Chapter XIX
We remove to very unpleasant quarters--Birds of a feather won't alwaysflock together--O'Brien cuts a cutter midshipman, and gets a taste ofFrench steel--Altogether _flat_ work--A walk into the interior.
As soon as I was well enough to attend to my little nurse, we becamevery intimate, as might be expected. Our chief employment was teachingeach other French and English. Having the advantage of me in knowing alittle before we met, and also being much quicker of apprehension, shevery soon began to speak English fluently, long before I could make outa short sentence in French. However, as it was our chief employment, andboth were anxious to communicate with each other, I learnt it very fast.In five weeks I was out of bed, and could limp about the room; andbefore two months were over, I was quite recovered. The colonel,however, would not report me to the governor; I remained on a sofaduring the day, but at dusk I stole out of the house, and walked aboutwith Celeste. I never passed such a happy time as the last fortnight;the only drawback was the remembrance that I should soon have toexchange it for a prison. I was more easy about my father and mother, asO'Brien had written to them, assuring them that I was doing well; andbesides, a few days after our capture, the frigate had run in, and senta flag of truce to inquire if we were alive or made prisoners; at thesame time Captain Savage sent on shore all our clothes, and two hundreddollars in cash for our use. I knew that even if O'Brien's letter didnot reach them, they were sure to hear from Captain Savage that I wasdoing well. But the idea of parting with Celeste, towards whom I feltsuch gratitude and affection, was most painful; and when I talked aboutit, poor Celeste would cry so much, that I could not help joining her,although I kissed away her tears. At the end of twelve weeks, thesurgeon could no longer withhold his report, and we were ordered to beready in two days to march to Toulon, where we were to join anotherparty of prisoners, to proceed with them into the interior. I must passover our parting, which the reader may imagine was very painful. Ipromised to write to Celeste, and she promised that she would answer myletters, if it were permitted. We shook hands with Colonel O'Brien,thanking him for his kindness, and, much to his regret, we were taken incharge by two French cuirassiers, who were waiting at the door. As wepreferred being continued on parole until our arrival at Toulon, thesoldiers were not at all particular about watching us; and we set off onhorseback, O'Brien and I going first, and the French cuirassiersfollowing us in the rear.
We trotted or walked along the road very comfortably. The weather wasdelightful: we were in high spirits, and almost forgot that we wereprisoners. The cuirassiers followed us at a distance of twenty yards,conversing with each other, and O'Brien observed that it was amazinglygenteel of the French governor to provide us with two servants in suchhandsome liveries. The evening of the second day we arrived at Toulon,and as soon as we entered the gates, we were delivered into the custodyof an officer with a very sinister cast of countenance, who, after someconversation with the cuirassiers, told us in a surly tone that ourparole was at an end, and gave us in charge of a corporal's guard, withdirections to conduct us to the prison near the Arsenal. We presentedthe cuirassiers with four dollars each, for their civility, and werethen hurried away to our place of captivity. I observed to O'Brien, thatI was afraid that we must now bid farewell to anything like pleasure."You're right there, Peter," replied he: "but there's a certain jewelcalled Hope, that somebody found at the bottom of his chest, when it wasclean empty, and so we must not lose sight of it, but try and escape assoon as we can; but the less we talk about it the better." In a fewminutes we arrived at our destination: the door was opened, ourselvesand our bundles (for we had only selected a few things for our march,the colonel promising to forward the remainder as soon as we wrote toinform him to which depot we were consigned), were rudely shoved in; andas the doors again closed, and the heavy bolts were shot, I felt acreeping, chilly sensation pass through my whole body.
As soon as we could see--for although the prison was not very dark, yetso suddenly thrown in, after the glare of a bright sunshiny day, atfirst we could distinguish nothing--we found ourselves in company withabout thirty English sailors. Most of them were sitting down on thepavement, or on boxes, or bundles containing their clothes that they hadsecured, conversing with each other, or playing at cards or draughts.Our entrance appeared to excite little attention; after having raisedtheir eyes to indulge their curiosity, they continued their pursuits. Ihave often thought what a feeling of selfishness appeared to pervade thewhole of them. At the time I was shocked, as I expected immediatesympathy and commiseration; but afterwards I was not surprised. Many ofthese poor fellows had been months in the prison, and a shortconfinement will produce that indifference to the misfortunes of others,which I then observed. Indeed, one man, who was playing at cards, lookedup for a moment as we came in, and cried out, "Hurrah, my lads! the morethe merrier," as if he really was pleased to find that there were otherswho were as unfortunate as himself. We stood looking at the groups forabout ten minutes, when O'Brien observed, "that we might as well come toan anchor, foul ground being better than no bottom;" so we sat down in acorner, upon our bundles, where we remained for more than an hour,surveying the scene, without speaking a word to each other. I could notspeak--I felt so very miserable. I thought of my father and mother inEngland, of my captain and my messmates, who were sailing about sohappily in the frigate, of the kind Colonel O'Brien, and dear littleCeleste, and the tears trickled down my cheeks as these scenes of formerhappiness passed through my mind in quick succession. O'Brien did notspeak but once, and then he only said, "This is dull work, Peter."
We had been in the prison about two hours, when a lad in a very greasy,ragged jacket, with a pale emaciated face, came up to us, and said, "Iperceive by your uniforms that you are both officers, as well asmyself."
O'Brien stared at him for a little while, and then answered, "Upon mysoul and honour, then, you've the advantage of us, for it's more than Icould perceive in you; but I'll take your word for it. Pray what shipmay have had the misfortune of losing such a credit to the service?"
