When I was sent to prison there were four other troopers undergoing
a similar punishment, but I did not see anything of them until the
call for "Soup," as they were kept out all day on fatigue duty and
punishment drill. Before they returned the _Adjudant_ came again to see
me, and advised me to go to the medical visit the following morning.
He told me that he had seen the doctor, and laid my case before him,
and that the doctor had promised to exempt me from punishment drill
and from fatigue duty. He sent me, too, at my request, some paper and
ink, and all the books we had to study for our examinations. I had also
smuggled into the prison Conway's admirable little guide-book to the
highest peaks of the chain of Monte Rosa, which I meant to translate
into French to while away the time. I also went with the Corporal
of the Guard to fetch a straw mattress and a blanket, to which, as
previously explained, a prisoner is entitled. In the evening I asked
the Corporal of the Guard to put my name down for the medical visit of
the next morning.
When the other prisoners returned for their dinner, they were much
astonished to find a _Volontaire_ as their companion. Most of them were
undergoing prison for having _tiré une bordée_ (having been absent
without leave during five days, and having remained away up to the
very last limit they could reach without being proclaimed deserters).
These men were thoroughly bad characters, and very different from Titi
and Piatte, who were mere dare-devils; for Titi himself, though he
had been in prison several times before he joined the regiment, had
never been convicted for anything worse than street broils. The awful
life of immorality he had led before coming to the regiment was due
chiefly to the surroundings among which he had been brought up, but
notwithstanding his failings, the fellow would never have committed a
theft, and I would not have hesitated to trust him with any amount of
money. My present prison companions, however, were of a very different
type. None of them, it is true, had been convicted before joining the
army, but I soon gathered from their conversation that it was through
sheer luck that they had escaped so far. Of course, as I was a common
trooper like them, and in prison, they spoke quite openly of their past
life before me, and even bragged of their misdeeds _pour m'épater_.
One of them, the fellow who had received so severe a punishment from
his comrades when he was thrashed and tossed in a blanket in the
riding-school, had never ceased to speak of the treatment he had
received, and he used to swear that if, when his time was out, he ever
came across one of his assailants, he would put a knife into him.
While we were eating our food he returned once more to the subject,
and when I told him not to brag so much about what he would do, he got
quite indignant.
"You don't believe me, old chap," he exclaimed; "why, don't imagine
that it would be the first time! Many are the times when I have
_chouriné_ (stabbed) a bloke. Me and two others we were for a long
time in _les boulevards extérieurs_ (a part of Paris which at that
time was still most dangerous), and a pretty good haul we sometimes
made. I remember once an old woman was going home late at night--we
knew her well--she owned a good lot of property, and she had been to
collect her rents that day. One of us followed her the whole day, and
in the evening he came to tell us that she had gone to dinner with
her daughter. You bet, we kept a look-out for her. At ten o'clock,
sure enough, there she comes. The _sergots_ had just turned up a
side-street to make their rounds, and we knew that the coast would be
clear for at least a quarter of an hour. We hid in a doorway, and as
she passed us Bibi le Mufle jumps on her from behind, while the other
chap who was with me lands her one in the mouth. We laid her on the
ground, and I was searching her pocket when she begins to kick up the
devil's own row, and shouts 'Murder! Police!' I couldn't find anything
in her pockets, and just then a bloke who had heard her giving tongue
comes along, and he begins shouting 'Police! Murder!' 'Oh,' I says,
'I'll soon give him "Murder."' What does a bloke deserve who comes and
interferes with gentlemen at their business? So I rush at him and I
soon stopped his howling with a jab from my _Eustace_ (slang word used
for big knife). The others, who were busy searching the old woman,
never noticed the police who had come round, and although I shouted to
warn them that '_les pantes_' (the police) were coming, they couldn't
make tracks in time. Bibi le Mufle tried to run away, but unfortunately
he fell over my bloke, and they collared him there. They accused him
of having done for the chap, but he swore that it wasn't true. The old
woman recovered, and so did the bloke, and you'd never guess what that
man did. He swore that it was Bibi le Mufle who had stabbed him. And
the old woman, who was stupid-like when she recovered, swore that only
two chaps had attacked her. The others behaved like bricks, they never
gave me away, and so I got up a collection to get them a good counsel,
and they only got three years; so you see, old chap, I am not afraid
to use my knife, and I swear to God that some day or other I'll have
the life of one of them chaps who knocked me about as they have, and,
what's more, he concluded, _j'en ai soupé du régiment_ (I am sick of
the regiment), and I mean to make a clean bolt of it the moment I get
out of prison."
