to side; from this beam hung, at short distances apart, chains three feet long, and at the end of these chains there were rings for the neck.
In this vault, men who had been condemned to the galleys were incarcerated until the day of their departure for Toulon.
They were thrust under this beam, where each one found his fetters swinging in the darkness and waiting for him.
The chains, those pendant arms, and the necklets, those open hands, caught the unhappy wretches by the throat.
They were rivetted and left there.
As the chain was too short, they could not lie down. They remained motionless in that cavern, in that night, beneath that beam, almost hanging, forced to unheard-of efforts to reach their bread, jug, or their vault overhead, mud even to mid-leg, filth flowing to their very calves, broken asunder with fatigue, with thighs and knees giving way, clinging fast to the chain with their hands in order to obtain some rest, unable to sleep except when standing erect, and awakened every moment by the strangling of the collar; some woke no more.
In order to eat, they pushed the bread, which was flung to them in the mud, along their leg with their heel until it reached their hand.
How long did they remain thus?
One month, two months, six months sometimes; one stayed a year.
It was the antechamber of the galleys. Men were put there for stealing a hare from the king.