They asked me a few questions as to who I was
and why I was there, and on arrival at the fort I was handed over to
some other officers and again asked my business.
I could only say that I was an Englishman who had been looking on at
the manoeuvres as a spectator and was anxious to find my way to the
station (which was some ten miles away). This was all fairly true, but
not quite good enough for them, and they presently packed me into a
carriage and sent me back--in charge of an officer--to the station,
with a view to my being handed over to the police and removed to the
capital.
It was in the days of my apprenticeship, and I had been exceedingly
foolish in taking a few notes, which, although undecipherable, perhaps
would none the less be used as evidence against me.
Therefore, so soon as we were under way I made it my business to
quietly tear these notes up into small pieces, and to drop them out
of the carriage window whenever my guardian was looking the other way.
When we arrived at the station there was some little time to wait, and
I asked if I might go to the inn and collect my belongings. Permission
was granted to me, and I was taken there under the charge of a police
officer.
Hastily I packed my bag, and the good officer endeavoured to help me,
packing up anything he could see in the room and thrusting it in with
my things. Unfortunately he kept packing my brother's things in as
well, and so when his back was turned I thrust them back into my
brother's bed, for I did not want it known he was about there too.
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