Page:Memoirs of Vidocq, Volume 1.djvu/120

 movement of one of us was communicated to the others, a horrid punishment when prolonged, and which ends in a total deprivation of sleep. At the end of two days Desfosseux, seeing us dejected, resolved on using a means which he only resorted to on desperate occasions, and which he reserved as the preparatory steps towards escape.

Like many of the galley-slaves he carried secretly about him a case full of files with which he set to work, and in less than three hours our fetters fell off, we cast them through the grating into the river. The jailor coming to visit us the moment after to see if we were quiet, almost fell backwards at finding us freed from our irons, and asked us what we had done with them: to which we only replied with jokes. The inspector of the prison arriving, together with an attendant bailiff named Hurtrel, we were compelled to undergo a fresh examination: and Desfosseux, who was much irritated, said, "You ask for our fetters? Well, the worms have eaten them, and will eat as many as you may load us with."—The inspector then suspecting that we had the famous herb which cuts iron, which no botanist has ever yet discovered, ordered us to strip and be examined from head to foot, and then again loaded us with irons, which were again cut off the following night; for the precious case was not discovered. This time we reserved to ourselves the pleasure of throwing them on the ground in the presence of the inspector and Hurtrel the bailiff, who did not know what to think of it. The report spread through the city that there was in the prison a conjuror who took fetters off by only touching them. To cut short all these accounts, and particularly to avoid drawing the attention of the other prisoners to means of getting rid of their chains, the public accuser gave an order to shut us up and watch us with particular care—a recommendation which did not prevent us from quitting Douai sooner than they expected, or than we ourselves had the least idea of.