CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
AGAIN SHUT UP.
"I say, Bill, I wonder what the mounseers are going to do with us,"whispered Jack, as they marched along. "Will they put handcuffs on ourwrists and throw us into a dungeon, do you think?"
Bill acknowledged that he feared such might be the fate prepared forthem. They were not, however, ill-treated during their walk. Naturallythey felt very much disappointed at being recaptured, but they tried asbefore to put as bold a face as they could on the matter, and talkedaway to each other in an apparently unconcerned manner.
They found from the remarks of the soldiers that they had a march of acouple of miles or more inland to the place where the troops wereencamped, and that they were not to be carried to the old tower.
On one account they were sorry for this, as, having made their escapeonce, they thought that they might make it again, though, of course,they would be more strictly guarded if it was discovered who they were.
From a height they reached they saw the camp spread out on a wide levelspace a short distance off. As they got nearer to it they observed aparty of officers on horseback riding towards them, one of whom, fromthe waving plume in his hat, and from his taking the lead, they supposedwas the general.
They were right in their conjecture. As he approached with his staff,the officer who had charge of them ordered his men to halt and draw onone side.
The general reined in his horse and inquired who they were.
The captain explained that two foreign lads, supposed to be English, hadbeen discovered, endeavouring to leave the shore on a small raft ofcurious construction, such as no sane people would have wished to go tosea on; that there was something very suspicious about their movements,as they had persisted in trying to escape, although fired at by thesoldiers, and that he had considered it his duty to bring them up forexamination, as he could not understand them or make them understandhim.
"You acted rightly, Captain Dupont," said the general. "Let them bebrought to my quarters, and I'll send for Colonel O'Toole tocross-question them." Bill and Jack understood every word that wassaid. "We are in for it," said Bill; "but we must put a bold face onthe matter, and speak the truth. We can say that we were living in thecavern for some time, and that when the brig was wrecked, we resolved atonce to build a raft, and get back to our own country."
"It would save a great deal of trouble if we were to say that we werewrecked in the brig, and then it would be but natural that we should tryto escape from her," replied Jack.
"It would not be the truth, and we should not be believed," answeredBill. "I would say just what happened--that our ship caught fire andblew up, that we were saved by the fishermen, that some French soldiersgot hold of us and carried us off prisoners, and that we made our escapefrom them. We need not mention the names of our friends, and perhapsthe interpreter won't be very particular in making inquiries."
Bill finally persuaded Jack to agree that they should give a trueaccount of themselves, leaving out only such particulars as were notnecessary to mention, such as their visit to the Turgots, and theirdiscovery of the smugglers' stores.
The general, who was making a survey of the country around the camp,rode on with his staff, while Captain Dupont and his men conducted theirtwo young prisoners to head quarters, there to await his return.
The general was residing in an old chateau, with a high-peaked roof, andtowers at each of the angles of the building.
The party passed through the gateway, and proceeded to a room near thechief entrance, which served as a guard-room.
The soldiers remained outside, while the captain, with two men to guardthe prisoners, entered. Jack and Bill had to wait for some time, duringwhich they were allowed to sit on a bench by themselves.
Jack began to make observations on the people around them.
"Hush!" whispered Bill, "some one here may understand English betterthan we suppose, and we shall be foolish to let our tongues get us intoa worse scrape than we are in already."
Jack took Bill's advice, and when he made any remark it was in awhisper.
They saw several of the officers who entered looking at them, and theywere evidently the subject of their conversation. Jack and Bill hadreason to consider themselves for a time persons of some importance,though they had no wish to be so.
At last an officer in a handsome uniform entered. He was a red-hairedman, with queer twinkling eyes, and a cock-up nose, anything but of aRoman type.
Captain Dupont spoke to him, when the lads saw him eyeing them, andpresently he came up and said, "Hurroo! now me boys, just be afthertelling me what part of the world you come from!"
Bill, as agreed on, began his narrative in a very circumstantial manner.
"All moighty foine, if thrue," observed Colonel O'Toole, for he was theofficer who had just arrived, having been sent for to act asinterpreter.
"It's true, sir, every word of it," said Bill.
"Well! we shall see, afther you repeat it all over again to the gineral,and moind you thin don't made any changes," said the colonel.
Bill wisely did not reply. Presently the general with his staffappeared, he and a few officers passing on into an inner room. A fewminutes afterwards Jack and Bill were sent for.
They found the general with Colonel O'Toole and several other personsseated at a table.
The general spoke a few words, when the colonel again told the prisonersto give an account of themselves.
Bill did so exactly in the words he had before used, Colonel O'Tooleinterpreting sentence by sentence.
"Good!" said the general. "And what could induce you, when you wereonce safe on shore, to venture out to sea on so dangerous a machine?"
The colonel interpreting, turned to Jack.
"I wanted to get home and see my mother, for she must fancy I am lost,"answered Jack.
"Well, and a very right motive too," said the colonel; and he explainedto the general what Jack had said.
"And what induced you to attempt the voyage?" asked the colonel, turningto Bill. "Did you want to get back to see your mother?"
"No, sir; I have no mother to see," answered Bill. "I wanted to getback to do my duty, and fight the enemies of my country."
The general laughed when this was interpreted to him; and observed tothe officers around him, "If such is the spirit which animates the boysof England, what must we expect from the men? I must, however, considerwhether we shall allow these boys to return home. They are young now,but in a short time they will grow into sturdy fellows."
"They've got tongues in their young heads," remarked the colonel. "I'mnot altogether certain that they are quite as innocent as they look.Maybe they were sent on shore as spies, and perhaps are midshipmendisguised as common seamen."
"Let them be searched, then, and ascertain whether they have any papersabout them which may show their real character," said the general.
Jack and Bill clearly understood these remarks, and began to feel veryuncomfortable.
