The position that Captain Conyngham and his crew found themselves in was peculiar. But few of his men had actually been placed under arrest. The Frenchmen who had shipped in the Surprise, though well known to the authorities, had been unmolested, nor could the imprisonment of the few others be considered in the light of a great hardship. The men occupied roomy quarters facing on the main courtyard, were allowed to purchase extra supplies, and in squads of five or six they were permitted to exercise in the open air of the court. Captain Conyngham was in a different wing of the jail, but was treated more as a guest than as a prisoner; still, until almost a week had gone by he had found it impossible to communicate with any friends in the outside world. One day, to his surprise, however, he heard a cheery voice calling to him from the doorway of his large cell, for, being in a prison, every room was supposed to hold prisoners. Looking up, Conyngham saw his friend Allan standing laughing at him cheerfully. He had a long apron hanging from his shoulders and a baker’s basket on his arm.

“Any bread this morning, sir?” he asked in French. “I have some good Yankee bread with raisins and sweetening.”

88 “Ah, but it’s good to have a sight of you, friend Allan!” exclaimed Conyngham, rushing up and grasping the imitation baker by both hands, that, to carry out the illusion, Allan had daubed with flour. “Aren’t you running great risks?” he asked.

“Risks?” laughed Allan. “Why, if the Frenchmen found out that I was bringing in food to their starving prisoners, I would be hung, drawn, and quartered.”

“So you donned this disguise,” laughed Conyngham in reply, “and they never suspected you of such a thing. But news! news! my friend; that’s what I am starving for—it’s the heart and the soul of me that’s crying and not my stomach, for that the head jailer has looked after well. Are they going to hand us over to the Britishers?—that’s the first question.”

“They are and they aren’t,” replied Allan, “but this news I got this morning from Paris: ‘Tell Conyngham to sit tight and not worry. All is apparently going well.’ But the French are great people—they must do everything like a play or a spectacle. Here I was told that I should be allowed to see you if I applied to the commandant, and he informs me that I certainly can do so, but requests that I shall put on a disguise. I tried on three uniforms, but there were none that would button or allow me to sit down.”

“Which by the same token I haven’t asked you to do myself yet,” was Conyngham’s reply.

Allan seated himself in the big rush-bottom chair and placed his basket on the floor.

“The English expect that you are to be handed over for a certainty,” Allan continued. “They have prepared the sloop of war to receive you, and I understand that89 another is on its way. Instructions, too, have been sent to Portsmouth or Southampton, but we will disappoint them. The French Government is playing its little game of ‘wait a bit longer,’ and never letting their right hand see what their left hand is doing.”

“I knew that Dr. Franklin would take care of that,” returned Conyngham, “but how long is it going to last?”

“Have patience!” replied Allan, “it certainly will not be long. I am expecting Mr. Hodge to-morrow or the day after from Paris.”

“Have the crew been informed?”

“All but four of them escaped last night,” answered Allan.—“How careless these Frenchmen are!—There will be another row when the English hear of it; but I must be going, as they have spies by day watching the entrance to the prison and overlooking the yard, from the tall house next to the church.”

With that he picked up his basket, and after shaking hands went out into the yard, where the sentry, evidently under orders, allowed him to proceed to another part in an endeavor to dispose of his wares.

The next day Conyngham had another unexpected visitor, but it was not Mr. Hodge, and happened thus: He was out in the inclosure amusing himself and at the same time taking exercise by bounding a rubber ball back and forth against the high brick sides of the building, when one of the under jailers called to him from the entrance. At the same time a red-faced man who accompanied the jailer stepped forward, and telling the jailer to go, stood as if waiting for Conyngham to approach, but the latter paid no attention and went on with his game. At last the man drew near and spoke.

90 “I am Captain Cuthbertson of his Majesty’s sloop-of-war Alert. Your name is Conyngham,” he said.

“Now, somebody must have told you that,” returned Conyngham. “But it is my name, and I am captain of the armed cruiser the Surprise.”

“Which has been turned over to his Majesty’s Government with the other vessels that you piratically too............