to bear the weight of one at a time, and consequently broke. One was dashed to pieces, and three others were so severely mangled and bruised, that little hopes were at first entertained of their recovery: however, they were then improving fast, and expected in the dungeon the moment the surgeon reported them well enough; after which they would have to remain therein thirty-one days, the usual time of being buried alive in the first and most horrible gradation of our captivity. It was about fifty deep stone steps underground, and the most dark and intricate passages led from it to the jailer’s house * * * * * *
“We now again began to devise and meditate upon plans for escaping. One of us proposed undermining the dungeon. I saw no prospect whatever of succeeding in this point; I, however, was willing to try every means to regain my liberty. Hammers and chisels, with great difficulty, were procured, and we carried them always about us, as the dungeon was ransacked every day in our absence. We hung an old coat up against that part of the rock which we intended to begin upon. Rope was necessary to descend the ramparts with, after we had got out of the dungeon; we accordingly, through some friends, who had obtained permission to come and see us, contrived to purchase some stout linen for shirts (which we really much wanted) and from the shoemakers amongst the prisoners, we got now and then a ball of twine. We procured needles, bees-wax, &c. by degrees, and made a rope of four or five fathom for each, which we marled with the remainder of the twine, and passed tight round our bodies underneath the shirt. Our working time was immediately on being locked up after breathing the fresh air. Night would not do; as it would be necessary to have candlelight, and we might have been seen through the bars by our sentinels.
“The undermining business was found impracticable and was consequently dropped. Having a rope, we flattered ourselves we might some day, whilst allowed to breathe the fresh air, be able to elude the vigilance of the sentinels and scale the walls: however, it was a thing difficult to be accomplished; and our best hopes appeared, when we should be liberated from our present dungeon, at which time we expected to have an opportunity of using the rope, if not before. These ideas were very consoling to us; the prospect of once more getting out of their clutches was cherished by each of us, and we entertained one another with the pleasant sensations occasioned by such thoughts, with the direction we should next take, and how we should act in case of being again enlarged. These were the subjects of our constant conversation.
“January 23, 1808. We were at length conducted from the dungeon to a miserable hole under ground, to which I descended by thirty steep stone steps, where Messrs. Tuthill and Ashworth, with fifty of our countrymen, were already burled alive. Here I remained, planning and scheming every thing possible to effect my escape, but in vain: I, however, wore the rope constantly round me; yet the guards were so watchful, that I had very little hopes of being able to make the intended use of it.