It will be seen that my prison companions were not very desirable
acquaintances.
When I went to the medical visit the following morning, the doctor
took me apart, and asked me to tell him exactly what I had done to be
treated with such extreme severity. I began to tell him the same story
as I had told my Captain, but he stopped me.
"I know," he said, "that you are humbugging me. I heard part of the
truth from your Sergeant-major, and you may trust to my word that
whatever you tell me will go no further."
I therefore told him exactly what had happened, and the part Sergeant
de Cormet had played.
The doctor replied that it looked as if my Sergeant meant to drive
me to do something desperate, and he added that he was determined to
put a stop to it. He had already given special orders excusing me
from fatigue duty and punishment drill, and at my request he also
ordered that an extra blanket should be given me. He added that he was
disgusted at the way in which I was being treated, that my constitution
was being ruined by the harsh treatment I was subjected to, and that he
considered that I was unfit for service under such conditions.
When I returned to prison my fellow prisoners were doing punishment
drill in the barrack-yard, and I felt glad to be rid of their company
for the time being. I was busy all day translating Conway's book, and
the time passed almost pleasantly, as I had at least nobody to bully
me. The following day was Sunday, and my fellow prisoners were only
taken out in the morning, so that their society was inflicted upon me
the whole day. De Lanoy, who was on guard that day, came to pay me a
visit, and took me into the corridor leading into the prison to have a
chat with me. I heard some startling news from him--how two Sergeants
who had just re-enlisted and received their premium of £24 had
deserted, as also had two or three troopers. He brought me a novel,
and advised me to cut off the strings of the binding and to hide the
bulk of it inside a loaf of bread, keeping out only a dozen pages at a
time, so that in case the Captain of the Week should visit the prison I
could hide these pages inside my shirt, and should they be discovered
by the officer I could say that it was waste paper. His advice proved
excellent, as that very afternoon the Major came to visit the prison.
He inquired what all the books I had were, and I replied that they
were the regulation books we had to study, and that I had been allowed
to bring them into prison so as not to waste my time. I had carefully
hidden in a dark corner Conway's little book and inserted the pages of
my translation into my blotting-pad, so that I was not found out. The
Major felt me all over, and made me produce the paper inside my shirt,
but seeing only a few loose leaves he did not take any more notice of
it.
During the night Piatte and Titi were marched into the place. When the
door had been closed upon them a candle was lit, and Titi embraced me
with transports of joy, being evidently in high spirits.
"Ah, what fun, old fellow!" he cried out. "It's too funny, you know."
"What have you been up to again?" I asked.
Piatte, who was also roaring with laughter, said, "I'll show you." He
was in full uniform, and proceeded to take off his tunic, an example
which was followed by Titi. When they had removed their garments I saw
to my amazement that they were both dressed in acrobatic fleshings!
I could not help laughing, and asked what on earth it meant.
"Well," said Titi, "we both got midnight leave, and as a fair was going
on we thought we would go and have a look round. We soon came across a
big tent. 'Twas the wrestlers' place, and so I says to Piatte, 'Let's
go in.' It only cost 50 centimes for the first rows, and in we went.
They were not a grand lot, you know, these chaps, and Piatte says to
me, 'Why, I could knock any one of them down with one hand.' 'Oh,' I
says, 'I don't say that I would do it with one hand, but I would jolly
well manage to bowl over any one of the boiling.' Just then the boss
steps into the middle of the ring and says, holding a basket full of
five-franc pieces, 'Now, gentlemen, if there is any one among you who
would like to back himself against me, I'll undertake, if he manages
to down me, to hand over to him the contents of this here basket--one
hundred francs!'... Nobody moved, so I says to Piatte, 'Shall we have
a go?' But Piatte, he says, 'Oh, we can't go in uniform.' So I says,
'I'll soon settle that,' and I went behind the tent, and I tell one
of the chaps to call the Guv'nor. 'Look here,' I said, 'did you mean
what you said just now?' 'I did,' says the boss. 'Well, then, there's
my chum and me, we'd both like to have a try, but you see this is how
things stand--we can't wrestle in uniform, but if you will lend us a
costume we are game.'
"'Oh,' says the Guv'nor, 'I can do that, but if so, I can only give you
twenty-five francs if you downs me, and in case you don't, you will
have to deposit five francs for the loan of the costume.'
"Piatte says he is quite game, but the Guv'nor must make it five francs
for the two. He agrees to this, and he takes us to his caravan, where
we change our things. While we are doing this, the Guv'nor he had gone
back to the ring, and announced that two distinguished ammytoors had
accepted the challenge, he also goes to the outside of his shanty and
shouts out, 'There's going to be a grand match of ammytoors _versus_
professionals!'
