CHAPTER THIRTY TWO.
IN PRISON, AND OUT AGAIN.
The order to march was given. The two officers went first, followed byBrown and Tom supporting Jack, and the gendarmes marched on either sideof them with their bayonets fixed.
Rayner and Oliver took the bearings of the house and remarked thecountry as they went along. They found that they were proceedinginland, and on inquiring of the sergeant he said that they were going toa place called Le Trou, where other English prisoners were confined.
"Are there many of them?" inquired Rayner.
"Yes," answered the Frenchman, "some hundreds, I believe; for one of ourfrigates captured a ship of yours not long ago, and most of the officersand men who escaped death were sent there."
Rayner in vain endeavoured to ascertain what English ship was spoken of,for he had heard of none taken by the French of late years. Thesergeant, however, was positive, though he did not know either the nameof the ship or the exact time of the capture.
"I suspect he has heard some old story, and he repeats it for the sakeof annoying us," observed Oliver.
"We must not let him suppose that we are cast down. We'll try to learnhow far off this Le Trou is."
Rayner questioned the sergeant.
"He says it is three days' journey. We shall have to stop at differenthouses on the road. That he must first take us to the mayor, or someofficial, who may perhaps send us to the governor at Leogane, by whom weshall be examined, and if found to be spies, we shall be shot."
"Then Le Trou is not our first destination, and much will depend uponthe character of the mayor before whom we are taken," observed Oliver.
As they still continued in a northerly direction, they knew that theywere not going to Leogane, which lay to the westward, nor were theyincreasing their distance from the Spanish border.
Towards evening they reached a house of some size built, as are most ofthose in the country, on one storey, raised on a platform, with a broadveranda and wide projecting eaves. At one end, however, was a circulartower of considerable height.
"Here we shall stop, and there will be your lodging after you have beenexamined by Monsieur le Maire," said the sergeant, pointing to thetower.
They conducted them up the steps to a hall, at one end of which was abaize-covered table, with a large chair and several smaller chairs oneither side.
After some time a little old gentleman in a red nightcap and flowereddressing-gown, with slippered feet, and spectacles on nose, entered thehall, followed by another in black, apparently his clerk. Two otherpersons also came in, and took their seats at the table, while the clerkbegan to nibble his pen and shuffle his papers.
The old gentleman, in a squeaky voice, inquired who were the prisonersnow brought before him, and of what crime they were accused.
The sergeant at once stepped up to the table, and giving a militarysalute, informed Monsieur le Maire how he had heard of spies being inthe country, and how he had captured them at the house of Madame LaRoche.
"But if they are Englishmen, they cannot speak French, and we require aninterpreter," said the mayor. "Do any of you, my friends, understandthe language of those detestable islanders?"
No one replied. After the remark of the mayor, it might seem a disgraceeven to speak English.
Rayner, anxious not to prolong the business, on hearing what was said,stepped up to the table, and observed that, as he spoke French, heshould be happy to explain how he and his companions came into thecountry.
He then gave a brief account of the circumstances which led to theshipwreck, and what had since occurred. He was sorry anybody presentshould entertain ill-feelings towards the English, as for his part heliked France, and had a warm regard for many Frenchmen.
Even the mayor was impressed, and a pleased smile came over his weazenedfeatures.
"I am ready to believe the account you give me, and that you certainlyare not spies," he said. "The body of your countryman found on thebeach proves that you were shipwrecked. Still, as you are in thecountry, we must consider you as prisoners of war, and treat you assuch. For this night you must remain here, and to-morrow I willconsider whether I will send you to Leogane or Le Trou, where you willwait with others of your countrymen to be exchanged."
After some further remarks the examination terminated, and Rayner andOliver, with the three seamen, were marched off under a guard to thetower.
It was nearly dark, and they were conducted by the light of a lantern uptwo flights of steps to a room in an upper storey. As far as they couldjudge, it was furnished with several pallet beds, a table, some chairs,and stools.
"You are to remain here until to-morrow morning, messieurs, when I shallknow in what direction to proceed. Monsieur le Maire has ordered yousome food, and you will, I hope, not complain of your treatment," saidthe sergeant, as he closed the door, which he locked and bolted. Theyheard him descending.
"We are better off than I should have expected," remarked Rayner,surveying the room by the light of the lantern which the sergeant hadleft.
