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diff --git a/3424.txt b/3424.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d4249eb --- /dev/null +++ b/3424.txt @@ -0,0 +1,20723 @@ +Project Gutenberg's For the Term of His Natural Life, by Marcus Clarke + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: For the Term of His Natural Life + +Author: Marcus Clarke + +Release Date: September, 2002 [Etext #3424] +Posting Date: October 12, 2009 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOR THE TERM OF HIS NATURAL LIFE *** + + + + +Produced by Col Choat + + + + + +FOR THE TERM OF HIS NATURAL LIFE + +By Marcus Clarke + + + +DEDICATION TO SIR CHARLES GAVAN DUFFY + +My Dear Sir Charles, I take leave to dedicate this work to you, not +merely because your nineteen years of political and literary life in +Australia render it very fitting that any work written by a resident in +the colonies, and having to do with the history of past colonial +days, should bear your name upon its dedicatory page; but because the +publication of my book is due to your advice and encouragement. + +The convict of fiction has been hitherto shown only at the beginning or +at the end of his career. Either his exile has been the mysterious end +to his misdeeds, or he has appeared upon the scene to claim interest by +reason of an equally unintelligible love of crime acquired during his +experience in a penal settlement. Charles Reade has drawn the interior +of a house of correction in England, and Victor Hugo has shown how +a French convict fares after the fulfilment of his sentence. But +no writer--so far as I am aware--has attempted to depict the dismal +condition of a felon during his term of transportation. + +I have endeavoured in "His Natural Life" to set forth the working and +the results of an English system of transportation carefully considered +and carried out under official supervision; and to illustrate in the +manner best calculated, as I think, to attract general attention, the +inexpediency of again allowing offenders against the law to be herded +together in places remote from the wholesome influence of public +opinion, and to be submitted to a discipline which must necessarily +depend for its just administration upon the personal character and +temper of their gaolers. + +Your critical faculty will doubtless find, in the construction and +artistic working of this book, many faults. I do not think, however, +that you will discover any exaggerations. Some of the events narrated +are doubtless tragic and terrible; but I hold it needful to my purpose +to record them, for they are events which have actually occurred, and +which, if the blunders which produced them be repeated, must infallibly +occur again. It is true that the British Government have ceased to +deport the criminals of England, but the method of punishment, of which +that deportation was a part, is still in existence. Port Blair is a Port +Arthur filled with Indian-men instead of Englishmen; and, within the +last year, France has established, at New Caledonia, a penal settlement +which will, in the natural course of things, repeat in its annals the +history of Macquarie Harbour and of Norfolk Island. + +With this brief preface I beg you to accept this work. I would that its +merits were equal either to your kindness or to my regard. + +I am, + +My dear Sir Charles, + +Faithfully yours, + +MARCUS CLARKE + +THE PUBLIC LIBRARY, MELBOURNE + + + + +CONTENTS + + DEDICATION + PROLOGUE + + + + BOOK I.--THE SEA. 1827. + + + I. THE PRISON SHIP + II. SARAH PURFOY + III. THE MONOTONY BREAKS + IV. THE HOSPITAL + V. THE BARRACOON + VI. THE FATE OF THE "HYDASPES" + VII. TYPHUS FEVER + VIII. A DANGEROUS CRISIS + IX. WOMAN'S WEAPONS + X. EIGHT BELLS + XI. DISCOVERIES AND CONFESSIONS + XII. A NEWSPAPER PARAGRAPH + + + BOOK II.--MACQUARIE HARBOUR. 1833. + + + I. THE TOPOGRAPHY OF VAN DIEMEN'S LAND + II. THE SOLITARY OF "HELL'S GATES" + III. A SOCIAL EVENING + IV. THE BOLTER + V. SYLVIA + VI. A LEAP IN THE DARK + VII. THE LAST OF MACQUARIE HARBOUR + VIII. THE POWER OF THE WILDERNESS + IX. THE SEIZURE OF THE "OSPREY" + X. JOHN REX'S REVENGE + XI. LEFT AT "HELL'S GATES" + XII. "MR." DAWES + XIII. WHAT THE SEAWEED SUGGESTED + XIV. A WONDERFUL DAY'S WORK + XV. THE CORACLE + XVI. THE WRITING ON THE SAND + XVII. AT SEA + + + BOOK III.--PORT ARTHUR. 1838. + + I. A LABOURER IN THE VINEYARD + II. SARAH PURFOY'S REQUEST + III. THE STORY OF TWO BIRDS OF PREY + IV. "THE NOTORIOUS DAWES" + V. MAURICE FRERE'S GOOD ANGEL + VI. MR. MEEKIN ADMINISTERS CONSOLATION + VII. RUFUS DAWES'S IDYLL + VIII. AN ESCAPE + IX. JOHN REX'S LETTER HOME + X. WHAT BECAME OF THE MUTINEERS OF THE "OSPREY" + XI. A RELIC OF MACQUARIE HARBOUR + XII. AT PORT ARTHUR + XIII. THE COMMANDANT'S BUTLER + XIV. MR. NORTH'S INDISPOSITION + XV. ONE HUNDRED LASHES + XVI. KICKING AGAINST THE PRICKS + XVII. CAPTAIN AND MRS. FRERE + XVIII. IN THE HOSPITAL + XIX. THE CONSOLATIONS OF RELIGION + XX. A NATURAL PENITENTIARY + XXI. A VISIT OF INSPECTION + XXII. GATHERING IN THE THREADS + XXIII RUNNING THE GAUNTLET + XXIV. IN THE NIGHT + XXV. THE FLIGHT + XXVI. THE WORK OF THE SEA + XXVII. THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH + + + BOOK IV.--NORFOLK ISLAND. 1846. + + I. EXTRACTED FROM THE DIARY OF THE REV. JAMES NORTH + II. THE LOST HEIR + III. EXTRACTED FROM THE DIARY OF THE REV. JAMES NORTH + IV. EXTRACTED FROM THE DIARY OF THE REV. JAMES NORTH + V. MR. RICHARD DEVINE SURPRISED + VI. IN WHICH THE CHAPLAIN IS TAKEN ILL + VII. BREAKING A MAN'S SPIRIT + VIII. EXTRACTED FROM THE DIARY OF THE REV. JAMES NORTH + IX. THE LONGEST STRAW + X. A MEETING + XI. EXTRACTED FROM THE DIARY OF THE REV. JAMES NORTH + XII. THE STRANGE BEHAVIOUR OF MR. NORTH + XIII. MR. NORTH SPEAKS + XIV. GETTING READY FOR SEA + XV. THE DISCOVERY + XVI. FIFTEEN HOURS + XVII. THE REDEMPTION + XVIII. THE CYCLONE + + + EPILOGUE + + + APPENDIX + + + + +HIS NATURAL LIFE. + + + + +PROLOGUE. + +On the evening of May 3, 1827, the garden of a large red-brick +bow-windowed mansion called North End House, which, enclosed in spacious +grounds, stands on the eastern height of Hampstead Heath, between +Finchley Road and the Chestnut Avenue, was the scene of a domestic +tragedy. + +Three persons were the actors in it. One was an old man, whose white +hair and wrinkled face gave token that he was at least sixty years +of age. He stood erect with his back to the wall, which separates the +garden from the Heath, in the attitude of one surprised into sudden +passion, and held uplifted the heavy ebony cane upon which he +was ordinarily accustomed to lean. He was confronted by a man of +two-and-twenty, unusually tall and athletic of figure, dresses in rough +seafaring clothes, and who held in his arms, protecting her, a lady +of middle age. The face of the young man wore an expression of +horror-stricken astonishment, and the slight frame of the grey-haired +woman was convulsed with sobs. + +These three people were Sir Richard Devine, his wife, and his only son +Richard, who had returned from abroad that morning. + +"So, madam," said Sir Richard, in the high-strung accents which in +crises of great mental agony are common to the most self-restrained of +us, "you have been for twenty years a living lie! For twenty years +you have cheated and mocked me. For twenty years--in company with +a scoundrel whose name is a byword for all that is profligate and +base--you have laughed at me for a credulous and hood-winked fool; and +now, because I dared to raise my hand to that reckless boy, you confess +your shame, and glory in the confession!" + +"Mother, dear mother!" cried the young man, in a paroxysm of grief, "say +that you did not mean those words; you said them but in anger! See, I am +calm now, and he may strike me if he will." + +Lady Devine shuddered, creeping close, as though to hide herself in the +broad bosom of her son. + +The old man continued: "I married you, Ellinor Wade, for your beauty; +you married me for my fortune. I was a plebeian, a ship's carpenter; you +were well born, your father was a man of fashion, a gambler, the friend +of rakes and prodigals. I was rich. I had been knighted. I was in favour +at Court. He wanted money, and he sold you. I paid the price he asked, +but there was nothing of your cousin, my Lord Bellasis and Wotton, in +the bond." + +"Spare me, sir, spare me!" said Lady Ellinor faintly. + +"Spare you! Ay, you have spared me, have you not? Look ye," he cried, +in sudden fury, "I am not to be fooled so easily. Your family are proud. +Colonel Wade has other daughters. Your lover, my Lord Bellasis, even +now, thinks to retrieve his broken fortunes by marriage. You have +confessed your shame. To-morrow your father, your sisters, all the +world, shall know the story you have told me!" + +"By Heaven, sir, you will not do this!" burst out the young man. + +"Silence, bastard!" cried Sir Richard. "Ay, bite your lips; the word is +of your precious mother's making!" + +Lady Devine slipped through her son's arms and fell on her knees at her +husband's feet. + +"Do not do this, Richard. I have been faithful to you for two-and-twenty +years. I have borne all the slights and insults you have heaped upon me. +The shameful secret of my early love broke from me when in your rage, +you threatened him. Let me go away; kill me; but do not shame me." + +Sir Richard, who had turned to walk away, stopped suddenly, and his +great white eyebrows came together in his red face with a savage scowl. +He laughed, and in that laugh his fury seemed to congeal into a cold and +cruel hate. + +"You would preserve your good name then. You would conceal this disgrace +from the world. You shall have your wish--upon one condition." + +"What is it, sir?" she asked, rising, but trembling with terror, as she +stood with drooping arms and widely opened eyes. + +The old man looked at her for an instant, and then said slowly, "That +this impostor, who so long has falsely borne my name, has wrongfully +squandered my money, and unlawfully eaten my bread, shall pack! That he +abandon for ever the name he has usurped, keep himself from my sight, +and never set foot again in house of mine." + +"You would not part me from my only son!" cried the wretched woman. + +"Take him with you to his father then." + +Richard Devine gently loosed the arms that again clung around his neck, +kissed the pale face, and turned his own--scarcely less pale--towards +the old man. + +"I owe you no duty," he said. "You have always hated and reviled me. +When by your violence you drove me from your house, you set spies to +watch me in the life I had chosen. I have nothing in common with you. +I have long felt it. Now when I learn for the first time whose son I +really am, I rejoice to think that I have less to thank you for than +I once believed. I accept the terms you offer. I will go. Nay, mother, +think of your good name." + +Sir Richard Devine laughed again. "I am glad to see you are so well +disposed. Listen now. To-night I send for Quaid to alter my will. My +sister's son, Maurice Frere, shall be my heir in your stead. I give +you nothing. You leave this house in an hour. You change your name; you +never by word or deed make claim on me or mine. No matter what strait +or poverty you plead--if even your life should hang upon the issue--the +instant I hear that there exists on earth one who calls himself Richard +Devine, that instant shall your mother's shame become a public scandal. +You know me. I keep my word. I return in an hour, madam; let me find him +gone." + +He passed them, upright, as if upborne by passion, strode down the +garden with the vigour that anger lends, and took the road to London. + +"Richard!" cried the poor mother. "Forgive me, my son! I have ruined +you." + +Richard Devine tossed his black hair from his brow in sudden passion of +love and grief. + +"Mother, dear mother, do not weep," he said. "I am not worthy of your +tears. Forgive! It is I--impetuous and ungrateful during all your years +of sorrow--who most need forgiveness. Let me share your burden that +I may lighten it. He is just. It is fitting that I go. I can earn a +name--a name that I need not blush to bear nor you to hear. I am strong. +I can work. The world is wide. Farewell! my own mother!" + +"Not yet, not yet! Ah! see he has taken the Belsize Road. Oh, Richard, +pray Heaven they may not meet." + +"Tush! They will not meet! You are pale, you faint!" + +"A terror of I know not what coming evil overpowers me. I tremble for +the future. Oh, Richard, Richard! Forgive me! Pray for me." + +"Hush, dearest! Come, let me lead you in. I will write. I will send you +news of me once at least, ere I depart. So--you are calmer, mother!" + + * * * * * + +Sir Richard Devine, knight, shipbuilder, naval contractor, and +millionaire, was the son of a Harwich boat carpenter. Early left an +orphan with a sister to support, he soon reduced his sole aim in life to +the accumulation of money. In the Harwich boat-shed, nearly fifty years +before, he had contracted--in defiance of prophesied failure--to build +the Hastings sloop of war for His Majesty King George the Third's Lords +of the Admiralty. This contract was the thin end of that wedge which +eventually split the mighty oak block of Government patronage into +three-deckers and ships of the line; which did good service under +Pellew, Parker, Nelson, Hood; which exfoliated and ramified into huge +dockyards at Plymouth, Portsmouth, and Sheerness, and bore, as its buds +and flowers, countless barrels of measly pork and maggoty biscuit. The +sole aim of the coarse, pushing and hard-headed son of Dick Devine was +to make money. He had cringed and crawled and fluttered and blustered, +had licked the dust off great men's shoes, and danced attendance in +great men's ante-chambers. Nothing was too low, nothing too high for +him. A shrewd man of business, a thorough master of his trade, troubled +with no scruples of honour or of delicacy, he made money rapidly, and +saved it when made. The first hint that the public received of his +wealth was in 1796, when Mr. Devine, one of the shipwrights to the +Government, and a comparatively young man of forty-four or thereabouts, +subscribed five thousand pounds to the Loyalty Loan raised to prosecute +the French war. In 1805, after doing good, and it was hinted not +unprofitable, service in the trial of Lord Melville, the Treasurer +of the Navy, he married his sister to a wealthy Bristol merchant, one +Anthony Frere, and married himself to Ellinor Wade, the eldest daughter +of Colonel Wotton Wade, a boon companion of the Regent, and uncle by +marriage of a remarkable scamp and dandy, Lord Bellasis. At that time, +what with lucky speculations in the Funds--assisted, it was whispered, +by secret intelligence from France during the stormy years of '13, '14, +and '15--and the legitimate profit on his Government contracts, he had +accumulated a princely fortune, and could afford to live in princely +magnificence. But the old-man-of-the-sea burden of parsimony and avarice +which he had voluntarily taken upon him was not to be shaken off, +and the only show he made of his wealth was by purchasing, on his +knighthood, the rambling but comfortable house at Hampstead, and +ostensibly retiring from active business. + +His retirement was not a happy one. He was a stern father and a severe +master. His servants hated, and his wife feared him. His only son +Richard appeared to inherit his father's strong will and imperious +manner. Under careful supervision and a just rule he might have been +guided to good; but left to his own devices outside, and galled by +the iron yoke of parental discipline at home, he became reckless and +prodigal. The mother--poor, timid Ellinor, who had been rudely torn from +the love of her youth, her cousin, Lord Bellasis--tried to restrain him, +but the head-strong boy, though owning for his mother that strong love +which is often a part of such violent natures, proved intractable, and +after three years of parental feud, he went off to the Continent, to +pursue there the same reckless life which in London had offended Sir +Richard. Sir Richard, upon this, sent for Maurice Frere, his sister's +son--the abolition of the slave trade had ruined the Bristol House of +Frere--and bought for him a commission in a marching regiment, hinting +darkly of special favours to come. His open preference for his nephew +had galled to the quick his sensitive wife, who contrasted with some +heart-pangs the gallant prodigality of her father with the niggardly +economy of her husband. Between the houses of parvenu Devine and +long-descended Wotton Wade there had long been little love. Sir Richard +felt that the colonel despised him for a city knight, and had heard that +over claret and cards Lord Bellasis and his friends had often lamented +the hard fortune which gave the beauty, Ellinor, to so sordid a +bridegroom. Armigell Esme Wade, Viscount Bellasis and Wotton, was a +product of his time. Of good family (his ancestor, Armigell, was reputed +to have landed in America before Gilbert or Raleigh), he had inherited +his manor of Bellasis, or Belsize, from one Sir Esme Wade, ambassador +from Queen Elizabeth to the King of Spain in the delicate matter of +Mendoza, and afterwards counsellor to James I, and Lieutenant of the +Tower. This Esme was a man of dark devices. It was he who negotiated +with Mary Stuart for Elizabeth; it was he who wormed out of Cobham the +evidence against the great Raleigh. He became rich, and his sister (the +widow of Henry de Kirkhaven, Lord of Hemfleet) marrying into the family +of the Wottons, the wealth of the house was further increased by the +union of her daughter Sybil with Marmaduke Wade. Marmaduke Wade was a +Lord of the Admiralty, and a patron of Pepys, who in his diary [July +17,1668] speaks of visiting him at Belsize. He was raised to the peerage +in 1667 by the title of Baron Bellasis and Wotton, and married for +his second wife Anne, daughter of Philip Stanhope, second Earl of +Chesterfield. Allied to this powerful house, the family tree of Wotton +Wade grew and flourished. + +In 1784, Philip, third Baron, married the celebrated beauty, Miss Povey, +and had issue Armigell Esme, in whose person the family prudence seemed +to have run itself out. + +The fourth Lord Bellasis combined the daring of Armigell, the +adventurer, with the evil disposition of Esme, the Lieutenant of the +Tower. No sooner had he become master of his fortune than he took +to dice, drink, and debauchery with all the extravagance of the last +century. He was foremost in every riot, most notorious of all the +notorious "bloods" of the day. + +Horace Walpole, in one of his letters to Selwyn in 1785, mentions a +fact which may stand for a page of narrative. "Young Wade," he says, "is +reported to have lost one thousand guineas last night to that vulgarest +of all the Bourbons, the Duc de Chartres, and they say the fool is not +yet nineteen." From a pigeon Armigell Wade became a hawk, and at thirty +years of age, having lost together with his estates all chance of +winning the one woman who might have saved him--his cousin Ellinor--he +became that most unhappy of all beings, a well-born blackleg. When he +was told by thin-lipped, cool Colonel Wade that the rich shipbuilder, +Sir Richard Devine, had proposed an alliance with fair-haired gentle +Ellinor, he swore, with fierce knitting of his black brows, that no +law of man nor Heaven should further restrain him in his selfish +prodigality. "You have sold your daughter and ruined me," he said; "look +to the consequences." Colonel Wade sneered at his fiery kinsman: "You +will find Sir Richard's house a pleasant one to visit, Armigell; and he +should be worth an income to so experienced a gambler as yourself." Lord +Bellasis did visit at Sir Richard's house during the first year of his +cousin's marriage; but upon the birth of the son who is the hero of this +history, he affected a quarrel with the city knight, and cursing him +to the Prince and Poins for a miserly curmudgeon, who neither diced nor +drank like a gentleman, departed, more desperately at war with fortune +than ever, for his old haunts. The year 1827 found him a hardened, +hopeless old man of sixty, battered in health and ruined in pocket; but +who, by dint of stays, hair-dye, and courage, yet faced the world with +undaunted front, and dined as gaily in bailiff-haunted Belsize as he had +dined at Carlton House. Of the possessions of the House of Wotton Wade, +this old manor, timberless and bare, was all that remained, and its +master rarely visited it. + +On the evening of May 3, 1827, Lord Bellasis had been attending a pigeon +match at Hornsey Wood, and having resisted the importunities of his +companion, Mr. Lionel Crofton (a young gentleman-rake, whose position +in the sporting world was not the most secure), who wanted him to go on +into town, he had avowed his intention of striking across Hampstead to +Belsize. "I have an appointment at the fir trees on the Heath," he said. + +"With a woman?" asked Mr. Crofton. + +"Not at all; with a parson." + +"A parson!" + +"You stare! Well, he is only just ordained. I met him last year at Bath +on his vacation from Cambridge, and he was good enough to lose some +money to me." + +"And now waits to pay it out of his first curacy. I wish your lordship +joy with all my soul. Then, we must push on, for it grows late." + +"Thanks, my dear sir, for the 'we,' but I must go alone," said Lord +Bellasis dryly. "To-morrow you can settle with me for the sitting of +last week. Hark! the clock is striking nine. Good night." + + + * * * * * + + +At half-past nine Richard Devine quitted his mother's house to begin the +new life he had chosen, and so, drawn together by that strange fate of +circumstances which creates events, the father and son approached each +other. + + + * * * * * + + +As the young man gained the middle of the path which led to the Heath, +he met Sir Richard returning from the village. It was no part of his +plan to seek an interview with the man whom his mother had so deeply +wronged, and he would have slunk past in the gloom; but seeing him thus +alone returning to a desolated home, the prodigal was tempted to utter +some words of farewell and of regret. To his astonishment, however, Sir +Richard passed swiftly on, with body bent forward as one in the act of +falling, and with eyes unconscious of surroundings, staring straight +into the distance. Half-terrified at this strange appearance, Richard +hurried onward, and at a turn of the path stumbled upon something which +horribly accounted for the curious action of the old man. A dead body +lay upon its face in the heather; beside it was a heavy riding whip +stained at the handle with blood, and an open pocket-book. Richard took +up the book, and read, in gold letters on the cover, "Lord Bellasis." + +The unhappy young man knelt down beside the body and raised it. +The skull had been fractured by a blow, but it seemed that life yet +lingered. Overcome with horror--for he could not doubt but that his +mother's worst fears had been realized--Richard knelt there holding his +murdered father in his arms, waiting until the murderer, whose name he +bore, should have placed himself beyond pursuit. It seemed an hour to +his excited fancy before he saw a light pass along the front of the +house he had quitted, and knew that Sir Richard had safely reached his +chamber. With some bewildered intention of summoning aid, he left the +body and made towards the town. As he stepped out on the path he heard +voices, and presently some dozen men, one of whom held a horse, burst +out upon him, and, with sudden fury, seized and flung him to the ground. + +At first the young man, so rudely assailed, did not comprehend his own +danger. His mind, bent upon one hideous explanation of the crime, did +not see another obvious one which had already occurred to the mind of +the landlord of the Three Spaniards. + +"God defend me!" cried Mr. Mogford, scanning by the pale light of +the rising moon the features of the murdered man, "but it is Lord +Bellasis!