36 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF FRANCIS ARAGO. 



be uneasy/' said lie 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 1st 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. 



