About Three
o'clock
The country was , as I have already said , submerged -- entirely drowned -- no land was visible ; the trees were growing bolt upright in the flood , whilst farmhouses and cottages were standing insulated ; the horses which drew us were up to the knees in water , and , on coming to blind pools and `` greedy depths , '' were not unfrequently swimming , in which case the boys or urchins who mounted them sometimes stood , sometimes knelt , upon the saddle and pillions . No accident , however , occurred either to the quadrupeds or bipeds , who appeared respectively to be quite _ au fait _ in their business , and extricated themselves with the greatest ease from places in which Pharaoh and all his hosts would have gone to the bottom . Night-fall brought us to Peterborough , and from thence we were not slow in reaching the place of our destination . Norman Cross -- Wide Expanse -- Vive l'Empereur -- Unpruned Woods -- Man with the Bag -- Froth and Conceit -- I beg your Pardon -- Growing Timid -- About Three o'clock -- Taking One 's Ease -- Cheek on the Ground -- King of the Vipers -- French King -- Frenchmen and Water . And a strange place it was , this Norman Cross , and , at the time of which I am speaking , a sad cross to many a Norman , being what was then styled a French prison , that is , a receptacle for captives made in the French war . It consisted , if I remember right , of some five or six casernes , very long , and immensely high ; each standing isolated from the rest , upon a spot of ground which might average ten acres , and which was fenced round with lofty palisades , the whole being compassed about by a towering wall , beneath which , at intervals , on both sides , sentinels were stationed , whilst outside , upon the field , stood commodious wooden barracks , capable of containing two regiments of infantry , intended to serve as guards upon the captives . Such was the station or prison at Norman Cross , where some six thousand French and other foreigners , followers of the grand Corsican , were now immured .