A friend of mine was a constant speculator
on the red and black, and got very much in debt.
One night he made a great coup and won, he
instantly scooped up the money, put it in his
pocket, ran out and knocked up his creditors, and
paid every soul of them.

A purser's clerk lost a month's pay, and then
tried to borrow a couple of crowns of the banker.
He was asked for security; he instantly took
out a knife and cut off the lobe of his right
ear; the money was given him.

There were but few deaths among the prisoners.
Amongst those who died, however, were the
Marquis and Marchioness of Tweedale. Permission
could not be obtained to send their
bodies to England. There was also a young
Westmoreland doctor who had run over to
France just for a few days, and, the war breaking
out, was detained. He died of a broken
heart. One day, while out bathing, I came on
the dead body of one of my countrymen, a naval
officer who had just been shot in a duel. He
had been forced to the field against his will by a
threat to deprive him of his rank if he did not
fight.

Wearied at last of this idle and profitless life,
I determined to make my escape with three
friends. It was first necessary that we should
not injure our bondsmen by breaking our parole;
but before guarding against this we bought
maps, gimlets, small lock saws, knapsacks, and
oilskin capes. We then collected a quantity of
small rope, and bound it round our bodies under
our clothes; the saws we hid in the crowns of
our hats. We then stayed out beyond the prescribed
time, and, as we had expected, were
ordered up into the citadel (convent) for several
days' confinement.

About five o'clock I descended the stairs leading
from the citadel and the adjoining church,
and bored holes with a gimlet all round the
panels of the door, then with my knife cut it all
through but one corner, I then filled the nicks
with tallow and sprinkled ashes over it. This
took me about half an hour. All this time one
of my friends guarded the stairs. We went to
bed at eight, and at ten the gendarmes visited the
rooms, as they were compelled to do every two
hours. As soon as they were gone, I called my
three friends and stole down. To my horror,
the panel, instead of breaking quietly off, made
a noise like a pistol, but it luckily caused no
alarm. I, and King, and Innis, were through
in a moment, but Alison (a purser), a big man,
stuck fast, and kept crying out lustily, " Pull,
pull;" we eventually pulled him through. Then
crossing the church we climbed up one of the
windows by the iron bars, but found the tracery
too small to let us through. Then groping
about for another place, we upset a clotheshorse
(the church had been turned into a storeroom),
and this made a fearful noise; the dogs
barked and the guard turned out; but we were
not discovered.

Soon after, all was quiet. We mounted an
altar on the left side of the choir, and finding
a part of a window without glass or bars,
dropped quietly some six feet into the convent
garden. We had then a tiled wall to surmount.
We got up by means of a rail, and unroofed a
place, unobserved by a neighbouring sentinel.
As the church clock struck one, the last of us
descended and walked across the green in the
direction of the general's house, then unoccupied.
To our astonishment, we almost ran against a
sentinel, but he was probably a new conscript
and frightened, for he challenged us, but gave
no alarm. We darted into the general's garden,
Innis foremost. He leapt over a wall three
feet high, expecting the fall to be trifling, but he
found that he had to drop twenty feet. He then
called out to us softly, to ease ourselves down:
which we did.

We soon came in sight of a sentry-box, with
the sentinel asleep. We passed him, and I, foremost,
got over the rampart and was standing on
the cordon, when Innis, who had better eyes,
came up and warned me of danger. Another
moment and I should have been dashed to
pieces; there was a fall of sixty feet. The night
was dark, the sight of the sentinel had confused
us, and we could not see the spot where we had
intended to descend, and where the fall was
only about thirty-five feet.

We had no time to lose. We stripped and unwound
our rope, and tied one end to a stone.
We had previously drawn lots which should be
the last, and I had drawn it. When my turn
came, I found the cord so stretched, so
smoothed down and so slimy, that it would not
support my weight. I fell flat on my back
about twenty feet. I heard Alison say: " He is
killed;" but I soon undeceived him by jumping
on my feet. We then scrambled out of the dry
fosse and reached a wood where we had hid our
stores. Just as I was stooping to open my knapsack,
I fainted, but soon recovered. Alison,
too, had hurt his ankles in falling, and could
scarcely stand. After having eaten and drunk, we
took some sleep, and as soon as it was daylight
penetrated further into the wood. About five
we heard the gun, a signal for the peasants to
hunt us. About ten we heard voices and a
rustling among the bushes, but no one came
very near us. Innis, who was a doctor, as soon
as all was quiet, bled Alison's ankles and
examined my back.

Here we lay four days, the first two fine, the
last two continual rain. The third night I was
better, and able to go with Innis two miles to
fill our canteens at a rivulet. On the fifth night
Alison's ankles grew stronger, and we left the
wood, and pushed on to the Meuse.

In the middle of the river there was land,
connected by bridges with an island on either
side. We passed through one, where every
one seemed asleep; but as we stepped on the
first bridge the church bell began to toll the
tocsin. On approaching the second, we were
met with three or four pistol-shots. By this
time all the villagers were up, sounding their
horns and shouting. What was to be done?
The enemy was before and behind, and none
of us could swim. We turned off the road and