'"I'll take you round to Boulogne," he says. "Mother and the
rest'll be glad to see you, and you can slip over to Newhaven with
Uncle Aurette. Or you can ship with me, like most o' your men,
and take a turn at King George's loose trade. There's plenty
pickings," he says.
'Crazy as I was, I couldn't help laughing.
'"I've had my allowance of pickings and stealings," I says.
"Where are they taking my tobacco?" 'Twas being loaded on to a barge.
'"Up the Seine to be sold in Paris," he says. "Neither you nor I
will ever touch a penny of that money."
'"Get me leave to go with it," I says. "I'll see if there's justice to
be gotten out of our American Ambassador."
'"There's not much justice in this world," he says, "without a
Navy." But he got me leave to go with the barge and he gave me
some money. That tobacco was all I had, and I followed it like a
hound follows a snatched bone. Going up the river I fiddled a little
to keep my spirits up, as well as to make friends with the guard.
They was only doing their duty. Outside o' that they were the
reasonablest o' God's creatures. They never even laughed at me.
So we come to Paris, by river, along in November, which the
French had christened Brumaire.
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