--oh, you bloody villain! Jem, bring him along here, p'r'aps +his lordship can recognize him!" + +"It was not I!" cried Richard Devine. "For God's sake, my lord say--" +then he stopped abruptly, and being forced on his knees by his captors, +remained staring at the dying man, in sudden and ghastly fear. + +Those men in whom emotion has the effect of quickening circulation +of the blood reason rapidly in moments of danger, and in the terrible +instant when his eyes met those of Lord Bellasis, Richard Devine had +summed up the chances of his future fortune, and realized to the full +his personal peril. The runaway horse had given the alarm. The +drinkers at the Spaniards' Inn had started to search the Heath, and had +discovered a fellow in rough costume, whose person was unknown to +them, hastily quitting a spot where, beside a rifled pocket-book and a +blood-stained whip, lay a dying man. + + +The web of circumstantial evidence had enmeshed him. An hour ago escape +would have been easy. He would have had but to cry, "I am the son of Sir +Richard Devine. Come with me to yonder house, and I will prove to +you that I have but just quitted it,"--to place his innocence beyond +immediate question. That course of action was impossible now. Knowing +Sir Richard as he did, and believing, moreover, that in his raging +passion the old man had himself met and murdered the destroyer of +his honour, the son of Lord Bellasis and Lady Devine saw himself in +a position which would compel him either to sacrifice himself, or to +purchase a chance of safety at the price of his mother's dishonour and +the death of the man whom his mother had deceived. If the outcast son +were brought a prisoner to North End House, Sir Richard--now doubly +oppressed of fate--would be certain to deny him; and he would be +compelled, in self-defence, to reveal a story which would at once bring +his mother to open infamy, and send to the gallows the man who had been +for twenty years deceived--the man to whose kindness he owed education +and former fortune. He knelt, stupefied, unable to speak or move. + +"Come," cried Mogford again; "say, my lord, is this the villain?" + +Lord Bellasis rallied his failing senses, his glazing eyes stared into +his son's face with horrible eagerness; he shook his head, raised a +feeble arm as though to point elsewhere, and fell back dead. + +"If you didn't murder him, you robbed him," growled Mogford, "and you +shall sleep at Bow Street to-night. Tom, run on to meet the patrol, and +leave word at the Gate-house that I've a passenger for the coach!--Bring +him on, Jack!--What's your name, eh?" + +He repeated the rough question twice before his prisoner answered, but +at length Richard Devine raised a pale face which stern resolution had +already hardened into defiant manhood, and said "Dawes--Rufus Dawes." + + + * * * * * + + +His new life had begun already: for that night one, Rufus Dawes, charged +with murder and robbery, lay awake in prison, waiting for the fortune of +the morrow. + +Two other men waited as eagerly. One, Mr. Lionel Crofton; the other, the +horseman who had appointment with the murdered Lord Bellasis under the +shadow of the fir trees on Hampstead Heath. As for Sir Richard Devine, +he waited for no one, for upon reaching his room he had fallen senseless +in a fit of apoplexy. + + + + + +BOOK I.--THE SEA. 1827. + + + + +CHAPTER I. THE PRISON SHIP. + + + +In the breathless stillness of a tropical afternoon, when the air was +hot and heavy, and the sky brazen and cloudless, the shadow of the +Malabar lay solitary on the surface of the glittering sea. + +The sun--who rose on the left hand every morning a blazing ball, to move +slowly through the unbearable blue, until he sank fiery red in mingling +glories of sky and ocean on the right hand--had just got low enough to +peep beneath the awning that covered the poop-deck, and awaken a young +man, in an undress military uniform, who was dozing on a coil of rope. + +"Hang it!" said he, rising and stretching himself, with the weary sigh +of a man who has nothing to do, "I must have been asleep"; and then, +holding by a stay, he turned about and looked down into the waist of the +ship. + +Save for the man at the wheel and the guard at the quarter-railing, +he was alone on the deck. A few birds flew round about the vessel, and +seemed to pass under her stern windows only to appear again at her bows. +A lazy albatross, with the white water flashing from his wings, rose +with a dabbling sound to leeward, and in the place where he had been +glided the hideous fin of a silently-swimming shark. The seams of the +well-scrubbed deck were sticky with melted pitch, and the brass plate of +the compass-case sparkled in the sun like a jewel. There was no breeze, +and as the clumsy ship rolled and lurched on the heaving sea, her idle +sails flapped against her masts with a regularly recurring noise, and +her bowsprit would seem to rise higher with the water's swell, to +dip again with a jerk that made each rope tremble and tauten. On the +forecastle, some half-dozen soldiers, in all varieties of undress, were +playing at cards, smoking, or watching the fishing-lines hanging over +the catheads. + +So far the appearance of the vessel differed in no wise from that of an +ordinary transport. But in the waist a curious sight presented itself. +It was as though one had built a cattle-pen there. At the foot of the +foremast, and at the quarter-deck, a strong barricade, loop-holed and +furnished with doors for ingress and egress, ran across the deck from +bulwark to bulwark. Outside this cattle-pen an armed sentry stood on +guard; inside, standing, sitting, or walking monotonously, within range +of the shining barrels in the arm chest on the poop, were some sixty men +and boys, dressed in uniform grey. The men and boys were prisoners of +the Crown, and the cattle-pen was their exercise ground. Their prison +was down the main hatchway, on the 'tween decks, and the barricade, +continued down, made its side walls. + +It was the fag end of the two hours' exercise graciously permitted each +afternoon by His Majesty King George the Fourth to prisoners of the +Crown, and the prisoners of the Crown were enjoying themselves. It was +not, perhaps, so pleasant as under the awning on the poop-deck, but +that sacred shade was only for such great men as the captain and his +officers, Surgeon Pine, Lieutenant Maurice Frere, and, most important +personages of all, Captain Vickers and his wife. + +That the convict leaning against the bulwarks would like to have been +able to get rid of his enemy the sun for a moment, was probable enough. +His companions, sitting on the combings of the main-hatch, or crouched +in careless fashion on the shady side of the barricade, were laughing +and talking, with blasphemous and obscene merriment hideous to +contemplate; but he, with cap pulled over his brows, and hands thrust +into the pockets of his coarse grey garments, held aloof from their +dismal joviality. + +The sun poured his hottest rays on his head unheeded, and though every +cranny and seam in the deck sweltered hot pitch under the fierce heat, +the man stood there, motionless and morose, staring at the sleepy sea. +He had stood thus, in one place or another, ever since the groaning +vessel had escaped from the rollers of the Bay of Biscay, and the +miserable hundred and eighty creatures among whom he was classed had +been freed from their irons, and allowed to sniff fresh air twice a day. + +The low-browed, coarse-featured ruffians grouped about the deck cast +many a leer of contempt at the solitary figure, but their remarks were +confined to gestures only. There are degrees in crime, and Rufus Dawes, +the convicted felon, who had but escaped the gallows to toil for all his +life in irons, was a man of mark. He had been tried for the robbery and +murder of Lord Bellasis. The friendless vagabond's lame story of finding +on the Heath a dying man would not have availed him, but for the curious +fact sworn to by the landlord of the Spaniards' Inn, that the murdered +nobleman had shaken his head when asked if the prisoner was his +assassin. The vagabond was acquitted of the murder, but condemned to +death for the robbery, and London, who took some interest in the +trial, considered him fortunate when his sentence was commuted to +transportation for life. + +It was customary on board these floating prisons to keep each man's +crime a secret from his fellows, so that if he chose, and the caprice of +his gaolers allowed him, he could lead a new life in his adopted +home, without being taunted with his former misdeeds. But, like other +excellent devices, the expedient was only a nominal one, and few out of +the doomed hundred and eighty were ignorant of the offence which their +companions had committed. The more guilty boasted of their superiority +in vice; the petty criminals swore that their guilt was blacker than it +appeared. Moreover, a deed so bloodthirsty and a respite so unexpected, +had invested the name of Rufus Dawes with a grim distinction, which his +superior mental abilities, no less than his haughty temper and powerful +frame, combined to support. A young man of two-and-twenty owning to no +friends, and existing among them but by the fact of his criminality, +he was respected and admired. The vilest of all the vile horde penned +between decks, if they laughed at his "fine airs" behind his back, +cringed and submitted when they met him face to face--for in a convict +ship the greatest villain is the greatest hero, and the only nobility +acknowledged by that hideous commonwealth is that Order of the Halter +which is conferred by the hand of the hangman. + +The young man on the poop caught sight of the tall figure leaning +against the bulwarks, and it gave him an excuse to break the monotony of +his employment. + +"Here, you!" he called with an oath, "get out of the gangway!" Rufus +Dawes was not in the gangway--was, in fact, a good two feet from it, but +at the sound of Lieutenant Frere's voice he started, and went obediently +towards the hatchway. + +"Touch your hat, you dog!" cries Frere, coming to the quarter-railing. +"Touch your damned hat! Do you hear?" + +Rufus Dawes touched his cap, saluting in half military fashion. "I'll +make some of you fellows smart, if you don't have a care," went on the +angry Frere, half to himself. "Insolent blackguards!" + +And then the noise of the sentry, on the quarter-deck below him, +grounding arms, turned the current of his thoughts. A thin, tall, +soldier-like man, with a cold blue eye, and prim features, came out of +the cuddy below, handing out a fair-haired, affected, mincing lady, +of middle age. Captain Vickers, of Mr. Frere's regiment, ordered for +service in Van Diemen's Land, was bringing his lady on deck to get an +appetite for dinner. + +Mrs. Vickers was forty-two (she owned to thirty-three), and had been +a garrison-belle for eleven weary years before she married prim John +Vickers. The marriage was not a happy one. Vickers found his wife +extravagant, vain, and snappish, and she found him harsh, disenchanted, +and commonplace. A daughter, born two years after their marriage, was +the only link that bound the ill-assorted pair. Vickers idolized little +Sylvia, and when the recommendation of a long sea-voyage for his failing +health induced him to exchange into the --th, he insisted upon bringing +the child with him, despite Mrs. Vickers's reiterated objections on the +score of educational difficulties. "He could educate her himself, if +need be," he said; "and she should not stay at home." + +So Mrs. Vickers, after a hard struggle, gave up the point and her dreams +of Bath together, and followed her husband with the best grace she could +muster. When fairly out to sea she seemed reconciled to her fate, and +employed the intervals between scolding her daughter and her maid, in +fascinating the boorish young Lieutenant, Maurice Frere. + +Fascination was an integral portion of Julia Vickers's nature; +admiration was all she lived for: and even in a convict ship, with her +husband at her elbow, she must flirt, or perish of mental inanition. +There was no harm in the creature. She was simply a vain, middle-aged +woman, and Frere took her attentions for what they were worth. Moreover, +her good feeling towards him was useful, for reasons which will shortly +appear. + +Running down the ladder, cap in hand, he offered her his assistance. + +"Thank you, Mr. Frere. These horrid ladders. I really--he, he--quite +tremble at them. Hot! Yes, dear me, most oppressive. John, the +camp-stool. Pray, Mr. Frere--oh, thank you! Sylvia! Sylvia! John, have +you my smelling salts? Still a calm, I suppose? These dreadful calms!" + +This semi-fashionable slip-slop, within twenty yards of the wild beasts' +den, on the other side of the barricade, sounded strange; but Mr. Frere +thought nothing of it. Familiarity destroys terror, and the incurable +flirt, fluttered her muslins, and played off her second-rate graces, +under the noses of the grinning convicts, with as much complacency as +if she had been in a Chatham ball-room. Indeed, if there had been +nobody else near, it is not unlikely that she would have disdainfully +fascinated the 'tween-decks, and made eyes at the most presentable of +the convicts there. + +Vickers, with a bow to Frere, saw his wife up the ladder, and then +turned for his daughter. + +She was a delicate-looking child of six years old, with blue eyes and +bright hair. Though indulged by her father, and spoiled by her +mother, the natural sweetness of her disposition saved her from being +disagreeable, and the effects of her education as yet only showed +themselves in a thousand imperious prettinesses, which made her the +darling of the ship. Little Miss Sylvia was privileged to go anywhere +and do anything, and even convictism shut its foul mouth in her +presence. Running to her father's side, the child chattered with all the +volubility of flattered self-esteem. She ran hither and thither, asked +questions, invented answers, laughed, sang, gambolled, peered into the +compass-case, felt in the pockets of the man at the helm, put her tiny +hand into the big palm of the officer of the watch, even ran down to the +quarter-deck and pulled the coat-tails of the sentry on duty. + +At last, tired of running about, she took a little striped leather ball +from the bosom of her frock, and calling to her father, threw it up +to him as he stood on the poop. He returned it, and, shouting with +laughter, clapping her hands between each throw, the child kept up the +game. + +The convicts--whose slice of fresh air was nearly eaten--turned with +eagerness to watch this new source of amusement. Innocent laughter and +childish prattle were strange to them. Some smiled, and nodded with +interest in the varying fortunes of the game. One young lad could hardly +restrain himself from applauding. It was as though, out of the sultry +heat which brooded over the ship, a cool breeze had suddenly arisen. + +In the midst of this mirth, the officer of the watch, glancing round the +fast crimsoning horizon, paused abruptly, and shading his eyes with his +hand, looked out intently to the westward. + +Frere, who found Mrs. Vickers's conversation a little tiresome, and +had been glancing from time to time at the companion, as though in +expectation of someone appearing, noticed the action. + +"What is it, Mr. Best?" + +"I don't know exactly. It looks to me like a cloud of smoke." And, +taking the glass, he swept the horizon. + +"Let me see," said Frere; and he looked also. + +On the extreme horizon, just to the left of the sinking sun, rested, or +seemed to rest, a tiny black cloud. The gold and crimson, splashed +all about the sky, had overflowed around it, and rendered a clear view +almost impossible. + +"I can't quite make it out," says Frere, handing back the telescope. "We +can see as soon as the sun goes down a little." + +Then Mrs. Vickers must, of course, look also, and was prettily affected +about the focus of the glass, applying herself to that instrument with +much girlish giggling, and finally declaring, after shutting one eye +with her fair hand, that positively she "could see nothing but sky, and +believed that wicked Mr. Frere was doing it on purpose." + +By and by, Captain Blunt appeared, and, taking the glass from his +officer, looked through it long and carefully. Then the mizentop was +appealed to, and declared that he could see nothing; and at last the sun +went down with a jerk, as though it had slipped through a slit in the +sea, and the black spot, swallowed up in the gathering haze, was seen no +more. + +As the sun sank, the relief guard came up the after hatchway, and the +relieved guard prepared to superintend the descent of the convicts. At +this moment Sylvia missed her ball, which, taking advantage of a sudden +lurch of the vessel, hopped over the barricade, and rolled to the feet +of Rufus Dawes, who was still leaning, apparently lost in thought, +against the side. + +The bright spot of colour rolling across the white deck caught his eye; +stooping mechanically, he picked up the ball, and stepped forward to +return it. The door of the barricade was open and the sentry--a young +soldier, occupied in staring at the relief guard--did not notice the +prisoner pass through it. In another instant he was on the sacred +quarter-deck. + +Heated with the game, her cheeks aglow, her eyes sparkling, her golden +hair afloat, Sylvia had turned to leap after her plaything, but even as +she turned, from under the shadow of the cuddy glided a rounded white +arm; and a shapely hand caught the child by the sash and drew her back. +The next moment the young man in grey had placed the toy in her hand. + +Maurice Frere, descending the poop ladder, had not witnessed this little +incident; on reaching the deck, he saw only the unexplained presence of +the convict uniform. + +"Thank you," said a voice, as Rufus Dawes stooped before the pouting +Sylvia. + +The convict raised his eyes and saw a young girl of eighteen or nineteen +years of age, tall, and well developed, who, dressed in a loose-sleeved +robe of some white material, was standing in the doorway. She had black +hair, coiled around a narrow and flat head, a small foot, white skin, +well-shaped hands, and large dark eyes, and as she smiled at him, her +scarlet lips showed her white even teeth. + +He knew her at once. She was Sarah Purfoy, Mrs. Vickers's maid, but he +never had been so close to her before; and it seemed to him that he was +in the presence of some strange tropical flower, which exhaled a heavy +and intoxicating perfume. + +For an instant the two looked at each other, and then Rufus Dawes was +seized from behind by his collar, and flung with a shock upon the deck. + +Leaping to his feet, his first impulse was to rush upon his assailant, +but he saw the ready bayonet of the sentry gleam, and he checked himself +with an effort, for his assailant was Mr. Maurice Frere. + +"What the devil do you do here?" asked the gentleman with an oath. "You +lazy, skulking hound, what brings you here? If I catch you putting your +foot on the quarter-deck again, I'll give you a week in irons!" + +Rufus Dawes, pale with rage and mortification, opened his mouth to +justify himself, but he allowed the words to die on his lips. What was +the use? "Go down below, and remember what I've told you," cried Frere; +and comprehending at once what had occurred, he made a mental minute of +the name of the defaulting sentry. + +The convict, wiping the blood from his face, turned on his heel without +a word, and went back through the strong oak door into his den. Frere +leant forward and took the girl's shapely hand with an easy gesture, but +she drew it away, with a flash of her black eyes. + +"You coward!" she said. + +The stolid soldier close beside them heard it, and his eye twinkled. +Frere bit his thick lips with mortification, as he followed the girl +into the cuddy. Sarah Purfoy, however, taking the astonished Sylvia by +the hand, glided into her mistress's cabin with a scornful laugh, and +shut the door behind her. + + + + +CHAPTER II. SARAH PURFOY. + + + +Convictism having been safely got under hatches, and put to bed in its +Government allowance of sixteen inches of space per man, cut a little +short by exigencies of shipboard, the cuddy was wont to pass some not +unpleasant evenings. Mrs. Vickers, who was poetical and owned a guitar, +was also musical and sang to it. Captain Blunt was a jovial, coarse +fellow; Surgeon Pine had a mania for story-telling; while if Vickers was +sometimes dull, Frere was always hearty. Moreover, the table was well +served, and what with dinner, tobacco, whist, music, and brandy and +water, the sultry evenings passed away with a rapidity of which the +wild beasts 'tween decks, cooped by sixes in berths of a mere five feet +square, had no conception. + +On this particular evening, however, the cuddy was dull. Dinner fell +flat, and conversation languished. + +"No signs of a breeze, Mr. Best?" asked Blunt, as the first officer came +in and took his seat. + +"None, sir." + +"These--he, he!