misery by supplying him with immediate necessaries. One gave him a shirt, another a waistcoat, another stockings and shoes, so that he was once more covered and equipped for his toilsome journey. But his inhuman conductors had no sooner marched him off to the first halting-place, than they again stripped him to his skin, and left only a sorry rag to wrap round his waist. In this wretched state, chained to another fellow-sufferer, under a vertical sun, with a scanty provision of rice only, he had to travel, naked and barefoot, five hundred miles, insulted by his guards, who goaded him on all the day, and at night thrust him into a damp, unwholesome prison, crowded with other miserable objects. On their way, they were brought into Hyder's presence, and strongly urged to enlist in his service, and profess his religion, and thus obtain their hiberty. To induce them to comply, these horrible severities were inflicted on them; and to escape these sufferings, some of the poor creatures consented. But the captain rejected these offers with disdain; and though a stranger to a nobler principle, and destitute of all religion, so great a sense of honour impressed him, that he resolved to prefer death, with all its horrors, to desertion and Mahommedanism. In consequence of the hard ships of this march, expe guard. In the middle was a covered place open on all sides, exposed to the wind and rain. There, without any bed but the earth, or covering but the rags wrapped round him, he was chained to a fellow-sufferer, and often so cold that they would dig a hole in the earth, and bury themselves in it, as some defence from the chilling blast of the night. The whole allow-mously bloated; death seemed ance was only a pound of rice to have seized him for his prey. a day per man, and one rupee How he survived such accumufor forty days, or one pice a lated misery, exhausted with day, less than a penny, to pro- famine and disease, the unvide salt and firing to cook the wholesome vapour of a prison rice. It will hardly be believed, thickening around him, and the that it was among their eager iron entering into his flesh, is employments to collect the white next to a miracle. ants which pestered them in the prison, and fry them to procure a spoonful or two of their buttery substance. A state of raging hunger was never appeased by an allowance scarce able to maintain life; and the rice was so full of stones that he could not chew, but must swallow it; and often, he said, he was afraid to trust his own fingers in his mouth, lest he should be tempted to bite them. tic F from the flux which he carried into prison, and for a year maintained a state of health above his fellows; but worn down with misery, cold, hunger, and nakedness, he was attacked with the usual symptoms which had carried off so many others. His body enormously distended, his thighs as big as his waist was before, and his face enor Reduced now to the extremity of weakness, his chains too strait to be endured, and threatening mortification, he seemed to touch the moment of his dis solution, and was released from them to lie down and die. The soldier to whom he had been last chained served him with great affection; while de others who had been linked to gether often quameled and endered mad by sufferblasphemed materi Seeing en ock, mul digious resolved from Benay, and lay ns read and sud. Mister, be The man I tear you will be dead, Der VII I' Et who van a dow may bring He nod exchanged his te of ace they for a speces of man called e wat he experly deLindberg very thirsty he crack the liquor which they went blued, and this produced sech an mung effect, that in the course of a few hours his Jess, it gas and body, from being thered and ready to burst were reduced to a skeleton; and though greatly weakened, he was, competey rolevel He after wirds recommended the trial wiit success to many of his fellow Jescoes. His troos were new tenaced, though less heavy; and being related to skin and bone, the wood sig over his knees, and active bis 1erty. The reizes of death had new to med the ranks of the mver præceds and few rerand be being monuments; 2 Heter Als eely and T. Nor would these meclubiy bare confcted with Venseres many more months or days, but the victories of Sir Fire Cocte happily humbled, t's potentate, and compelled bim reluctantly to submit, as one of the conditions of peace, to the release of all the British captves. With these glad tidings, r twenty-two months spent e verge of the grave, Mr. son of the Bishop of Carrived at Seringapatam, him the prison doors flew open; but what a scene presented itself! Emaciated, naked, covered with ulcers, more than half dead, only thirtytwo remained out of one hundred and fifty-three brave men, to tell the dismal tale of the sufferings of their prison house. Their humane and compassionate deliverer immediately provided them with clothes, dressings for their wounds, and food for their hunger. But now their mercies threatened to be more fatal to them even than their miseries. The ravenousness of their appetite could not be restrained; and though cautioned and warned against excess, they devoured the meat provided with such keen avidity, that their stomachs, long unaccustomed to animal food, were incapable of digestion. Captain Wilson was of the number who could not bridle his cravings; the sad effects immediately followed. He was seized that night with a violent fever, became delirious, and for a fortnight his life was