"Why, I belonged to the _Snapper_ cutter," replied the young lad; "I wastaken in a prize, which the commanding officer had given in my charge totake to Gibraltar: but they won't believe that I'm an officer. I haveapplied for officer's allowance and rations, and they won't give them tome."
"Well, but they know that we are officers," replied O'Brien; "why dothey shove us in here, with the common seamen?"
"I suppose you are only put in here for the present," replied thecutter's midshipman; "but why I cannot tell."
Nor could we, until afterwards, when we found out, as our narrative willshow, that the officer who received us from the cuirassiers had oncequarrelled with Colonel O'Brien, who first pulled his nose, andafterwards ran him through the body. Being told by the cuirassiers thatwe were much esteemed by Colonel O'Brien, he resolved to annoy us asmuch as he could; and when he sent up the document announcing ourarrival, he left out the word "Officers," and put us in confinement withthe common seamen. "It's very hard upon me not to have my regularallowance as an officer," continued the midshipman. "They only give me ablack loaf and three sous a day. If I had had my best uniform on, theynever would have disputed my being an officer; but the scoundrels whoretook the prize stole all my traps, and I have nothing but this oldjacket."
"Why, then," replied O'Brien, "you'll know the value of dress for thefuture. You cutter and gun-brig midshipmen go about in such a dirtystate, that you are hardly acknowledged by us who belong to frigates tobe officers, much less gentlemen. You look so dirty, and so slovenlywhen we pass you in the dockyard, that we give you a wide berth; howthen can you suppose strangers to believe that you are either officersor gentlemen? Upon my conscience, I absolve the Frenchmen from allprejudice, for, as to, your being an officer, we, as Englishmen havenothing but your bare word for it."
"Well, it's very hard," replied the lad, "to be attacked this way by abrother officer; your coat will be as shabby as mine, before you havebeen he
re long."
"That's very true, my darling," returned O'Brien: "but at least I shallhave the pleasant reflection that I came in as a gentleman, although Imay not exactly go out under the same appearance. Good night, andpleasant dreams to you!" I thought O'Brien rather cross in speaking insuch a way, but he was himself always as remarkably neat and welldressed, as he was handsome and well made.
Fortunately we were not destined to remain long in this detestable hole.After a night of misery, during which we remained sitting on ourbundles, and sleeping how we could, leaning with our backs against thedamp wall, we were roused, at daybreak by the unbarring of the prisondoors, followed up with an order to go into the prison yard. We werehuddled out like a flock of sheep, by a file of soldiers with loadedmuskets; and, as we went into the yard, were ranged two and two. Thesame officer who ordered us into prison, commanded the detachment ofsoldiers who had us in charge. O'Brien stepped out of the ranks, and,addressing them, stated that we were officers, and had no right to betreated like common sailors. The French officer replied, that he hadbetter information, and that we wore coats which did not belong to us;upon which O'Brien was in a great rage, calling the officer a liar, anddemanding satisfaction for the insult, appealing to the French soldiers,and stating, that Colonel O'Brien, who was at Cette, was his countryman,and had received him for two months into his house upon parole, whichwas quite sufficient to establish his being an officer. The Frenchsoldiers appeared to side with O'Brien after they had heard thisexplanation, stating that no common English sailor could speak such goodFrench, and that they were present when we were sent in on parole, andthey asked the officer whether he intended to give satisfaction. Theofficer stormed, and drawing his sword out of the scabbard, struckO'Brien with the flat of the blade, looking at him with contempt, andordering him into the ranks. I could not help observing that, duringthis scene, the men-of-war sailors who were among the prisoners, werevery indignant, while, on the contrary, those captured in merchantvessels appeared to be pleased with the insult offered to O'Brien. Oneof the French soldiers then made a sarcastic remark, that the Frenchofficer did not much like the name of O'Brien. This so enraged theofficer, that he flew at O'Brien, pushed him back into the ranks, andtaking out a pistol, threatened to shoot him through the head. I must dothe justice to the French soldiers, that they all cried out "Shame!"They did not appear to have the same discipline, or the same respect foran officer, as the soldiers have in our service, or they would not havebeen so free in their language; yet, at the same time, they obeyed allhis orders on service very implicitly.
When O'Brien returned to the ranks, he looked defiance at the officer,telling him, "That he would pocket the affront very carefully, as heintended to bring it out again upon a future and more suitableoccasion." We were then marched out in ranks, two and two, being met atthe street by two drummers, and a crowd of people, who had gathered towitness our departure. The drums beat, and away we went. The officer whohad charge of us mounted a small horse, galloping up and down from oneend of the ranks to the other, with his sword drawn, bullying, swearing,and striking with the flat of the blade at any one of the prisoners whowas not in his proper place. When we were close to the gates, we werejoined by another detachment of prisoners: we were then ordered to halt,and were informed, through an interpreter, that any one attempting toescape would immediately be shot, after which information we once moreproceeded on our route.
Nothing remarkable occurred during our first day's march, except perhapsa curious conversation between O'Brien and one of the French soldiers,in which they disputed about the comparative bravery of the two nations.O'Brien, in his argument, told the Frenchman that his countrymen couldnot stand a charge of English bayonets. The Frenchman replied that therewas no doubt but the French were quite as brave as the English--evenmore so; and that, as for not standing the charge of bayonets, it wasnot because they were less brave; but the fact was, that they were mostexcessively _ticklish_. We had black bread and sour wine served out tous this day, when we halted to refresh. O'Brien persuaded a soldier topurchase something for us more eatable; but the French officer heard ofit, and was very angry, ordering the soldier to the rear.