--awful calms," says Mrs. Vickers. "A week, is it not, +Captain Blunt?" + +"Thirteen days, mum," growled Blunt. + +"I remember, off the Coromandel coast," put in cheerful Pine, "when we +had the plague in the Rattlesnake--" + +"Captain Vickers, another glass of wine?" cried Blunt, hastening to cut +the anecdote short. + +"Thank you, no more. I have the headache." + +"Headache--um--don't wonder at it, going down among those fellows. It is +infamous the way they crowd these ships. Here we have over two hundred +souls on board, and not boat room for half of 'em." + +"Two hundred souls! Surely not," says Vickers. "By the King's +Regulations--" + +"One hundred and eighty convicts, fifty soldiers, thirty in ship's crew, +all told, and--how many?--one, two three--seven in the cuddy. How many +do you make that?" + +"We are just a little crowded this time," says Best. + +"It is very wrong," says Vickers, pompously. "Very wrong. By the King's +Regulations--" + +But the subject of the King's Regulations was even more distasteful to +the cuddy than Pine's interminable anecdotes, and Mrs. Vickers hastened +to change the subject. + +"Are you not heartily tired of this dreadful life, Mr. Frere?" + +"Well, it is not exactly the life I had hoped to lead," said Frere, +rubbing a freckled hand over his stubborn red hair; "but I must make the +best of it." + +"Yes, indeed," said the lady, in that subdued manner with which one +comments upon a well-known accident, "it must have been a great shock to +you to be so suddenly deprived of so large a fortune." + +"Not only that, but to find that the black sheep who got it all sailed +for India within a week of my uncle's death! Lady Devine got a letter +from him on the day of the funeral to say that he had taken his passage +in the Hydaspes for Calcutta, and never meant to come back again!" + +"Sir Richard Devine left no other children?" + +"No, only this mysterious Dick, whom I never saw, but who must have +hated me." + +"Dear, dear! These family quarrels are dreadful things. Poor Lady +Devine, to lose in one day a husband and a son!" + +"And the next morning to hear of the murder of her cousin! You know that +we are connected with the Bellasis family. My aunt's father married a +sister of the second Lord Bellasis." + +"Indeed. That was a horrible murder. So you think that the dreadful man +you pointed out the other day did it?" + +"The jury seemed to think not," said Mr. Frere, with a laugh; "but I +don't know anybody else who could have a motive for it. However, I'll go +on deck and have a smoke." + +"I wonder what induced that old hunks of a shipbuilder to try to cut +off his only son in favour of a cub of that sort," said Surgeon Pine to +Captain Vickers as the broad back of Mr. Maurice Frere disappeared up +the companion. + +"Some boyish follies abroad, I believe; self-made men are always +impatient of extravagance. But it is hard upon Frere. He is not a bad +sort of fellow for all his roughness, and when a young man finds that an +accident deprives him of a quarter of a million of money and leaves him +without a sixpence beyond his commission in a marching regiment under +orders for a convict settlement, he has some reason to rail against +fate." + +"How was it that the son came in for the money after all, then?" + +"Why, it seems that when old Devine returned from sending for his lawyer +to alter his will, he got a fit of apoplexy, the result of his rage, I +suppose, and when they opened his room door in the morning they found +him dead." + +"And the son's away on the sea somewhere," said Mr. Vickers "and knows +nothing of his good fortune. It is quite a romance." + +"I am glad that Frere did not get the money," said Pine, grimly sticking +to his prejudice; "I have seldom seen a face I liked less, even among my +yellow jackets yonder." + +"Oh dear, Dr. Pine! How can you?" interjected Mrs. Vickers. "'Pon my +soul, ma'am, some of them have mixed in good society, I can tell you. +There's pickpockets and swindlers down below who have lived in the best +company." + +"Dreadful wretches!" cried Mrs. Vickers, shaking out her skirts. "John, +I will go on deck." + +At the signal, the party rose. + +"Ecod, Pine," says Captain Blunt, as the two were left alone together, +"you and I are always putting our foot into it!" + +"Women are always in the way aboard ship," returned Pine. + +"Ah! Doctor, you don't mean that, I know," said a rich soft voice at his +elbow. + +It was Sarah Purfoy emerging from her cabin. + +"Here is the wench!" cries Blunt. "We are talking of your eyes, my +dear." "Well, they'll bear talking about, captain, won't they?" asked +she, turning them full upon him. + +"By the Lord, they will!" says Blunt, smacking his hand on the table. +"They're the finest eyes I've seen in my life, and they've got the +reddest lips under 'm that--" + +"Let me pass, Captain Blunt, if you please. Thank you, doctor." + +And before the admiring commander could prevent her, she modestly swept +out of the cuddy. + +"She's a fine piece of goods, eh?" asked Blunt, watching her. "A spice +o' the devil in her, too." + +Old Pine took a huge pinch of snuff. + +"Devil! I tell you what it is, Blunt. I don't know where Vickers picked +her up, but I'd rather trust my life with the worst of those ruffians +'tween decks, than in her keeping, if I'd done her an injury." + +Blunt laughed. + +"I don't believe she'd think much of sticking a man, either!" he said, +rising. "But I must go on deck, doctor." Pine followed him more slowly. +"I don't pretend to know much about women," he said to himself, "but +that girl's got a story of her own, or I'm much mistaken. What brings +her on board this ship as lady's-maid is more than I can fathom." And +as, sticking his pipe between his teeth, he walked down the now deserted +deck to the main hatchway, and turned to watch the white figure gliding +up and down the poop-deck, he saw it joined by another and a darker one, +he muttered, "She's after no good, I'll swear." + +At that moment his arm was touched by a soldier in undress uniform, who +had come up the hatchway. "What is it?" + +The man drew himself up and saluted. + +"If you please, doctor, one of the prisoners is taken sick, and as the +dinner's over, and he's pretty bad, I ventured to disturb your honour." + +"You ass!" says Pine--who, like many gruff men, had a good heart under +his rough shell--"why didn't you tell me before?" and knocking the ashes +out of his barely-lighted pipe, he stopped that implement with a twist +of paper and followed his summoner down the hatchway. + +In the meantime the woman who was the object of the grim old fellow's +suspicions was enjoying the comparative coolness of the night air. +Her mistress and her mistress's daughter had not yet come out of their +cabin, and the men had not yet finished their evening's tobacco. The +awning had been removed, the stars were shining in the moonless sky, the +poop guard had shifted itself to the quarter-deck, and Miss Sarah Purfoy +was walking up and down the deserted poop, in close tete-a-tete with no +less a person than Captain Blunt himself. She had passed and repassed +him twice silently, and at the third turn the big fellow, peering into +the twilight ahead somewhat uneasily, obeyed the glitter of her great +eyes, and joined her. + +"You weren't put out, my wench," he asked, "at what I said to you +below?" + +She affected surprise. + +"What do you mean?" + +"Why, at my--at what I--at my rudeness, there! For I was a bit rude, I +admit." + +"I? Oh dear, no. You were not rude." + +"Glad you think so!" returned Phineas Blunt, a little ashamed at what +looked like a confession of weakness on his part. + +"You would have been--if I had let you." + +"How do you know?" + +"I saw it in your face. Do you think a woman can't see in a man's face +when he's going to insult her?" + +"Insult you, hey! Upon my word!" + +"Yes, insult me. You're old enough to be my father, Captain Blunt, but +you've no right to kiss me, unless I ask you." + +"Haw, haw!" laughed Blunt. "I like that. Ask me! Egad, I wish you would, +you black-eyed minx!" + +"So would other people, I have no doubt." "That soldier officer, for +instance. Hey, Miss Modesty? I've seen him looking at you as though he'd +like to try." + +The girl flashed at him with a quick side glance. + +"You mean Lieutenant Frere, I suppose. Are you jealous of him?" + +"Jealous! Why, damme, the lad was only breeched the other day. Jealous!" + +"I think you are--and you've no need to be. He is a stupid booby, though +he is Lieutenant Frere." + +"So he is. You are right there, by the Lord." + +Sarah Purfoy laughed a low, full-toned laugh, whose sound made Blunt's +pulse take a jump forward, and sent the blood tingling down to his +fingers ends. + +"Captain Blunt," said she, "you're going to do a very silly thing." + +He came close to her and tried to take her hand. + +"What?" + +She answered by another question. + +"How old are you?" + +"Forty-two, if you must know." + +"Oh! And you are going to fall in love with a girl of nineteen." + +"Who is that?" + +"Myself!" she said, giving him her hand and smiling at him with her rich +red lips. + +The mizen hid them from the man at the wheel, and the twilight of +tropical stars held the main-deck. Blunt felt the breath of this strange +woman warm on his cheek, her eyes seemed to wax and wane, and the hard, +small hand he held burnt like fire. + +"I believe you are right," he cried. "I am half in love with you +already." + +She gazed at him with a contemptuous sinking of her heavily fringed +eyelids, and withdrew her hand. + +"Then don't get to the other half, or you'll regret it." + +"Shall I?" asked Blunt. "That's my affair. Come, you little vixen, give +me that kiss you said I was going to ask you for below," and he caught +her in his arms. + +In an instant she had twisted herself free, and confronted him with +flashing eyes. + +"You dare!" she cried. "Kiss me by force! Pooh! you make love like a +schoolboy. If you can make me like you, I'll kiss you as often as you +will. If you can't, keep your distance, please." + +Blunt did not know whether to laugh or be angry at this rebuff. He was +conscious that he was in rather a ridiculous position, and so decided to +laugh. + +"You're a spitfire, too. What must I do to make you like me?" + +She made him a curtsy. + +"That is your affair," she said; and as the head of Mr. Frere appeared +above the companion, Blunt walked aft, feeling considerably bewildered, +and yet not displeased. + +"She's a fine girl, by jingo," he said, cocking his cap, "and I'm hanged +if she ain't sweet upon me." + +And then the old fellow began to whistle softly to himself as he paced +the deck, and to glance towards the man who had taken his place with no +friendly eyes. But a sort of shame held him as yet, and he kept aloof. + +Maurice Frere's greeting was short enough. + +"Well, Sarah," he said, "have you got out of your temper?" + +She frowned. + +"What did you strike the man for? He did you no harm." + +"He was out of his place. What business had he to come aft? One must +keep these wretches down, my girl." + +"Or they will be too much for you, eh? Do you think one man could +capture a ship, Mr. Maurice?" + +"No, but one hundred might." + +"Nonsense! What could they do against the soldiers? There are fifty +soldiers." + +"So there are, but--" + +"But what?" + +"Well, never mind. It's against the rules, and I won't have it." + +"'Not according to the King's Regulations,' as Captain Vickers would +say." + +Frere laughed at her imitation of his pompous captain. + +"You are a strange girl; I can't make you out. Come," and he took her +hand, "tell me what you are really." + +"Will you promise not to tell?" + +"Of course." + +"Upon your word?" + +"Upon my word." + +"Well, then--but you'll tell?" + +"Not I. Come, go on." + +"Lady's-maid in the family of a gentleman going abroad." + +"Sarah, you can't be serious?" "I am serious. That was the advertisement +I answered." + +"But I mean what you have been. You were not a lady's-maid all your +life?" + +She pulled her shawl closer round her and shivered. + +"People are not born ladies' maids, I suppose?" + +"Well, who are you, then? Have you no friends? What have you been?" + +She looked up into the young man's face--a little less harsh at +that moment than it was wont to be--and creeping closer to him, +whispered--"Do you love me, Maurice?" + +He raised one of the little hands that rested on the taffrail, and, +under cover of the darkness, kissed it. + +"You know I do," he said. "You may be a lady's-maid or what you like, +but you are the loveliest woman I ever met." + +She smiled at his vehemence. + +"Then, if you love me, what does it matter?" "If you loved me, you would +tell me," said he, with a quickness which surprised himself. + +"But I have nothing to tell, and I don't love you--yet." + +He let her hand fall with an impatient gesture; and at that moment +Blunt--who could restrain himself no longer--came up. + +"Fine night, Mr. Frere?" + +"Yes, fine enough." + +"No signs of a breeze yet, though." + +"No, not yet." + +Just then, from out of the violet haze that hung over the horizon, a +strange glow of light broke. + +"Hallo," cries Frere, "did you see that?" + +All had seen it, but they looked for its repetition in vain. Blunt +rubbed his eyes. + +"I saw it," he said, "distinctly. A flash of light." They strained their +eyes to pierce through the obscurity. + +"Best saw something like it before dinner. There must be thunder in the +air." + +At that instant a thin streak of light shot up and then sank again. +There was no mistaking it this time, and a simultaneous exclamation +burst from all on deck. From out the gloom which hung over the horizon +rose a column of flame that lighted up the night for an instant, and +then sunk, leaving a dull red spark upon the water. + +"It's a ship on fire," cried Frere. + + + + +CHAPTER III. THE MONOTONY BREAKS. + + + +They looked again, the tiny spark still burned, and immediately over it +there grew out of the darkness a crimson spot, that hung like a lurid +star in the air. The soldiers and sailors on the forecastle had seen +it also, and in a moment the whole vessel was astir. Mrs. Vickers, with +little Sylvia clinging to her dress, came up to share the new sensation; +and at the sight of her mistress, the modest maid withdrew discreetly +from Frere's side. Not that there was any need to do so; no one heeded +her. Blunt, in his professional excitement, had already forgotten her +presence, and Frere was in earnest conversation with Vickers. + +"Take a boat?" said that gentleman. "Certainly, my dear Frere, by all +means. That is to say, if the captain does not object, and it is not +contrary to the Regulations." + +"Captain, you'll lower a boat, eh? We may save some of the poor +devils," cries Frere, his heartiness of body reviving at the prospect of +excitement. + +"Boat!" said Blunt, "why, she's twelve miles off and more, and there's +not a breath o' wind!" + +"But we can't let 'em roast like chestnuts!" cried the other, as the +glow in the sky broadened and became more intense. + +"What is the good of a boat?" said Pine. "The long-boat only holds +thirty men, and that's a big ship yonder." + +"Well, take two boats--three boats! By Heaven, you'll never let 'em burn +alive without stirring a finger to save 'em!" + +"They've got their own boats," says Blunt, whose coolness was in strong +contrast to the young officer's impetuosity; "and if the fire gains, +they'll take to 'em, you may depend. In the meantime, we'll show 'em +that there's someone near 'em." And as he spoke, a blue light flared +hissing into the night. + +"There, they'll see that, I expect!" he said, as the ghastly flame rose, +extinguishing the stars for a moment, only to let them appear again +brighter in a darker heaven. + +"Mr. Best--lower and man the quarter-boats! Mr. Frere--you can go in +one, if you like, and take a volunteer or two from those grey jackets +of yours amidships. I shall want as many hands as I can spare to man the +long-boat and cutter, in case we want 'em. Steady there, lads! Easy!" +and as the first eight men who could reach the deck parted to the +larboard and starboard quarter-boats, Frere ran down on the main-deck. + +Mrs. Vickers, of course, was in the way, and gave a genteel scream as +Blunt rudely pushed past her with a scarce-muttered apology; but her +maid was standing erect and motionless, by the quarter-railing, and as +the captain paused for a moment to look round him, he saw her dark eyes +fixed on him admiringly. He was, as he said, over forty-two, burly +and grey-haired, but he blushed like a girl under her approving gaze. +Nevertheless, he said only, "That wench is a trump!" and swore a little. + +Meanwhile Maurice Frere had passed the sentry and leapt down into the +'tween decks. At his nod, the prison door was thrown open. The air was +hot, and that strange, horrible odour peculiar to closely-packed human +bodies filled the place. It was like coming into a full stable. + +He ran his eye down the double tier of bunks which lined the side of the +ship, and stopped at the one opposite him. + +There seemed to have been some disturbance there lately, for instead of +the six pair of feet which should have protruded therefrom, the gleam of +the bull's-eye showed but four. + +"What's the matter here, sentry?" he asked. + +"Prisoner ill, sir. Doctor sent him to hospital." + +"But there should be two." + +The other came from behind the break of the berths. It was Rufus Dawes. +He held by the side as he came, and saluted. + +"I felt sick, sir, and was trying to get the scuttle open." + +The heads were all raised along the silent line, and eyes and ears were +eager to see and listen. The double tier of bunks looked terribly like a +row of wild beast cages at that moment. + +Maurice Frere stamped his foot indignantly. + +"Sick! What are you sick about, you malingering dog? I'll give you +something to sweat the sickness out of you. Stand on one side here!" + +Rufus Dawes, wondering, obeyed. He seemed heavy and dejected, and passed +his hand across his forehead, as though he would rub away a pain there. + +"Which of you fellows can handle an oar?" Frere went on. "There, curse +you, I don't want fifty! Three'll do. Come on now, make haste!" + +The heavy door clashed again, and in another instant the four +"volunteers" were on deck. The crimson glow was turning yellow now, and +spreading over the sky. + +"Two in each boat!" cries Blunt. "I'll burn a blue light every hour for +you, Mr. Best; and take care they don't swamp you. Lower away, lads!" As +the second prisoner took the oar of Frere's boat, he uttered a groan and +fell forward, recovering himself instantly. Sarah Purfoy, leaning over +the side, saw the occurrence. + +"What is the matter with that man?" she said. "Is he ill?" + +Pine was next to her, and looked out instantly. "It's that big fellow in +No. 10," he cried. "Here, Frere!" + +But Frere heard him not. He was intent on the beacon that gleamed ever +brighter in the distance. "Give way, my lads!" he shouted. And amid a +cheer from the ship, the two boats shot out of the bright circle of the +blue light, and disappeared into the darkness. + +Sarah Purfoy looked at Pine for an explanation, but he turned abruptly +away. For a moment the girl paused, as if in doubt; and then, ere his +retreating figure turned to retrace its steps, she cast a quick glance +around, and slipping down the ladder, made her way to the 'tween decks. + +The iron-studded oak barricade that, loop-holed for musketry, and +perforated with plated trapdoor for sterner needs, separated soldiers +from prisoners, was close to her left hand, and the sentry at its +padlocked door looked at her inquiringly. She laid her little hand on +his big rough one--a sentry is but mortal--and opened her brown eyes at +him. + +"The hospital," she said. "The doctor sent me"; and before he could +answer, her white figure vanished down the hatch, and passed round the +bulkhead, behind which lay the sick man. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. THE HOSPITAL. + + + +The hospital was nothing more nor less than a partitioned portion of the +lower deck, filched from the space allotted to the soldiers. It ran fore +and aft, coming close to the stern windows, and was, in fact, a sort of +artificial stern cabin. At a pinch, it might have held a dozen men. + +Though not so hot as in the prison, the atmosphere of the lower deck was +close and unhealthy, and the girl, pausing to listen to the subdued hum +of conversation coming from the soldiers' berths, turned strangely sick +and giddy. She drew herself up, however, and held out her hand to a man +who came rapidly across the misshapen shadows, thrown by the sulkily +swinging lantern, to meet her. It was the young soldier who had been +that day sentry at the convict gangway. + +"Well, miss," he said, "I am here, yer see, waiting for yer." + +"You are a good boy, Miles; but don't you think I'm worth waiting for?" + +Miles grinned from ear to ear. + +"Indeed you be," said he. + +Sarah Purfoy frowned, and then smiled. + +"Come here, Miles; I've got something for you." + +Miles came forward, grinning harder. + +The girl produced a small object from the pocket of her dress. If Mrs. +Vickers had seen it she would probably have been angry, for it was +nothing less than the captain's brandy-flask. + +"Drink," said she. "It's the same as they have upstairs, so it won't +hurt you." + +The fellow needed no pressing. He took off half the contents of the +bottle at a gulp, and then, fetching a long breath, stood staring at +her. + +"That's prime!" + +"Is it? I dare say it is." She had been looking at him with unaffected +disgust as he drank. "Brandy is all you men understand." Miles--still +sucking in his breath--came a pace closer. + +"Not it," said he, with a twinkle in his little pig's eyes. "I +understand something else, miss, I can tell yer." + +The tone of the sentence seemed to awaken and remind her of her errand +in that place. She laughed as loudly and as merrily as she dared, and +laid her hand on the speaker's arm. The boy--for he was but a boy, one +of those many ill-reared country louts who leave the plough-tail for +the musket, and, for a shilling a day, experience all the "pomp +and circumstance of glorious war"--reddened to the roots of his +closely-cropped hair. + +"There, that's quite close enough. You're only a common soldier, Miles, +and you mustn't make love to me." + +"Not make love to yer!" says Miles. "What did yer tell me to meet yer +here for then?" + +She laughed again. + +"What a practical animal you are! Suppose I had something to say to +you?" + +Miles devoured her with his eyes. + +"It's hard to marry a soldier," he said, with a recruit's proud +intonation of the word; "but yer might do worse, miss, and I'll work for +yer like a slave, I will." + +She looked at him with curiosity and pleasure. Though her time was +evidently precious, she could not resist the temptation of listening to +praises of herself. + +"I know you're above me, Miss Sarah. You're a lady, but I love yer, I +do, and you drives me wild with yer tricks." + +"Do I?" + +"Do yer? Yes, yer do. What did yer come an' make up to me for, and then +go sweetheartin' with them others?" + +"What others?" + +"Why, the cuddy folk--the skipper, and the parson, and that Frere. I see +yer walkin' the deck wi' un o' nights. Dom 'um, I'd put a bullet through +his red head as soon as look at un." + +"Hush! Miles dear--they'll hear you." + +Her face was all aglow, and her expanded nostrils throbbed. Beautiful as +the face was, it had a tigerish look about it at that moment. + +Encouraged by the epithet, Miles put his arm round her slim waist, just +as Blunt had done, but she did not resent it so abruptly. Miles had +promised more. + +"Hush!" she whispered, with admirably-acted surprise--"I heard a noise!" +and as the soldier started back, she smoothed her dress complacently. + +"There is no one!" cried he. + +"Isn't there? My mistake, then. Now come here, Miles." + +Miles obeyed. + +"Who is in the hospital?" + +"I dunno." + +"Well, I want to go in." + +Miles scratched his head, and grinned. + +"Yer carn't." + +"Why not? You've let me in before." "Against the doctor's orders. He +told me special to let no one in but himself." + +"Nonsense." + +"It ain't nonsense. There was a convict brought in to-night, and +nobody's to go near him." + +"A convict!" She grew more interested. "What's the matter with him?" + +"Dunno. But he's to be kep' quiet until old Pine comes down." + +She became authoritative. + +"Come, Miles, let me go in." + +"Don't ask me, miss. It's against orders, and--" + +"Against orders? Why, you were blustering about shooting people just +now." + +The badgered Miles grew angry. "Was I? Bluster or no bluster, you don't +go in." She turned away. "Oh, very well. If this is all the thanks I get +for wasting my time down here, I shall go on deck again." + +Miles became uneasy. + +"There are plenty of agreeable people there." + +Miles took a step after her. + +"Mr. Frere will let me go in, I dare say, if I ask him." + +Miles swore under his breath. + +"Dom Mr. Frere! Go in if yer like," he said. "I won't stop yer, but +remember what I'm doin' of." + +She turned again at the foot of the ladder, and came quickly back. + +"That's a good lad. I knew you would not refuse me"; and smiling at the +poor lad she was befooling, she passed into the cabin. + +There was no lantern, and from the partially-blocked stern windows came +only a dim, vaporous light. The dull ripple of the water as the ship +rocked on the slow swell of the sea made a melancholy sound, and the +sick man's heavy breathing seemed to fill the air. The slight noise +made by the opening door roused him; he rose on his elbow and began to +mutter. Sarah Purfoy paused in the doorway to listen, but she could make +nothing of the low, uneasy murmuring. Raising her arm, conspicuous by +its white sleeve in the gloom, she beckoned Miles. + +"The lantern," she whispered, "bring me the lantern!" + +He unhooked it from the rope where it swung, and brought it towards her. +At that moment the man in the bunk sat up erect, and twisted himself +towards the light. "Sarah!" he cried, in shrill sharp tones. "Sarah!" +and swooped with a lean arm through the dusk, as though to seize her. + +The girl leapt out of the cabin like a panther, struck the lantern out +of her lover's hand, and was back at the bunk-head in a moment. The +convict was a young man of about four-and-twenty. His hands--clutched +convulsively now on the blankets--were small and well-shaped, and the +unshaven chin bristled with promise of a strong beard. His wild black +eyes glared with all the fire of delirium, and as he gasped for breath, +the sweat stood in beads on his sallow forehead. + +The aspect of the man was sufficiently ghastly, and Miles, drawing +back with an oath, did not wonder at the terror which had seized Mrs. +Vickers's maid. With open mouth and agonized face, she stood in the +centre of the cabin, lantern in hand, like one turned to stone, gazing +at the man on the bed. + +"Ecod, he be a sight!" says Miles, at length. "Come away, miss, and shut +the door. He's raving, I tell yer." + +The sound of his voice recalled her. + +She dropped the lantern, and rushed to the bed. + +"You fool; he's choking, can't you see? Water! give me water!" + +And wreathing her arms around the man's head, she pulled it down on her +bosom, rocking it there, half savagely, to and fro. + +Awed into obedience by her voice, Miles dipped a pannikin into a small +puncheon, cleated in the corner of the cabin, and gave it her; and, +without thanking him, she placed it to the sick prisoner's lips. He +drank greedily, and closed his eyes with a grateful sigh. + +Just then the quick ears of Miles heard the jingle of arms. "Here's the +doctor coming, miss!" he cried. "I hear the sentry saluting. Come away! +Quick!" + +She seized the lantern, and, opening the horn slide, extinguished it. + +"Say it went out," she said in a fierce whisper, "and hold your tongue. +Leave me to manage." + +She bent over the convict as if to arrange his pillow, and then glided +out of the cabin, just as Pine descended the hatchway. + +"Hallo!" cried he, stumbling, as he missed his footing; "where's the +light?" + +"Here, sir," says Miles, fumbling with the lantern. "It's all right, +sir. It went out, sir." + +"Went out! What did you let it go out for, you blockhead!" growled the +unsuspecting Pine. "Just like you boobies! What is the use of a light if +it 'goes out', eh?" As he groped his way, with outstretched arms, in the +darkness, Sarah Purfoy slipped past him unnoticed, and gained the upper +deck. + + + + +CHAPTER V. THE BARRACOON. + + + +In the prison of the 'tween decks reigned a darkness pregnant with +murmurs. The sentry at the entrance to the hatchway was supposed to +"prevent the prisoners from making a noise," but he put a very liberal +interpretation upon the clause, and so long as the prisoners refrained +from shouting, yelling, and fighting--eccentricities in which they +sometimes indulged--he did not disturb them. This course of conduct was +dictated by prudence, no less than by convenience, for one sentry was +but little over so many; and the convicts, if pressed too hard, would +raise a sort of bestial boo-hoo, in which all voices were confounded, +and which, while it made noise enough and to spare, utterly precluded +individual punishment. One could not flog a hundred and eighty men, and +it was impossible to distinguish any particular offender. So, in +virtue of this last appeal, convictism had established a tacit right to +converse in whispers, and to move about inside its oaken cage. + +To one coming in from the upper air, the place would have seemed +in pitchy darkness, but the convict eye, accustomed to the sinister +twilight, was enabled to discern surrounding objects with tolerable +distinctness. The prison was about fifty feet long and fifty feet wide, +and ran the full height of the 'tween decks, viz., about five feet ten +inches high. The barricade was loop-holed here and there, and the planks +were in some places wide enough to admit a musket barrel. On the aft +side, next the soldiers' berths, was a trap door, like the stoke-hole of +a furnace. At first sight this appeared to be contrived for the +humane purpose of ventilation, but a second glance dispelled this weak +conclusion. The opening was just large enough to admit the muzzle of +a small howitzer, secured on the deck below. In case of a mutiny, the +soldiers could sweep the prison from end to end with grape shot. Such +fresh air as there was, filtered through the loopholes, and came, in +somewhat larger quantity, through a wind-sail passed into the prison +from the hatchway. But the wind-sail, being necessarily at one end only +of the place, the air it brought was pretty well absorbed by the twenty +or thirty lucky fellows near it, and the other hundred and fifty did not +come so well off. The scuttles were open, certainly, but as the row of +bunks had been built against them, the air they brought was the peculiar +property of such men as occupied the berths into which they penetrated. +These berths were twenty-eight in number, each containing six men. They +ran in a double tier round three sides of the prison, twenty at each +side, and eight affixed to that portion of the forward barricade +opposite the door. Each berth was presumed to be five feet six inches +square, but the necessities of stowage had deprived them of six inches, +and even under that pressure twelve men were compelled to sleep on +the deck. Pine did not exaggerate when he spoke of the custom of +overcrowding convict ships; and as he was entitled to half a guinea +for every man he delivered alive at Hobart Town, he had some reason to +complain. + +When Frere had come down, an hour before, the prisoners were all snugly +between their blankets. They were not so now; though, at the first clink +of the bolts, they would be back again in their old positions, to all +appearances sound asleep. As the eye became accustomed to the foetid +duskiness of the prison, a strange picture presented itself. Groups +of men, in all imaginable attitudes, were lying, standing, sitting, or +pacing up and down. It was the scene on the poop-deck over again; only, +here being no fear of restraining keepers, the wild beasts were a little +more free in their movements. It is impossible to convey, in words, any +idea of the hideous phantasmagoria of shifting limbs and faces which +moved through the evil-smelling twilight of this terrible prison-house. +Callot might have drawn it, Dante might have suggested it, but a minute +attempt to describe its horrors would but disgust. There are depths in +humanity which one cannot explore, as there are mephitic caverns into +which one dare not penetrate. + +Old men, young men, and boys, stalwart burglars and highway robbers, +slept side by side with wizened pickpockets or cunning-featured +area-sneaks. The forger occupied the same berth with the body-snatcher. +The man of education learned strange secrets of house-breakers' craft, +and the vulgar ruffian of St. Giles took lessons of self-control from +the keener intellect of the professional swindler. The fraudulent clerk +and the flash "cracksman" interchanged experiences. The smuggler's +stories of lucky ventures and successful runs were capped by the +footpad's reminiscences of foggy nights and stolen watches. The poacher, +grimly thinking of his sick wife and orphaned children, would start as +the night-house ruffian clapped him on the shoulder and bade him, with a +curse, to take good heart and "be a man." The fast shopboy whose love +of fine company and high living had brought him to this pass, had +shaken off the first shame that was on him, and listened eagerly to the +narratives of successful vice that fell so glibly from the lips of his +older companions. To be transported seemed no such uncommon fate. The +old fellows laughed, and wagged their grey heads with all the glee of +past experience, and listening youth longed for the time when it might +do likewise. Society was the common foe, and magistrates, gaolers, and +parsons were the natural prey of all noteworthy mankind. Only fools were +honest, only cowards kissed the rod, and failed to meditate revenge on +that world of respectability which had wronged them. Each new-comer was +one more recruit to the ranks of ruffianism, and not a man penned in +that reeking den of infamy but became a sworn hater of law, order, and +"free-men." What he might have been before mattered not. He was now +a prisoner, and--thrust into a suffocating barracoon, herded with +the foulest of mankind, with all imaginable depths of blasphemy +and indecency sounded hourly in his sight and hearing--he lost his +self-respect, and became what his gaolers took him to be--a wild beast +to be locked under bolts and bars, lest he should break out and tear +them. + +The conversation ran upon the sudden departure of the four. What could +they want with them at that hour? + +"I tell you there's something up on deck," says one to the group nearest +him. "Don't you hear all that rumbling and rolling?" + +"What did they lower boats for? I heard the dip o' the oars." + +"Don't know, mate. P'r'aps a burial job," hazarded a short, stout +fellow, as a sort of happy suggestion. + +"One of those coves in the parlour!" said another; and a laugh followed +the speech. + +"No such luck. You won't hang your jib for them yet awhile. More like +the skipper agone fishin'." + +"The skipper don't go fishin', yer fool. What would he do +fishin'?--special in the middle o' the night." + +"That 'ud be like old Dovery, eh?" says a fifth, alluding to an old +grey-headed fellow, who--a returned convict--was again under sentence +for body-snatching. + +"Ay," put in a young man, who had the reputation of being the smartest +"crow" (the "look-out" man of a burglars' gang) in London--"'fishers of +men,' as the parson says." + +The snuffling imitation of a Methodist preacher was good, and there was +another laugh. + +Just then a miserable little cockney pickpocket, feeling his way to the +door, fell into the party. + +A volley of oaths and kicks received him. + +"I beg your pardon, gen'l'men," cries the miserable wretch, "but I want +h'air." + +"Go to the barber's and buy a wig, then!" says the "Crow", elated at the +success of his last sally. + +"Oh, sir, my back!" + +"Get up!" groaned someone in the darkness. "Oh, Lord, I'm smothering! +Here, sentry!" + +"Vater!" cried the little cockney. "Give us a drop o' vater, for mercy's +sake. I haven't moist'ned my chaffer this blessed day." + +"Half a gallon a day, bo', and no more," says a sailor next him. + +"Yes, what have yer done with yer half-gallon, eh?" asked the Crow +derisively. "Someone stole it," said the sufferer. + +"He's been an' blued it," squealed someone. "Been an' blued it to buy +a Sunday veskit with! Oh, ain't he a vicked young man?" And the speaker +hid his head under the blankets, in humorous affectation of modesty. + +All this time the miserable little cockney--he was a tailor by +trade--had been grovelling under the feet of the Crow and his +companions. + +"Let me h'up, gents" he implored--"let me h'up. I feel as if I should +die--I do." + +"Let the gentleman up," says the humorist in the bunk. "Don't yer see +his kerridge is avaitin' to take him to the Hopera?" + +The conversation had got a little loud, and, from the topmost bunk on +the near side, a bullet head protruded. + +"Ain't a cove to get no sleep?" cried a gruff voice. "My blood, if I +have to turn out, I'll knock some of your empty heads together." + +It seemed that the speaker was a man of mark, for the noise ceased +instantly; and, in the lull which ensued, a shrill scream broke from the +wretched tailor. + +"Help! they're killing me! Ah-h-h-!" + +"Wot's the matter," roared the silencer of the riot, jumping from his +berth, and scattering the Crow and his companions right and left. "Let +him be, can't yer?" + +"H'air!" cried the poor devil--"h'air; I'm fainting!" + +Just then there came another groan from the man in the opposite bunk. +"Well, I'm blessed!" said the giant, as he held the gasping tailor by +the collar and glared round him. "Here's a pretty go! All the blessed +chickens ha' got the croup!" + +The groaning of the man in the bunk redoubled. + +"Pass the word to the sentry," says someone more humane than the rest. +"Ah," says the humorist, "pass him out; it'll be one the less. We'd +rather have his room than his company." + +"Sentry, here's a man sick." + +But the sentry knew his duty better than to reply. He was a young +soldier, but he had been well informed of the artfulness of convict +stratagems; and, moreover, Captain Vickers had carefully apprised +him "that by the King's Regulations, he was forbidden to reply to any +question or communication addressed to him by a convict, but, in the +event of being addressed, was to call the non-commissioned officer on +duty." Now, though he was within easy hailing distance of the guard +on the quarter-deck, he felt a natural disinclination to disturb those +gentlemen merely for the sake of a sick convict, and knowing that, in +a few minutes, the third relief would come on duty, he decided to wait +until then. + +In the meantime the tailor grew worse, and began to moan dismally. + +"Here! 'ullo!" called out his supporter, in dismay. "Hold up 'ere! Wot's +wrong with yer? Don't come the drops 'ere. Pass him down, some of yer," +and the wretch was hustled down to the doorway. + +"Vater!" he whispered, beating feebly with his hand on the thick oak. + +"Get us a drink, mister, for Gord's sake!" + +But the prudent sentry answered never a word, until the ship's bell +warned him of the approach of the relief guard; and then honest old +Pine, coming with anxious face to inquire after his charge, received +the intelligence that there was another prisoner sick. He had the door +unlocked and the tailor outside in an instant. One look at the flushed, +anxious face was enough. + +"Who's that moaning in there?" he asked. + +It was the man who had tried to call for the sentry an hour back, and +Pine had him out also; convictism beginning to wonder a little. + +"Take 'em both aft to the hospital," he said; "and, Jenkins, if there +are any more men taken sick, let them pass the word for me at once. I +shall be on deck." + +The guard stared in each other's faces, with some alarm, but said +nothing, thinking more of the burning ship, which now flamed furiously +across the placid water, than of peril nearer home; but as Pine went up +the hatchway he met Blunt. + +"We've got the fever aboard!" + +"Good God! Do you mean it, Pine?" + +Pine shook his grizzled head sorrowfully. + +"It's this cursed calm that's done it; though I expected it all along, +with the ship crammed as she is. When I was in the Hecuba--" + +"Who is it?" + +Pine laughed a half-pitying, half-angry laugh. + +"A convict, of course. Who else should it be? They are reeking like +bullocks at Smithfield down there. A hundred and eighty men penned +into a place fifty feet long, with the air like an oven--what could you +expect?" + +Poor Blunt stamped his foot. + +"It isn't my fault," he cried. "The soldiers are berthed aft. If the +Government will overload these ships, I can't help it." + +"The Government! Ah! The Government! The Government don't sleep, sixty +men a-side, in a cabin only six feet high. The Government don't get +typhus fever in the tropics, does it?" + +"No--but--" + +"But what does the Government care, then?" + +Blunt wiped his hot forehead. + +"Who was the first down?" + +"No. 97 berth; ten on the lower tier. John Rex he calls himself." + +"Are you sure it's the fever?" + +"As sure as I can be yet. Head like a fire-ball, and tongue like a strip +of leather. Gad, don't I know it?" and Pine grinned mournfully. "I've +got him moved into the hospital. Hospital! It is a hospital! As dark as +a wolf's mouth. I've seen dog kennels I liked better." + +Blunt nodded towards the volume of lurid smoke that rolled up out of the +glow.--"Suppose there is a shipload of those poor devils? I can't refuse +to take 'em in." + +"No," says Pine gloomily, "I suppose you can't. If they come, I must +stow 'em somewhere. We'll have to run for the Cape, with the first +breeze, if they do come, that is all I can see for it," and he turned +away to watch the burning vessel. