Geoffrey, who had been employed in the office of the Governor of the prison, and who had, on hearing this old monument was to be repaired, volunteered on behalf of the three others to do the work, now told the story of the old monument as he had learned it from the prison records which he had been transcribing. "In the wars of the Great Napoleon," Geoffrey said, "the French prisoners captured by England were confined in hulks on the seacoast till the hulks overflowed. Then this prison was built, and filled with unfortunate Frenchmen. In 1812 the young Republic of America went to war with England, and hundreds of American captives were added to the Frenchmen. During the years of their confinement scores of these poor fellows died, and one day the Americans mutinied, and then other scores were shot down in the main yard. This field was the graveyard of those prisoners, and here the strangers slept for over half a century, till their bones were washed out of the hillside by the rain-storms. There happened to be in Dartmoor at that time a party of Irish rebels, and they asked permission to collect the bones and bury them securely. The Irishmen raised this cairn and obelisk to the Americans and Frenchmen, and now, after another hundred years, we are sent to repair their loving testimonial." "It is an interesting story," said Featherstone. "A sad story for old men," said the Duke. "A brave story for boys," said Mr. Sydney; "I could lift this obelisk itself for sympathy." They went on, working and chatting in low tones, till an exclamation from Sydney made them look up. Sydney was on top of the cairn, scraping the lichens from the obelisk. The moss was hard to cut, and had formed a crust, layer on layer, half an inch in thickness. "What is it, my dear Sydney?" asked the Duke. "An inscription!" cried Sydney, scraping away. "An inscription nearly a hundred years old. I have uncovered the year--see, 1867." "Ay," said Geoffrey, "that was the year the Irish were here." Featherstone had gone to Sydney's assistance, and with the aid of a sharp flint soon uncovered the whole inscription. It ran thus: ____________________________________________ | SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF THE | | | | FRENCH AND AMERICAN PRISONERS | | OF WAR, | | | | Who Died in Dartmoor Prison during the | | Years 1811-16. | | | | _Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori._ | -------------------------------------------- Underneath were the words, "Erected 1867."