On the evening of the first day, just before reaching Ponte Remy, where he intended to stop for the night, he was surprised at receiving a charge of shot.

While he was drifting around a point above that place, a duck hunter who was concealed in the bushes mistook his feet for a pair of ducks and fired at them.

Luckily the shot struck the heavy rubber soles of his dress and no damage was done.

Boyton rose up in the water with a torrent of forcible comments in English, and the frightened sportsman rapidly disappeared in the darkness.
Starting early next morning, he arrived at Abbyville in the evening, where the customary generous reception awaited him.

Next day he returned to Amiens where he gave an entertainment, and thence to Paris.
He had a new tender built in the latter city, in anticipation of a voyage down the Loire.