But some respite to their sufferings was at hand. Charitable friends hid them in their homes. A favourable opportunity having offered, the ex-deputies took ship for Bordeaux, which the ever-rash Guadet, gone off by himself, had depicted as devoted to the Girondins. Alas! their heaviest trials awaited them there. Reaching Gascony at the end of September, they found the Jacobins masters of Bordeaux and of the whole country. The capitulation of Valenciennes, the troubles in La Vendée, the surrender of Toulon to the English, by exasperating the people, flung them perforce into the arms of the Jacobins, who followed a clear if terrible policy of their own. A new Constitution, made under their influence, had been given to the nation, which rallied round it as its last chance of union and security. The proscribed deputies, illegally turned out of the Convention, were now themselves regarded as illegal and unconstitutional, and the Gironde rejected its Girondins.
Ignorant of this state of opinion at first, they had not taken the precaution to hide their identity, but soon found out their mistake. Discovered at an inn at Bec D'Ambez, they just escaped falling into the hands of the Jacobins, for the house had been invested, and, as the report said, their beds were found to be still warm. There seemed no safety now but for the little band to dissolve, and so put the hunters off the scent. With sorrowful hearts they bade each other farewell. This great blessing was vouchsafed them, that danger borne in common had tightened the bonds of friendship. Pétion and Buzot, who never left each other "till death did them part," remained roaming about the Gironde, now retired beneath some friendly roof, now hidden in the caverns near St. Émilion. The
