38 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF FRANCIS ARAGO. 
cision: “Since they talk of my death,” said I to my 
friend Rodriguez, “the event will not be long in coming. 
I should prefer being drowned to being hung. I will 
make my escape from this fortress; it is for you to furnish 
me with the means.” 
Rodriguez, knowing better than any one how -well 
founded my apprehensions were, set himself at once to 
the work. 
He went to the captain-general, and made him feel 
what would be the danger of his position if I should 
disappear in a popular riot, or even if he were forced to 
give me up. His observations were so much the better 
comprehended, as no one could then predict what might 
be the issue of the Spanish revolution. “TI will under- 
take,” said the captain-general Vivés to my colleague 
Rodriguez, “to give an order to the commander of the 
fortress, that when the right moment arrives, he shall 
allow M. Arago, and even the two or three other French- 
men who are with him in the castle of Belver, to pass 
out. ‘They will then have no need of the means of es- 
cape which they have procured; but I will take no part 
in the preparations which will become necessary to enable 
the fugitives to leave the island; I leave all that to your 
responsibility.” 
Rodriguez immediately conferred secretly with the 
brave commander Damian. It was agreed between 
them that Damian should take the command of a half- 
decked boat, which the wind had driven ashore; that he 
should equip it as if for a fishing expedition; that he 
should carry us to Algiers; after which his reéntrance 
at Palmas, with or without fish, would inspire no sus- 
picion. 
All was executed according to agreement, notwith- 
