WE REMOVE TO VERY UNPLEASANT QUARTERS--BIRDS OF A FEATHER WON'T ALWAYS
FLOCK TOGETHER--O'BRIEN CUTS A CUTTER MIDSHIPMAN, AND GETS A TASTE OF
FRENCH STEEL--ALTOGETHER "FLAT" WORK.
As soon as I was well enough to attend to my little nurse, we became
very intimate, as might be expected. In five weeks I was out of bed,
and could limp about the room; and before two months were over, I was
quite recovered. The colonel, however, would not report me to the
governor; I remained on a sofa during the day, but at dusk I stole out
of the house, and walked about with Celeste. I never passed such a
happy time as the last fortnight; the only drawback was the remembrance
that I should soon have to exchange it for a prison. I was more easy
about my father and mother, as O'Brien had written to them, assuring
them that I was doing well; and besides, a few days after our capture,
the frigate had run in, and sent a flag of truce to inquire if we were
alive or made prisoners; at the same time Captain Savage sent on shore
all our clothes, and two hundred dollars in cash for our use. I knew
that even if O'Brien's letter did not reach them, they were sure to hear
from Captain Savage that I was doing well. At the end of twelve weeks
the surgeon could no longer withhold his report, and we were ordered to
be ready in two days to march to Toulon, where we were to join another
party of prisoners to proceed with them into the interior. I must pass
over our parting, which the reader may imagine was very painful. I
promised to write to Celeste, and she promised that she would answer my
letters, if it were permitted. We shook hands with Colonel O'Brien,
thanking him for his kindness, and much to his regret, we were taken in
charge by two French cuirassiers, who were waiting at the door. As we
preferred being continued on parole until our arrival at Toulon, the
soldiers were not at all particular about watching us: and we set off on
horseback, O'Brien and I going first, and the French cuirassiers
following us in the rear.
The evening of the second day we arrived in Toulon, and as soon as we
entered the gates, we were delivered into the custody of an officer,
with a very sinister cast of countenance, who, after some conversation
with the cuirassiers, told us in a surly tone that our parole was at an
end and gave us in charge of a corporal's guard, with directions to
conduct us to the prison near the Arsenal. We presented the cuirassiers
with four dollars each, for their civility, and were then hurried away
to our place of captivity. I observed to O'Brien, that I was afraid
that we must now bid farewell to anything like pleasure. "You're right
there, Peter," replied he; "but there's a certain jewel called Hope,
that somebody found at the bottom of his chest, when it was clean empty,
and so we must not lose sight of it, but try and escape as soon as we
can; but the less we talk about it the better." In a few minutes we
arrived at our destination: the door was opened, ourselves and our
bundles (for we had only selected a few things for our march, the
colonel promising to forward the remainder as soon as we wrote to inform
him to which depot we were consigned) were rudely shoved in; and as the
doors again closed, and the heavy bolts were shot, I felt a creeping,
chill, sensation pass through my whole body.
As soon as we could see--for although the prison was not very dark, yet
so suddenly thrown in, after the glare of a bright sunshiny day, at
first we could distinguish nothing--we found ourselves in company with
about thirty English sailors. One man, who was playing at cards, looked
up for a moment as we came in, and cried out, "Hurrah, my lads! the more
the merrier," as if he really were pleased to find that there were
others who were as unfortunate as himself. We stood looking at the
groups for about ten minutes, when O'Brien observed that "we might as
well come to an anchor, foul ground being better than no bottom;" so we
sat down in a corner upon our bundles, where we remained for more than
an hour, surveying the scene, without speaking a word to each other. I
could not speak--I felt so very miserable.
We had been in the prison about two hours, when a lad in a very greasy,
ragged jacket, with a pale emaciated face, came up to us, and said, "I
perceive by your uniforms that you are both officers, as well as
myself."
O'Brien stared at him for a little while, and then answered, "Upon my
soul and honour, then, you've the advantage of us, for it's more than I
could perceive in you; but I'll take your word for it. Pray what ship
may have had the misfortune of losing such a credit to the service?"
"Why, I belong to the _Snapper_ cutter," replied the young lad; "I was
taken in a prixe, which the commanding officer had given in my charge to
take to Gibraltar: but they won't believe that I'm an officer. I have
applied for officer's allowance and rations, and they won't give them to
me."
"Well, but they know that we are officers," replied O'Brien; "why do
they shove us in here, with the common seamen!"
"I suppose you are only put in here for the present," replied the
cutter's midshipman; "but why I cannot tell."
Nor could we, until afterwards, when we found out, as our narrative will
show, that the officer who received us from the cuirassiers had once
quarrelled with Colonel O'Brien, who first pulled his nose, and
afterwards ran him through the body. Being told by the cuirassiers that
we were much esteemed by Colonel O'Brien, he resolved to annoy us as
much as he could; and when he sent up the document announcing our
arrival, he left out the word "Officers," and put us in confinement with
the common seamen.
Fortunately we were not destined to remain long in this detestable hole.
After a night of misery, during which we remained sitting on our
bundles, and sleeping how we could, leaning with our backs against the
damp wall, we were roused at daybreak by the unbarring of the prison
doors, followed up with an order to go into the prison yard. We were
huddled out like a flock of sheep, by a file of soldiers with loaded
muskets; and, as we went into the yard, were ranged two and two. The
same officer who ordered us into prison, commanded the detachment of
soldiers who had us in charge. O'Brien stepped out of the ranks, and
addressing them, stated that we are officers, and had no right to be
treated like common sailors. The French officer replied that he had
better information, and that we wore coats which did not belong to us;
upon which O'Brien was in a great rage, calling the officer a liar, and
demanded satisfaction for the insult, appealing to the French soldiers,
and stating that Colonel O'Brien, who was at Cette, was his countryman,
and had received him for two months into his house upon parole, which
was quite sufficient to establish his being an officer. The French
soldiers appeared to side with O'Brien after they had heard this
explanation, stating that no common English sailor could speak such good
French, and that they were present when we were sent in on parole, and
they asked the officer whether he intended to give satisfaction. The
officer stormed, and drawing his sword out of the scabbard, struck
O'Brien with the flat of the blade, looking at him with contempt, and
ordering him into the ranks. I could not help observing that, during
this scene, the men-of-war sailors who were among the prisoners, were
very indignant, while, on the contrary, those captured in merchant
vessels appeared to be pleased with the insult offered to O'Brien. One
of the French soldiers then made a sarcastic remark, that the French
officer did not much like the name of O'Brien. This so enraged the
officer, that he flew at O'Brien, pushed him back into the ranks, and
taking out a pistol, threatened to shoot him through the head. I must
do the justice to the French soldiers, that they all called out "Shame!"
When O'Brien returned to the ranks, he looked defiance at the officer,
telling him that "he would pocket the affront very carefully, as he
intended to bring it out again upon a future and more suitable
occasion." We were then marched out in ranks, two and two, being met in
the street by two drummers, and a crowd of people, who had gathered to
witness our departure. The drums beat and away we went. The officer
who had charge of us mounted a small horse, galloping up and down from
one end of the ranks to the other, with his sword drawn, bullying,
swearing, and striking with the flat of the blade at any one of the
prisoners who was not in his proper place. When we were close to the
gates, we were joined by another detachment of prisoners: we were then
ordered to halt, and were informed, through an interpreter, that any one
attempting to escape would immediately be shot; after which information
we once more proceeded on our route.