In my heart I fully
sympathized with Vetch's objection to being classed among the
seamen, for they were in the main a sorry lot, filthy in their
habits and base minded. Some, like old Dilly, were of a higher
type, and these consorted together as much as possible.
The conditions at St. Malo were so had that I was not sorry when,
after some few weeks there, a great number of us were marched out
under an armed guard to a castle about fifteen miles to the
southeast. A very woebegone battalion we must have looked as we
tramped to our new quarters--many of us suffering from prison
fever, all more or less in rags, and half starved. The change was
due to no compassion on the part of the authorities, but to an
alarm in the town. A sloop had come in, it appeared, with news that
an attack was intended against the port by no other than Benbow,
and it was feared that the prisoners might seize this opportunity
for a mutiny. I did not learn this until after we had reached our
new prison; it came out through one of our jailers, a talkative
fellow who liked to air his little English, otherwise I should not
have felt so much pleased at the change of quarters; though even if
Benbow had assaulted the town and we prisoners had risen, it was
improbable that we could have found a means of escaping to him.
The new prison was, as I have said, a castle, or to speak more
precisely, the ruins of one. It had once been a place of
considerable dimensions and of great strength; but it was now far
gone towards demolition.
Pages:
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157