36 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF FRANCIS ARAGO. 
be uneasy,” said he to me; “if they should penetrate 
into the vessel you can hide yourself in this trunk.” I 
made the attempt; but the chest which he showed me 
was so small that my legs were entirely outside, and the 
cover could not be shut down. I understood perfectly 
what that meant, and I asked M. Vacaro to let me also 
be shut up in the castle of Belver. The order for in- 
carceration having arrived from the captain-general, I 
got into the boat, where the sailors of the Mistic received 
me with emotion. 
At the moment of their crossing the harbour the popu- 
lace perceived me, commenced a pursuit, and it was not 
without much difficulty that I reached Belver safe and 
sound. I had only, indeed, received on my way one 
slight wound from a dagger in the thigh. Prisoners 
have often been seen to run with all speed from their 
dungeon ; I am the first, perhaps, to whom it has hap- 
pened to do the reverse. This took place on the Ist or 
2d of June, 1808. 
The governor of Belver was a very extraordinary 
personage. If he is still alive he may demand of me a 
certificate as to his priority to the modern hydropathists ; 
the grenadier-captain maintained that pure water, suit- 
ably administered, was a means of treatment for all ill- 
nesses, even for amputations. By listening very patiently 
to his theories, and never interrupting him, I won his good 
opinion. It was at his request, and from interest in our 
safety, that a Swiss garrison replaced the Spanish troop 
which until then had been employed as the guard of 
Belver. It was also through him that I one day learnt 
that a monk had proposed to the soldiers who went to 
bring my food from the town, to put some poison into 
one of the dishes. 
