of the language, and as the French
soldiers were quite glad to beguile the time away by talking with their
captives, he succeeded at the end of the journey, which lasted nearly a
month, in being able to chat with a certain amount of fluency. Verdun was
one of the four places in which British prisoners were confined. At that
time France had fifteen thousand prisoners, England forty thousand. By an
agreement between the governments these were held captive in certain
prisons, so that they could, when occasion offered, be exchanged; but
owing to the vastly greater number of English prisoners the operation went
on very slowly. The health of the prison was bad, the large number
confined in the narrow space, and the lack of sanitary arrangements,
causing a vast amount of fever to prevail.

When he got to Verdun, Will continued to devote himself to the study of
French. He knew that, should he escape, he could have no hope of finding
his way across country unless he could speak the language fluently, and
accordingly he passed the whole day in conversation with the guards and
others employed about the prison. These were inclined to regard his
anxiety to become proficient in the language as a national compliment.
Some of the prisoners also knew French well, so that at the end of four
months he could talk with perfect fluency. He was a good deal laughed at
by the English officers for the zeal he was displaying in studying French,
for, as they said, he might as well try to get to the moon as out of
Verdun. He accepted their chaff good-humouredly, and simply said: "Time
will show, but for my part I would as soon be shot as continue to live as
prisoner here."

Many of the prisoners passed their time in manufacturing little trifles.
The sailors, for the most part, made models of ships; some of them were
adepts at sewing patchwork quilts, and got their warders to purchase
scraps of various materials for the purpose. The soldiers were also, many
of them, skilled in making knick-knacks. These were sold in the town,
chiefly to country people who came in to market, and so their makers were
able to purchase tobacco and other little luxuries. A few of the prisoners
were allowed every day to go into the town, which, being strongly walled,
offered no greater facility for escape than did the prison itself. They
carried with them and sold their own manufactures and those of other
prisoners, and with the proceeds purchased the things they required