"Whence do you come and where are you going, mes amis?" asked the
sergeant of the guard, addressing Tom, who was nearest him.
"What's that you say, old chap?" said Tom, forgetting the strict orders
he had received to hold his tongue.
"Ah, what language is that?" exclaimed the sergeant, holding up his
lantern and examining the sailor's countenance. "You are not a
Frenchman, I'll vow." He turned from one to the other, looking in the
faces of each. "Why, I believe these are the very men we were ordered
to search for. Seize them all. Take care that none escape. There are
five of them, the very number we were told of, and one, the traitor, we
have already got. Can any of you speak French? though I doubt it."
"Should you be satisfied, monsieur sergeant, if we do speak French, and
better French than many of the people about here?" asked Rayner. "If
so, will you let us go on our journey? do we look like English sailors?"
"I don't know how English sailors generally look," said the sergeant,
gruffly, and rather taken aback at being suddenly addressed in his own
language. "You certainly have the appearance of overseers, or people of
that sort, but your countenances betray you. I am not to be deceived.
Bring them along into the guard-room."
In vain Rayner pleaded that he and his companions were in a hurry to
proceed on their journey.
They were dragged into the building, and a guard with fixed bayonets was
placed over them. For the remainder of the night they had to sit on a
hard bench, with their backs against the wall, sleeping as well as they
could in so uncomfortable a position. At daybreak the next morning
Sergeant Gabot, by whom they had been captured, entering the room,
ordered the guard to bring them along into the presence of Captain
Dupuis. The seamen, imitating their officers, quietly followed the
sergeant, who led the way to a room in the same building. Here Captain
Dupuis, a fierce-looking gentleman wearing a huge pair of moustaches,
and a long sword by his side, was found seated at a table with two other
officers.
He cast his eye over the prisoners and inquired their names. Here was a
puzzle, for neither Rayner nor Oliver had thought of assuming French
ones. They, therefore, without hesitation, gave their own, as did Jack.
"Please, sir, what does the chap say?" asked Brown, when the officer
addressed him.
"He wishes to know your name," said Oliver.
Captain Dupuis, twirling his moustaches, took them down as well as he
could.
"These names do not sound like those of Frenchmen," he said.
"And such we do not pretend to be," replied Rayner, stepping forward.
"We found it necessary to assume these disguises for the sake of
escaping from prison. We are not spies, and have no desire to injure
France or Frenchmen except in open warfare."
He then gave an account of their object in approaching the coast and the
way in which they had been so unwillingly compelled to land.
"I am inclined to believe you, monsieur," said Captain Dupuis, more
politely than at first. "But my duty is to convey you to Port Louis,
where my regiment is stationed, and the colonel will decide on your
case. We will march directly."
Captain Dupuis appeared not to be ill-disposed, for he ordered some
breakfast to be brought to them in the hall.
"Thank you for your kindness, monsieur," said Rayner. "With your
permission we will put on our proper dresses, which are contained in
these bundles."
"Assuredly you have my leave. It will show the people that we have two
English officers in captivity, as well as some of their men, and
probably the report will be spread that an English frigate and her crew
have been taken," observed the captain, laughing.
"Well, I do feel more like myself now," exclaimed Brown, as he put on
his shirt and jacket, and tied his black handkerchief in a lover's knot
round his throat.
Rayner and Oliver, though they did not say so, felt very much as their
men did, thankful to throw off their disguises.
As soon as they had finished breakfast, the soldiers fell in, the
prisoners being placed in the centre, and with the captain at their head
they commenced their march to the southward.
It was not until late in the evening that they arrived at their
destination. There were three old-fashioned forts, one intended to
support the other, commanding the entrance of the bay.
Rayner and Oliver, as they approached, took note of their position, and
they remarked that the water appeared to be deep close up to the heights
on which the forts were situated. In the largest were several
buildings, the residence of the commandant, the barracks, and a small
edifice with strongly-barred windows, which they soon discovered to be a
prison.
They were halted in front of these buildings, while the captain went in
to make his report to the commandant. After waiting some time they were
marched in between guards with fixed bayonets.
Their examination was very similar to that which they had before gone
through. Rayner and Oliver, however, hoped that their account of
themselves would be believed, and that they would, even at the worst,
only be detained as prisoners-of-war. Still, they did not quite like
the looks of the commandant, who was evidently of a more savage
disposition than his subordinate. He glared at the English, and
declared they he believed they were capable of the most abominable acts
of treachery and deceit.
Rayner replied calmly, and pointed out how improbable it was that he and
his companions should have landed for any sinister object.
"If you come not as spies yourselves, you come to land French spies.
Miscreant traitors to their country!" exclaimed the commandant. "One of
them has been caught. Death will be the penalty of his crime. Bring
forward the witnesses."
As he spoke the soldiers stepped aside and two black seamen were led
forward. Rayner recognised them as the most ruffianly of the schooner's
crew. First one, and then the other, swore that the vessel had been
sent to the coast for the purpose of landing some French spies, that the
schooner was to wait for them, and then when they had gained information
as to the strength of the forts and vessels in the harbours they were to
return to the frigate.
