by G. A. Henty
Chapter 20: Loches.
"A British officer; broke out from Lille. Ah!" the Governor ofLoches said to himself, as he glanced over the royal order."Something else beyond that, I fancy. Prisoners of war who try tobreak prison are not sent to Loches. I suppose he has been insomebody's way very seriously. A fine young fellow, too--a reallysplendid fellow. A pity really; however, it is not my business.
"Number four, in the south tower," he said, and Rupert was ledaway.
Number four was a cell on the third story of the south tower. Morethan that Rupert did not know. There was no looking out from theloopholes that admitted light, for they were boarded up on theoutside. There was a fireplace, a table, a chair, and a bedstead.Twice a day a gaoler entered with provisions; he made no reply toRupert's questions, but shook his head when spoken to.
For the first week Rupert bore his imprisonment with cheerfulness,but the absolute silence, the absence of anything to break thedreary monotony, the probability that he might remain a prisonerall his life, was crushing even to the most active and energetictemperament.
At the end of a month the gaoler made a motion for him to followhim. Ascending the stairs to a great height, they reached theplatform on the top of the tower.
Rupert was delighted with the sight of the sky, and of thewide-spreading fields--even though the latter was covered withsnow. For a half-an-hour he paced rapidly round and round thelimited walk. Presently the gaoler touched him, and pointing below,said:
"Look!"
Rupert looked over the battlement, and saw a little party issuefrom a small postern gate far below him, cross the broad fosse, andpause in an open space formed by an outlying work beyond. They borewith them a box.
"A funeral?" Rupert asked.
The man nodded.
"They all go out at last," he said, "but unless they tell what theyare wanted to tell, they go no other way."
Five minutes later Rupert was again locked up in his cell, when hewas, in the afternoon of the same day, visited by the governor, whoasked if he would say where he had taken Mademoiselle Pignerolles.
"You may as well answer," he said. "You will never go out aliveunless you do."
Rupert shook his head.
"I do not admit that I know aught concerning the lady you name; butdid I so, I should prefer death to betraying her."
"Ay," the governor said, "you might do that; but death is verypreferable to life at Loches."
In a day or two Rupert found himself again desponding.
"This will not do," he said earnestly. "I must arouse myself. Letme think, what have I heard that prisoners do? In the first placethey try to escape; and some have escaped from places as difficultas Loches. Well, that is one thing to be thought very seriouslyabout. In the next place, I have heard of their making pets ofspiders and all sorts of things. Well, I may come to that, but atpresent I don't like spiders well enough to make pets of them;besides I don't see any spiders to make pets of. Then someprisoners have carved walls, but I have no taste for carving.
"I might keep my muscles in order and my health good by exercisewith the chair and table; get to hold them out at arm's length,lift the table with one hand, and so on. Yes, all sorts of exercisemight be continued in that way, and the more I take exercise thebetter I shall sleep at night and enjoy my meals. Yes, with nothingelse to do I might become almost a Samson here.
"There, now my whole time is marked out--escape from prison, andexercise. I'll try the last first, and then think over the other."
For a long time Rupert worked away with his furniture until he hadquite exhausted himself; then feeling happier and better than hehad done since he was shut up, he began to think of plans ofescape. The easiest way would of course be to knock down and gagthe gaoler, and to escape in the clothes; but this plan he putaside at once, as it was morally certain that he should be nonearer to his escape after reaching the courtyard of the prison,than he was in the cell. There remained then the chimney, theloophole, and the solid wall.
The chimney was the first to disappear from the calculation.Looking up it, Rupert saw that it was crossed by a dozen iron bars,the height too was very great, and even when at the top the heightwas immense to descend to the fosse.
The loophole was next examined. It was far too narrow to squeezethrough, and was crossed by three sets of bars. The chance ofwidening the narrow loophole and removing the bars withoutdetection was extreme; besides, Rupert had a strong idea that theloophole looked into the courtyard.
Finally he came to the conclusion, that if an escape was to be madeit must be by raising a flag of the floor, tunnelling between hisroom and that underneath it, and working out through the solidwall. It would be a tremendous work, for the loophole showed himthat the wall must be ten feet thick; still, as he said to himself,it will be at least something to do and to think about, and even ifit takes five years and comes to nothing, it will have been useful.
Thus resolved, Rupert went to work, and laboured steadily. Hisexercise with the chair and table succeeded admirably, and aftersix months he was able to perform feats of strength with them thatsurprised himself. With his scheme for escape he was lessfortunate. Either his tools were faulty, or the stones he had towork upon were too compact and well built, but beyond getting upthe flag, making a hole below it in the hard cement which filled inthe space between the floor, large enough to bury a good sized cat,Rupert achieved nothing.