despaired of. In his prison, under sufferings more than human nature seemed capable of enduring, he had struggled through, and for the most part enjoyed a state of health and strength; but now, in the moment of liberty, joy, and abundance, he received a stroke more severe than any he had before undergone. How little can we determine of the good or evil before us under the sun! He was more wretched when surrounded by kind friends and every humane attention, so altered. They left him thus than he had been when desti- sound asleep till the evening, tute, famished, covered with when the lustres were lighted, sores, and lying naked on the and several friends assembled, floor of a dungeon. curious to hear the story of his miserable captivity. When he awoke and saw the glare of light, and the persons around him, he could scarce recover his recollection, and for a moment seemed as if he had dropped into some enchanted abode. Being now restored, and capable of accompanying his countrymen, he descended the Ghauts, and proceeded on to Madras. Lord Macartney had forwarded a supply of clothes to meet them; but there not being a sufficiency for all, some had one thing and some another. To Captain Wilson's share a very large military hat fell, which, with a banyan and pantaloons with many a breach, made his meagre figure very much resemble a maniac. Impatient to visit his friends, he walked on from the last halting-place, while the sentries would hardly let him pass. He hastened to a friend, whose name was Ellis, and knocking at the door, inquired of the servants for their master and mistress. The footmen stared at him, said they were not at home, and were shutting the door against him, when he pressed in, rushed by them, and threw himself down upon a sofa. The servants were Mahommedans, who hold the insane in much reverence, and such they supposed him. Without any violence, therefore, used to remove him, Captain Wilson was permitted quietly to rest himself, and being tired, he fell into the most profound sleep, in which state his friends on their return found him, and hardly recognised him, he was The welcome and kind treatment of his friends, who supplied all his wants, soon restored him to his former life and spirits; and he began to think of new service, as he had yet obtained but a scanty provision, which his long captivity had not much increased, though he had received the arrears of his pay. He accordingly shipped himself as first mate in the 'Intelligence,' Captain Pennington, for Bencoolen and Batavia. In his passage through the Straits of Malacca, they were surrounded with waterspouts, one of which was very near them, and they fired to disperse it. The roaring was tremendous, and presently a torrent of rain came pouring down on the ship, which brought down with it many fish and seaweeds; yet the water was perfectly fresh,-a phenomenon singularly curious. During the voyage to Bencoolen, the white ants and cockroaches, with other insects, multiplied in the most prodigious manner, so that it was resolved to run the ship down from Bencoolen to Puley Bay, and lay her completely under water to get rid of the vermin. After a fortnight they pumped her dry, and the quantity destroyed of these creatures, with centipedes three or four inches long, was incredible. Bencoolen is a most unhealthy place, but Puley is the region of the shadow of death; from thence none escape without the putrid fever. Perhaps the wetness of the ship added not a little to the cause of mortality. Before they left the bay, every man of the crew who were Europeans, except Captain Wilson, died. The captain came down well on Christmas day, only dined on board, returning the same night; the very next day he sickened and died. A recruit of black men were sent from Bencoolen to navigate the vessel. The very day they sailed out of the harbour, Captain Wilson, who had hitherto resisted the intemperature of the climate, and then commanded the vessel, was attacked with the fever. One Swede yet remained. He had always accounted for the death of his companions, and imputed it to their imprudence. He had confidence he should escape. He was then at the helm, going out of the harbour. The captain, who, though ill, kept the deck, observed the ship very badly steered, and called out; the Swede quitted the wheel, and sat down on the hencoops. The captain himself ran to the wheel to rectify the course, storming at the man who had left the helm. He made no reply; but how great was his surprise, when, on going up to him, he found him a corpse ! The ship, however, visited Batavia, and arrived in Bengal; and though his health continued to suffer, the captain made a very profitable voyage. During a year and a half he had repeated and dangerous relapses, and more than once approached the gates of death. He continued, however, to improve his fortune, and became himself a sharer in the vessel, as well as commander. Having thus accumulated a small competency in that country, he resolved to return to England, and settle himself down contented with what he had, and endeavour to recover his health and taste the pleasures of a quieter life. CHAPTER VIII. HOW LIEUTENANT L'ESTRANGE SAID GOOD-BYE TO THE FORTRESS OF BITCHE, AND ALSO TO FRANCE. IT was in the year 1809, and | by the French. His capture while employed in reconnoitring was entirely owing to the horse the enemy, that Lieutenant he rode having formerly beL'Estrange was made prisoner longed to the French cavalry. |