Any Corporal or trooper who, during his three years' service, has been sent to prison or to the cells, must at the expiration of his three years' service, remain with the colours for a number of days equal to those he has spent in prison or in the cells. I have not yet exhausted the list of punishments which may be inflicted upon French privates. There is another one more terrible than all the others I have described. This consists in sending a soldier to the _Compagnies de discipline_. This means transportation to Algeria. There the soldier is drafted into one of the special companies encamped far away in the interior. The men are drilled for several hours daily, and during the remainder of the time they are employed at road-making and subjected to other hard labour. Officers and Sergeants in command are always armed with loaded revolvers, and at the least sign of disobedience they can blow a man's brains out. For the slightest fault these men are sent to the _silos_--deep holes dug in the ground, and funnel-shaped at the bottom, so that neither standing, sitting, nor lying down is possible. They are left there for one or two days with bread and water. An awful case occurred some years ago in connection with these _silos_, which will be described in the course of my narrative. "The Minister of War," say the regulations, "has full power to send to the _Compagnies de discipline_ any private who has committed one or several faults, the gravity of which makes any other mode of repression inadequate." Usually, however, such men are tried before a _Conseil de discipline_. When the Captain in command of a squadron considers that one of his troopers has deserved to be sent to a _Compagnie de discipline_ he sends a written report to the Major stating the faults or misdemeanours of the trooper and the punishments which have been inflicted upon him, dwelling upon the recurrence of certain acts which show a perseverance in ill-doing, a danger to the good order of the service. This report is endorsed by the Major, and the Lieutenant-colonel, who hands it over to the Colonel. The latter can either transmit this report to the Minister of War, who decides upon the case, or (as is usually done) he can assemble a disciplinary commission (_Conseil de discipline_) consisting of the following officers of the regiment: One Major (who presides over the commission). The two senior Captains and the two senior Lieutenants, provided they do not belong to the squadron of the trooper to be tried.