But unless we do
that we do not touch anywhere, luckily for you; because, after all, it
is a good deal pleasanter cruising in the Belle Marie than kicking
your heels inside a prison. I know pretty well, for I was for four
years a prisoner in your English town of Dorchester. That is how I
came to speak your language. It was a weary time of it; though we were
not badly treated, not half so bad as I have heard that the men in
some other prisons were. So I owe you English no ill-will on that
account, and from what I have heard some of our prisons are worse than
any of yours. I used to knit stockings and wraps for the neck. My old
mother taught me when I was a boy. And as we were allowed to sell the
things we made I got on pretty comfortable. Beside, what's the use of
making yourself unhappy? I had neither wife nor children to be
fretting about me at home, so I kept up my spirits."
"How did you get back?" Ralph asked. "Were you exchanged?"
"No," Jacques answered. "I might have waited long enough before that.
I can't make out myself why the two governments don't agree to
exchange prisoners more quickly. I suppose they take about an equal
number. Your men-of-war ships capture more prisoners than ours, but we
make up for it by the numbers our privateers bring in. At any rate
they might exchange as many as they can, say once in six months.
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