Jack and Bill marched along in the middle of the party of soldiers,
endeavouring, as well as they could, to keep up their spirits, and to
appear unconcerned. Where they were going they could not tell.
"Jack," whispered Bill, "don't let these fellows know that we understand
French. We may learn something from what they say to each other; and
they are not likely to tell us the truth, if we were to ask them
questions."
"Trust me for that," answered Jack. "One might suppose, from the way
they treat us, that they take us for desperate fellows, who would make
nothing of knocking them down right and left, if it were not for their
muskets and bayonets."
"All right," responded Bill; "we'll keep our wits awake, and maybe we
shall find an opportunity of getting away."
"I am ready for anything you propose," said Jack. "We might have found
it more easy to make our escape if Madame Turgot had brought us back our
French toggery; but still, for my part, I feel more comfortable-like in
my own clothes."
"So do I," said Bill. "Somehow I fancy that I am more up to work
dressed as an English sailor than I should be as a French boy. I only
hope our friends will not get into any scrape for having concealed us.
They are wonderfully kind people, and I shall always be ready to do a
good turn to a Frenchman for their sakes."
"So shall I after I've thrashed him," said Jack. "If the French will go
to war with us, they must take the consequences."
The soldiers did not interfere with the lads, but allowed them to talk
on to each other as much as they liked. The road they followed led them
to the eastward, as far as they could judge, at no great distance from
the shore.
After marching about a couple of miles, they reached a small town, or
village rather, the houses being scattered along the shores of another
bay much larger than the one they had left. A river of some size ran
into the bay, and on a point of land near the mouth, on a height, stood
an old tower, which had been built, apparently, for the purpose of
guarding the entrance.
It was in a somewhat dilapidated condition, and seemed now very unfit
for its original object, for a few round shot would have speedily
knocked it to pieces. It might, however, afford shelter to a small body
of infantry, who could fire from the loopholes in its walls down on any
boats, attempting to ascend the river.
"I wonder if they are going to shut us up there!" said Jack, as the
sergeant led the party in the direction of the tower.
"No doubt about it," replied Bill; "but it doesn't seem to be a very
terrible place; and, by the look of the walls, I have a notion that I
could climb to the top, or make my way down them, without the slightest
difficulty."
They had time to make their observations before they reached the
entrance gate.
A small guard of soldiers were stationed in the tower, to whose charge
the prisoners were handed over.
The officer commanding the party was a gruff old fellow, who seemed to
have no feeling of compassion for his young prisoners.
After putting various questions to the sergeant who had brought them, he
made signs to them to accompany him to the top of the building, and led
the way, attended by two soldiers who followed close behind, up a flight
of exceedingly rickety stairs, which creaked and groaned as they
ascended.
On reaching the top the officer opened a door, which led into a small
room, the highest apparently in the building; he then signed to the boys
to go in, and without saying a word closed the door and locked it. They
soon afterwards heard him and his men descending the stairs.
"Here we are," said Jack. "I wonder what's going to happen next!"
"Why, if they leave us here long enough, the next thing that will happen
will be that we'll make our way out again," replied Bill. "Look at
those windows! Though they are not very big, they are large enough for
us to squeeze through, or it may be more convenient to make our way out
by the roof. I can see daylight through one or two places, which shows
that the tiles are not very securely fastened on."
"And if we do get out, where shall we go?" asked Jack.
"It won't do to return to the Turgots; we might be getting them into
trouble. We must make our way down to the sea shore, and then travel on
till we can reach some port or other, and when there try to get on board
a smuggling lugger, as Captain Turgot at first proposed we should do,"
replied Bill.
"It may be a hard job to do that," said Jack; "and I should say it would
be easier to run off with a boat or some small craft which we two could
handle, and make our way in her across Channel. I know where to find
the polar star. I have often been out at night when father steered by
it, and we should be sure, some time or other, to make the English
coast."
"I should not like to run away with a poor man's vessel. What would he
say in the morning when he found his craft gone?" observed Bill. "It
would be taking what is not ours to take. I never did and never would
do that."
