in an upper story. As many as could get to the windows, which
looked out into the street, hung out old caps or baskets at the end of
sticks, to receive money or food which the people outside might give
them. The window of our room was strongly barred, and so was that of
Miss O'Regan; but there was a door between the two, which we found we
could open, and so she and the young gentlemen were able to consult what
to do. The furniture of our room hadn't much to boast of. Our beds
were only heaps of straw, with bits of sacking on the top; there was no
table, and only some rough benches to sit on. Miss O'Regan was very
little better off. She had a sort of bed and chair, and a heap of straw
for Polly; but after a time the gaoler's wife, I suppose she was,
brought her a basin of water and a few other things; but that was all
the Spaniards' boasted politeness made them think of providing her. She
tried to interest the old woman to see if anything could be done for the
colonel; but the dame said that it was as much as her place was worth to
interfere, and she couldn't say a word to give the young lady any hope
that he would be better treated.

"When it was light we made an examination of the bars in the windows to
see if we could by any means get through them. Those in our room were
too strongly fixed to be moved in a hurry, though we might have done it
in time. Miss O'Regan found one in hers which was looser than the rest,
and Mr Rogers and I on examining it discovered that it was so eaten
away with rust, that by hauling at it together we might wrench it out.
What we wanted was to get free, and to go and find the British consul.
The window looked into a yard surrounded by a high wall; but what was
behind we couldn't tell. The bar once out we could, we thought, lower
ourselves into the yard; the wall we might easily scale, as it was full
of big holes worn by time, and it would not cost us much to climb over
it.

"`I have a file in my knife,' said Mr Gordon; `it's a small one, but if
we use it carefully it will cut through the bar in time.'

"The lower part of the bar we found was almost eaten away with rust. We
agreed that the first thing was to scrape it clear of the rust with the
blades of our knives and let the file do the rest. We were afraid,
however, to begin till all in the prison was quiet. We could hear the
warders walking about and talking loudly, and one now and then passed
our door, so that we could no