He had gone into prison in November, it was now August, and he wasfast coming to the idea that Loches was not to be broken out of bythe way in which he was attempting to do it.
One circumstance gave him intense delight. Adele's hiding place hadnot been discovered. This he was sure of by the urgency with whichthe governor strove to extract from him the secret of herwhereabouts. Their demands were at the last meeting mingled withthreats, and Rupert felt that the governor had received stringentorders to wring the truth from him. So serious did these menacesbecome that Rupert ceased to labour at the floor of his cell, beingassured that ere long some change or other would take place. He wasnot mistaken. One day the governor entered, attended, as usual, bythe gaoler and another official.
"Sir," he said to Rupert, "we can no longer be trifled with. I haveorders to obtain from you the name of the place to which youescorted the young lady you went off with. If you refuse to answerme, a different system to that which has hitherto been pursued willbe adopted. You will be removed from this comfortable room andplaced in the dungeons. Once there, you must either speak or die,for few men are robust enough to exist there for many weeks.
"I am sorry, sir, but I have my duty to do. Will you speak, or willyou change your room?"
"I will change my room," Rupert said, quietly. "I may die; but ifby any chance I should ever see the light again, be assured thatall Europe shall know how officers taken in war are treated by theKing of France."
The governor shrugged his shoulders, made a sign to the gaoler, whoopened the door, and as the governor left four other wardersentered the room. Rupert smiled, he knew that this display of forcewas occasioned by the fact that his gaoler, entering his roomsuddenly, had several times caught him balancing the weighty tableon his arm or performing other feats which had astounded theFrenchman. The work at the cell wall had always been done at night.
"I am ready to accompany you," Rupert said, and without anotherword followed his conductor downstairs.
Arrived at a level with the yard, another door was unlocked, andthe party descended down some stairs, where the cold dampness ofthe air struck a chill to Rupert's heart. Down some forty feet, andthen a door was unlocked, and Rupert saw his new abode. It was ofabout the same size as the last, but was altogether withoutfurniture. In one corner, as he saw by the light of a lantern whichthe gaoler carried, was a stone bench on which was a bundle ofstraw. The walls streamed with moisture, and in some places thewater stood in shallow pools on the floor; the dungeon was sometwelve feet high; eight feet from the ground was a narrow loophole,eighteen inches in height and about t
hree inches wide. The gaolerplaced a pitcher of water and a piece of bread on the bench, andthen without a word the party left.
Rupert sat quiet on the bench for an hour or two before his eyesbecame sufficiently accustomed to the darkness to see anything, forbut the feeblest ray of light made its way through so small aloophole in a wall of such immense thickness.
"The governor was right," he muttered to himself. "A month or twoof this place would kill a dog."
It was not until the next day that the gaoler made his appearance.He was not the same who had hitherto attended him, but apowerful-looking ruffian who was evidently under no orders as tosilence such as those which had governed the conduct of the other.
"Well," he began, "and how does your worship like your new palace?"
"It is hardly cheerful," Rupert said; "but I do not know thatpalaces are ever particularly cheerful."
"You are a fine fellow," the gaoler said, looking at Rupert by thelight of his lantern. "I noted you yesterday as you came down, andI thought it a pity then that you would not say what they wantedyou to. I don't know what it is, and don't want to; but when aprisoner comes down here, it is always because they want to getsomething out of him, or they want to finish with him for good andall. You see you are below the level of the moat here. The watercomes at ordinary times to within six inches of that slit up there.And in wet weather it happens sometimes that the stream which feedsthe moat swells, and if it has been forgotten to open the sluicegates of the moat, it will rise ten feet before morning. I onceknew a prisoner drowned in the cell above this."
"Well," Rupert said, calmly. "After all one may as well be drownedas die by inches. I don't owe you any ill will, but I should bealmost glad if I did, for then I should dash your brains outagainst the wall, and fight till they had to bring soldiers down tokill me."
The man gave a surly growl.
"I have my knife," he said.
"Just so," Rupert answered; "and it may be, although I do not thinkit likely, that you might kill me before I knocked your brains out;but that would be just what I should like. I repeat, it is onlybecause I have no ill will towards you that I don't at once begin astruggle which would end in my death one way or another."
The gaoler said no more; but it was clear that Rupert's words hadin no slight degree impressed him, for he was on all his futurevisits as civil as it was within his nature to be.
"Whenever you wish to see the governor, he will come to you." hesaid to Rupert one day.
"If the governor does not come till I send for him," Rupertanswered, "he will never come."