Jack argued the point.
"The French are enemies of the English," he said, "and therefore
Englishmen have a perfect right to best them either afloat or on shore."
Bill said he would consider the subject, and in the meantime they made a
further survey of their prison. It could not be called luxuriantly
furnished, considering that there was only a bench of no great width
running along the side of one of the walls, and the remains of a table.
One of the legs had gone, and part of the top, and it was propped up by
a couple of empty casks.
There were neither bedsteads nor bedding of any description, but the
bench was of sufficient length to allow both the boys to lie down on it.
The sun was on the point of setting when they reached the tower, and
darkness soon stole on them.
"I wonder whether they intend to give us any supper," said Jack, "or do
they expect us to live on air?"
"I can hold out till to-morrow morning, but I should be thankful if they
would bring us up something to-night; and we should be the better able
to make our escape, if we have the opportunity," observed Bill.
"Then I propose that we make a tremendous row, and that will bring some
one up to sea what's the matter. We can then point to our mouths to
show that we are hungry, and perhaps they will take compassion on us,"
said Jack.
Bill agreeing to Jack's proposal, they began jumping and stamping about
the room, and singing at the top of their voices, in a way which could
scarcely fail to be heard by the men in the guard-room below.
They were in a short time convinced that their proceedings had produced
the desired effect; for when they ceased to make the noise, they heard
the heavy step of a man ascending the creaking stairs. It had not
occurred to them that he might possibly come with a thick stick in his
hand, to thrash them for making a row. The idea, however, flashed
across Jack's mind by the time the man was half-way up.
"We may get more kicks than ha'pence for what we've been doing," he
observed; "however, it cannot be helped; we must put a good face on the
matter, and let him fancy that it is the way English boys have of
showing when they are hungry. If he does not make out what we mean,
we'll say, `manger, manger,' and he'll then know what we want."
Bill laughed. He was not much afraid of a beating. He reminded Jack
that he must not say anything more than he proposed, or the Frenchmen
might find out that they understood their language.
The man came slowly up the steps, which creaked and groaned louder and
louder.
"I'll tell you what," said Bill. "If those steps are as rotten as they
appear to be, we might pull some of them up, and so prevent the guard
from reaching this room, and finding out that we have made our escape."
"We should have to get the door open first," observed Jack, "and that
would be no easy matter."
"More easy than you may suppose," said Bill. "I'll try and shove
something into the catch of the lock while the Frenchman is in the
room."
Just then the door opened, and a soldier entered, with a lantern in one
hand, and, as Jack expected, a stick in the other. It was not, however,
a very thick one, and Jack thought, as he eyed it, that its blows,
though they might hurt, would not break any bones; however, neither he
nor Bill had any intention of being thrashed if they could help it.
The soldier began at once to inquire, in an angry tone, why they had
made so much noise.
They pretended not to understand him; but as he lifted his stick to
strike at them, they ran round the room, Jack shouting "Manger! manger!"
and pointing to his mouth.
He could easily manage to keep out of the Frenchman's reach, but at last
he allowed himself to be caught for a minute at the farther end of the
room, thus giving Bill time to reach the door.
Bill made good use of the opportunity, while the Frenchman's back was
turned, to carry out his intention.
"All right," he cried out; and as soon as Jack heard him, he skipped out
of the Frenchman's way, as he had no wish to receive more blows than he
could avoid. The soldier, on seeing Bill, attacked him next, but he
easily evaded most of the blows aimed at him, till the soldier grew
weary of the chase.
"Manger! manger!" cried both the boys at once, in various tones,
sometimes imploring, at others expostulating, and then as if they were
excited by anger and indignation that they should be so treated.
The soldier understood them clearly enough, and probably thought to
himself that unless he could bring some food to keep the young prisoners
quiet, he might have frequent trips to make to the top of the tower.
"Ma foi! I suppose that you have had nothing to eat for some hours," he
observed, in French. "I'll see what I can get for you; but remember,
you must be quiet, or you will be left to starve."
