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discovered this when, a short time after the sale, they set about emptying the well to purify it. In the middle of August, during a severe drought, they began work in pairs with buckets, but since the water level remained constant, and the well’s circumferencepermitted it, the work crew expanded to three, to four, then five… At eight men strong, the level began to recede somewhat, and they redoubled their efforts. Ultimately the level was lowered enough to reveal a split in the bedrock the size of a fist, through which water gushed in a steady stream. The captains sounded a retreat before this friendly assault and the water quickly rose to its usual level and gushed into the conduit which empties into the moat.
    Before beginning work on the moat, they would have to deviate this overflow and this work would have to wait until after harvest time, given the large numbers of men needed to dig the excavations required by the captains’ plans. In addition to our own soldiers, servants and neighbours, day labourers were hired and fed, the Brethren sparing no expense to accomplish their grand project. Their idea was to dig a veritable pond a toise deep and seven wide around the entire circumference of Mespech. And thus, Mespech became an island, linked to the continent by a scheme so ingenious, so beautiful and so well defended that I’ve never seen a visitor to our manor who wasn’t deeply impressed by it.
    Indeed, the drawbridge and fortified gate do not connect to the land, but instead to a small tower several toises shorter than the castle gate. This little tower is surrounded by water and itself connects, by means of a second drawbridge, to an island five toises square. This island, surrounded by a high wall, pierced by loopholes, is made up of outbuildings, including a shed for ploughs, ricks, harrows and other cumbersome farm machinery, as well as a wash house built on the side facing Mespech. Another tower at the far end of this island, where the moat narrows, houses a third drawbridge, this one giving access to “terra firma”, as we now call it.
    The narrowness of these three protected passageways eliminates two-way traffic and slows the movement of our wagons when we are harvesting, haying or bringing in the animals. At night,everything must be brought within the courtyard of Mespech for protection—except of course the heavy machinery, which would be too cumbersome a nightly task and which is therefore stored on the island. But the extent and depth of the water surrounding us and the three drawbridges which separate us from the land all produce a very comforting sense of security which somehow contributes to the beauty of the place.
    For a long time I believed this disposition, as pleasing to the eye as it was useful for defence, to be unique in France. But once when I was much older and was racing through hill and dale, hotly pursued by a band of savage, murderous Moors intent on taking my purse, my horse and my life, I caught sight of a chateau which greatly resembled Mespech in the layout of its moats and of the small towers which commanded its defence. I hardly had time to visit this place, however, given the band of twenty brigands on my heels. Though my valiant black steed delivered me from that fateful encounter, I was never able to retrace my path to this attractive dwelling whose resemblance to Mespech set my heart pounding, as if it weren’t beating hard enough already from the danger I’d confronted. All I can say is that it’s somewhere in the Bordeaux region, not far from the city itself.
    On the far side of the moat, close to hand and easy to irrigate, we laid out the kitchen gardens and our fruit orchards, and, a little farther down the hill, so that they wouldn’t spoil the view, our walnut trees. These last we planted plentifully, hoping to extract enough oil for our own use and for sale. The entire area, woods and gardens we enclosed with a high stockade of sharpened and fire-hardened