PRISONERS AT PORTCHESTER 209 



in all about five years ; but, says one who was living 

 in the village at the time, "he was often prowling 

 about in the forests around when supposed by his 

 keepers to be quietly lodged in the castle. His 

 custom when at large was to approach a cottage in 

 the morning when its male inmates would be in the 

 fields ; if he happened to find them at home he would 

 ask, with all due humility, for a crust and a drink of 

 water; but if the dame only was within, he would 

 dash into her larder, pounce upon her bread, cheese, 

 and bacon, and scamper off with his prey into the 

 cover of the forest. These pranks filled the neighbour- 

 hood with a thousand tales of his doings. Provoked 

 at last by his predatory larcenies, the peasants would 

 assemble in numbers near his haunts, a general hunt 

 would ensue, and Dufresne would be brought back 

 to the castle maimed with stones, or lacerated with 

 buckshot from the guns of his pursuers." The same 

 writer tells a story of the attempted escape of eighteen 

 Spanish seamen. Beneath one of the towers in the 

 inner court a large low irregular vault may still be 

 seen. Here on a certain night the desperadoes had 

 assembled, armed with sharp daggers, which they 

 had made out of horseshoe files, intending in due 

 season to sally forth, assassinate the sentries, and 

 make their escape over the wall. But, as often hap- 

 pened, treachery had been busy among the captives, 

 and full information had been given to the authorities. 

 So, " about midnight, a strong body of prison police, 

 bearing lighted torches, and supported by a guard 

 with fixed bayonets, crawled on hands and knees into 

 the dungeon (which was the only mode of entering it) 

 and there discovered the desperadoes in perfect readi- 

 ness for the attempt. At sight of their daggers, which 



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