Evans learned that the Prince Imperial was at Hastings; and thither the Empress insisted on going that same evening. For many days the mother and the son had been ignorant of what had become of each other. Not one sympathetic heart but must sympathize in that meeting of the mother and

their grandeur and pomp, and the very empire of France itself, had been broken to pieces and vanished away.

storm that the fine new ship the Captain went down with her commander and all her men,— a catastrophe which moved the heart of England more than the loss of a battle. The commander who then perished was the son of the venerable FieldMarshal Sir John Burgoyne. The little Gazelle behaved gallantly, but the peril was fear-child, after events in which all ful. The ladies were lashed in their berths, and there remained during the whole passage. At midnight, all hope of saving either the vessel or the crew was given up. But the storm that destroyed the Captain spared the Gazelle, a little craft not more than thirty-five feet in length. Seldom have those in 'perils of the great deep' had a more wonderful or unhoped for deliverance. The Gazelle rode out the storm, and reached the harbour of Ryde about three o'clock on Thursday afternoon, the 8th of September.

That afternoon the party went to Brighton. There Dr.

As soon as possible, Dr. Evans endeavoured to find a suitable residence for the Empress and her son. Finally, Camden House, at Chiselhurst, was agreed upon. The owner, on learning for whom it was desired, offered very generous terms, and at Camden House the Empress and the Prince Imperial found a haven of rest; and the hazardous task which Dr. Evans had undertaken was successfully completed.

CHAPTER XI.

STORY OF COMMUNISTIC PRISONERS.

'We were political prisoners, 300 of us, in the fortress of Port Louis, a part of that line of fortifications which was built by Sully to defend the French coast from Brest to La Rochelle. At high tide the fortress is entirely surrounded by the sea, and communicates with the land

only by a bridge. Round its circuit runs a rampart, on which the casemates abut. The entrance is opposite the bridge,— that is to say, facing the peninsula on which stands the little town of Port Louis. On the left are the offices of the prison authorities, and the residence of

the governor; on the right, the quarters of the soldiers. In the centre of the fortress are barracks, forming a square, and having an inner court; and it is here that the prisoners are confined. The soldiers are strictly forbidden to speak to the prisoners. Their duty consists in mounting guard on the terrace running along above the casemates. A road, known as the Round road, goes round the citadel, and separates the casemates from the building in which the prisoners are confined. The ground floor, occupied by the prisoners, is divided into twenty dormitories of unequal size, containing from seven to thirty prisoners each.

party had descended into the cellar, the floor-boards were replaced, and were only lifted again when it was necessary for those below to remount. The only tools we had were large nails or spikes, which had been used in fixing the stand for the arms, these quarters having formerly been occupied by soldiers. We had worked out these nails with our hands; and to do so had cost us several days' labour, and no little laceration of fingers. We then conceived the idea of excavating a tunnel to run from the cellar to the sea. We found that we were just on a level with the Round road; but this road served as a thoroughfare for waggons loaded with powder, and for all the vehicles bringing provisions and other stores into the citadel. It was therefore necessary, before excavating the tunnel, to sink a vertical shaft about thirteen feet in depth, in

"The dormitories are lighted by windows looking out on one side on the Round road, and on the other side on the inner court, and these windows are protected by strong iron bars. Having observed that the floor-order that the superincumbent boards were badly joined, the weight of the waggons passing idea occurred to us of working might not cause the road to out the nails by which they were fall in. fastened with our finger-nails; and having done this, we discovered under our room large excavations without any outlet, which had doubtless been formed for ventilation. On lifting two of the floor-boards under my bed, we were able to descend into this cellar, and then, after working holes in the walls separating the different compartments, we reached the foundation wall abutting on the Round road. Immediately the working