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. THE FATE OF THE "HYDASPES". + + + +In the meanwhile the two boats made straight for the red column that +uprose like a gigantic torch over the silent sea. + +As Blunt had said, the burning ship lay a good twelve miles from the +Malabar, and the pull was a long and a weary one. Once fairly away from +the protecting sides of the vessel that had borne them thus far on +their dismal journey, the adventurers seemed to have come into a new +atmosphere. The immensity of the ocean over which they slowly moved +revealed itself for the first time. On board the prison ship, surrounded +with all the memories if not with the comforts of the shore they had +quitted, they had not realized how far they were from that civilization +which had given them birth. The well-lighted, well-furnished cuddy, the +homely mirth of the forecastle, the setting of sentries and the changing +of guards, even the gloom and terror of the closely-locked prison, +combined to make the voyagers feel secure against the unknown dangers of +the sea. That defiance of Nature which is born of contact with humanity, +had hitherto sustained them, and they felt that, though alone on the +vast expanse of waters, they were in companionship with others of their +kind, and that the perils one man had passed might be successfully dared +by another. But now--with one ship growing smaller behind them, and the +other, containing they knew not what horror of human agony and human +helplessness, lying a burning wreck in the black distance ahead of +them--they began to feel their own littleness. The Malabar, that huge +sea monster, in whose capacious belly so many human creatures lived and +suffered, had dwindled to a walnut-shell, and yet beside her bulk how +infinitely small had their own frail cockboat appeared as they shot out +from under her towering stern! Then the black hull rising above them, +had seemed a tower of strength, built to defy the utmost violence of +wind and wave; now it was but a slip of wood floating--on an unknown +depth of black, fathomless water. The blue light, which, at its first +flashing over the ocean, had made the very stars pale their lustre, and +lighted up with ghastly radiance the enormous vault of heaven, was now +only a point, brilliant and distinct it is true, but which by its very +brilliance dwarfed the ship into insignificance. The Malabar lay on +the water like a glow-worm on a floating leaf, and the glare of the +signal-fire made no more impression on the darkness than the candle +carried by a solitary miner would have made on the abyss of a coal-pit. + +And yet the Malabar held two hundred creatures like themselves! + +The water over which the boats glided was black and smooth, rising into +huge foamless billows, the more terrible because they were silent. When +the sea hisses, it speaks, and speech breaks the spell of terror; when +it is inert, heaving noiselessly, it is dumb, and seems to brood over +mischief. The ocean in a calm is like a sulky giant; one dreads that it +may be meditating evil. Moreover, an angry sea looks less vast in extent +than a calm one. Its mounting waves bring the horizon nearer, and +one does not discern how for many leagues the pitiless billows repeat +themselves. To appreciate the hideous vastness of the ocean one must see +it when it sleeps. + +The great sky uprose from this silent sea without a cloud. The stars +hung low in its expanse, burning in a violent mist of lower ether. The +heavens were emptied of sound, and each dip of the oars was re-echoed in +space by a succession of subtle harmonies. As the blades struck the +dark water, it flashed fire, and the tracks of the boats resembled +two sea-snakes writhing with silent undulations through a lake of +quicksilver. + +It had been a sort of race hitherto, and the rowers, with set teeth and +compressed lips, had pulled stroke for stroke. At last the foremost +boat came to a sudden pause. Best gave a cheery shout and passed her, +steering straight into the broad track of crimson that already reeked on +the sea ahead. + +"What is it?" he cried. + +But he heard only a smothered curse from Frere, and then his consort +pulled hard to overtake him. + +It was, in fact, nothing of consequence--only a prisoner "giving in". + +"Curse it!" says Frere, "What's the matter with you? Oh, you, is +it?--Dawes! Of course, Dawes. I never expected anything better from such +a skulking hound. Come, this sort of nonsense won't do with me. It isn't +as nice as lolloping about the hatchways, I dare say, but you'll have to +go on, my fine fellow." + +"He seems sick, sir," said (with) compassionate bow. + +"Sick! Not he. Shamming. Come, give way now! Put your backs into it!" +and the convict having picked up his oar, the boat shot forward again. + +But, for all Mr. Frere's urging, he could not recover the way he had +lost, and Best was the first to run in under the black cloud that hung +over the crimsoned water. + +At his signal, the second boat came alongside. + +"Keep wide," he said. "If there are many fellows yet aboard, they'll +swamp us; and I think there must be, as we haven't met the boats," and +then raising his voice, as the exhausted crew lay on their oars, he +hailed the burning ship. + +She was a huge, clumsily-built vessel, with great breadth of beam, and +a lofty poop-deck. Strangely enough, though they had so lately seen the +fire, she was already a wreck, and appeared to be completely deserted. +The chief hold of the fire was amidships, and the lower deck was one +mass of flame. Here and there were great charred rifts and gaps in her +sides, and the red-hot fire glowed through these as through the bars of +a grate. The main-mast had fallen on the starboard side, and trailed a +blackened wreck in the water, causing the unwieldy vessel to lean +over heavily. The fire roared like a cataract, and huge volumes of +flame-flecked smoke poured up out of the hold, and rolled away in a +low-lying black cloud over the sea. + +As Frere's boat pulled slowly round her stern, he hailed the deck again +and again. + +Still there was no answer, and though the flood of light that dyed the +water blood-red struck out every rope and spar distinct and clear, his +straining eyes could see no living soul aboard. As they came nearer, +they could distinguish the gilded letters of her name. + +"What is it, men?" cried Frere, his voice almost drowned amid the roar +of the flames. "Can you see?" + +Rufus Dawes, impelled, it would seem, by some strong impulse of +curiosity, stood erect, and shaded his eyes with his hand. + +"Well--can't you speak? What is it?" + +"The Hydaspes!" + +Frere gasped. + +The Hydaspes! The ship in which his cousin Richard Devine had sailed! +The ship for which those in England might now look in vain! The Hydaspes +which--something he had heard during the speculations as to this missing +cousin flashed across him. + +"Back water, men! Round with her! Pull for your lives!" + +Best's boat glided alongside. + +"Can you see her name?" + +Frere, white with terror, shouted a reply. + +"The Hydaspes! I know her. She is bound for Calcutta, and she has five +tons of powder aboard!" + +There was no need for more words. The single sentence explained the +whole mystery of her desertion. The crew had taken to the boats on the +first alarm, and had left their death-fraught vessel to her fate. They +were miles off by this time, and unluckily for themselves, perhaps, had +steered away from the side where rescue lay. + +The boats tore through the water. Eager as the men had been to come, +they were more eager to depart. The flames had even now reached the +poop; in a few minutes it would be too late. For ten minutes or more not +a word was spoken. With straining arms and labouring chests, the +rowers tugged at the oars, their eyes fixed on the lurid mass they were +leaving. Frere and Best, with their faces turned back to the terror +they fled from, urged the men to greater efforts. Already the flames had +lapped the flag, already the outlines of the stern carvings were blurred +by the fire. + +Another moment, and all would be over. Ah! it had come at last. A dull +rumbling sound; the burning ship parted asunder; a pillar of fire, +flecked with black masses that were beams and planks, rose up out of +the ocean; there was a terrific crash, as though sea and sky were coming +together; and then a mighty mountain of water rose, advanced, caught, +and passed them, and they were alone--deafened, stunned, and breathless, +in a sudden horror of thickest darkness, and a silence like that of the +tomb. + +The splashing of the falling fragments awoke them from their stupor, and +then the blue light of the Malabar struck out a bright pathway across +the sea, and they knew that they were safe. + + + * * * * * + + +On board the Malabar two men paced the deck, waiting for dawn. + +It came at last. The sky lightened, the mist melted away, and then a +long, low, far-off streak of pale yellow light floated on the eastern +horizon. By and by the water sparkled, and the sea changed colour, +turning from black to yellow, and from yellow to lucid green. The man at +the masthead hailed the deck. The boats were in sight, and as they came +towards the ship, the bright water flashing from the labouring oars, a +crowd of spectators hanging over the bulwarks cheered and waved their +hats. + +"Not a soul!" cried Blunt. "No one but themselves. Well, I'm glad +they're safe anyway." + +The boats drew alongside, and in a few seconds Frere was upon deck. + +"Well, Mr. Frere?" + +"No use," cried Frere, shivering. "We only just had time to get away. +The nearest thing in the world, sir." + +"Didn't you see anyone?" + +"Not a soul. They must have taken to the boats." + +"Then they can't be far off," cried Blunt, sweeping the horizon with his +glass. "They must have pulled all the way, for there hasn't been enough +wind to fill a hollow tooth with." "Perhaps they pulled in the wrong +direction," said Frere. "They had a good four hours' start of us, you +know." + +Then Best came up, and told the story to a crowd of eager listeners. The +sailors having hoisted and secured the boats, were hurried off to the +forecastle, there to eat, and relate their experience between mouthfuls, +and the four convicts were taken in charge and locked below again. + +"You had better go and turn in, Frere," said Pine gruffly. "It's no use +whistling for a wind here all day." + +Frere laughed--in his heartiest manner. "I think I will," he said. "I'm +dog tired, and as sleepy as an owl," and he descended the poop ladder. +Pine took a couple of turns up and down the deck, and then catching +Blunt's eye, stopped in front of Vickers. + +"You may think it a hard thing to say, Captain Vickers, but it's just +as well if we don't find these poor devils. We have quite enough on our +hands as it is." + +"What do you mean, Mr. Pine?" says Vickers, his humane feelings getting +the better of his pomposity. "You would not surely leave the unhappy men +to their fate." + +"Perhaps," returned the other, "they would not thank us for taking them +aboard." + +"I don't understand you." + +"The fever has broken out." + +Vickers raised his brows. He had no experience of such things; and +though the intelligence was startling, the crowded condition of the +prison rendered it easy to be understood, and he apprehended no danger +to himself. + +"It is a great misfortune; but, of course, you will take such steps--" + +"It is only in the prison, as yet," says Pine, with a grim emphasis on +the word; "but there is no saying how long it may stop there. I have got +three men down as it is." "Well, sir, all authority in the matter is in +your hands. Any suggestions you make, I will, of course, do my best to +carry out." + +"Thank ye. I must have more room in the hospital to begin with. The +soldiers must lie a little closer." + +"I will see what can be done." + +"And you had better keep your wife and the little girl as much on deck +as possible." + +Vickers turned pale at the mention of his child. "Good Heaven! do you +think there is any danger?" + +"There is, of course, danger to all of us; but with care we may escape +it. There's that maid, too. Tell her to keep to herself a little more. +She has a trick of roaming about the ship I don't like. Infection is +easily spread, and children always sicken sooner than grown-up people." + +Vickers pressed his lips together. This old man, with his harsh, +dissonant voice, and hideous practicality, seemed like a bird of ill +omen. + +Blunt, hitherto silently listening, put in a word for defence of the +absent woman. "The wench is right enough, Pine," said he. "What's the +matter with her?" + +"Yes, she's all right, I've no doubt. She's less likely to take it than +any of us. You can see her vitality in her face--as many lives as a cat. +But she'd bring infection quicker than anybody." + +"I'll--I'll go at once," cried poor Vickers, turning round. The woman of +whom they were speaking met him on the ladder. Her face was paler than +usual, and dark circles round her eyes gave evidence of a sleepless +night. She opened her red lips to speak, and then, seeing Vickers, +stopped abruptly. + +"Well, what is it?" + +She looked from one to the other. "I came for Dr. Pine." + +Vickers, with the quick intelligence of affection, guessed her errand. +"Someone is ill?" + +"Miss Sylvia, sir. It is nothing to signify, I think. A little feverish +and hot, and my mistress--" + +Vickers was down the ladder in an instant, with scared face. + +Pine caught the girl's round firm arm. "Where have you been?" Two great +flakes of red came out in her white cheeks, and she shot an indignant +glance at Blunt. + +"Come, Pine, let the wench alone!" + +"Were you with the child last night?" went on Pine, without turning his +head. + +"No; I have not been in the cabin since dinner yesterday. Mrs. Vickers +only called me in just now. Let go my arm, sir, you hurt me." + +Pine loosed his hold as if satisfied at the reply. "I beg your pardon," +he said gruffly. "I did not mean to hurt you. But the fever has broken +out in the prison, and I think the child has caught it. You must be +careful where you go." And then, with an anxious face, he went in +pursuit of Vickers. + +Sarah Purfoy stood motionless for an instant, in deadly terror. Her lips +parted, her eyes glittered, and she made a movement as though to retrace +her steps. + +"Poor soul!" thought honest Blunt, "how she feels for the child! D---- +that lubberly surgeon, he's hurt her!--Never mind, my lass," he +said aloud. It was broad daylight, and he had not as much courage in +love-making as at night. "Don't be afraid. I've been in ships with fever +before now." + +Awaking, as it were, at the sound of his voice, she came closer to him. +"But ship fever! I have heard of it! Men have died like rotten sheep in +crowded vessels like this." + +"Tush! Not they. Don't be frightened; Miss Sylvia won't die, nor you +neither." He took her hand. "It may knock off a few dozen prisoners or +so. They are pretty close packed down there--" + +She drew her hand away; and then, remembering herself, gave it him +again. + +"What is the matter?" + +"Nothing--a pain. I did not sleep last night." + +"There, there; you are upset, I dare say. Go and lie down." + +She was staring away past him over the sea, as if in thought. So +intently did she look that he involuntarily turned his head, and the +action recalled her to herself. She brought her fine straight brows +together for a moment, and then raised them with the action of a thinker +who has decided on his course of conduct. + +"I have a toothache," said she, putting her hand to her face. + +"Take some laudanum," says Blunt, with dim recollections of his mother's +treatment of such ailments. "Old Pine'll give you some." + +To his astonishment she burst into tears. + +"There--there! Don't cry, my dear. Hang it, don't cry. What are you +crying about?" + +She dashed away the bright drops, and raised her face with a rainy smile +of trusting affection. "Nothing! I am lonely. So far from home; and--and +Dr. Pine hurt my arm. Look!" + +She bared that shapely member as she spoke, and sure enough there were +three red marks on the white and shining flesh. + +"The ruffian!" cried Blunt, "it's too bad." And after a hasty look +around him, the infatuated fellow kissed the bruise. "I'll get the +laudanum for you," he said. "You shan't ask that bear for it. Come into +my cabin." + +Blunt's cabin was in the starboard side of the ship, just under the poop +awning, and possessed three windows--one looking out over the side, and +two upon deck. The corresponding cabin on the other side was occupied +by Mr. Maurice Frere. He closed the door, and took down a small medicine +chest, cleated above the hooks where hung his signal-pictured telescope. + +"Here," said he, opening it. "I've carried this little box for years, +but it ain't often I want to use it, thank God. Now, then, put some o' +this into your mouth, and hold it there." + +"Good gracious, Captain Blunt, you'll poison me! Give me the bottle; +I'll help myself." + +"Don't take too much," says Blunt. "It's dangerous stuff, you know." + +"You need not fear. I've used it before." + +The door was shut, and as she put the bottle in her pocket, the amorous +captain caught her in his arms. + +"What do you say? Come, I think I deserve a kiss for that." + +Her tears were all dry long ago, and had only given increased colour to +her face. This agreeable woman never wept long enough to make herself +distasteful. She raised her dark eyes to his for a moment, with a saucy +smile. "By and by," said she, and escaping, gained her cabin. It was +next to that of her mistress, and she could hear the sick child feebly +moaning. Her eyes filled with tears--real ones this time. + +"Poor little thing," she said; "I hope she won't die." + +And then she threw herself on her bed, and buried her hot head in the +pillow. The intelligence of the fever seemed to have terrified her. Had +the news disarranged some well-concocted plan of hers? Being near the +accomplishment of some cherished scheme long kept in view, had the +sudden and unexpected presence of disease falsified her carefully-made +calculations, and cast an almost insurmountable obstacle in her path? + +"She die! and through me? How did I know that he had the fever? Perhaps +I have taken it myself--I feel ill." She turned over on the bed, as +if in pain, and then started to a sitting position, stung by a sudden +thought. "Perhaps he might die! The fever spreads quickly, and if so, +all this plotting will have been useless. It must be done at once. It +will never do to break down now," and taking the phial from her pocket, +she held it up, to see how much it contained. It was three parts full. +"Enough for both," she said, between her set teeth. The action of +holding up the bottle reminded her of the amorous Blunt, and she smiled. +"A strange way to show affection for a man," she said to herself, "and +yet he doesn't care, and I suppose I shouldn't by this time. I'll go +through with it, and, if the worst comes to the worst, I can fall back +on Maurice." She loosened the cork of the phial, so that it would come +out with as little noise as possible, and then placed it carefully in +her bosom. "I will get a little sleep if I can," she said. "They have +got the note, and it shall be done to-night." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. TYPHUS FEVER. + + + +The felon Rufus Dawes had stretched himself in his bunk and tried to +sleep. But though he was tired and sore, and his head felt like lead, he +could not but keep broad awake. The long pull through the pure air, if +it had tired him, had revived him, and he felt stronger; but for all +that, the fatal sickness that was on him maintained its hold; his pulse +beat thickly, and his brain throbbed with unnatural heat. Lying in +his narrow space--in the semi-darkness--he tossed his limbs about, and +closed his eyes in vain--he could not sleep. His utmost efforts induced +only an oppressive stagnation of thought, through which he heard the +voices of his fellow-convicts; while before his eyes was still the +burning Hydaspes--that vessel whose destruction had destroyed for ever +all trace of the unhappy Richard Devine. + +It was fortunate for his comfort, perhaps, that the man who had been +chosen to accompany him was of a talkative turn, for the prisoners +insisted upon hearing the story of the explosion a dozen times over, and +Rufus Dawes himself had been roused to give the name of the vessel with +his own lips. Had it not been for the hideous respect in which he was +held, it is possible that he might have been compelled to give his +version also, and to join in the animated discussion which took place +upon the possibility of the saving of the fugitive crew. As it was, +however, he was left in peace, and lay unnoticed, trying to sleep. + +The detachment of fifty being on deck--airing--the prison was not quite +so hot as at night, and many of the convicts made up for their lack of +rest by snatching a dog-sleep in the bared bunks. The four volunteer +oarsmen were allowed to "take it out." + +As yet there had been no alarm of fever. The three seizures had excited +some comment, however, and had it not been for the counter-excitement of +the burning ship, it is possible that Pine's precaution would have +been thrown away. The "Old Hands"--who had been through the Passage +before--suspected, but said nothing, save among themselves. It was +likely that the weak and sickly would go first, and that there would be +more room for those remaining. The Old Hands were satisfied. + +Three of these Old Hands were conversing together just behind the +partition of Dawes's bunk. As we have said, the berths were five feet +square, and each contained six men. No. 10, the berth occupied by Dawes, +was situated on the corner made by the joining of the starboard and +centre lines, and behind it was a slight recess, in which the scuttle +was fixed. His "mates" were at present but three in number, for John Rex +and the cockney tailor had been removed to the hospital. The three that +remained were now in deep conversation in the shelter of the recess. Of +these, the giant--who had the previous night asserted his authority +in the prison--seemed to be the chief. His name was Gabbett. He was +a returned convict, now on his way to undergo a second sentence +for burglary. The other two were a man named Sanders, known as the +"Moocher", and Jemmy Vetch, the Crow. They were talking in whispers, but +Rufus Dawes, lying with his head close to the partition, was enabled to +catch much of what they said. + +At first the conversation turned on the catastrophe of the burning ship +and the likelihood of saving the crew. From this it grew to anecdote of +wreck and adventure, and at last Gabbett said something which made the +listener start from his indifferent efforts to slumber, into sudden +broad wakefulness. + +It was the mention of his own name, coupled with that of the woman he +had met on the quarter-deck, that roused him. + +"I saw her speaking to Dawes yesterday," said the giant, with an oath. +"We don't want no more than we've got. I ain't goin' to risk my neck for +Rex's woman's fancies, and so I'll tell her." + +"It was something about the kid," says the Crow, in his elegant slang. +"I don't believe she ever saw him before. Besides, she's nuts on Jack, +and ain't likely to pick up with another man." + +"If I thort she was agoin' to throw us over, I'd cut her throat as soon +as look at her!" snorts Gabbett savagely. + +"Jack ud have a word in that," snuffles the Moocher; "and he's a curious +cove to quarrel with." + +"Well, stow yer gaff," grumbled Mr. Gabbett, "and let's have no more +chaff. If we're for bizness, let's come to bizness." + +"What are we to do now?" asked the Moocher. "Jack's on the sick list, +and the gal won't stir a'thout him." + +"Ay," returned Gabbett, "that's it." + +"My dear friends," said the Crow, "my keyind and keristian friends, it +is to be regretted that when natur' gave you such tremendously thick +skulls, she didn't put something inside of 'em. I say that now's the +time. Jack's in the 'orspital; what of that? That don't make it no +better for him, does it? Not a bit of it; and if he drops his knife and +fork, why then, it's my opinion that the gal won't stir a peg. It's on +his account, not ours, that she's been manoovering, ain't it?" + +"Well!" says