youthful prisoner passed by, "he
does look tired. What would his mother say if she saw him now?"

"God help them," said another: "they all seem as if they wanted a good
supper, and go to bed."

"No fear of supper, neighbour," replied a man; "you should just see the
quarters of beef that go in at t'other gate. It makes me real hungry to
think of it."

A big lad, standing close to a gentleman on horseback, who was surveying
the scene with evident interest, made an ugly face at one of the
prisoners, and said, "Well, mounseer, how do you find yourself?" But a
cut from the horseman's whip across his shoulders taught him a sharp
lesson of respect for his betters.

A halt was made as soon as the column was well within the outer inclosure
of the barracks. Then, in the first place, the officers were marched to
one of the barrack-yards that was to be their quarters; and then, with
the marvellous promptitude which military pre-arrangement secures, the
rest of the prisoners, in batches, were quickly conducted to other
barrack-yards appointed for them.

A tremendous cheering at that moment burst forth from the prison: a
volcano of huzzas, of somewhat foreign accent, shot up into the air, with
shouts of "Vive l'Empereur."

Eager eyes had been watching, and though the palisades surrounding each
separate yard were much too lofty for men to climb up and look over, yet
the inmates, though bereft of their liberty, were not bereft of their
wits, as we shall see in more striking ways as the story proceeds; and
some of them, from the topmost berths on the sides of their immensely
high dormitories, had taken off the tiles, and from thence saw all that
was going on.

We will not attempt to follow the prisoners generally to their quarters,
but accompany the officers alone. Enthusiastic were the greetings of
their companions in tribulation who had been before them, some as long as
five years. The shaking of hands, and the embracing, and the kissing,
and the crying, were as if a very large family had met after years of
separation. Albeit, not one of the older prisoners had probably ever
seen before one of the new arrivals. All honour to such warmth of
excitement. None but those who have lived for years far away from their
country and home, can understand the intensity of pleasure that is felt
in meeting _anybody_, literally _anybody_, who comes from "the old
place." It may not last, neither does a flash of lightning, but it is