o
easy post in days when the Mediterranean was infested with Turkish
pirates, to whom the royal ships had to give frequent chase; but the
General had distinguished himself more than once by his skill and
courage at this difficult task.

The use of steam was as yet unknown, and the King's galleys were rowed
by the convicts and prisoners of France, for it would have been
impossible to find volunteers for the work. Chained to their oars
night and day, kept in order by cruel cuts of the lash on their bare
shoulders, these men lived and died on the rowers' bench without
spiritual help or assistance of any kind. The conditions of service
were such that many prisoners took their own lives rather than face
the torments of such an existence.

As Vincent went about his works of charity in Paris it occurred to him
to visit the dungeons where the men who had been condemned to the
galleys were confined. What he saw filled him with horror. Huddled
together in damp and filthy prisons, crawling with vermin, covered
with sores and ulcers, brawling, blaspheming and fighting, the galley
slaves made a picture suggestive only of Hell.

Vincent hastened to M. de Gondi and, trembling with emotion, poured
forth a description of the horrors he had seen.

"These are your people, Monseigneur!" he cried; "you will have to
answer for them before God." The General was aghast; it had never
occurred to him to think of the condition of the men who rowed his
ships, and he gladly gave Vincent a free hand to do whatever he could
to relieve them.

Calling two other priests to his assistance, Vincent set to work at
once to visit the convicts in the Paris prisons; but the men were so
brutalized that it was difficult to know how to win them. The first
advances were met with cursing and blasphemy, but Vincent was not to
be discouraged. With his own gentle charity he performed the lowest
offices for these poor wretches to whom his heart went out with such
an ardent pity; he cleansed them from the vermin which infested them
and dressed their neglected sores. Gradually they were softened and
would listen while he spoke to them of the Saviour who had died to
save their souls. At Vincent's earnest request, money was collected
among his friends and patrons, and a hospital built where the
prisoners condemned to the galleys might be nursed into good health
before they went on board.

In due time the rumor of the good work that was being done reached the
ears