istory and not me. For Truth is a stern
mistress, and when one hath once started off with her one must follow
on after the jade, though she lead in flat defiance of all the rules and
conditions which would fain turn that tangled wilderness the world into
the trim Dutch garden of the story-tellers.

Three days after our trial we were drawn up in North Street in front
of the Castle with others from the other prisons who were to share our
fate. We were placed four abreast, with a rope connecting each rank,
and of these ranks I counted fifty, which would bring our total to two
hundred. On each side of us rode dragoons, and in front and behind were
companies of musqueteers to prevent any attempt at rescue or escape.
In this order we set off upon the tenth day of September, amidst the
weeping and wailing of the townsfolk, many of whom saw their sons or
brothers marching off into exile without their being able to exchange a
last word or embrace with them. Some of these poor folk, doddering old
men and wrinkled, decrepit women, toiled for miles after us down the
high-road, until the rearguard of foot faced round upon them, and drove
them away with curses and blows from their ramrods.

That day we made our way through Yeovil and Sherborne, and on the morrow
proceeded over the North Downs as far as Blandford, where we were penned
together like cattle and left for the night. On the third day we
resumed our march through Wimbourne and a line of pretty Dorsetshire
villages--the last English villages which most of us were destined to
see for many a long year to come. Late in the afternoon the spars and
rigging of the shipping in Poole Harbour rose up before us, and in
another hour we had descended the steep and craggy path which leads to
the town. Here we were drawn up upon the quay opposite the broad-decked,
heavy-sparred brig which was destined to carry us into slavery. Through
all this march we met with the greatest kindness from the common people,
who flocked out from their cottages with fruit and with milk, which
they divided amongst us. At other places, at, the risk of their lives,
Dissenting ministers came forth and stood by the wayside, blessing us as
we passed, in spite of the rough jeers and oaths of the soldiers.

We were marched aboard and led below by the mate of the vessel, a tall
red-faced seaman with ear-rings in his ears, while the captain stood on
the poop with his legs apart and a pipe in his mouth, checking us of