craft. It was not till they were all on board that the troops first
conceived a suspicion of the Emperor's purpose: 1000 or 1200 men had
sailed to regain possession of an Empire containing a population of
30,000,000! He commenced his voyage on Sunday the 26th of February 1815,
and the next morning at ten o'clock was not out of sight of the island,
to the great annoyance of the few friends he had left behind. At this
time Colonel Sir Neil Campbell was absent on a tour to Leghorn, but being
informed by the French Consul and by Spanocchi, the Tuscan Governor of
the town, that Napoleon was about to sail for the Continent, he hastened
back, and gave chase to the little squadron in the Partridge sloop of
war, which was cruising in the neighbourhood, but, being delayed by
communicating with a French frigate, reached Antibes too late.

There were between 400 and 500 men on board the brig (the 'Inconstant')
in which Bonaparte embarked. On the passage they met with a French ship
of war, with which they spoke. The Guards were ordered to pull off their
caps and lie down on the deck or go below while the captain exchanged
some words with the commander of the frigate, whom he afterwards proposed
to pursue and capture. Bonaparte rejected the idea as absurd, and asked
why he should introduce this new episode into his plan.

As they stood over to the coast of France the Emperor was in the highest
spirits. The die was cast, and he seemed to be quite himself again. He
sat upon the deck and amused the officers collected round him with a
narrative of his campaigns, particularly those of Italy and Egypt. When
he had finished he observed the deck to be encumbered with several large
chests belonging to him. He asked the maitre d'hotel what they
contained. Upon being told they were filled with wine he ordered them to
be immediately broken open, saying, "We will divide the booty." The
Emperor superintended the distribution himself, and presented bottle by