Bill remembered that Jack had got his pockets filled with gold, and Jackremembered it too, and wished that he had left it behind in the cavernas Bill had advised.
The colonel, who was in no wise particular as to what work he performed,at once took hold of Bill.
"Come, young gintleman," he said, "let me see what you have got in yourpockets, and next your skin; or, if you will save me the throuble, justhand out your orders or any papers you may have about you."
"I have got none, sir," answered Bill. "I told you the truth, that weare mere ship-boys, and as to being spies as you seem to think, we hadnothing to spy out that I know of."
"Well, we will soon see all about that," said the colonel, beginning tosearch Bill; but, greatly to his surprise, he found nothing whateverabout him, except his knife, the whole of Bill's worldly wealth, "I toldyou so, sir," said Bill, when he had finished. "I spoke only the truthabout myself and my companion." Bill said this, hoping that Jack wouldescape the search; but the colonel was
far too knowing, and presently heseized upon Jack, who, in spite of his efforts to appear unconcerned,began to quake.
The first plunge the colonel made with his hand into one of Jack'spockets brought forth a number of gold pieces. "Hurroo! now, this isyour innocence is it, young gintlemen?" he exclaimed, exhibiting ahandful of gold to the general. "Let me be afther seeing what yourother pocket contains;" and as he spoke he quickly drew forth anotherhandful of gold, some of which, observing that the general and the otherofficers were examining the first which he had produced, he slipped intohis own pocket.
"Troth! you're an arrant young rogue," he exclaimed. "You either stolethese, or they were given you to bribe the people to betray theircountry."
"They were not given me to bribe any one, and I didn't steal them,"answered Jack, boldly; "I took them out of the chest which was on ourraft, and there was no harm in doing that, I should think."
Bill was somewhat surprised to hear Jack say this. It was the truth,and the idea must have at that moment occurred to him. He was thussaved from having to betray the existence of the boxes of gold in thecavern, which the colonel would not have long allowed to remainunvisited, he suspected, from the little incident which has just beendescribed.
The colonel translated fairly enough to the general what Jack had justsaid.
"It is probably the truth," he remarked; "however, let the boys bedetained till we can ascertain more about them. I don't wish to havethem ill-treated. There is a room in the western turret where they canbe shut up securely till to-morrow. Colonel O'Toole, see that my ordersare carried out; but you can first let them have a view of the army,that they may tell their friends, if they get home, of the mighty forceprepared for the conquest of England, and impress on the minds of theircountrymen how hopeless is their attempt to resist the armies ofFrance."
Bill understood every word of these remarks, and they raised his hopesthat they might be set at liberty and allowed to return home; still, theIrish colonel did not look very amiably at them; perhaps he did notquite like Bill's observations.
"Come along," he said, turning to them; and, bowing to the general andto the other officers, he conducted them from the room, when the twosoldiers, who stood ready outside, again took charge of them.
They were led along to a terrace, from whence a view extended over thesurrounding country. Here they saw an almost countless number of whitetents pitched, with soldiers in various uniforms moving among them.
"Can you count those tents?" asked the colonel. "Each tent containseleven or thirteen men, and one spirit animates the whole--that is, theconquest of perfidious Albion."
"They'll have a tough job, sir, let me tell them," observed Bill. "Ihaven't seen much of English sojers except the Guards in London, and ourMarines on board ship, but I know that one of our Guardsmen would lick awhole tentful of the little chaps I see about here; and I would advisethe general to stay quietly at home, and not attempt to take our tightlittle island."
"The French have wrongs to revenge, as have my gallant people, andbitterly will they revenge them some day, when your king and his noblesare brought in chains to France."
"That won't be just yet, and may be never," answered Bill, who wasgrowing bold, and inclined to speak his mind. "I'll not bandy wordswith you, boy. Take care what you are about!" exclaimed the colonel,who did not like Bill's boldness, especially when he saw a broad grin onJack's countenance. "If you ever get back to England--and I don't sayyou ever will get back--remember what you have seen to-day, and tellthose wretched slaves your countrymen what they are to expect."
"We'll not forget it, sir," answered Bill, thinking it wiser to becivil; "and I hope the general won't think it necessary to keep inprison two poor sailor boys who never did any harm to the French, andnever wished to do any harm, except to thrash them well in a fairstand-up fight; and you will allow, sir, that that's all right and fairplay."
"Or receive a thrashing from them," answered the colonel; "however, comealong. I must see you stowed safely in the tower, where the general hasordered you to be placed, and moind you kape quiet and don't kick up arow, as you midshipmen are apt to do."
"We are not midshipmen, sir," said Bill, who had not forgotten what thecolonel had before said. "We are humble boys serving before the mast.Jack, there, is a fisherman's son, and I am a poor boy out of the Londonstreets. I am only telling you the truth, sir."
"You are a very sharp boy, then," responded the colonel, looking atBill.
"Yes, sir," said Bill, "the school I went to is a place where boys areapt to get their wits sharpened. They have little else to depend on."
The colonel still seemed to doubt whether Bill was speaking the truth,and, perhaps fortunately for them, was fully impressed with the ideathat he had charge of a couple of midshipmen. Possibly Bill was alord's son; and though he railed against English lords, yet, whenbrought into contact with them, he was inclined to pay them the deepestrespect.
Owing to the colonel's idea, Bill and Jack were treated with far moreattention than they otherwise would have received.
The room into which they were put, though small, had a table and chairsin it, and a bed in one corner.
"You will remain here for the present," said the colonel, as he saw theminto the room; "probably before long the general may wish to examine youagain, and I would advise you to take care that you tell him only thetruth, and confess your object in coming to the country."
Bill made no answer; and the colonel, after again surveying the room,took his departure, locking the door behind him.
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