gimlet too small; we therefore went to bed
brooding over our certain removal to the
dungeon the next morning. Rising early, a
thought struck me. I filled up the gimletholes
with tallow and ashes; then boring holes
where the nails of the clamp had been, I tied
the clamp on again and shut the door. It was
a dark foggy morning, and the gendarme never
detected the state of the clamp. Next day we
got a large gimlet from an English gentleman
who was on parole in the town.

The night we chose was one to our mind.
It blew hard, with sleet and snow. In the evening,
directly after muster, we placed ourselves
in a row along both stairs to pass the alarm if
anything happened. One of us, with an axe,
started all the nails at the bottom of the door,
and cut through the last plank. Once at the
bottom of the stairs, we darted across, and
fastened our rope to a stone in one of the embrasures.
We descended with great rapidity a
distance of about ninety feet, lacerating our
hands with the rope, which we had bound with
hard twine. The drawbridge was still down;
we crossed it, and divided into three parties.
We had scarcely cleared the town before the
gun fired to give the alarm. We made for the
first wood, and walked till five o'clock, when
we sat down to rest, uncertain whether we were
going right or wrong.

At daybreak I found I was the only man who
had the full use of his hands. Some of the party
had their fingers cut to the bone; others had
scarcely any whole skin remaining on the palms
of their hands. I was surgeon. I cut off
strips from their shirts, and bound up their
wounds. We had only half a loaf and a bladder
of brandy. Alison had had a ham, which he
had tried to bring down the wall in his teeth,
but it fell and was lost. At night, cold, hungry,
and benumbed, we reached the small town of
Niederbrun, where one of our party was taken
ill, and we had to venture into a lonely winehouse,
where the heat of the stove made us all
ill, and took away our appetites. We hired a
guide, and went on till we came to a village,
where we paid a crown to two men thrashing by
candlelight, to conceal us under the straw for a
few hours. We lay unmolested for an hour,
when a man and woman discovered us, called
us thieves, and roused the village; but we escaped.

Next day, as we were going along, cold,
lame, and hungry, we met a douanier, and gave
him fifteen Louis to take us across the Rhine.
As we were crossing a bridge, twenty or thirty
armed men ran out at us. All of us were captured
but Innis and myself, who were taken a
few hours after, just as we were unchaining a
boat to cross the Rhine. The surgeon who
dressed our hands told us that they would
have mortified if exposed much longer to the
weather.

On our return, the commandant accused us
of ingratitude, and of breaking our parole. Then
ordering us sternly down to the petit souterrain,
he said:

'' I have been hitherto a lamb, but you will
now find me a tiger."

Our place of confinement was a room about
twenty-five feet by ten, having a guard bed
running the whole length. The passage to
the room was guarded by two doors, and the
entrance into it by other two, the wall being
four feet thick. We soon found that the room
above us was unoccupied, and had no bars to
the window. Our difficulties were, however, now
fourfold.

How to get to the window!

How to descend from the window by the tin
spout which was in the roof, and projected two
feet from the wall!

How to elude the sentinel who paced round
the tower!

How to descend quietly so as not to awaken
the jailer, who slept under us, and whose window
we should have to pass!

Our plans were soon made. We cut up sheets,
blankets, shirts, trousers, and towels. Our friends
smuggled in needles, thread, and linen, almost
daily. My companions were now anxious to be
off; but I, having the master instrument (the
gimlet), obliged them to wait my pleasure, and
stay till I had raised twenty-one Louis in the
town and paid my debts.

Our rope, reinforced by a last pair of new
sheets, was now one hundred and forty feet
long, and we were ready. We took the precaution,
this time, of covering the upper end with strips
of an old brown coat, as its whiteness had on the
last occasion caught the sergeant's eye, when he
went round to post the sentinels.

The 12th of February being a good night,
that is, squally and dark, we resolved to start.
That morning we laid in a good store of beefsteaks
and brandy, and wished our friends
good-by. When all wa's quiet, we began by
sticking a mattress against the window to prevent
the light being seen; we then piled the
rest of the mattresses one upon another, and
began to break down the ceiling with an old
poker.

The dust nearly smothered us, and when we
got through the plaster we found, instead of
laths, oak battens and beams eighteen inches
square. Then came the floor of the next story,
which was of three-inch oak, with knots so hard
that they twisted the gimlet. At about ten we
heard the jailer unlock the outer door; this
seemed to turn us to stone; but it was a false
alarm, for he was only going to bed. After giving
him a reasonable time to compose himself, we
recommenced, when our saw broke in one of the
mortises. We sat down in despair, when all of
a sudden Innis leaped up, and cried, " Where
are the pieces? I am not going to give up in this
way!" With the help of his knife, a piece of
wood and some twine, he contrived a handle,
to our great joy, which answered the purpose.
At three in the morning, after nine hours' hard
and unceasing labour, the last stroke was given,
and the way made clear.

The affecting part of the concern came next:
we had to part with two of our sick companions.