr. Lincoln, passenger, " was to begin
next. I really could not reconcile it to myself to draw up
a false declaration, especially as it appeared that we ran
no risk in declaring the truth; and I therefore pointed
out to the others the consequences that such a step might



WE REVEAL OUR TRUE STATUS 267

occasion, with the certainty of being found out, as no
doubt the court of Vienna would make every necessary
inquiry, through their consul at Altona, before they would
pay any credit to our statement. The result of this
would of course be that we should be found impostors,
and perhaps not be believed when we declared what we
were in reality. Making a virtue of necessity was our
best policy. They both agreed that my remarks were
just; and I was requested by them to take the old
gentleman aside, and make him acquainted with the whole
of the circumstances. I accordingly did so, and proved
to him by a certificate, 1 which I kept always sewed up in
my clothes, that we were British officers. He said it had
appeared to him at first sight that we were English
prisoners -of -war, who had escaped from the French. I
related the whole of our history. He regretted much that
he could not instantly grant us passports, since it was
necessary to acquaint the Government at Vienna, and have
their sanction, but he said we should have an answer in
fifteen days at most ; and he jocosely added, " You have
been five years nearly in France, so you cannot have any
objection to remain amongst us for a few days." He was
excessively kind ; and I could not avoid communicating to
him that our finances were reduced to the lowest ebb.
The kind old man soon comforted me on this score, by
stating that, whilst we were detained, the Austrian
Government would allow us a certain sum per diem, in
proportion to our respective ranks. He begged that we
would make ourselves as comfortable as possible at our

1 This certificate I have still by me. It was given me by Lieut.
Henry T. Lutwidge, our second lieutenant, a worthy officer, in
Verdun^ on 21st February 1807^ and now a commander.



268 ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN (TBRIEN

inn, told us to dismiss all care and anxiety from our minds,
and requested, rather than ordered us, to keep ourselves
within doors, until we heard further from him.

We took our leave most respectfully and gratefully ;
and as we 'returned to the tavern, we could not help
contrasting this urbanity and kindness with the brutal
severity which it had been our unhappy lot to experience
for so many years. The effect of kindness towards the
distressed is to elevate the character of those that bestow
and those that receive it.

Mr. Hewson, this evening, wrote to his friend Mr.
Concannon, at Vienna, who had been a detenu in Verdun
and obtained his liberty (this gentleman was subse-
quently member for Coventry), to beg him to use his
influence with the authorities in our behalf.

The Director sent daily his compliments "to the
American gentlemen (for out of policy towards France we
were still considered under this character), and requested
to know how we were ; " and the landlady and waiters
declared, that, until they had seen us, they had imagined
that all Americans were negroes. In the dusk of the
evening we sometimes contrived to steal out and recon-
noitre the town and suburbs; and I had fixed on a plan
of escape, in the event of the Austrian Government coming
to a resolution to give us up to the cruel and hated enemy.
Perhaps the suspicion was not very worthy of us, and
could only be justified by what we had suffered at the
hands of the French.

We had been ten days and nights in this sort of in-
dulgent durance, when, on the eleventh morning, before we
were out of bed, an officer rapped at our door, and told us
that the Director wished to see one of us immediately.



GRATITUDE TO AUSTRIA 269

Hewson sprang out of bed, dressed himself quickly, and
obeyed the summons. During our friend's absence,
Barklimore and myself were in a state of great perplexity.
It rushed into my mind that the French or Bavarian
governments might have demanded us from the Austrians.
This apprehension overwhelmed me ; but I concealed my
emotions, strong as they were, from my friend, who at the
time was suffering greatly from fever and ague.

Hewson shortly returned, and his countenance soon dis-
sipated all our apprehensions, for his joy was so excessive
that in vain did he endeavour to put on dismal looks in
order to worry us. With an assumed air of sorrow, he told
us that he much feared we were to be sent back to France.
But we were not so ignorant of physiognomy that we could
not perceive that he was almost bursting with some happy
intelligence. At last he congratulated us that we were at
length free men our liberty was secured as firmly as if we
had taken " a bond from Fate." In fact, the Director had
received a despatch from Vienna, in which the Austrian
Government had acknowledged us as English subjects and
officers, and in which they had directed him to give us
passports to proceed wherever we pleased ; and the Director
added that we were now at liberty, and that we might
quit the town that day if we wished. Good and gracious
God ! what intelligence to people who have been nearly
five years in severe and bitter slavery ! We sprang out of
bed, fell on our knees, and, with hearts full of gratitude to
our Great Creator for His unbounded mercies and goodness,
we greeted each other as free people.

We instantly agreed to wait upon our worthy friend,
the Director, and evince to him how grateful we were for
his attention and kindness. He received us in the most



270 ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN O'BRIEN

handsome manner, and appeared as much elated as if he
had been in our situation. He wished to know how we
meant to travel to Trieste ? We answered, on foot, as our
finances were low ; though we dreaded the doctor's inca-