The Fishguard Invasion by the French in 1797

from Brestgarn, we saw, or, more strictly speaking, we heard all around us, foraging par

h the oaths and laughter of the Frenchmen, formed a medley of sound that might have been pleasing to the ears of a musician composing a symphony on rural sounds, but that to a more ordinary listener formed

all had fled for the present, in order to turn again with greater force and rend the int

eir way to take possession of our rocky nest on the top of Carnunda. This very strong position formed the enemy's outpost, an

nted with the larders and cellars of all the neighbouring houses. We crouched down lower among the gorse bushes, and I at least knew precisely the s

there's more coming. I know a better hiding-

or was happily unfastened, but no Frenchmen had as yet invaded the sacred building, for we took the precaution of looking through the "leper's hole" as soon as we had entered the porch. The leper's hole is a little square window,

red our sanctuary as though it had been a veritable city of refuge. Our first care was to secure the door as well as we could on the inside; the

ke it-we'll be caught here like rats in a trap. We can't hi

don't talk; they may hear you," said Nancy,

f curiosity to know where her hiding-place could be: the church was pitch dark, a fe

p it. Well, if you won't be quiet, I suppose I'd better show you the p

the fashion of the time. In my after-career I had often occasion to reprove the occupiers of like boxes, who, trusting to their

al times over unexpected obstacles,

e got a flint and steel in my pocket; but I

ve got a bit of cheese in my pocket along with

impelled by manners to say

sual. I put it in my pocket

ke cheese?" I asked

y," retorted Nancy.

aid of the French since I had seen them so near in B

first. I'll close it up

pew, groped my way into a pitch dark cavity in the wall, the entrance to whic

ct by the aid of my shin-bone. She was still wrestling with the pew doo

me, dragging the door after her as quietly as she could. Nancy

n question. I can also add my testimony that she was a hard-headed woman. She was also perhaps a li

n; I expect them h

g; one of the oaken beams was, in fact, a little scooped out to make room for this slit, which being under the heavy shadow of the woodwork was almost completely screen

ce-what's it for,

ee who went to sleep, and what they were at altogether," explained Nan; but at this moment her eloquence came to a sudden end. Our

Welsh ghosts would have frightened us as much as these earthly foreigners

!" I whispered to Ann, leaning my head down close to h

nn, scornfully. "You

he pew-door by this time, and she held it firmly in its place by the handle, which she had take

of finding some one behind it," I whispered to my companion as this comfortable idea flashed thro

e, can't you, and keep your head down

r, whose rickety bolts we had drawn when we entered, chiefly in the hope that they might not be t

r one another in their haste. The church was lighted up with a sudden blaze from their torches; this was all I saw, for on the entrance of the enemy

y ears the beating of my heart was still louder. T

think it's a cl

ar! oh,

st part of the priest's peep-hole, and then, even veiling my eyes with half-closed lids as a precaution, I glanced furtively forth at the foreign marauders beneath me. They had not gone through the ceremony of removing their hats, and their object in entering the sacred edifice was evidently simply the hope of plunder. With the butt ends of their muskets they knocked and thrust at everything, as if to ascertain of what it was made, and whether anything of value might not be concealed within it. One half-drunken fellow came and gave a mighty bang to th

nemy did not seem inclined to allow himself to be set down after this fashion; for, dropping his cushion, he proceeded to make an investigation with his clubbed musket. Walls, pews, and benches, he thumped them all indiscriminately, giving a sounding whack to the door which closed our retreat. But Nancy's knees did not flinch, though they must have received a most unpleasant jar. Luckily the entrance to the hidden stair was

urch. Human nature was no longer to be restrained, neither by fear nor by Ann, so I once more popped my head up and beheld a strange sight. One of the men had thrown a torch in among the parchments

Nan!" I whispered to my companion, but she

clouds of smoke arose as speedily cleared the church of the invaders, but alas, nearly stifled us, the law

a while these too played the truant, wandering away from my enemies and dreamily fixing themselves on my master at St. David's, my school friends, my books, the moving waters that framed in every picture of my life, till, becoming more and more ind

have fallen sound asleep, tired out by my long walk and many subsequent runs, and fatigued also by the number of new ideas forced on my mind

choking in the smoke till I felt that elbow of Nancy's, of which I took no not

at once; we ought to have gone long ago, but I fell as

ly, as it seemed to me, reac

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