In vain Rayner explained the truth. The commandant scornfully answered
that he could not believe an English officer upon his oath, that he
should send a report of their capture to Leogane, and that for his part
he hoped that he should have orders to shoot them all forthwith.
The mock examination terminated, they were marched away to the prison on
the other side of the fort. The door being opened, they were
unceremoniously thrust in, one after the other, and it was closed behind
them. As it was by this time growing dusk, and there were only small,
narrow windows close under the roof, they were left in almost perfect
obscurity, so that they could not venture to move from the spot where
they stood. As, however, their eyes got accustomed to the gloom, they
found that they were in a room about twelve or fourteen feet square, the
floor and sides being of roughly hewn stone. Round it ran a stone
bench, just above which they could see several massive iron rings fixed
in the walls.
"While we have light we had better pick out the cleanest spots we can
find," said Oliver. "We shall be kept here to-night, at all events, and
the surly commandant will not allow us any luxuries."
As they moved a few paces forward, they saw three persons chained to the
wall at the farther end of the room.
"Who are you?"
"Alas! alas!" exclaimed one of them, leaning eagerly forward; and they
recognised Le Duc's voice. "Ah, messieurs, you will understand the less
said the better as to the past."
Rayner took the hint, guessing that Le Duc was unwilling to have
anything said in the presence of the two other prisoners which might
implicate Madame La Roche or Francois.
"You have heard, messieurs, that they have condemned me to death,"
continued Le Duc, "and the wonder is that they have not shot me already,
but I know that at any moment I may be led out. I should wish to live
that I may play the fiddle and make others happy as well as myself."
"I am very sorry to hear this. If the commandant would believe us, we
can prove your innocence, and, surely, our word ought to be taken
instead of that of the two blacks," said Rayner.
"So it would, according to law, for the evidence of the blacks is worth
nothing, and is not received in a court of justice. It proves that the
commandant has resolved, at all costs, to wreak his hatred of the
English on your heads."
Rayner and Oliver seated themselves on the stone bench near him. The
men had drawn together on the opposite corner. Le Duc narrated how he
had been captured just as he was quitting the village. His great fear
had been lest he should be compelled to betray them; and he declared to
Rayner, who believed him, that he would have undergone any torture
rather than have done so.
Le Duc whispered that the two other prisoners had been condemned for
murder.
"Pleasant sort of companions," observed Oliver. "We may as well let
them have their side of the prison to themselves."
The men in the meantime had scraped the seat as clean as they could with
their knives.
Tom, as usual, began to grumble.
"We must take the rough and the smooth together," observed Jack. "I am
hungry enough myself, and I hope the mounseers don't intend to starve
us, though maybe we shan't get roast beef and plum pudding."
"Don't talk of it," cried Brown; "I could eat half an ox if I had the
chance."
While they were talking the door opened, and a man appeared, carrying a
lantern and a pitcher in one hand, and a basket in the other, which he
placed on the bench near them.
The pitcher contained water, and the basket some very brown,
heavy-looking bread, with a couple of tin mugs. Having allowed the
other prisoners to drink, and given each of them a piece of bread, he
handed the basket with its contents to the Englishmen.
"You Anglais like ros' beef. Here you eat this. Good enough for you,"
he said, in a surly tone.
They were all too hungry to refuse the bread or the water, which, in
spite of its brackish taste, quenched the thirst from which they had
long been suffering.
Their gaoler left them the lantern, in order that they might see how to
divide the bread. It assisted them also to select places on which to
stretch themselves round the room, and, in spite of the hardness of
their couches, in a short time were all asleep.
Some more bread and water was brought them in the morning, and a similar
unpalatable meal was provided in the afternoon. This was evidently to
be their only food during their imprisonment. They had no one to
complain to, no means of obtaining redress; so, like wise men, they made
up their minds to bear it, though Tom grumbled and growled all day long
at the way in which he was treated.
Rayner supposed that the commandant was waiting for a reply to the
report he had sent to Leogane. Until that could arrive, no change
either for the better or worse was likely to be made in their treatment.
Le Duc was still allowed to live; but, in spite of his high spirits, the
feeling that he might at any moment be led out and shot was telling upon
him. The two officers and Jack did their best to encourage him, and,
under the circumstances, it was wonderful how he kept up. In the
evening the gaoler appeared with their usual fare.
"There will be one less of you to feed to-morrow," he growled out,
looking at Le Duc, "and I can't say but that you five others mayn't have
to join him company, for while the firing party are out it is as easy to
shoot six as one."
Le Duc made no answer, but bent his head down on his manacled hands. It
was the first sign of deep emotion he had exhibited.
"I hope the fellow is only trying to alarm you for the purpose of
exercising his own bad feelings," said Rayner, after the surly gaoler
had gone.
Again left in darkness, they prepared to pass another disagreeable
night. Rayner felt that their position was critical in the extreme. He
and his companions, accused as they were of being spies, might be led
out at any moment and shot. He therefore considered it his duty to
prepare his companions as best he could for the worst. Oliver he knew
was as ready to die as he was himself. He spoke earnestly and
faithfully to the others, pointing out the unspeakable importance of
being prepared to stand in the presence of the Judge of all men. He was
thankful to hear Jack's reply, which expressed the simple hope of the
Christian--faith in Christ as a Saviour; but the other two were silent.