Even in this dungeon, where escape seemed hopeless, Rupertdetermined to do his best to keep life and strength together.Nothing but the death of the king seemed likely to bring relief,and that event might be many years distant. When it took place, hisold friend would, he was sure, endeavour in every way to find outwhere he was confined, and to obtain his release. At any rate hedetermined to live as long as he could; and he kept up his spiritsby singing scraps of old songs, and his strength by such gymnasticexercises as he could carry out without the aid of any movablearticle. At first he struck out his arms as if fighting, so manyhundred of times; then he took to walking on his hands; and at lasthe loosened one of the stones which formed the top of the bed, andinvented all sorts of exercises with it.
"What is the day and month?" he said one day to his gaoler.
"It is the 15th of October."
"It is very dark," Rupert said, "darker than usual."
"It is raining," the jailer said; "raining tremendously."
Late that night Rupert was awoke by the splashing of water. Heleaped to his feet. The cell was already a foot deep in water.
"Ha!" he exclaimed, "it is one thing or the other now."
Rupert had been hoping for a flood; it might bring death, but hethought that it was possible that it might bring deliverance.
The top of the loophole was some two and a half feet from thevaulted roof; the top of the door was about on the same level, orsome six inches lower. The roof arched some three feet above thepoint whence it sprang.
Rupert had thought it all over, and concluded that it was possible,nay almost certain, that even should the water outside rise tenfeet above the level of his roof, sufficient air would be pent upthere to prevent the water from rising inside, and to supply himwith sufficient to breathe for many hours. He was more afraid ofthe effects of cold than of being drowned. He felt that in a floodin October the water was likely to be fairly warm, and hecongratulated himself that it was now, instead of in December, thathe should have to pass through the ordeal.
Before commencing the struggle, he kneeled for some time in prayeron his bed, and then, with a firm heart, rose to his feet andawaited the rising of the water. This was rapid indeed. It wasalready two feet over his bed, and minute by minute it rose higher.
When it reached his chin, which it did in less than a quarter of anhour from the time when he had first awoke, he swam across to theloophole, which was now but a few inches above the water, andthrough which a stream of water still poured. Impossible as it wasfor any human being to get through the narrow slit, an iron bar hadbeen placed across it. Of this Rupert took hold, and remainedquiescent as the water mounted higher and higher; presently it roseabove the top of the loophole, and Rupert now watched anxiously howfast it ran. Floating on his back, and keeping a finger at thewater level against the wall, he could feel that the water stillrose. It seemed to him that the rise was slower and slower, and atlast his finger remained against a point in the stones for someminutes without moving. The rise of the water inside the dungeonhad ceased.
That it continued outside he guessed by a slight but distinctfeeling of pressure in the air, showing that the column of wateroutside was compressing it. He had no fear of any bad consequencesfrom this source, as even a height of twelve feet of water outsidewould not give any unbearable pressure. He was more afraid that hehimself would exhaust the air, but he believed that there would besufficient; and as he knew that the less he exerted himself theless air he required, he floated quietly on his back, with his feetresting on the bar across the loophole, now two feet under water.
He scarcely felt the water cold. The rain had come from a warmquarter; and the temperature of the water was actually higher thanthat of the cold and humid dungeon.
Hour after hour passed. The night appeared interminable. From timeto time Rupert dived so as to look through the loophole, and atlast was rewarded by seeing a faint dull light. Day was beginning;and Rupert had no doubt that with early morning the sluices wouldbe opened, and the moat entirely cleared of water.
He had, when talking with his gaoler one day, asked him how theygot rid of the water in the dungeon after a flood, and the man saidthat there were pipes from the floor of each dungeon into the moat.At ordinary times these pipes were closed by wooden plugs, as thewater outside was far above the floor; but that after a flood thewater was entirely let out of the moat, and the plugs removed fromthe pipes, which thus emptied the dungeons.
From the way in which the fellow described the variousarrangements, Rupert had little doubt that the sluice gates were attimes purposely left closed, in order to clear off troublesomeprisoners who might otherwise have remained a care and expense tothe state for years to come.
Long as the night had seemed, it seemed even longer before Rupertfelt that the water was sinking. He knew that after the uppersluice had opened the fosse might take some time to fall to thelevel of the water inside the dungeon, and that until it did thewater inside would remain stationary.
He passed the hours by changing his position as much as possible;sometimes he swam round and round, at other times he trod water,then he would float quietly, then cling to the bar of the loophole.
The descent of the water came upon him at last as a surprise. Hewas swimming round and round, and had not for some time touched thewall, when suddenly a ray of light flashed in his face. He gave acry of joy. The water had fallen below the top of the loophole, and
swimming up to it, he could see across the fosse, and watch thesunlight sparkling on the water. It was two months since he hadseen the light, and the feeling of joy overpowered him more thanthe danger he had faced.
