He calculated
that his conductors would consider him drowned, and the desire
of liberty lending him wings, (or we had rather say FINS, in this
instance,) the gallant boy swam on beneath the water, never lifting his
head for a single moment between Godesberg and Cologne--the distance
being twenty-five or thirty miles.
Escaping from observation, he landed on the Deutz side of the river,
repaired to a comfortable and quiet hostel there, saying he had had
an accident from a boat, and thus accounting for the moisture of his
habiliments, and while these were drying before a fire in his chamber,
went snugly to bed, where he mused, not without amaze, on the strange
events of the day. "This morning," thought he, "a noble, and heir to
a princely estate--this evening an outcast, with but a few bank-notes
which my mamma luckily gave me on my birthday. What a strange entry
into life is this for a young man of my family! Well, I have courage and
resolution: my first attempt in life has been a gallant and successful
one; other dangers will be conquered by similar bravery." And
recommending himself, his unhappy mother, and his mistaken father to the
care of their patron saint, Saint Buffo, the gallant-hearted boy
fell presently into such a sleep as only the young, the healthy, the
innocent, and the extremely fatigued can enjoy.
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