110 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



night in peculiar wretchedness, in a dark damp hole 

 under the castle, twenty-five feet under ground, 

 which affected their limbs so much, that when they 

 were ordered to the cages next morning they were 

 scarcely able to move. Their last day's journey com- 

 menced at three in the morning, and brought them 

 to Eochefort, at the end of nine leagues of the most 

 wretched roads. 



At Eochefort they expected to find a few days' 

 rest ; but they were alarmed by finding that they 

 were led round the fortifications, with a rabble in 

 their train fiercely crying out, " To the water to the 

 water!" which appears to have been the provincial 

 substitute for "To the lamp-post" of the Parisian 

 legislators, the usual mode of republican justice in 

 the seaports being by drowning. The cry was rein- 

 forced by the workmen of the dockyards, the soldiers, 

 and the crews of the ships, who flocked round the 

 cages as they slowly passed along, shouting out, 

 " Down with the tyrants ; make them drink out of 

 the large cup /" (the ocean). The French are 

 picturesque, even in murder. 



In Eochefort there was thus no " rest for the sole 

 of unblest feet." They were immediately carried on 

 board a little privateer moored in the river, and 

 given into the hands of a guard of scoffing soldiers, 

 who pushed them down imder the decks, where they 

 were nearly stifled by the smoke, the smells, and the 

 want of fresh air. 