"At the end of a few minutes he comes and calls us, 'Of course,' he
says, 'you can't both come on at the same time--which one of you will
come first?'
"'I'll go first,' Piatte says.
"'By gad,' the Guv'nor then exclaims, as Piatte got up from the
corner where he was sitting. 'By gad, you ain't much of a show in
uniform, but you are a strappin' 'un in fleshings. Too heavy a bit, and
clumsy-like, but you are the kind of chap I like to measure myself
with.' So they goes to the ring, and the Guv'nor presents Piatte as
the distinguished ammytoor who is going to have a go. Piatte makes his
bow to the spectators, and the fun begins. I watched it from a chink
in the tent. At first I didn't like the look of things. He was a fine
chap the Guv'nor, and he was on his mettle; he had got scientific ways
too, which told heavily on Piatte, but for all that he did not last
long, and Piatte felled his man. The crowd got mad like at seeing the
Guv'nor fairly beaten, and they gave Piatte a real ovation. Piatte,
businesslike, he catches hold of a hat, and makes a collection among
the spectators. He got fifteen francs, my boy, and with the twenty-five
francs he had won, that made forty. Now came my turn, but when I was
brought into the ring and presented to the ladies and gentlemen, I
noticed two of our Lieutenants and a Captain who marches in just
then. I couldn't go away, but I says to myself that they will never
recognise me, and we begin to wrestle. The Guv'nor was tired, and he
matched me with another chap. My boy, 'twas a fight! It lasted more
than twenty minutes, but at last I downed my man, downed him straight
and square, and laid him on the two shoulders. When he gets up, the
Guv'nor, who felt sicklike at having lost his money, shouts 'Foul!' All
the spectators took my part, and the officers got quite excited, and
said he would have to pay the money whether he liked or not. Piatte,
whose blood was up, he jumped into the ring and threatened to go for
the Guv'nor if he didn't fork out at once. Seeing how things stood, the
Guv'nor says as he'll abide by the decision of the officers, so they
jump into the ring. They hadn't recognised me or Piatte up to then,
and it was only when one of them comes near me to tell me that I'm in
the right, that he stops suddenly, and stares at me, and cries, 'Why,
you're a Dragoon!'
"I was so taken aback that at first I didn't know what to say, but
seeing that none of the officers belonged to our squadron, I said at
last, quite bold like, 'Dragoon! sir! You're making a mistake.'
"The officer, a Lieutenant, then turns to the Captain and the other
Lieutenant, and says, 'Why, look, this chap's a Dragoon!'
"'D--d good fellow, if he is,' said the other Lieutenant.
"'Maybe,' says the Captain, 'but we can't have him disgracing his
uniform in this way.' He then whispered something to the Lieutenants,
and while they were talking, Piatte sneaked out and went to dress. I
slipped off too, but the Captain followed me and caught me up at the
steps of the caravan.
"'It is thus, then,' he said, 'that you disgrace your uniform.'
"'Beg your pardon, sir,' I says, 'but I didn't disgrace my uniform, for
I had no uniform on.' It was a pity I said that, because it made the
Captain real mad.
"'You have the impertinence to reply!' he then cries out; 'I had come
here only to lecture you, but as you dare answer me I'll punish you.
You will have eight days' _Salle de Police_ for having exhibited
yourselves in public in a disgraceful way.' Just then he caught sight
of Piatte. 'Hallo! here's another one!' he says. 'You shall have eight
days too.'
"'Well, sir,' I says, 'if you will just allow me to say so, it was
me who answered you, and I didn't mean any impertinence; but if you
remember, you said that you only wanted to give me a lecture, and 'twas
only because I answered you that you punished me, so would you mind
only punishing me, because Piatte there never answered anything.'
"'You are a plucky one,' said the Captain, 'and a good comrade, but I
am sorry that I can't do what you ask me. You both have been guilty of
the same offence, and you must both be punished, but I'll reduce your
punishment to four days' _Salle de Police_.'
"He then wrote something on a card, and told me to give it to the
Sergeant of the Guard. 'Twas an order to put us in the lock-up there
and then, and you see we had dressed in such a hurry that we forgot to
take off our fleshings, and when the Guv'nor came to ask for them, the
Captain, who had waited until we were dressed, told us to go straight
to barracks as we were, and I told the Guv'nor that he would get back
his fleshings when he had paid us the 50 francs he owed us. But it was
rare fun, my boy," concluded Titi.
