Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall v4p1.djvu/313

 having no other implements than our pocket knives, some time elapsed before we could indulge any reasonable hopes of success; the pavement stones under the door were about ten inches square, and so closely bound together, that it was a most difficult and very tedious process. About a quarter of an hour had been thus employed, when we were alarmed by a sudden noise, similar to the distant report of a gun, echoing in tremulous reverberations through the arched passage, and, as the sound became fainter, it resembled the cautious opening of the great gate, creating a belief that we were discovered. We jumped up, and drew back towards the bridge, intending, if possible, to steal past the gens-d’armes, and slip down the piles into the canal; but the noise subsiding, we stood still, fancying we heard the footsteps of a body of men. The recollection of the barbarous murders at Bitche, on a similar occasion, instantly presented itself to my sensitive imagination; it is impossible to describe the conflicting sensations which rushed upon my mind during this awful pause: fully impressed with the conviction of discovery, and of our falling immediate victims to the merciless rage of ferocious blood-hounds, I stood and listened, with my knife in savage grasp, waiting the dreadful issue, when suddenly I felt a glow flush through my veins, which hurried me on with the desperate determination to succeed, or make a sacrifice of life in the attempt. We had scarcely reached the turning, when footsteps were again heard; and, in a whispering tone, ‘Boys;’ this welcome sound created so sudden a transition from desperation to serenity, from despair to a pleasing conviction of success, that in an instant all was hope and joy. Reinforced by our two friends, we again returned to our work of mining, with as much cheerfulness and confidence as though already embarked for England. They told us the noise was occasioned by the fall of a knapsack, which Mansell, unable to carry down the rope, had given to Whitehurst, from whom it slipped, and falling upon a hollow sounding bridge, between two lofty ramparts, echoed through the arched passage, with sufficient effect to excite alarm. * * * * * * Three of us continued mining until half-past ten, when the first stone was raised, and in twenty minutes more the second: about eleven, the hole was large enough to allow us to creep under the door; the drawbridge was up; there was, however, sufficient space to allow us to climb up, and it being square, there was, of course, an opening in the arch: through this we crept, lowering ourselves down by the line, which was passed round the chain of the bridge, and keeping both parts in our hands, landed on the garde fous. Had the bars been taken away escape would have been impossible; there not being sufficient line for descending into the ditch. We then proceeded through another arched passage, with the intention of undermining the second door, but to our great 