In a few days we had settled down in our new life. Some of the men
passed all the daylight hours in throwing dice or playing games of
chance, not without frequent quarrels, which our guardians ignored
so long as they remained short of fighting. Others, more
industriously inclined, occupied themselves in fashioning toys from
wood supplied them, which were afterwards sold in neighboring
villages, the proceeds (after a very liberal commission had been
subtracted) being devoted to the purchase of additions to their
meagre fare.
As for me, the idea of escape was already beating in my mind, and
as a first step I resolved to pick up a knowledge of the French
tongue, of which I was almost wholly ignorant. Accordingly I lost
no opportunity of conversing with soldiers of the guard, with whom
I ingratiated myself by showing them some of the tricks of fence
taught me by Captain Galsworthy. The only work which all the
prisoners had to perform in turn was the drawing of water from a
well in the keep. The water of the moat, as I had seen when we
crossed it on entering, was covered with a green scum, the rivulet
which fed it not being of sufficient volume to keep it in
circulation.
A few days after our arrival I was laid low by a mild attack of
jail fever, of which I had doubtless brought the seeds from St.
Malo. I kept my bed for a couple of days, being tended with much
kindliness by a little old surgeon attached to the garrison.
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