The following day Titi and Piatte were brought back to the cells at
eleven o'clock in the morning, the Colonel having upon the Captain's
report altered their punishment into fifteen days' prison.
During the next few days the _Salle de Police_ was so crowded at
night that, with the exception of the seven prisoners, each of whom
had a straw mattress and thus his place marked out, the troopers were
so crammed together that they had to lie down on the planks huddled
together like herrings in a box.
I had already been twelve days in prison when I began to feel extremely
ill. I was suffering from fever and dysentery, probably due to the
vitiated air of the place, and it is a wonder to me now how we all
escaped typhoid fever. I asked for the doctor, and when he had examined
me, he gave orders that I should be immediately removed to hospital,
where I was detained for a fortnight before I recovered.
In February came the usual examination, after which the Captain told
me that he had hoped to be able to discharge me from the service then,
but that my behaviour prevented his doing so. I need not describe for a
second time the drudgery of our daily work, which was a mere repetition
of what I had gone through the previous year. De Cormet never allowed
a week to pass without sending me to the _Salle de Police_ on some
pretext or other. Lieutenant Amy had also taken a great dislike to
me, but I am bound to confess that he never punished me except on
one occasion. It was during the month of March; I had been ordered
to command the company, and I had to get executed the movement of
"Shoulder arms." I was reciting the theory, and explaining the movement
as stated in the regulations, when Sergeant de Cormet interrupted me
in the middle of my explanation, and told me that I was wrong. He made
me begin again, and when I once more reached the passage where he had
interrupted me, he asked why I altered the text of the regulations. I
replied that I did so because the previous year Sergeant Legros had
made us alter the passage, and had made us learn it as I was then
reciting it. "So," cried out de Cormet, "now you take it upon yourself
to alter the regulations which have been drawn up by the highest
authorities in the army!"
"No, Sergeant," I said, "I have not taken it upon myself, but was told
to do so."
"Don't tell lies," retorted the Sergeant; "you will have four days'
_Salle de Police_ for not knowing your theory."
"But, Sergeant," I said, "you can inquire from Sergeant-major Legros
whether I am telling you the truth or not."
"You dare answer!" shouted the Sergeant. Just then Lieutenant Amy came
along, and hearing a row inquired what was the matter. "It's Decle, of
course, sir," de Cormet told him.
"What has he done?" queried the Lieutenant.
"The gentleman finds that the regulations are not correct, and he takes
it upon himself to correct them, and has the impertinence to answer me
that they are written in bad French."
"I am sick of the fellow," replied the Lieutenant; "are you mad,
Decle?" he asked.
"No, sir," I answered very calmly, "and I wish to observe that Sergeant
de Cormet has not correctly reported what I just now said to him."
"You scoundrel!" exclaimed the Lieutenant. "You have the impudence
to tell me that your Sergeant is a liar! You will have four days'
prison." I knew by experience that to complain, or appeal to the
Colonel, would only mean an increase of my punishment, and I therefore
quietly prepared myself to go to prison when I returned to barracks.
The overcrowding of the _Salle de Police_ had become so great by that
time that a special lock-up was used for the prisoners, which was
similar to the _Salle_, but much smaller. I had once more Titi for a
companion, as he had been up to some more tricks, and he was waiting
his trial before _Conseil de discipline_, which had been convened to
decide whether he should be sent to a punishment battalion in Africa
to finish his time or service there. He didn't feel much depressed at
the idea. "It will be a change, old chap," he used to say to me, "and
I don't suppose that I shall be bullied there more than I am here;
besides, I have only one year and a half more to serve, and that will
soon be over." It was this fact which saved him, and he was acquitted
by a majority of one, although the General bestowed sixty days' prison
on him for his last prank. (He had for the third time absconded for
five days.)
I had taken Conway's book to the prison, in order to finish its
translation, and only ten pages more were left, when one of the Majors
happened to walk in. The door stood open to admit the trooper who was
bringing our food, and I had no time to put away my MS. The Major
pounced upon it. "That's how you occupy your time," he said; "give me
all those papers." I had to hand them over to him, and he tore them up
and chucked the pieces into the slop-pail. So ended my first literary
attempt.
The four days I spent in prison, coupled with the moral state of
despair into which I had fallen, had pretty well broken me down in
health. I suffered from incessant headaches and rheumatic pains, and I
had to be sent to hospital once more on coming out of prison.
All my thoughts were by that time concentrated upon devising some
means of leaving the hell the regiment had become to me. Desertion was
out of the question, not that it would have been difficult for me to
pass into Belgium, or cross over to England, but I had too much respect
for myself and my family to turn a common deserter.