"This money enabled us in the first place to clothe ourselves, then to give a hundred piastres to the Neapolitan captain who had transported us, and who was not ashamed to come and demand this sum from us for his _buona mano._ "Such is an exact account of those twenty months of captivity, during which three attempts to poison and one to assassinate me were made. "And now, although I cannot live much longer, I thank Heaven that I have been spared till to-day. "I am near death's door, but I still have strength enough to lay bare this infamous treatment, so that all the world may be made aware of it--a treatment such as the least civilised of peoples would blush to use towards their bitterest enemies. "Written at the Headquarters of the Southern Army of Observation, Florence, the 15th Germinal, year IX of the Republic. ALEX. DUMAS." [Footnote 1: This assertion would seem well-nigh incredible if it were not given in pretty nearly the same terms by the pen of General Coletta. "These impostors directed their steps towards the town of Taranto, but directly they reached it they saw a vessel coming into the harbour, and learnt that it contained the old princesses of France on their way from Naples to Sicily. Nothing daunted, the adventurers sent a messenger in advance of Corbara to inform the princesses of the marvellous credulity of the people; they then presented themselves before these ladies with regal pomp and with as much assurance as though of the blood royal. In spite of the inborn pride of the race of Bourbon, the princesses received the obscure adventurer as though he were their grandson; deeming, by so doing, that they were thus serving the king's cause; they addressed him by the title of 'your Highness,' and lavished marks of respect and affection upon him" (_History of Naples from 1734 to 1825,_ by Coletta).] [Footnote 2: Dolomieu was taken to the prison of Naples, where he implored his gaoler to alleviate his hardships, but the gaoler refused the illustrious savant's request. "If you are not careful," Dolomieu said to him, "I shall die in a few days under such treatment." "What does that matter to me?" replied the gaoler. "I am only responsible for your bones." Dolomieu died two years after his release from prison.] CHAPTER VII My father is exchanged for General Mack--Events during his captivity--He asks in vain for a share in the distribution of the 500,000 francs indemnity granted to the prisoners--The arrears of his pay also refused him--He is placed on the retired list, in spite of his energetic protests. My father was exchanged for the famous general, Mack, whom the Austrian emperor had lent to the Neapolitans. This general was later captured at Ulm, for the third time, hence the following quatrain:--