hither, I suppose:"
and with this he moved forward, followed by the rest, among whom I found
myself hurried along, no one any longer paying me the slightest respect,
or attention.

"To the citadel," said one.

"To the citadel," cried another.

"Come, Hoogendorp, lead the way," cried several together; and so they
pushed me to the front, and, notwithstanding all I said, that I did not
know the citadel, from the Dome Church, they would listen to nothing,
but only called the louder, "Step out, old '_Grande culotte_,'" and
hurried me down the street, at the pace of a boar-hunt.

"Lead on," cried one. "To the front," said another. "Step out,"
roared three or four together: and I found myself at the head of the
procession, without the power to explain or confess my ignorance.

"As sure as my name is Peter van Hoogendorp, I'll give you all a devil's
dance," said I to myself; and with that, I grasped my staff, and set out
as fast as I was able. Down, one narrow street we went, and up, another:
sometimes we got into a _cul de sac_, where there was no exit, and
had to turn back again; another time, we would ascend a huge flight of
steps, and come plump into a tanner's yard, or a place where they were
curing fish, and so, we blundered on, till there wasn't a blind alley,
nor crooked lane, of Antwerp, that we didn't wade through, and I was
becoming foot-sore, and tired myself, with the exertion.

All this time the Emperor--for it was Napoleon--took no note of where
we were going; he was too busy conversing with old General de Hitter, to
mind anything else. At last, after traversing a long narrow street, we
came down upon an arm of the Scheldt, and so overcome was I then, that I
resolved I would go no further without a smoke, and I sat myself down on
a butter firkin, and took out my pipe, and proceeded to strike a light
with my flint. A titter of laughter from the officers now attracted the
Emperor's attention, and he stopped short, and stared at me as if I had
been some wonderful beast.

"What is this?" said he. "Why don't you move forward?"

"It 's impossible," replied I, "I never walked so far, since I was
born."

"Where is the citadel?" cried he in a passion.

"In the devil's keeping," said I, "or we should have seen it long ago."

"That must be it yonder," said an aide-de-camp, pointing to a green,
grassy eminence, at the other side of the Scheldt.

The Emperor took the telescope from his hand, and looked through i