CHAPTER XI

A fresh Incarceration--Stripping a Prisoner naked a more effectual detainer than Chains and Padlocks--Hopes of Escape prove delusive--Gaol Surgery and Gaol Diet--A timely Loan of Books--A short Visit from a Swiss Captive--Orders to prepare for a Return to France--A heavy Chain and huge Padlock--The Mob at Lindau--Leave-taking between a Prisoner and the Gaoler and Gaoler’s Wife--the Road to France--Going to Bed in Chains--Strict Watching--Chances of a Rescue--Anticipations of the Horrors of Bitche--Commiseration of my Guards--Crossing the Bridge of Kehl--A Surrender to the French _Gendarmes_--Captivity in the Military Gaol of Strasbourg--A kind Gaoler and as kind a Wife--His Gratitude for English Kindness when a Prisoner of War--Examined by the Police--Affectionate leave-taking of the honest Gaoler and his Wife--On the Road to Bitche heavily chained to Eleven Corsicans going to suffer Military Execution--The horrible Dungeon of Niederbronn--A revolting Night’s Confinement--Dreadful Sufferings of two of the Corsican Soldiers--Distant Prospects of Bitche--Anticipations of a cruel Confinement--Arrival at the Fortress Page 174