Mr. Gabbett, with the air of one who was but partly +convinced, "I s'pose it is." + +"All the more reason of getting it off quick. Another thing, when the +boys know there's fever aboard, you'll see the rumpus there'll be. +They'll be ready enough to join us then. Once get the snapper chest, and +we're right as ninepenn'orth o' hapence." + +This conversation, interspersed with oaths and slang as it was, had an +intense interest for Rufus Dawes. Plunged into prison, hurriedly tried, +and by reason of his surroundings ignorant of the death of his +father and his own fortune, he had hitherto--in his agony and sullen +gloom--held aloof from the scoundrels who surrounded him, and repelled +their hideous advances of friendship. He now saw his error. He knew that +the name he had once possessed was blotted out, that any shred of his +old life which had clung to him hitherto, was shrivelled in the fire +that consumed the "Hydaspes". The secret, for the preservation of +which Richard Devine had voluntarily flung away his name, and risked a +terrible and disgraceful death, would be now for ever safe; for Richard +Devine was dead--lost at sea with the crew of the ill-fated vessel in +which, deluded by a skilfully-sent letter from the prison, his mother +believed him to have sailed. Richard Devine was dead, and the secret of +his birth would die with him. Rufus Dawes, his alter ego, alone should +live. Rufus Dawes, the convicted felon, the suspected murderer, should +live to claim his freedom, and work out his vengeance; or, rendered +powerful by the terrible experience of the prison-sheds, should seize +both, in defiance of gaol or gaoler. + +With his head swimming, and his brain on fire, he eagerly listened for +more. It seemed as if the fever which burnt in his veins had consumed +the grosser part of his sense, and given him increased power of hearing. +He was conscious that he was ill. His bones ached, his hands burned, his +head throbbed, but he could hear distinctly, and, he thought, reason on +what he heard profoundly. + +"But we can't stir without the girl," Gabbett said. "She's got to stall +off the sentry and give us the orfice." + +The Crow's sallow features lighted up with a cunning smile. + +"Dear old caper merchant! Hear him talk!" said he, "as if he had the +wisdom of Solomon in all his glory? Look here!" + +And he produced a dirty scrap of paper, over which his companions +eagerly bent their heads. + +"Where did yer get that?" + +"Yesterday afternoon Sarah was standing on the poop throwing bits o' +toke to the gulls, and I saw her a-looking at me very hard. At last she +came down as near the barricade as she dared, and throwed crumbs and +such like up in the air over the side. By and by a pretty big lump, +doughed up round, fell close to my foot, and, watching a favourable +opportunity, I pouched it. Inside was this bit o' rag-bag." + +"Ah!" said Mr. Gabbett, "that's more like. Read it out, Jemmy." + +The writing, though feminine in character, was bold and distinct. Sarah +had evidently been mindful of the education of her friends, and had +desired to give them as little trouble as possible. + +"All is right. Watch me when I come up to-morrow evening at three bells. +If I drop my handkerchief, get to work at the time agreed on. The sentry +will be safe." + +Rufus Dawes, though his eyelids would scarcely keep open, and a terrible +lassitude almost paralysed his limbs, eagerly drank in the whispered +sentence. There was a conspiracy to seize the ship. Sarah Purfoy was +in league with the convicts--was herself the wife or mistress of one of +them. She had come on board armed with a plot for his release, and this +plot was about to be put in execution. He had heard of the atrocities +perpetrated by successful mutineers. Story after story of such nature +had often made the prison resound with horrible mirth. He knew the +characters of the three ruffians who, separated from him by but two +inches of planking, jested and laughed over their plans of freedom and +vengeance. Though he conversed but little with his companions, these men +were his berth mates, and he could not but know how they would proceed +to wreak their vengeance on their gaolers. + +True, that the head of this formidable chimera--John Rex, the +forger--was absent, but the two hands, or rather claws--the burglar and +the prison-breaker--were present, and the slimly-made, effeminate Crow, +if he had not the brains of the master, yet made up for his flaccid +muscles and nerveless frame by a cat-like cunning, and a spirit of +devilish volatility that nothing could subdue. With such a powerful ally +outside as the mock maid-servant, the chance of success was enormously +increased. There were one hundred and eighty convicts and but fifty +soldiers. If the first rush proved successful--and the precautions taken +by Sarah Purfoy rendered success possible--the vessel was theirs. +Rufus Dawes thought of the little bright-haired child who had run so +confidingly to meet him, and shuddered. + +"There!" said the Crow, with a sneering laugh, "what do you think of +that? Does the girl look like nosing us now?" + +"No," says the giant, stretching his great arms with a grin of delight, +as one stretches one's chest in the sun, "that's right, that is. That's +more like bizness." + +"England, home and beauty!" said Vetch, with a mock-heroic air, +strangely out of tune with the subject under discussion. "You'd like to +go home again, wouldn't you, old man?" + +Gabbett turned on him fiercely, his low forehead wrinkled into a frown +of ferocious recollection. + +"You!" he said--"You think the chain's fine sport, don't yer? But I've +been there, my young chicken, and I knows what it means." + +There was silence for a minute or two. The giant was plunged in gloomy +abstraction, and Vetch and the Moocher interchanged a significant +glance. Gabbett had been ten years at the colonial penal settlement of +Macquarie Harbour, and he had memories that he did not confide to his +companions. When he indulged in one of these fits of recollection, his +friends found it best to leave him to himself. + +Rufus Dawes did not understand the sudden silence. With all his senses +stretched to the utmost to listen, the cessation of the whispered +colloquy affected him strangely. Old artillery-men have said that, after +being at work for days in the trenches, accustomed to the continued roar +of the guns, a sudden pause in the firing will cause them intense pain. +Something of this feeling was experienced by Rufus Dawes. His faculties +of hearing and thinking--both at their highest pitch--seemed to break +down. It was as though some prop had been knocked from under him. No +longer stimulated by outward sounds, his senses appeared to fail him. +The blood rushed into his eyes and ears. He made a violent, vain effort +to retain his consciousness, but with a faint cry fell back, striking +his head against the edge of the bunk. + +The noise roused the burglar in an instant. There was someone in the +berth! The three looked into each other's eyes, in guilty alarm, and +then Gabbett dashed round the partition. + +"It's Dawes!" said the Moocher. "We had forgotten him!" + +"He'll join us, mate--he'll join us!" cried Vetch, fearful of bloodshed. + +Gabbett uttered a furious oath, and flinging himself on to the prostrate +figure, dragged it, head foremost, to the floor. The sudden vertigo +had saved Rufus Dawes's life. The robber twisted one brawny hand in his +shirt, and pressing the knuckles down, prepared to deliver a blow that +should for ever silence the listener, when Vetch caught his arm. "He's +been asleep," he cried. "Don't hit him! See, he's not awake yet." + +A crowd gathered round. The giant relaxed his grip, but the convict gave +only a deep groan, and allowed his head to fall on his shoulder. "You've +killed him!" cried someone. + +Gabbett took another look at the purpling face and the bedewed forehead, +and then sprang erect, rubbing at his right hand, as though he would rub +off something sticking there. + +"He's got the fever!" he roared, with a terror-stricken grimace. + +"The what?" asked twenty voices. + +"The fever, ye grinning fools!" cried Gabbett. "I've seen it before +to-day. The typhus is aboard, and he's the fourth man down!" + +The circle of beast-like faces, stretched forward to "see the fight," +widened at the half-uncomprehended, ill-omened word. It was as though +a bombshell had fallen into the group. Rufus Dawes lay on the deck +motionless, breathing heavily. The savage circle glared at his prostrate +body. The alarm ran round, and all the prison crowded down to stare at +him. All at once he uttered a groan, and turning, propped his body on +his two rigid arms, and made an effort to speak. But no sound issued +from his convulsed jaws. + +"He's done," said the Moocher brutally. "He didn't hear nuffin', I'll +pound it." + +The noise of the heavy bolts shooting back broke the spell. The first +detachment were coming down from "exercise." The door was flung back, +and the bayonets of the guard gleamed in a ray of sunshine that shot +down the hatchway. This glimpse of sunlight--sparkling at the entrance +of the foetid and stifling prison--seemed to mock their miseries. It was +as though Heaven laughed at them. By one of those terrible and strange +impulses which animate crowds, the mass, turning from the sick man, +leapt towards the doorway. The interior of the prison flashed white with +suddenly turned faces. The gloom scintillated with rapidly moving hands. +"Air! air! Give us air!" + +"That's it!" said Sanders to his companions. "I thought the news would +rouse 'em." + +Gabbett--all the savage in his blood stirred by the sight of flashing +eyes and wrathful faces--would have thrown himself forward with the +rest, but Vetch plucked him back. + +"It'll be over in a moment," he said. "It's only a fit they've got." He +spoke truly. Through the uproar was heard the rattle of iron on iron, as +the guard "stood to their arms," and the wedge of grey cloth broke, in +sudden terror of the levelled muskets. + +There was an instant's pause, and then old Pine walked, unmolested, down +the prison and knelt by the body of Rufus Dawes. + +The sight of the familiar figure, so calmly performing its familiar +duty, restored all that submission to recognized authority which +strict discipline begets. The convicts slunk away into their berths, +or officiously ran to help "the doctor," with affectation of intense +obedience. The prison was like a schoolroom, into which the master had +suddenly returned. "Stand back, my lads! Take him up, two of you, and +carry him to the door. The poor fellow won't hurt you." His orders +were obeyed, and the old man, waiting until his patient had been safely +received outside, raised his hand to command attention. "I see you know +what I have to tell. The fever has broken out. That man has got it. It +is absurd to suppose that no one else will be seized. I might catch it +myself. You are much crowded down here, I know; but, my lads, I can't +help that; I didn't make the ship, you know." + +"'Ear, 'ear!" + +"It is a terrible thing, but you must keep orderly and quiet, and bear +it like men. You know what the discipline is, and it is not in my power +to alter it. I shall do my best for your comfort, and I look to you to +help me." + +Holding his grey head very erect indeed, the brave old fellow passed +straight down the line, without looking to the right or left. He had +said just enough, and he reached the door amid a chorus of "'Ear, 'ear!" +"Bravo!" "True for you, docther!" and so on. But when he got fairly +outside, he breathed more freely. He had performed a ticklish task, and +he knew it. + +"'Ark at 'em," growled the Moocher from his corner, "a-cheerin' at the +bloody noos!" + +"Wait a bit," said the acuter intelligence of Jemmy Vetch. "Give 'em +time. There'll be three or four more down afore night, and then we'll +see!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. A DANGEROUS CRISIS. + + + +It was late in the afternoon when Sarah Purfoy awoke from her uneasy +slumber. She had been dreaming of the deed she was about to do, and was +flushed and feverish; but, mindful of the consequences which hung upon +the success or failure of the enterprise, she rallied herself, bathed +her face and hands, and ascended with as calm an air as she could assume +to the poop-deck. + +Nothing was changed since yesterday. The sentries' arms glittered in +the pitiless sunshine, the ship rolled and creaked on the swell of the +dreamy sea, and the prison-cage on the lower deck was crowded with the +same cheerless figures, disposed in the attitudes of the day before. +Even Mr. Maurice Frere, recovered from his midnight fatigues, was +lounging on the same coil of rope, in precisely the same position. + +Yet the eye of an acute observer would have detected some difference +beneath this outward varnish of similarity. The man at the wheel +looked round the horizon more eagerly, and spit into the swirling, +unwholesome-looking water with a more dejected air than before. The +fishing-lines still hung dangling over the catheads, but nobody touched +them. The soldiers and sailors on the forecastle, collected in knots, +had no heart even to smoke, but gloomily stared at each other. Vickers +was in the cuddy writing; Blunt was in his cabin; and Pine, with two +carpenters at work under his directions, was improvising increased +hospital accommodation. The noise of mallet and hammer echoed in the +soldiers' berth ominously; the workmen might have been making coffins. +The prison was strangely silent, with the lowering silence which +precedes a thunderstorm; and the convicts on deck no longer told +stories, nor laughed at obscene jests, but sat together, moodily +patient, as if waiting for something. Three men--two prisoners and +a soldier--had succumbed since Rufus Dawes had been removed to the +hospital; and though as yet there had been no complaint or symptom +of panic, the face of each man, soldier, sailor, or prisoner, wore an +expectant look, as though he wondered whose turn would come next. On the +ship--rolling ceaselessly from side to side, like some wounded creature, +on the opaque profundity of that stagnant ocean--a horrible shadow had +fallen. The Malabar seemed to be enveloped in an electric cloud, whose +sullen gloom a chance spark might flash into a blaze that should consume +her. + +The woman who held in her hands the two ends of the chain that would +produce this spark, paused, came up upon deck, and, after a glance +round, leant against the poop railing, and looked down into the +barricade. As we have said, the prisoners were in knots of four and +five, and to one group in particular her glance was directed. Three men, +leaning carelessly against the bulwarks, watched her every motion. + +"There she is, right enough," growled Mr. Gabbett, as if in continuation +of a previous remark. "Flash as ever, and looking this way, too." + +"I don't see no wipe," said the practical Moocher. + +"Patience is a virtue, most noble knuckler!" says the Crow, with +affected carelessness. "Give the young woman time." + +"Blowed if I'm going to wait no longer," says the giant, licking his +coarse blue lips. "'Ere we've been bluffed off day arter day, and kep' +dancin' round the Dandy's wench like a parcel o' dogs. The fever's +aboard, and we've got all ready. What's the use o' waitin'? Orfice, or +no orfice, I'm for bizness at once!--" + +"--There, look at that," he added, with an oath, as the figure of +Maurice Frere appeared side by side with that of the waiting-maid, and +the two turned away up the deck together. + +"It's all right, you confounded muddlehead!" cried the Crow, losing +patience with his perverse and stupid companion. "How can she give us +the office with that cove at her elbow?" + +Gabbett's only reply to this question was a ferocious grunt, and a +sudden elevation of his clenched fist, which caused Mr. Vetch to retreat +precipitately. The giant did not follow; and Mr. Vetch, folding his +arms, and assuming an attitude of easy contempt, directed his attention +to Sarah Purfoy. She seemed an object of general attraction, for at the +same moment a young soldier ran up the ladder to the forecastle, and +eagerly bent his gaze in her direction. + +Maurice Frere had come behind her and touched her on the shoulder. Since +their conversation the previous evening, he had made up his mind to be +fooled no longer. The girl was evidently playing with him, and he would +show her that he was not to be trifled with. + +"Well, Sarah!" + +"Well, Mr. Frere," dropping her hand, and turning round with a smile. + +"How well you are looking to-day! Positively lovely!" + +"You have told me that so often," says she, with a pout. "Have you +nothing else to say?" + +"Except that I love you." This in a most impassioned manner. + +"That is no news. I know you do." + +"Curse it, Sarah, what is a fellow to do?" His profligacy was failing +him rapidly. "What is the use of playing fast and loose with a fellow +this way?" + +"A 'fellow' should be able to take care of himself, Mr. Frere. I didn't +ask you to fall in love with me, did I? If you don't please me, it is +not your fault, perhaps." + +"What do you mean?" + +"You soldiers have so many things to think of--your guards and sentries, +and visits and things. You have no time to spare for a poor woman like +me." + +"Spare!" cries Frere, in amazement. "Why, damme, you won't let a fellow +spare! I'd spare fast enough, if that was all." She cast her eyes down +to the deck and a modest flush rose in her cheeks. "I have so much to +do," she said, in a half-whisper. "There are so many eyes upon me, I +cannot stir without being seen." + +She raised her head as she spoke, and to give effect to her words, +looked round the deck. Her glance crossed that of the young soldier +on the forecastle, and though the distance was too great for her to +distinguish his features, she guessed who he was--Miles was jealous. +Frere, smiling with delight at her change of manner, came close to +her, and whispered in her ear. She affected to start, and took the +opportunity of exchanging a signal with the Crow. + +"I will come at eight o'clock," said she, with modestly averted face. + +"They relieve the guard at eight," he said deprecatingly. + +She tossed her head. "Very well, then, attend to your guard; I don't +care." + +"But, Sarah, consider--" + +"As if a woman in love ever considers!" said she, turning upon him a +burning glance, which in truth might have melted a more icy man than he. +--She loved him then! What a fool he would be to refuse. To get her to +come was the first object; how to make duty fit with pleasure would be +considered afterwards. Besides, the guard could relieve itself for once +without his supervision. + +"Very well, at eight then, dearest." + +"Hush!" said she. "Here comes that stupid captain." + +And as Frere left her, she turned, and with her eyes fixed on the +convict barricade, dropped the handkerchief she held in her hand over +the poop railing. It fell at the feet of the amorous captain, and with a +quick upward glance, that worthy fellow picked it up, and brought it to +her. + +"Oh, thank you, Captain Blunt," said she, and her eyes spoke more than +her tongue. + +"Did you take the laudanum?" whispered Blunt, with a twinkle in his eye. + +"Some of it," said she. "I will bring you back the bottle to-night." + +Blunt walked aft, humming cheerily, and saluted Frere with a slap on the +back. The two men laughed, each at his own thoughts, but their laughter +only made the surrounding gloom seem deeper than before. + +Sarah Purfoy, casting her eyes toward the barricade, observed a change +in the position of the three men. They were together once more, and the +Crow, having taken off his prison cap, held it at arm's length with +one hand, while he wiped his brow with the other. Her signal had been +observed. + +During all this, Rufus Dawes, removed to the hospital, was lying flat on +his back, staring at the deck above him, trying to think of something he +wanted to say. + +When the sudden faintness, which was the prelude to his sickness, had +overpowered him, he remembered being torn out of his bunk by fierce +hands--remembered a vision of savage faces, and the presence of +some danger that menaced him. He remembered that, while lying on +his blankets, struggling with the coming fever, he had overheard a +conversation of vital importance to himself and to the ship, but of +the purport of that conversation he had not the least idea. In vain he +strove to remember--in vain his will, struggling with delirium, brought +back snatches and echoes of sense; they slipped from him again as fast +as caught. He was oppressed with the weight of half-recollected thought. +He knew that a terrible danger menaced him; that could he but force his +brain to reason connectedly for ten consecutive minutes, he could give +such information as would avert that danger, and save the ship. But, +lying with hot head, parched lips, and enfeebled body, he was as one +possessed--he could move nor hand nor foot. + +The place where he lay was but dimly lighted. The ingenuity of Pine had +constructed a canvas blind over the port, to prevent the sun striking +into the cabin, and this blind absorbed much of the light. He could but +just see the deck above his head, and distinguish the outlines of three +other berths, apparently similar to his own. The only sounds that broke +the silence were the gurgling of the water below him, and the Tap tap, +Tap tap, of Pine's hammers at work upon the new partition. By and by the +noise of these hammers ceased, and then the sick man could hear gasps, +and moans, and mutterings--the signs that his companions yet lived. + +All at once a voice called out, "Of course his bills are worth four +hundred pounds; but, my good sir, four hundred pounds to a man in my +position is not worth the getting. Why, I've given four hundred pounds +for a freak of my girl Sarah! Is it right, eh, Jezebel? She's a +good girl, though, as girls go. Mrs. Lionel Crofton, of the Crofts, +Sevenoaks, Kent--Sevenoaks, Kent--Seven----" + +A gleam of light broke in on the darkness which wrapped Rufus Dawes's +tortured brain. The man was John Rex, his berth mate. With an effort he +spoke. + +"Rex!" + +"Yes, yes. I'm coming; don't be in a hurry. The sentry's safe, and the +howitzer is but five paces from the door. A rush upon deck, lads, and +she's ours! That is, mine. Mine and my wife's, Mrs. Lionel Crofton, +of Seven Crofts, no oaks--Sarah Purfoy, lady's-maid and nurse--ha! +ha!