114 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



Their dinner this day was another biscuit, with a 

 bucket of boiled beans, just as they were taken out 

 of the ship's kettle, and this completed their bill of 

 fare for the whole voyage. They had the usual visi- 

 tation of sea-sickness to contend with in more than 

 usual severity ; for they put to sea in a storm, which 

 blew them back into Eochelle. There their captain 

 was changed ; and their new captain, Laporte, began 

 his career with a harangue to his crew in this style : 



"Soldiers, I order you to watch these great cul- 

 prits closely. And you, sailors, I forbid you, on pain 

 of death, to communicate in any manner whatever 

 with these miscreants." His next address was to the 

 prisoners. "Messieurs, you are very fortunate in 

 being treated with so much clemency.' 1 



Their guard should not be forgotten. These were 

 marines sent home from the Isles of France and 

 Bourbon, where the Revolution had done its work 

 in throwing the colonies into a state of havoc and 

 misery. These fellows took delight in recounting 

 their exploits in Europe and Asia. One boasted of 

 having killed his captain by a stab in the back on a 

 march, on suspicion of aristocracy. Another calcu- 

 lated the number of priests whom he had drowned 

 in the Loire. Another mimicked the grimaces of 

 the unfortunate people destroyed in the Noyades. 

 Others boasted of their having knocked the drowning 

 on the head as they attempted to swim from the 

 trap-door. The Loire was a never-failing subject ; 