After Rayner and his companions had talked for some time they stretched
themselves on the bench to try and obtain some sleep. That was more
easily sought for than found, for no sooner were they quiet than
countless creatures began to sting, and bite, and crawl over them. Tom
was continually slapping himself, and moaning and groaning.
But, in spite of their hard stone couches and the attacks of the
insects, they did manage to drop off occasionally.
Rayner's eyes had been closed some time when he was awakened by the dull
roar of a gun fired from seaward. He started up, as did his companions.
"Where did that come from?" exclaimed Oliver.
Before Rayner could answer, the sound of eight or nine guns, a sloop's
whole broadside, was heard, followed by the crash of the shot as they
struck the fortification.
In an instant the whole fort was in an uproar, the officers shouting
their orders to the men, and the men calling to each other, as they
rushed from their quarters to the ramparts. They had evidently been
found napping, for before a single gun had been discharged from the
fort, the shot from another broadside came plunging into it.
The game, however, was not to be all on one side. The Frenchmen's guns
were heard going off as fast as they could get their matches ready.
They could easily be distinguished by the far louder noise they made.
Those from the two other forts at the same time could be heard firing
away. Cries and shrieks rose from wounded men, and a loud explosion, as
if a gun had burst, rent the air.
"The vessel attacking is a corvette," cried Rayner. "She must have run
close in for her shot to strike in the way they are doing. It is a bold
enterprise, and I pray she may be successful for her sake as well as
ours."
"Can she be the _Ariel_ or _Lily_?" asked Oliver.
"Whichever she is, the attempt would not have been made without good
hope of success," remarked Rayner.
"I wish that we were out of this, and aboard her," exclaimed Jack.
"So do I," cried Brown. "I don't like being boxed up here while such
work is going on. Couldn't we manage to break out?"
"We are safe here, and we'd better remain where we are," said Tom; "only
I hope none of those round shot will find their way into this place."
On the impulse of the moment Jack and Brown made a rush at the door, but
it was far too strongly bolted to allow them to break it open. The
other prisoners sat with their hands before them, hoping probably, as
Tom did, that no shot would find its way among them.
Rayner and Oliver looked up at the windows near the roof, but they were
strongly-barred and too narrow to enable a grown man to squeeze through
them. To sit down quietly seemed impossible. They stood therefore
listening, and trying to make out by the sounds which reached their ears
how the fight was going. Presently some more guns were heard coming
from the sea.
"There must be another vessel!" exclaimed Rayner. "Hark! she must be
engaging the upper fort. I thought that one would scarcely venture
singly to attack the three forts."
The roar of the artillery continued. Suddenly there burst forth a loud
thundering sound. The ground beneath their feet shook, the walls
trembled, and the roof seemed about to fall on their heads, while the
glare of a vivid flame penetrating through the windows lighted up the
whole interior of the building, shrieks, groans, and cries echoing
through the fort.
The magazine had blown up. It was a wonder that the prison itself had
not been hurled to the ground.
"Thank Heaven, we have escaped!" exclaimed Oliver.
The attacking vessels still continued firing, and after a short interval
the fort once more replied, but evidently with fewer guns than before.
A crash was heard over their heads, and down fell a mass of timber,
plank, and tiles just above the door. Looking up, the clear sky could
be seen, from out of which a crescent moon shone brightly.
No one was injured, for the shot, having torn its way through the roof,
had fallen outside.
"Hurrah! thanks to that shot, we may make our escape out of this, for
the Frenchmen are too much engaged at the guns to see us!" cried Jack.
"Let us get down to the shore, and when we are once there we may manage
to find our way aboard the ship. The chances are we shall find some
fishing boat or other on the beach. May we try, sir, what we can do?"
"What do you say, Oliver? Shall we make the attempt Jack proposes?"
asked Rayner. "If we go we must take Le Duc with us, I wish that we
could find something to knock off his chains, and we might set the other
poor fellows at liberty."
To climb out would be no difficult matter, as Brown found that by
standing on Tom's and Jack's shoulders he could reach the lower part of
the roof. But Rayner positively refused to go without first setting Le
Duc at liberty. He told Brown to try and dislodge a piece of stone from
the wall with which they might break the prisoners' chains.
Suddenly Tom recollected that he had stowed away one of the files which
Le Duc himself had brought in his pocket.
"Hand it here," cried Rayner; and heat once began filing away.
In the meantime Brown managed to get hold of one of the upper stones of
the wall. It was hard, and had a sharp side.
"Here it is, sir," he said, clambering down and bringing it to Rayner.
A few blows on the bench served to sever the link already partly filed
through.
"Oh! set us free, monsieur?" cried the other prisoners.
"What does he say?" asked Brown.
"There won't be time to set you both free, but I'll see what I can do
for one of you;" and he began filing away, and with the help of the
stone he managed to liberate the arm of one of the men.
"Here, take the file and see what you can do for your comrade," he said.
The rest of the party had in the meantime begun to mount the wall.