"The point is, Are we able to escape?" said Oliver.
"You mind, sir, how we got out of the prison in France, and I don't seewhy we shouldn't get out of this place," observed Jack, going to one ofthe two narrow windows which the room contained, and looking forth.They were strongly-barred. The night was dark, and he could only seethe glimmer of a light here and there in the distance. It wasimpossible also to ascertain the height of the window from the ground.
"We will certainly try to get out," said Rayner, joining Jack at thewindow. "Though I fear that you with your bruises and battered ribswill be unable to make your way on foot across the country."
"Don't mind me, sir," answered Jack. "I have no pain to speak of. Ifthe worst comes to the worst, I can but remain behind. I shall becontent if you and Mr Crofton and Tom and Brown make your escape."
"No, no, my brave fellow," said Rayner, "we will not leave you behind.But before we talk of what we will do, we must try what we can do.These bars seem very strongly fixed into the stone, and may resist ourattempts to get them out."
"There's nothing like trying, however," observed Oliver. "We must getaway to-night, for if the mayor decides on sending us either to Leoganeor Le Trou we shall have a very poor chance afterwards."
They tried the bars, but all of them were deeply imbedded in the stone.
"Where there's a will there's a way," observed Jack. "We may dig outthe lead with our knives, and if we can get one bar loose we shall soonwrench off the ends of the others, or bend them back enough to let uscreep through. Brown wouldn't make much of bending one of these ironbars, would you, Sam?"
"I'll try what I can do," said the seaman, "especially if it's to get usour liberty."
"Then, not to lose time, I'll make a beginning, if you'll let me, sir,"said Jack; and he got out his knife, but just as he had commencedoperations, steps were heard ascending the stairs. The door opened, andone of the gendarmes appeared, followed by a negro carrying a basket ofprovisions.
"Monsieur le Maire does not want to starve you, and so from hisbountiful kindness has sent you some supper," said the former.
"We are much obliged to Monsieur the Mayor, but we should be still moreso if he would set us at liberty," said Rayner.
Meanwhile the black boy was spreading the table with the contents of thebasket.
The gendarme laughed. "No, no, we are not apt to let our caged birdsfly," he answered. "I hope, messieurs, you will enjoy your suppers, andI would advise you then to take some sleep to be ready to start early inthe morning, as soon as it is decided in what direction you are to go."
Rayner thanked the gendarme, who, followed by the black boy, went out ofthe room, bolting and barring the door behind him.
The men now drew their benches to the table, and Rayner and Oliver,taking their places, fell to with the rest, there being no necessity,under such circumstances, for keeping up official ceremony.
Supper was quickly got
through, and each man stowed away the remainderof the provisions in his pockets. While they went to work with theirknives at the bars, Rayner and Oliver examined the beds. They werethankful to find that the canvas at the bottom was lashed by pieces oftolerably stout rope. These, with the aid of the ticking cut intostrips, would form a line of sufficient length and strength to enablethem to descend, should they succeed in getting out the bars. This,however, was not easily to be accomplished. When the officers went tothe window, they found that Jack and his companions had made littleprogress. The bars fitted so closely into the holes that there was buta small quantity of lead, and without a hammer and chisel it seemedimpossible to make the hole sufficiently large to move the bars so as toallow Brown to exert his strength upon them. If the two centreperpendicular bars could be got out, the lowest horizontal bar might besent up. This would afford ample room for the stoutest of the party toget through.
"We've got out of a French prison before, sir, and we'll get out now,"said Jack, working away.
"Yes, but we were small boys then, and you, Jack, and I, would find it ahard matter to get through the same sized hole now that we could then,"observed Rayner.
"That's just it, sir. If two small boys could get out of a Frenchprison, I am thinking that five well-nigh grown men can manage the job.We'll do it, sir, never fear. If this stone was granite it might puzzleus, but it's softer than that by a long way, and I have already cut outsome of it with my knife, though, to be sure, it does blunt itconsiderably."
The progress Jack and his companions made was very small, and it wasevident that unless they could work faster they would be unable toremove the bar before daylight. Rayner and Oliver searched round theroom for any pieces of iron which might serve the purpose of a chisel.They examined the bedsteads--they were formed entirely of wood. Therewas, of course, no fireplace, or a poker might have assisted them. Theyhad just returned to the window when their ears caught the sounds of afew low notes from a violin, played almost directly beneath them.