They were well pleased to hear this; but still pretending not to
understand him, they continued crying out, "Manger! manger!"
At last the soldier took his departure, locking the door, as he
supposed, behind him.
As soon as they knew, by the sounds he made descending the steps, that
he had got some distance down, the boys ran to the door, and, to their
satisfaction, found that they could easily open it, though it appeared
to be securely locked.
From the remarks the Frenchman had made, they had some hopes that he
would bring them food; they therefore lay down on the bench to await his
return.
Greatly to their satisfaction, in a short time they again heard a step
on the stair, and the soldier who had before paid them a visit entered,
carrying a basket with some bread and cheese, dried figs, and some wine
in a bottle. He also brought up a piece of candle, and a lump of wood
with a spike in it, which served as a candlestick.
He placed these on the table with the contents of the basket.
"There," he said, "eat away; you may have a long march to-morrow, and if
you haven't strength we may have to carry you."
The boys pretended not to understand him; but both exclaimed, as they
saw the viands, "Merci! merci!" and put out their hands to shake that of
the soldier, who seemed, while performing a kind action, to be in much
better humour than before.
"Mangez! mes braves garcons," he remarked. "What is over you can have
for breakfast to-morrow morning, as maybe you'll get nothing else
brought you."
"Merci! merci!" answered Jack and Bill, as they escorted the soldier to
the door, letting him suppose that these were the only two words they
understood.
As soon as he had turned the key in the door, they hurried to the table,
and eagerly devoured some of the bread and cheese.
"It's fortunate we've got so large a stock of food," said Bill; "there's
enough here, if we are careful of it, for a couple of days."
There was in the bottle but a small allowance of wine, which was
excessively sour; but it served to quench their thirst, though they
agreed that they would much rather have had fresh water.
Having finished their supper, they divided the remainder of the food
into two portions, which they stowed away in their pockets. They then
waited till they had reason to suppose, from hearing no noise ascending
the stairs, that the soldiers in the guard-room had gone to sleep.
Having cautiously opened the door, they next examined the steps, and
found that they could wrench up those of the upper part of the flight
without making much noise. They had to be quick about it, as their
candle would soon burn out.
First, having closed the door, they got up seven of the steps, beginning
at the uppermost one, till they formed a gap which it would be
impossible for a man to spring over. The boards they carried down as
they descended, when they found themselves in another storey, the whole
of which was occupied by one large room without doors, the reason, of
course, why it had not been made their prison.
Their candle had now nearly burned out. Having hung their shoes round
their necks, they were able to step softly. Hunting about, they
discovered an empty space under the stairs, in which they stowed the
pieces of wood.
"Perhaps we might get down by the stairs," whispered Jack.
"The chances are that we should find a door to stop us at the bottom,"
returned Bill. "We must try to get down the outside. The walls are so
full of holes that we might manage it, and I am ready to go first and
try."
The question was, on which side should they attempt to make their
descent? On looking through the narrow windows, they observed a gleam
of light coming out below them on one side; probably that was from the
guard-room, and they accordingly fixed on the opposite side, where all
was dark. They ran no little chance of breaking their necks, but about
that they did not trouble themselves. If a cat could get up, they
believed that they could get down, by clinging with toes and fingers,
and teeth, if necessary, to the wall.
They, however, made the fullest examination in their power to ascertain
the best spot for their descent; they looked out of every window in
succession, but at last arrived at the conclusion that the attempt to
scramble down a perpendicular wall was too hazardous to be made. They
now began to fear that their enterprise must be abandoned, and that they
should be compelled to make their way first to a lower storey, which,
for what they could tell, might be inhabited; or else that they must
descend the creaking stairs, and run a still greater chance of being
discovered.
"Here's another window," said Bill; "let's look through that."
He climbed up to it, and gazed out. Great was his satisfaction to
perceive the top of a massive wall a few feet below him. The tower had
been a portion of an old castle, and the end of this wall was a mass of
ruins, but quite thick enough to enable them to scramble along the top
of it, and Bill had no doubt that they thence could easily descend to,
the level ground.