ESCAPE OF THE KEPUBLICAN EXILES. 117 



in peace and honour under their good king, others 

 had risen to high rank in the armies, and all had 

 been accustomed to the better order of Parisian life. 

 They might now have been glad to exchange situa- 

 tions Avith the most houseless pauper of Europe. 



In the fort they were prisoners still. They were 

 compelled to attend a muster twice a-day ; and, with 

 one or two exceptions, none of them passed without 

 the gates but to the grave. All the minor miseries 

 that belong to a tropical climate tormented them 

 hourly. Their rooms were alive with venomous in- 

 sects; they were devoured by mosquitoes, gnats, 

 bugs, scorpions, and a whole host of others, equally 

 disgusting. Serpents were frequent. Pichegra 

 killed one thicker than his arm, which had made its 

 way into the folds of his cloak, on which he lay as a 

 pillow. All within view of the fort was forest a 

 howling wilderness, which constantly echoed with 

 the screaming of monkeys, the groaning of millions 

 of toads, and the melancholy shriek and roar of 

 tigers. To fill up this concert, and prevent sleep to 

 the sick or the well, the alarm was beaten every 

 morning before the door, and no remonstrance was 

 able to put a stop to this petty and peevish cruelty. 



The prisoners began now to accomplish the purpose 

 for which they were sent across the seas. They 

 began to sink under the climate. Old De Murinais 

 died first. He had been a general, had possessed a 

 large fortune, and was the father of a numerous 