"Why! I do believe that's the tune Le Duc was playing to us lastevening," exclaimed Jack.
All was again silent. Rayner and Oliver tried to look through the bars,but could see nothing; all was still. Again the notes were heard. Jackwhistled a few bars of the same air. A voice from below, in asuppressed tone asked in French, "Have you a thin line? Let it down."
"It is Le Duc. He has got something for us. Maybe just what we want,"cried Jack.
"Oui, oui," he answered. "It will quickly be ready."
The ticking of one of the mattresses was quickly cut up and formed intoa line, which was lowered. Rayner, who held it, felt a gentle tug, andas he hauled it up, what was the delight of the party to find two strongfiles! There could be no doubt that Le Duc had formed some plan toassist them in escaping, or he would not have come thus furnished.Probably they had to thank Madame La Roche for suggesting it. They didnot stop, however, to discuss the matter, but set to work immediately tofile away the bars, making as little noise as possible. While two ofthem were thus employed, the rest walked about the room, and talked andlaughed and sang, so as to drown the sound of the files. Presently theyheard from the other side of the building the loud tones of a fiddle,the player evidently keeping his bow going at a rapid rate. Then camethe sounds of laughter and the stamping of feet, as if people weredancing.
"Why, our guards will be kept awake and we shall have no chance ofgetting off, I fear," said Oliver.
"If our guards dance they will drink, and sleep afterwards, never fear,"answered Rayner. "Our friend Le Duc knows what he is about. I'm surethat we can trust him, or he would not have taken the trouble to bringus these files."
The fiddle was kept going, and Brown and Jack kept time to the tuneswith the files as they worked, laughing heartily as they did so.
"Hurrah!" cried Jack, "there's one bar through. Take a spell here, Tom.You've helped the armourer sometimes, and know how to use a file."
Tom, being as eager to get out as the rest, worked away better than hedid on most occasions.
Jack, however, soon again took the file, and in a short time announcedthat both the centre bars were cut through at the bottom. They had nextto file the upper bars sufficiently to enable Brown to bend them back.Losing patience, however, he at last seized one of them, when, placinghis feet against the window, he bent back with all his strength. He wasmore successful than he expected, for the iron giving way, down he fellon the floor with a tremendous crash, which would certainly have beenheard by the guards below, had not their attention been drawn off by thefiddle of Le Duc, who was scraping away with more vehemence than ever.Rayner and Oliver had in the meantime been manufacturing the rope bywhich they hoped to descend to the ground. They could measure thenecessary length by the small line with which the files had been drawnup, and they had the satisfaction of finding that it was amply longenough for their purpose. They now secured it to one of the remainingbars. Rayner and Oliver agreed that it would be wise to descend whilethe fiddle was going.
"Let me go first," said Brown. "I am the heaviest, and if it bears me,it will bear any of you."
Tom said nothing. His modesty or something else prevented him fromputting himself forward when any danger was to be encountered.
Rayner himself had intended to descend first, but the rest of the partybegged him to let some one else go, and at last Oliver led the way.
Judging by the still louder scraping of Le Duc's fiddle, he must havesuspected what they were about. Oliver could hear the notes cominground from the other side of the building. All, however, below him wassilence and darkness. He could not judge, as he looked down, whether hewas to alight on hard or soft ground, whether into a ditch or stream, orwhether they should have a fence to climb. His chief fear was that someof the dogs allowed to go loose in every country house might discoverhim and his companions before they could effect their escape.
All this passed through his mind as he was letting himself down therope, to which he clung with arms and feet as a sailor only can clingwith security. He soon reached the bottom. The ground appeared to befirm, and was, as far as he could judge, perfectly level. The towerthrew a dark shadow, in which he stood listening for any sounds whichmight indicate danger. It had been agreed, even should one or two ofthe gendarmes come round, to spring upon them, seize their arms, and gagthem. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he pulled out hishandkerchief, ready for the latter object. Presently another came down.It was Brown, the best man to tackle an enemy, as his muscular strengthwas equal to any two of the rest. No enemy appeared, however, and atlength Rayner, who came last, reached the bottom in safety.
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