'Digging with the nails, we loosened the earth, which we then scooped up in a tin plate which we had been able to conceal. When we had in this manner filled a dinner napkin, we formed a sort of chain, and passed from hand to hand the napkin full of earth, which was deposited in the furthermost of the underground compartments, and well trampled down, so that it might occupy as small a space as possible. There were only

threatened entirely to fall in. Heavy rains had loosened the soil, and pretty large masses of earth fell every day. It was necessary that this part of the tunnel should be propped up. How could it be done? One of our number, who had been a sailor, and who was a resolute, enterprising man, as sailors usually are, conceived the idea of supporting the earth by packing against the sides of the tun

six of us to carry on this work, for the numberless difficulties which stood in the way of our escape had discouraged the others. We followed to the last the same method of disposing of the earth and the stones, which we worked out one by one, after incredible efforts. Having finished this shaft of thirteen feet in depth, we commenced the horizontal tunnel. We had in the first place to pass under the Round road, which is twenty-nel the stones which we had two or twenty-three feet in width. removed from the walls. This As the earth was much easier of was done; and the downfall from excavation than stone, we ex- above being thereby effectually cavated our gallery with a down-prevented, we were able to conward slope, in order that we might be able to pass underneath the foundation-wall of the casemate facing our dormitory. Thanks to this slope, we succeeded so well, that for a space of about forty-six feet,-that is to say, until we reached the wall of the rampart,-we had only to work through earth. This tunnel was just large enough for one man to creep along in it. We therefore took our turns at the excavation, lying flat on our faces.

tinue our labours. A second accident, which seemed at first much more serious, then occurred, threw us into a fever of anxiety, and delayed the accomplishment of our project. When our tunnel had attained a length of about thirty-three feet, we could not get our light to burn. We thought this phenomenon was caused by want of air, and this is what we did to remedy the defect. While one of our number was kept constantly at work excavating, another, stand

'Unforeseen accidents oc-ing in the shaft at the entrance curred to increase the difficulties, already great, which we had to surmount. The part of the tunnel passing under the Round road, notwithstanding the depth below the surface at which it was excavated, and notwithstanding the care we took to construct it arch-shaped, so that it might be better able to support the heavy weights passing above,

of the tunnel, and making a sort of fan of his jacket, forced a strong current of air into the tunnel. However, after some few days, when the length of the passage had been increased by a little more than a yard, there was no longer any need of our improvized ventilator, as the light burnt of itself. There doubtless occurred in this part

enormous blocks of granite,

of the earth some gas which prevented our light from burn-jammed tightly together by ing; and this gas, having little by little become dispersed, the phenomenon ceased. Atlength, after being distracted by doubts and fears, after the innumerable difficulties which every day for three months we had encountered,-difficulties which we should never have overcome but by dint of sheer energy, and thanks to that incredible patience with which prisoners only are endowed,-we reached the wall of the rampart.

'A few more days of labour and suffering, and we shall be free. Free! The reader will understand what courage and hope that word must have given us, to induce us to undertake, and enable us to accomplish, a work which under any other circumstances would have appeared to us as simple madness. Alas! it was at the very moment when we seemed to be approaching the end of our fatigues, that the obstacles became more difficult to surmount. Some of our number seemed ready to abandon the task which for more than three months we had been prosecuting. All our labour was going to be thrown away. Again it was the energy of the sailor which saved us, and gradually revived the hopes of his weaker brethren. The wall of the rampart which we had still to pierce, and which is, of course, intended to resist cannon shot, seemed to us proof against anything. It is constructed of

smaller stones driven in like wedges, the whole being united into one solid mass by means of Roman cement, which has become as hard as stone itself. We endeavoured with the nails-the only tools we had, and which we had put in wooden handles-to loosen the joints of the stones. With another piece of wood we had made a mallet; and to get the wood necessary for these purposes, we had broken up the musket-stand and the barrack shelves. But the only result of our efforts was to blunt our implements. What could we do to supply our lack of tools? Our first thought was to take away a bar from one of our bedsteads, which were of iron, and this we did. The bar which we took was two feet in length, and about as large round as a man's thumb. After using one of the ends of this bar against the stone, we tried what use we could make of it as a lever. But the stones were too hard and too heavy, and our iron bar bent like a switch. What could we do now? We were not disposed to abandon at the last moment a project which had cost us so much toil. And yet we had many a time emerged from our tunnel with the skin rubbed off our hands, and our faces as red as fire, having hardly succeeded, after long days of fatiguing labour, in working out a stone about as big as one's fist!