listed. Nothing came of the death of the
young woman.

A young fellow of Max's character was sure to distinguish himself, and
in the course of three campaigns he did distinguish himself so highly
that he rose to be a captain, his lack of education helping him
strenuously. In Portugal, in 1809, he was left for dead in an English
battery, into which his company had penetrated without being able to
hold it. Max, taken prisoner by the English, was sent to the Spanish
hulks at the island of Cabrera, the most horrible of all stations for
prisoners of war. His friends begged that he might receive the cross of
the Legion of honor and the rank of major; but the Emperor was then in
Austria, and he reserved his favors for those who did brilliant
deeds under his own eye: he did not like officers or men who allowed
themselves to be taken prisoner, and he was, moreover, much dissatisfied
with events in Portugal. Max was held at Cabrera from 1810 to 1814.(1)
During those years he became utterly demoralized, for the hulks were
like galleys, minus crime and infamy. At the outset, to maintain his
personal free will, and protect himself against the corruption which
made that horrible prison unworthy of a civilized people, the handsome
young captain killed in a duel (for duels were fought on those hulks
in a space scarcely six feet square) seven bullies among his
fellow-prisoners, thus ridding the island of their tyranny to the great
joy of the other victims. After this, Max reigned supreme in his hulk,
thanks to the wonderful ease and address with which he handled weapons,
to his bodily strength, and also to his extreme cleverness.

(1) The cruelty of the Spaniards to the French prisoners at Cabrera
was very great. In the spring of 1811, H.M. brig "Minorca,"
Captain Wormeley, was sent by Admiral Sir Charles Cotton, then
commanding the Mediterranean fleet, to make a report of their
condition. As she neared the island, the wretched prisoners swam
out to meet her. They were reduced to skin and bone; many of them
were naked; and their miserable condition so moved the seamen of
the "Minorca" that they came aft to the quarter-deck, and asked
permission to subscribe three days' rations for the relief of the
sufferers. Captain Wormeley carried away some of the prisoners,
and his report to Sir Charles Cotton, being sent to the Admiralty,
was made the basis of a remonstrance on the part of the British
government with S