The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-04-26

 The frigate joined the Mediterranean l squadron and became one of the guard | of Toulon to prevent the French from coming out Before they had been there | two days they had fierce action with the enemy that ended when two French frigates were cut to pieces and one sur | rendered.
 This fight cured Peter of his fear of | cannon balls and he slowed himself
 away in the foresheets of the first cut | ter commanded by OBrien when the | boats were ordered away one morn | ing to cut out some merchant vessels
 that lay under French battery near the town of Cette.
 The British forced their way to shore, attacked the battery and drove | the men away Other French troops 1 hastened to the rescue. O'Brien start ed away with his men to attack the
 ships. but noticed that one of the can- non had not been spiked. He turned | back to do 1t. A volley was poured into the battery and Peter was shot
 in the leg. o'Brien lifted him on his shoulder ,and ran, but was caught. So, while the rest of the men from | the frigate were cutting out the ves- sels Peter and his friend were taken into the town as prisoners. Peter fainted away on the road. When | he came to again he was in bed and o'Brien, with suspicious traces of tears on his face. was leaning over him. A | French officer andia surgeon stood near l by and a beautiful little girl, about | 12 years old, was holding cup to- ward him.
 I'm pretending not to understand 1 French" said O'Brien to Peter. "so l can find out what they mean to do with us."
 | But is that honest. o'Brien?" asked | Peter. T think that you should not
 deceive them, as they are so kind to
 us."
 | When all the rest had left the room the French officer addressed them smil- ingiy and in very good English and told them that. although he was a good | Frenchman, he was of Irish descent and that his name was O'Brien too. Then he offered both prisoners their parole and invited them to be his I guests till the time came to forward | them to prison in the interior. He was better than his word. for he | kept them long after Peter was quite cured. Peter and little Celeste became
 such great friends that 1t was sorry parting when the surgeon declared at last he could not withhold his report any longer.
 They were dispatched to the fortified
 town of Givet, in the Ardennes; and | there OBrien began to prepare for | flight as soon as their parole was at an end.
 | Before thcir preparations were com l pleted q naval list was received by one of the British prisoners, and O'Brien l learned to his amazement that he had
 been promoted to- lieutenant He re- fused to believe it till Peter at last
 confessed that he had sent Captain Saw ! age q report of the action of. the bat I tery, with the attestations of the | French officers who had been witness
 es of the young Irishman's bravery. One tempestuous night in November O'Brien awoke Peter and told him that
 all was ready. With the ingenuity of
 sailor he had managed to fasten some pieces of iron intolthe great walls
 and with these for foothold 1t did not take them long to reach the top. He had also made a rope, and they | lowered themselves down the other side without trouble. They overpow- 1 cred and gagged sentry on the way, swan the river that washed the walls | and before daybreak were hiding in the Forest of Ardennes shivering and | shaking.
 l About five in the morning they heard I the noise of many men. Swiftly they
 climbed up a huge oak after having 1 covered their haversacks with leaves. :.
 Soon gendarmes appeared everywhere. but they passed on without having seen l the two, who were congratulating 6
 themselves when a single gendarme re- turned and began to poke about among
 the leaves. As soon as he routed out 1 the haversacks, he naturally looked up | into the oak and spied Peter.
 At once he leve,ed his gun. The next | instant O'Brien threw himself from
 the tree and dropped heavily right on the mans head, breaking his neck | Quick" said he. This Is the luck fest thing in the world" He tore of | his own clothes and put on the gen | darme's uniform. Then he tied Pe- l ter's hands with a cord and set of | boldly down the road toward the Dutch l frontier.
 By nightfall they had put many miles | between their prison and themselves | and they entered an inn and got ac-
 commodstions without arouslng suspi- l cion. OBrlen representing himself s a gendarme with a young English pris- oner.
 | In one of the inns the women felt
 great pity for the lad and proposed to l help him escape. He consented and | told O'Brien, who rushed in at the right ] moment and threatened the people with | the wrath of the government.
 Their distress was so great that at
 last. when o'Brien pretended to feel | pity for hem. the mistress gave him a | letter to her sister. who had an inn in
 Flushing. requesting her, by the love | she bore the writer. to do anything | that the bearer might demand. as he l had the power of making the whole | family miserable.
 Unfortunately they fell in with a | Rendarne a few days later. who evil | dently suspected them. This forced
 them to hide away as soon as they had given him the slip. Heavy snow had | come on and they nearly perished in | the woods at night. but they did not | dare enter an inn, knowing that the
 alarm would be out.
 After about a week of miserable
 skulking and semi-starvation they came upon the frozen bodies of a man
 and a young girl In the thickets. Be- side them lay long stilts showing that
 they were peasants from the Landes, where the people use stilts on account
 of the connguration of the land. These people often came into other parts of | France to earn money by displaying their agility.
 Under O'Brien's directions Peter Sim
 ple attired himself in the dress worn | by the girl and the Irishman put on | the peasants garments. For a week | they stayed in the wood praoticing the use of the stilts and getting the knack | of them many times more readily than | iandsmen could have done. At last | O'RrIen pronounced that 1t would be | safe to venture out and they set forth.
 mounting their stilts and performing a rude sort of dance whenever they en- 1 tered a village.
 They entered the fortified town of 4