--lady's-maid and nurse!" + +This last sentence contained the name-clue to the labyrinth in which +Rufus Dawes's bewildered intellects were wandering. "Sarah Purfoy!" +He remembered now each detail of the conversation he had so strangely +overheard, and how imperative it was that he should, without delay, +reveal the plot that threatened the ship. How that plot was to be +carried out, he did not pause to consider; he was conscious that he was +hanging over the brink of delirium, and that, unless he made himself +understood before his senses utterly deserted him, all was lost. + +He attempted to rise, but found that his fever-thralled limbs refused to +obey the impulse of his will. He made an effort to speak, but his tongue +clove to the roof of his mouth, and his jaws stuck together. He could +not raise a finger nor utter a sound. The boards over his head waved +like a shaken sheet, and the cabin whirled round, while the patch of +light at his feet bobbed up and down like the reflection from a wavering +candle. He closed his eyes with a terrible sigh of despair, and resigned +himself to his fate. At that instant the sound of hammering ceased, and +the door opened. It was six o'clock, and Pine had come to have a last +look at his patients before dinner. It seemed that there was somebody +with him, for a kind, though somewhat pompous, voice remarked upon the +scantiness of accommodation, and the "necessity--the absolute necessity" +of complying with the King's Regulations. + +Honest Vickers, though agonized for the safety of his child, would not +abate a jot of his duty, and had sternly come to visit the sick men, +aware as he was that such a visit would necessitate his isolation from +the cabin where his child lay. Mrs. Vickers--weeping and bewailing +herself coquettishly at garrison parties--had often said that "poor dear +John was such a disciplinarian, quite a slave to the service." + +"Here they are," said Pine; "six of 'em. This fellow"--going to the +side of Rex--"is the worst. If he had not a constitution like a horse, I +don't think he could live out the night." + +"Three, eighteen, seven, four," muttered Rex; "dot and carry one. Is +that an occupation for a gentleman? No, sir. Good night, my lord, good +night. Hark! The clock is striking nine; five, six, seven, eight! Well, +you've had your day, and can't complain." + +"A dangerous fellow," says Pine, with the light upraised. "A very +dangerous fellow--that is, he was. This is the place, you see--a regular +rat-hole; but what can one do?" + +"Come, let us get on deck," said Vickers, with a shudder of disgust. + +Rufus Dawes felt the sweat break out into beads on his forehead. They +suspected nothing. They were going away. He must warn them. With a +violent effort, in his agony he turned over in the bunk and thrust out +his hand from the blankets. + +"Hullo! what's this?" cried Pine, bringing the lantern to bear upon it. +"Lie down, my man. Eh!--water, is it? There, steady with it now"; and he +lifted a pannikin to the blackened, froth-fringed lips. The cool draught +moistened his parched gullet, and the convict made a last effort to +speak. + +"Sarah Purfoy--to-night--the prison--MUTINY!" + +The last word, almost shrieked out, in the sufferer's desperate efforts +to articulate, recalled the wandering senses of John Rex. "Hush!" he +cried. "Is that you, Jemmy? Sarah's right. Wait till she gives the +word." + +"He's raving," said Vickers. + +Pine caught the convict by the shoulder. "What do you say, my man? A +mutiny of the prisoners!" + +With his mouth agape and his hands clenched, Rufus Dawes, incapable of +further speech, made a last effort to nod assent, but his head fell upon +his breast; the next moment, the flickering light, the gloomy prison, +the eager face of the doctor, and the astonished face of Vickers, +vanished from before his straining eyes. He saw the two men stare at +each other, in mingled incredulity and alarm, and then he was floating +down the cool brown river of his boyhood, on his way--in company with +Sarah Purfoy and Lieutenant Frere--to raise the mutiny of the Hydaspes, +that lay on the stocks in the old house at Hampstead. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. WOMAN'S WEAPONS. + + + +The two discoverers of this awkward secret held a council of war. +Vickers was for at once calling the guard, and announcing to the +prisoners that the plot--whatever it might be--had been discovered; but +Pine, accustomed to convict ships, overruled this decision. + +"You don't know these fellows as well as I do," said he. "In the first +place there may be no mutiny at all. The whole thing is, perhaps, some +absurdity of that fellow Dawes--and should we once put the notion of +attacking us into the prisoners' heads, there is no telling what they +might do." + +"But the man seemed certain," said the other. "He mentioned my wife's +maid, too!" + +"Suppose he did?--and, begad, I dare say he's right--I never liked the +look of the girl. To tell them that we have found them out this time +won't prevent 'em trying it again. We don't know what their scheme is +either. If it is a mutiny, half the ship's company may be in it. No, +Captain Vickers, allow me, as surgeon-superintendent, to settle our +course of action. You are aware that--" + +"--That, by the King's Regulations, you are invested with full powers," +interrupted Vickers, mindful of discipline in any extremity. "Of course, +I merely suggested--and I know nothing about the girl, except that she +brought a good character from her last mistress--a Mrs. Crofton I think +the name was. We were glad to get anybody to make a voyage like this." + +"Well," says Pine, "look here. Suppose we tell these scoundrels that +their design, whatever it may be, is known. Very good. They will +profess absolute ignorance, and try again on the next opportunity, +when, perhaps, we may not know anything about it. At all events, we +are completely ignorant of the nature of the plot and the names of the +ringleaders. Let us double the sentries, and quietly get the men under +arms. Let Miss Sarah do what she pleases, and when the mutiny breaks +out, we will nip it in the bud; clap all the villains we get in irons, +and hand them over to the authorities in Hobart Town. I am not a cruel +man, sir, but we have got a cargo of wild beasts aboard, and we must be +careful." + +"But surely, Mr. Pine, have you considered the probable loss of life? +I--really--some more humane course perhaps? Prevention, you know--" + +Pine turned round upon him with that grim practicality which was a part +of his nature. "Have you considered the safety of the ship, Captain +Vickers? You know, or have heard of, the sort of things that take place +in these mutinies. Have you considered what will befall those half-dozen +women in the soldiers' berths? Have you thought of the fate of your own +wife and child?" + +Vickers shuddered. + +"Have it your way, Mr. Pine; you know best perhaps. But don't risk more +lives than you can help." + +"Be easy, sir," says old Pine; "I am acting for the best; upon my soul +I am. You don't know what convicts are, or rather what the law has made +'em--yet--" + +"Poor wretches!" says Vickers, who, like many martinets, was in reality +tender-hearted. "Kindness might do much for them. After all, they are +our fellow-creatures." + +"Yes," returned the other, "they are. But if you use that argument to +them when they have taken the vessel, it won't avail you much. Let me +manage, sir; and for God's sake, say nothing to anybody. Our lives may +hang upon a word." + +Vickers promised, and kept his promise so far as to chat cheerily with +Blunt and Frere at dinner, only writing a brief note to his wife to tell +her that, whatever she heard, she was not to stir from her cabin until +he came to her; he knew that, with all his wife's folly, she would obey +unhesitatingly, when he couched an order in such terms. + +According to the usual custom on board convict ships, the guards +relieved each other every two hours, and at six p.m. the poop guard was +removed to the quarter-deck, and the arms which, in the daytime, +were disposed on the top of the arm-chest, were placed in an arm-rack +constructed on the quarter-deck for that purpose. Trusting nothing to +Frere--who, indeed, by Pine's advice, was, as we have seen, kept in +ignorance of the whole matter--Vickers ordered all the men, save those +who had been on guard during the day, to be under arms in the barrack, +forbade communication with the upper deck, and placed as sentry at the +barrack door his own servant, an old soldier, on whose fidelity he could +thoroughly rely. He then doubled the guards, took the keys of the prison +himself from the non-commissioned officer whose duty it was to keep +them, and saw that the howitzer on the lower deck was loaded with grape. +It was a quarter to seven when Pine and he took their station at the +main hatchway, determined to watch until morning. + +At a quarter past seven, any curious person looking through the window +of Captain Blunt's cabin would have seen an unusual sight. That gallant +commander was sitting on the bed-place, with a glass of rum and water in +his hand, and the handsome waiting-maid of Mrs. Vickers was seated on a +stool by his side. At a first glance it was perceptible that the captain +was very drunk. His grey hair was matted all ways about his reddened +face, and he was winking and blinking like an owl in the sunshine. +He had drunk a larger quantity of wine than usual at dinner, in sheer +delight at the approaching assignation, and having got out the rum +bottle for a quiet "settler" just as the victim of his fascinations +glided through the carefully-adjusted door, he had been persuaded to go +on drinking. + +"Cuc-come, Sarah," he hiccuped. "It's all very fine, my lass, but you +needn't be so--hic--proud, you know. I'm a plain sailor--plain s'lor, +Srr'h. Ph'n'as Bub--blunt, commander of the Mal-Mal- Malabar. Wors' 'sh +good talkin'?" + +Sarah allowed a laugh to escape her, and artfully protruded an ankle at +the same time. The amorous Phineas lurched over, and made shift to take +her hand. + +"You lovsh me, and I--hic--lovsh you, Sarah. And a preshus tight little +craft you--hic--are. Giv'sh--kiss, Sarah." + +Sarah got up and went to the door. + +"Wotsh this? Goin'! Sarah, don't go," and he staggered up; and with the +grog swaying fearfully in one hand, made at her. + +The ship's bell struck the half-hour. Now or never was the time. Blunt +caught her round the waist with one arm, and hiccuping with love and +rum, approached to take the kiss he coveted. She seized the moment, +surrendered herself to his embrace, drew from her pocket the laudanum +bottle, and passing her hand over his shoulder, poured half its contents +into the glass. + +"Think I'm--hic--drunk, do yer? Nun--not I, my wench." + +"You will be if you drink much more. Come, finish that and be quiet, or +I'll go away." + +But she threw a provocation into her glance as she spoke, which belied +her words, and which penetrated even the sodden intellect of poor +Blunt. He balanced himself on his heels for a moment, and holding by +the moulding of the cabin, stared at her with a fatuous smile of drunken +admiration, then looked at the glass in his hand, hiccuped with much +solemnity thrice, and, as though struck with a sudden sense of duty +unfulfilled, swallowed the contents at a gulp. The effect was almost +instantaneous. He dropped the tumbler, lurched towards the woman at the +door, and then making a half-turn in accordance with the motion of the +vessel, fell into his bunk, and snored like a grampus. + +Sarah Purfoy watched him for a few minutes, and then having blown out +the light, stepped out of the cabin, and closed the door behind her. The +dusky gloom which had held the deck on the previous night enveloped all +forward of the main-mast. A lantern swung in the forecastle, and swayed +with the motion of the ship. The light at the prison door threw a glow +through the open hatch, and in the cuddy, at her right hand, the usual +row of oil-lamps burned. She looked mechanically for Vickers, who was +ordinarily there at that hour, but the cuddy was empty. So much the +better, she thought, as she drew her dark cloak around her, and tapped +at Frere's door. As she did so, a strange pain shot through her temples, +and her knees trembled. With a strong effort she dispelled the dizziness +that had almost overpowered her, and held herself erect. It would never +do to break down now. + +The door opened, and Maurice Frere drew her into the cabin. "So you have +come?" said he. + +"You see I have. But, oh! if I should be seen!" + +"Seen? Nonsense! Who is to see you?" + +"Captain Vickers, Doctor Pine, anybody." + +"Not they. Besides, they've gone off down to Pine's cabin since dinner. +They're all right." + +Gone off to Pine's cabin! The intelligence struck her with dismay. +What was the cause of such an unusual proceeding? Surely they did not +suspect! "What do they want there?" she asked. + +Maurice Frere was not in the humour to argue questions of probability. +"Who knows? I don't. Confound 'em," he added, "what does it matter to +us? We don't want them, do we, Sarah?" + +She seemed to be listening for something, and did not reply. Her nervous +system was wound up to the highest pitch of excitement. The success of +the plot depended on the next five minutes. + +"What are you staring at? Look at me, can't you? What eyes you have! And +what hair!" + +At that instant the report of a musket-shot broke the silence. The +mutiny had begun! + +The sound awoke the soldier to a sense of his duty. He sprang to his +feet, and disengaging the arms that clung about his neck, made for +the door. The moment for which the convict's accomplice had waited +approached. She hung upon him with all her weight. Her long hair swept +across his face, her warm breath was on his cheek, her dress exposed +her round, smooth shoulder. He, intoxicated, conquered, had half-turned +back, when suddenly the rich crimson died away from her lips, leaving +them an ashen grey colour. Her eyes closed in agony; loosing her hold +of him, she staggered to her feet, pressed her hands upon her bosom, and +uttered a sharp cry of pain. + +The fever which had been on her two days, and which, by a strong +exercise of will, she had struggled against--encouraged by the violent +excitement of the occasion--had attacked her at this supreme moment. +Deathly pale and sick, she reeled to the side of the cabin. There was +another shot, and a violent clashing of arms; and Frere, leaving the +miserable woman to her fate, leapt out on to the deck. + + + + +CHAPTER X. EIGHT BELLS. + + + +At seven o'clock there had been also a commotion in the prison. The news +of the fever had awoke in the convicts all that love of liberty which +had but slumbered during the monotony of the earlier part of the voyage. +Now that death menaced them, they longed fiercely for the chance of +escape which seemed permitted to freemen. "Let us get out!" they said, +each man speaking to his particular friend. "We are locked up here to +die like sheep." Gloomy faces and desponding looks met the gaze of each, +and sometimes across this gloom shot a fierce glance that lighted up +its blackness, as a lightning-flash renders luridly luminous the indigo +dullness of a thunder-cloud. By and by, in some inexplicable way, it +came to be understood that there was a conspiracy afloat, that they +were to be released from their shambles, that some amongst them had been +plotting for freedom. The 'tween decks held its foul breath in wondering +anxiety, afraid to breathe its suspicions. The influence of this +predominant idea showed itself by a strange shifting of atoms. The +mass of villainy, ignorance, and innocence began to be animated with +something like a uniform movement. Natural affinities came together, +and like allied itself to like, falling noiselessly into harmony, as the +pieces of glass and coloured beads in a kaleidoscope assume mathematical +forms. By seven bells it was found that the prison was divided into +three parties--the desperate, the timid, and the cautious. These three +parties had arranged themselves in natural sequence. The mutineers, +headed by Gabbett, Vetch, and the Moocher, were nearest to the door; the +timid--boys, old men, innocent poor wretches condemned on circumstantial +evidence, or rustics condemned to be turned into thieves for pulling +a turnip--were at the farther end, huddling together in alarm; and the +prudent--that is to say, all the rest, ready to fight or fly, advance or +retreat, assist the authorities or their companions, as the fortune of +the day might direct--occupied the middle space. The mutineers proper +numbered, perhaps, some thirty men, and of these thirty only half a +dozen knew what was really about to be done. + +The ship's bell strikes the half-hour, and as the cries of the three +sentries passing the word to the quarter-deck die away, Gabbett, who has +been leaning with his back against the door, nudges Jemmy Vetch. + +"Now, Jemmy," says he in a whisper, "tell 'em!" + +The whisper being heard by those nearest the giant, a silence ensues, +which gradually spreads like a ripple over the surface of the crowd, +reaching even the bunks at the further end. + +"Gentlemen," says Mr. Vetch, politely sarcastic in his own hangdog +fashion, "myself and my friends here are going to take the ship for you. +Those who like to join us had better speak at once, for in about half an +hour they will not have the opportunity." + +He pauses, and looks round with such an impertinently confident air, +that three waverers in the party amidships slip nearer to hear him. + +"You needn't be afraid," Mr. Vetch continues, "we have arranged it all +for you. There are friends waiting for us outside, and the door will be +open directly. All we want, gentlemen, is your vote and interest--I mean +your--" + +"Gaffing agin!" interrupts the giant angrily. "Come to business, carn't +yer? Tell 'em they may like it or lump it, but we mean to have the ship, +and them as refuses to join us we mean to chuck overboard. That's about +the plain English of it!" + +This practical way of putting it produces a sensation, and the +conservative party at the other end look in each other's faces with some +alarm. A grim murmur runs round, and somebody near Mr. Gabbett laughs a +laugh of mingled ferocity and amusement, not reassuring to timid people. +"What about the sogers?" asked a voice from the ranks of the cautious. + +"D--- the sogers!" cries the Moocher, moved by a sudden inspiration. +"They can but shoot yer, and that's as good as dyin' of typhus anyway!" + +The right chord had been struck now, and with a stifled roar the prison +admitted the truth of the sentiment. "Go on, old man!" cries Jemmy Vetch +to the giant, rubbing his thin hands with eldritch glee. "They're all +right!" And then, his quick ears catching the jingle of arms, he said, +"Stand by now for the door--one rush'll do it." + +It was eight o'clock and the relief guard was coming from the after +deck. The crowd of prisoners round the door held their breath to listen. +"It's all planned," says Gabbett, in a low growl. "W'en the door h'opens +we rush, and we're in among the guard afore they know where they are. +Drag 'em back into the prison, grab the h'arm-rack, and it's all over." + +"They're very quiet about it," says the Crow suspiciously. "I hope it's +all right." + +"Stand from the door, Miles," says Pine's voice outside, in its usual +calm accents. + +The Crow was relieved. The tone was an ordinary one, and Miles was the +soldier whom Sarah Purfoy had bribed not to fire. All had gone well. + +The keys clashed and turned, and the bravest of the prudent party, +who had been turning in his mind the notion of risking his life for a +pardon, to be won by rushing forward at the right moment and alarming +the guard, checked the cry that was in his throat as he saw the men +round the door draw back a little for their rush, and caught a glimpse +of the giant's bristling scalp and bared gums. + +"NOW!" cries Jemmy Vetch, as the iron-plated oak swung back, and with +the guttural snarl of a charging wild boar, Gabbett hurled himself out +of the prison. + +The red line of light which glowed for an instant through the doorway +was blotted out by a mass of figures. All the prison surged forward, and +before the eye could wink, five, ten, twenty, of the most desperate +were outside. It was as though a sea, breaking against a stone wall, +had found some breach through which to pour its waters. The contagion +of battle spread. Caution was forgotten; and those at the back, seeing +Jemmy Vetch raised upon the crest of that human billow which reared its +black outline against an indistinct perspective of struggling figures, +responded to his grin of encouragement by rushing furiously forward. + +Suddenly a horrible roar like that of a trapped wild beast was heard. +The rushing torrent choked in the doorway, and from out the lantern glow +into which the giant had rushed, a flash broke, followed by a groan, as +the perfidious sentry fell back shot through the breast. The mass in +the doorway hung irresolute, and then by sheer weight of pressure from +behind burst forward, and as it so burst, the heavy door crashed into +its jambs, and the bolts were shot into their places. + +All this took place by one of those simultaneous movements which are so +rapid in execution, so tedious to describe in detail. At one instant the +prison door had opened, at the next it had closed. The picture which +had presented itself to the eyes of the convicts was as momentary as are +those of the thaumatoscope. The period of time that had elapsed between +the opening and the shutting of the door could have been marked by the +musket shot. + +The report of another shot, and then a noise of confused cries, mingled +with the clashing of arms, informed the imprisoned men that the ship +had been alarmed. How would it go with their friends on deck? Would they +succeed in overcoming the guards, or would they be beaten back? They +would soon know; and in the hot dusk, straining their eyes to see each +other, they waited for the issue Suddenly the noises ceased, and a +strange rumbling sound fell upon the ears of the