Rapidly the water fell, until it was level with the bottom of theloophole. Then hours passed away; for the fosse would have to beemptied before the drain leading from the dungeon could be opened.However, Rupert hardly felt the time long. With his hands on thebar and in the loophole, he remained gazing out at the sunlight.
The water in the fosse sank and sank, until he could no longer seeit; but he could see the sun glistening on the wet grass of thebank, and he was satisfied. At last he was conscious of a strain onhis arm, and withdrawing his gaze from without, he saw that thewater had fallen six inches.
It now sank rapidly; and in an hour he could stand with his headabove it. Then he was able to sit down on his bed; but when thewater sank to a depth of two feet, he again lay on his back andfloated. He knew that a thick deposit of mud would be left, andthat it was essential for his plan that he should drift to the exithole of the water, and there be found, with the mud and slimeundisturbed by footsteps or movement. Another ten minutes, and helay on his back on the ground in a corner of the dungeon to whichthe water had floated him, having taken care towards the end tosink his head so that his hair floated partly over it, and as thewater drained off remained so. He guessed it to be about midday,and he expected to be left undisturbed until night.
After a time he slept, and when he awoke it was dark, and soonafter he heard steps coming down the stairs. Now was the moment oftrial. Presently the door opened and four of the gaolers came in.They bore between them a stretcher.
"This is the fifth," one said, and he recognized the voice of hisown attendant. "It is a pity, he was a fine fellow. Well, there'sone more, and then the job's done."
He bent over Rupert, who ceased breathing.
"He's the only one with his eyes closed," he said. "I expectthere's someone would break her heart if she knew he was lyinghere. Well, lift him up, mates."
The two months' imprisonment in the dungeon had done one goodservice for Rupert. The absence of light had blanched his face, andeven had he been dead he could hardly have looked more white thanhe did. The long hours in the water had made his hands deadly cold,and the hair matted on his face added to the deathlike aspect.
"Put the stretcher on the ground, and roll him over on to it," oneof the men said. "I don't mind a dead man, but these are so clammyand slimy that they are horrible to touch. There, stand between himand the wall, put a foot under him, roll him over. There, nothingcould be better! Now then, off we go with him. The weight's morethan twice as much as the others."
Rupert lay with his face down on the stretcher, and felt himselfcarried upstairs, then along several long passages, then through adoor, and felt the fresh evening air. Now by the sound he knew thathe was being carried over the bridge across the moat to the buryingground. Then the stretcher was laid down.
"Now then, roll him over into the hole," one said, "and let us goback for the last. Peste! I am sick of this job, and shall need abottle of eau de vie to put me straight again."
One side of the stretcher was lifted, and Rupert was rolled over.The fall was not deep, some three or four feet only, and he fell ona soft mass, whose nature he could well guess at. A minute later heheard the retreating footsteps of his gaolers, and leaping from thegrave, stood a free man by its side.
He knew that he was not only free, but safe from any activepursuit, for he felt sure that the gaolers, when they returned withtheir last load, would throw it in and fill up the grave, and thatno suspicion that it contained one short of the number would arise.
This in itself was an immense advantage to him, for on the escapeof a prisoner from Loches--an event which had happened but once ortwice in its records--a gun was fired and the whole country turnedout in pursuit of the prisoner.
Rupert paused for two minutes before commencing his flight, andkneeling down, thanked God for his escape. Then he climbed the lowramparts, dropped beyond them, and struck across country. Theexercise soon sent the blood dancing through his hands again, andby the morning he was thirty-five miles from Loches.
He had stopped once, a mile or two after starting, when he came toa stream. Into this he had waded, and had washed the muck stainsfrom his clothes, hair, and face.
With the morning dawn his clothes were dry, and he presented to theeye an aspect similar to that which he wore when captured at Bloisnearly a year before, of a dilapidated and broken-down soldier, forhe had retained in prison the clothes he wore when captured; butthey had become infinitely more dingy from the wear and tear ofprison, and the soaking had destroyed all vestige of colour.
Presently he came to a mill by a stream.
"Hallo!" the miller said cheerily, from his door. "You seem to havebeen in the wars, friend."
"I have in my way," Rupert said. "I was wounded in Flanders. I havebeen home to Bordeaux, and got cured again. I started for the armyagain, and some tramps who slept in the same room with me robbed meof my last shilling. To complete my disaster, last night, nothaving money to pay for a bed, I tramped on, fell into a stream,and was nearly drowned."
"Come in," said the miller. "Wife, here is a poor fellow out ofluck. Give him a bowl of hot milk, and some bread."