, among all the common malefactors of the place, and were each
bound with five pairs of fetters. The hottest season of the year had now
arrived, and the situation of the prisoners was far more terrible than
any words can describe. The room in which they were confined was
occupied by about a hundred native criminals; there was no ventilation
beyond that afforded by the cracks in the walls, and the continual
stench and heat were almost unbearable. As soon as she could get about,
Mrs. Judson built herself a small bamboo hut by the gate of the prison,
and lived there, to be as near as possible to her husband. After he had
been a month in this black hole Mr. Judson was taken ill with fever, and
after much entreaty she was permitted to move him to a little bamboo
cell by himself, and to go in daily to feed him and to give
him medicine.

CHAPTER VIII.

"THROUGH MUCH TRIBULATION."

The darkest hour had not yet come! Two or three days after she had
secured the removal of her husband from the common prison, he and all
the white men were suddenly seized and hurried out of the city. Mrs.
Judson was engaged elsewhere at the time, and for some hours she was
unable to learn where the prisoners had been taken; but a servant who
had seen them leave gave her a clue, and she at once followed it up. She
deposited her books and medicines with the friendly governor, and set
out with her babe on her arm, and two orphan children she had adopted by
her side, seeking her husband. After a wearisome journey she found him
in a wretched prison at Oung-pen-la, almost dead from weakness and the
torture he had undergone on his forced march, and was greeted with the
pathetic words, so illustrative of Adoniram Judson's utter
unselfishness, "Why have you come? I hoped you would not follow, for you
cannot live here." The prison was placed in a lonely spot, far away from
any village. There was no accommodation for Mrs. Judson, and no food
could be obtained near at hand. She was refused permission to build
herself a little hut, but the jailer found her a small, dirty store-room
in his own house, and here she and the three children lived for the next
six months. Day by day she searched for food, not only for her husband,
but for the other white prisoners; and though worn out with pain and
sorrow, cheered them, looked after their every want, and continually
applied to the officials for some improvement in their lot. The untold
privations she was suffe