Page:Memoirs of Vidocq, Volume 1.djvu/168

 Cove they had neither been shaved nor washed, and their clothes were in rags. What made the sight still more wretched was, that the night was dark, and the deck was illuminated by a solitary lanthorn.

"The captain began by putting fetters on the new comers; then, after having questioned them, and being assured that there were only six of them, he made them lie down without food on the deck. The second act of the piece consisted in treating the cooper and myself in a similar manner. When we were all together, they threw a large sail over us, like a net, and thus we passed the night. The next day, early, we went below, one after the other, with a rope round our waists, to the bottom of the hold, and were put in a hole so dark that we could not see each other. We were left there on the bare plank, and for food we had a pint of water and a pound of biscuit daily. We received this distribution without seeing it; for the sailor who brought it to us announced his arrival by a cry to us to extend our hands; and on receiving this pittance we divided it amongst us entirely in the dark.

"We were kept in this situation for forty mortal days, that is, until the ship reached the Cape of Good Hope, where she was to touch. The captain went to the governor to announce to him that he had some fugitive convicts on board, and to ask whether he could not disembark them, and have them confined in the prison of Cape Town; but the governor said he would have nothing to do with such people, and would not allow them to be landed. However, the captain soon consoled himself for this, on learning that there was an Irish ship in the harbour laden with convicts for Botany Bay. He made an arrangement with the captain of this ship, and induced him to take my poor comrades with him. They were taken from their dungeon for this purpose, and I never saw them again."

The obstacles which I have mentioned are so serious that I shall not touch on the consequences of a naval