listeners. + + + * * * * * + + +What had taken place? + +This--the men pouring out of the darkness into the sudden glare of +the lanterns, rushed, bewildered, across the deck. Miles, true to his +promise, did not fire, but the next instant Vickers had snatched the +firelock from him, and leaping into the stream, turned about and +fired down towards the prison. The attack was more sudden then he had +expected, but he did not lose his presence of mind. The shot would serve +a double purpose. It would warn the men in the barrack, and perhaps +check the rush by stopping up the doorway with a corpse. Beaten back, +struggling, and indignant, amid the storm of hideous faces, his humanity +vanished, and he aimed deliberately at the head of Mr. James Vetch; the +shot, however, missed its mark, and killed the unhappy Miles. + +Gabbett and his companions had by this time reached the foot of the +companion ladder, there to encounter the cutlasses of the doubled guard +gleaming redly in the glow of the lanterns. A glance up the hatchway +showed the giant that the arms he had planned to seize were defended by +ten firelocks, and that, behind the open doors of the partition which +ran abaft the mizenmast, the remainder of the detachment stood to their +arms. Even his dull intellect comprehended that the desperate project +had failed, and that he had been betrayed. With the roar of despair +which had penetrated into the prison, he turned to fight his way back, +just in time to see the crowd in the gangway recoil from the flash of +the musket fired by Vickers. The next instant, Pine and two soldiers, +taking advantage of the momentary cessation of the press, shot the +bolts, and secured the prison. + +The mutineers were caught in a trap. + +The narrow space between the barracks and the barricade was choked with +struggling figures. Some twenty convicts, and half as many soldiers, +struck and stabbed at each other in the crowd. There was barely +elbow-room, and attacked and attackers fought almost without knowing +whom they struck. Gabbett tore a cutlass from a soldier, shook his +huge head, and calling on the Moocher to follow, bounded up the ladder, +desperately determined to brave the fire of the watch. The Moocher, +close at the giant's heels, flung himself upon the nearest soldier, and +grasping his wrist, struggled for the cutlass. A brawny, bull-necked +fellow next him dashed his clenched fist in the soldier's face, and the +man maddened by the blow, let go the cutlass, and drawing his pistol, +shot his new assailant through the head. It was this second shot that +had aroused Maurice Frere. + +As the young lieutenant sprang out upon the deck, he saw by the position +of the guard that others had been more mindful of the safety of the ship +than he. There was, however, no time for explanation, for, as he reached +the hatchway, he was met by the ascending giant, who uttered a hideous +oath at the sight of this unexpected adversary, and, too close to strike +him, locked him in his arms. The two men were drawn together. The guard +on the quarter-deck dared not fire at the two bodies that, twined +about each other, rolled across the deck, and for a moment Mr. Frere's +cherished existence hung upon the slenderest thread imaginable. + +The Moocher, spattered with the blood and brains of his unfortunate +comrade, had already set his foot upon the lowest step of the ladder, +when the cutlass was dashed from his hand by a blow from a clubbed +firelock, and he was dragged roughly backwards. As he fell upon the +deck, he saw the Crow spring out of the mass of prisoners who had been, +an instant before, struggling with the guard, and, gaining the cleared +space at the bottom of the ladder, hold up his hands, as though to +shield himself from a blow. The confusion had now become suddenly +stilled, and upon the group before the barricade had fallen that +mysterious silence which had perplexed the inmates of the prison. + +They were not perplexed for long. The two soldiers who, with the +assistance of Pine, had forced-to the door of the prison, rapidly +unbolted that trap-door in the barricade, of which mention has been made +in a previous chapter, and, at a signal from Vickers, three men ran the +loaded howitzer from its sinister shelter near the break of the barrack +berths, and, training the deadly muzzle to a level with the opening in +the barricade, stood ready to fire. + +"Surrender!" cried Vickers, in a voice from which all "humanity" had +vanished. "Surrender, and give up your ringleaders, or I'll blow you to +pieces!" + +There was no tremor in his voice, and though he stood, with Pine by his +side, at the very mouth of the levelled cannon, the mutineers perceived, +with that acuteness which imminent danger brings to the most stolid +of brains, that, did they hesitate an instant, he would keep his word. +There was an awful moment of silence, broken only by a skurrying noise +in the prison, as though a family of rats, disturbed at a flour cask, +were scampering to the ship's side for shelter. This skurrying noise was +made by the convicts rushing to their berths to escape the threatened +shower of grape; to the twenty desperadoes cowering before the muzzle of +the howitzer it spoke more eloquently than words. The charm was broken; +their comrades would refuse to join them. The position of affairs at +this crisis was a strange one. From the opened trap-door came a sort of +subdued murmur, like that which sounds within the folds of a sea-shell, +but, in the oblong block of darkness which it framed, nothing was +visible. The trap-door might have been a window looking into a tunnel. +On each side of this horrible window, almost pushed before it by the +pressure of one upon the other, stood Pine, Vickers, and the guard. In +front of the little group lay the corpse of the miserable boy whom Sarah +Purfoy had led to ruin; and forced close upon, yet shrinking back from +the trampled and bloody mass, crouched in mingled terror and rage, the +twenty mutineers. Behind the mutineers, withdrawn from the patch of +light thrown by the open hatchway, the mouth of the howitzer threatened +destruction; and behind the howitzer, backed up by an array of brown +musket barrels, suddenly glowed the tiny fire of the burning match in +the hand of Vickers's trusty servant. + +The entrapped men looked up the hatchway, but the guard had already +closed in upon it, and some of the ship's crew--with that carelessness +of danger characteristic of sailors--were peering down upon them. Escape +was hopeless. + +"One minute!" cried Vickers, confident that one second would be +enough--"one minute to go quietly, or--" + +"Surrender, mates, for God's sake!" shrieked some unknown wretch from +out of the darkness of the prison. "Do you want to be the death of us?" + +Jemmy Vetch, feeling, by that curious sympathy which nervous natures +possess, that his comrades wished him to act as spokesman, raised his +shrill tones. "We surrender," he said. "It's no use getting our brains +blown out." And raising his hands, he obeyed the motion of Vickers's +fingers, and led the way towards the barrack. + +"Bring the irons forward, there!" shouted Vickers, hastening from his +perilous position; and before the last man had filed past the still +smoking match, the cling of hammers announced that the Crow had resumed +those fetters which had been knocked off his dainty limbs a month +previously in the Bay of Biscay. + +In another moment the trap-door was closed, the howitzer rumbled back to +its cleatings, and the prison breathed again. + + + * * * * * + + +In the meantime, a scene almost as exciting had taken place on the upper +deck. Gabbett, with the blind fury which the consciousness of failure +brings to such brute-like natures, had seized Frere by the throat, +determined to put an end to at least one of his enemies. But desperate +though he was, and with all the advantage of weight and strength upon +his side, he found the young lieutenant a more formidable adversary than +he had anticipated. + +Maurice Frere was no coward. Brutal and selfish though he might be, his +bitterest enemies had never accused him of lack of physical courage. +Indeed, he had been--in the rollicking days of old that were +gone--celebrated for the display of very opposite qualities. He was an +amateur at manly sports. He rejoiced in his muscular strength, and, in +many a tavern brawl and midnight riot of his own provoking, had proved +the fallacy of the proverb which teaches that a bully is always a +coward. He had the tenacity of a bulldog--once let him get his teeth in +his adversary, and he would hold on till he died. In fact he was, as +far as personal vigour went, a Gabbett with the education of a +prize-fighter; and, in a personal encounter between two men of equal +courage, science tells more than strength. In the struggle, however, +that was now taking place, science seemed to be of little value. To the +inexperienced eye, it would appear that the frenzied giant, gripping +the throat of the man who had fallen beneath him, must rise from the +struggle an easy victor. Brute force was all that was needed--there was +neither room nor time for the display of any cunning of fence. + +But knowledge, though it cannot give strength, gives coolness. Taken by +surprise as he was, Maurice Frere did not lose his presence of mind. The +convict was so close upon him that there was no time to strike; but, +as he was forced backwards, he succeeded in crooking his knee round the +thigh of his assailant, and thrust one hand into his collar. Over and +over they rolled, the bewildered sentry not daring to fire, until the +ship's side brought them up with a violent jerk, and Frere realized that +Gabbett was below him. Pressing with all the might of his muscles, he +strove to resist the leverage which the giant was applying to turn him +over, but he might as well have pushed against a stone wall. With his +eyes protruding, and every sinew strained to its uttermost, he was +slowly forced round, and he felt Gabbett releasing his grasp, in order +to draw back and aim at him an effectual blow. Disengaging his left +hand, Frere suddenly allowed himself to sink, and then, drawing up his +right knee, struck Gabbett beneath the jaw, and as the huge head was +forced backwards by the blow, dashed his fist into the brawny throat. +The giant reeled backwards, and, falling on his hands and knees, was in +an instant surrounded by sailors. + +Now began and ended, in less time than it takes to write it, one of +those Homeric struggles of one man against twenty, which are none +the less heroic because the Ajax is a convict, and the Trojans merely +ordinary sailors. Shaking his assailants to the deck as easily as a +wild boar shakes off the dogs which clamber upon his bristly sides, the +convict sprang to his feet, and, whirling the snatched-up cutlass round +his head, kept the circle at bay. Four times did the soldiers round the +hatchway raise their muskets, and four times did the fear of wounding +the men who had flung themselves upon the enraged giant compel them to +restrain their fire. Gabbett, his stubbly hair on end, his bloodshot +eyes glaring with fury, his great hand opening and shutting in air, as +though it gasped for something to seize, turned himself about from side +to side--now here, now there, bellowing like a wounded bull. His +coarse shirt, rent from shoulder to flank, exposed the play of his huge +muscles. He was bleeding from a cut on his forehead, and the blood, +trickling down his face, mingled with the foam on his lips, and dropped +sluggishly on his hairy breast. Each time that an assailant came within +reach of the swinging cutlass, the ruffian's form dilated with a fresh +access of passion. At one moment bunched with clinging adversaries--his +arms, legs, and shoulders a hanging mass of human bodies--at the next, +free, desperate, alone in the midst of his foes, his hideous countenance +contorted with hate and rage, the giant seemed less a man than a demon, +or one of those monstrous and savage apes which haunt the solitudes +of the African forests. Spurning the mob who had rushed in at him, he +strode towards his risen adversary, and aimed at him one final blow that +should put an end to his tyranny for ever. A notion that Sarah Purfoy +had betrayed him, and that the handsome soldier was the cause of +the betrayal, had taken possession of his mind, and his rage had +concentrated itself upon Maurice Frere. The aspect of the villain was so +appalling, that, despite his natural courage, Frere, seeing the backward +sweep of the cutlass, absolutely closed his eyes with terror, and +surrendered himself to his fate. + +As Gabbett balanced himself for the blow, the ship, which had been +rocking gently on a dull and silent sea, suddenly lurched--the convict +lost his balance, swayed, and fell. Ere he could rise he was pinioned by +twenty hands. + +Authority was almost instantaneously triumphant on the upper and lower +decks. The mutiny was over. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. DISCOVERIES AND CONFESSIONS. + + + +The shock was felt all through the vessel, and Pine, who had been +watching the ironing of the last of the mutineers, at once divined its +cause. + +"Thank God!" he cried, "there's a breeze at last!" and as the +overpowered Gabbett, bruised, bleeding, and bound, was dragged down the +hatchway, the triumphant doctor hurried upon deck to find the +Malabar plunging through the whitening water under the influence of a +fifteen-knot breeze. + +"Stand by to reef topsails! Away aloft, men, and furl the royals!" cries +Best from the quarter-deck; and in the midst of the cheery confusion +Maurice Frere briefly recapitulated what had taken place, taking +care, however, to pass over his own dereliction of duty as rapidly as +possible. + +Pine knit his brows. "Do you think that she was in the plot?" he asked. + +"Not she!" says Frere--eager to avert inquiry. "How should she be? Plot! +She's sickening of fever, or I'm much mistaken." + +Sure enough, on opening the door of the cabin, they found Sarah Purfoy +lying where she had fallen a quarter of an hour before. The clashing of +cutlasses and the firing of muskets had not roused her. + +"We must make a sick-bay somewhere," says Pine, looking at the senseless +figure with no kindly glance; "though I don't think she's likely to be +very bad. Confound her! I believe that she's the cause of all this. I'll +find out, too, before many hours are over; for I've told those fellows +that unless they confess all about it before to-morrow morning, I'll get +them six dozen a-piece the day after we anchor in Hobart Town. I've a +great mind to do it before we get there. Take her head, Frere, and we'll +get her out of this before Vickers comes up. What a fool you are, to be +sure! I knew what it would be with women aboard ship. I wonder Mrs. V. +hasn't been out before now. There--steady past the door. Why, man, one +would think you never had your arm round a girl's waist before! Pooh! +don't look so scared--I won't tell. Make haste, now, before that little +parson comes. Parsons are regular old women to chatter"; and thus +muttering Pine assisted to carry Mrs. Vickers's maid into her cabin. + +"By George, but she's a fine girl!" he said, viewing the inanimate body +with the professional eye of a surgeon. "I don't wonder at you making +a fool of yourself. Chances are, you've caught the fever, though this +breeze will help to blow it out of us, please God. That old jackass, +Blunt, too!--he ought to be ashamed of himself, at his age!" + +"What do you mean?" asked Frere hastily, as he heard a step approach. +"What has Blunt to say about her?" + +"Oh, I don't know," returned Pine. "He was smitten too, that's all. Like +a good many more, in fact." + +"A good many more!" repeated the other, with a pretence of carelessness. + +"Yes!" laughed Pine. "Why, man, she was making eyes at every man in the +ship! I caught her kissing a soldier once." + +Maurice Frere's cheeks grew hot. The experienced profligate had been +taken in, deceived, perhaps laughed at. All the time he had flattered +himself that he was fascinating the black-eyed maid, the black-eyed +maid had been twisting him round her finger, and perhaps imitating his +love-making for the gratification of her soldier-lover. It was not a +pleasant thought; and yet, strange to say, the idea of Sarah's treachery +did not make him dislike her. There is a sort of love--if love it can be +called--which thrives under ill-treatment. Nevertheless, he cursed with +some appearance of disgust. + +Vickers met them at the door. "Pine, Blunt has the fever. Mr. Best found +him in his cabin groaning. Come and look at him." + +The commander of the Malabar was lying on his bunk in the betwisted +condition into which men who sleep in their clothes contrive to get +themselves. The doctor shook him, bent down over him, and then loosened +his collar. "He's not sick," he said; "he's drunk! Blunt! wake up! +Blunt!" + +But the mass refused to move. + +"Hallo!" says Pine, smelling at the broken tumbler, "what's this? Smells +queer. Rum? No. Eh! Laudanum! By George, he's been hocussed!" + +"Nonsense!" + +"I see it," slapping his thigh. "It's that infernal woman! She's +drugged him, and meant to do the same for"--(Frere gave him an imploring +look)--"for anybody else who would be fool enough to let her do it. +Dawes was right, sir. She's in it; I'll swear she's in it." + +"What! my wife's maid? Nonsense!" said Vickers. + +"Nonsense!" echoed Frere. + +"It's no nonsense. That soldier who was shot, what's his name?--Miles, +he--but, however, it doesn't matter. It's all over now." "The men will +confess before morning," says Vickers, "and we'll see." And he went off +to his wife's cabin. + +His wife opened the door for him. She had been sitting by the child's +bedside, listening to the firing, and waiting for her husband's return +without a murmur. Flirt, fribble, and shrew as she was, Julia Vickers +had displayed, in times of emergency, that glowing courage which women +of her nature at times possess. Though she would yawn over any book +above the level of a genteel love story; attempt to fascinate, with +ludicrous assumption of girlishness, boys young enough to be her sons; +shudder at a frog, and scream at a spider, she could sit throughout a +quarter of an hour of such suspense as she had just undergone with as +much courage as if she had been the strongest-minded woman that ever +denied her sex. "Is it all over?" she asked. + +"Yes, thank God!" said Vickers, pausing on the threshold. "All is safe +now, though we had a narrow escape, I believe. How's Sylvia?" The child +was lying on the bed with her fair hair scattered over the pillow, and +her tiny hands moving restlessly to and fro. + +"A little better, I think, though she has been talking a good deal." + +The red lips parted, and the blue eyes, brighter than ever, stared +vacantly around. The sound of her father's voice seemed to have roused +her, for she began to speak a little prayer: "God bless papa and mamma, +and God bless all on board this ship. God bless me, and make me a good +girl, for Jesus Christ's sake, our Lord. Amen." + +The sound of the unconscious child's simple prayer had something awesome +in it, and John Vickers, who, not ten minutes before, would have sealed +his own death warrant unhesitatingly to preserve the safety of the +vessel, felt his eyes fill with unwonted tears. The contrast was +curious. From out the midst of that desolate ocean--in a fever-smitten +prison ship, leagues from land, surrounded by ruffians, thieves, and +murderers, the baby voice of an innocent child called confidently on +Heaven. + + + * * * * * + + +Two hours afterwards--as the Malabar, escaped from the peril which had +menaced her, plunged cheerily through the rippling water--the mutineers, +by the spokesman, Mr. James Vetch, confessed. + +"They were very sorry, and hoped that their breach of discipline would +be forgiven. It was the fear of the typhus which had driven them to it. +They had no accomplices either in the prison or out of it, but they felt +it but right to say that the man who had planned the mutiny was Rufus +Dawes." + +The malignant cripple had guessed from whom the information which +had led to the failure of the plot had been derived, and this was his +characteristic revenge. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. A NEWSPAPER PARAGRAPH. + + + +Extracted from the Hobart Town Courier of the 12th November, 1827:-- + +"The examination of the prisoners who were concerned in the attempt upon +the Malabar was concluded on Tuesday last. The four ringleaders, Dawes +Gabbett, Vetch, and Sanders, were condemned to death; but we understand +that, by the clemency of his Excellency the Governor, their sentence +has been commuted to six years at the penal settlement of Macquarie +Harbour." + + + +END OF BOOK THE FIRST + + + + + + +BOOK II.--MACQUARIE HARBOUR. 1833. + + + + + + +CHAPTER I. THE TOPOGRAPHY OF VAN DIEMEN'S LAND. + + + +The south-east coast of Van Diemen's Land, from the solitary Mewstone to +the basaltic cliffs of Tasman's Head, from Tasman's Head to Cape Pillar, +and from Cape Pillar to the rugged grandeur of Pirates' Bay, resembles +a biscuit at which rats have been nibbling. Eaten away by the continual +action of the ocean which, pouring round by east and west, has divided +the peninsula from the mainland of the Australasian continent--and done +for Van Diemen's Land what it has done for the Isle of Wight--the shore +line is broken and ragged. Viewed upon the map, the fantastic fragments +of island and promontory which lie scattered between the South-West Cape +and the greater Swan Port, are like the curious forms assumed by melted +lead spilt into water. If the supposition were not too extravagant, one +might imagine that when the Australian continent was fused, a careless +giant upset the crucible, and spilt Van Diemen's land in the ocean. The +coast navigation is as dangerous as that of the Mediterranean. Passing +from Cape Bougainville to the east of Maria Island, and between the +numerous rocks and shoals which lie beneath the triple height of the +Three Thumbs, the mariner is suddenly checked by Tasman's Peninsula, +hanging, like a huge double-dropped ear-ring, from the mainland. Getting +round under the Pillar rock through Storm Bay to Storing Island, we +sight the Italy of this miniature Adriatic. Between Hobart Town +and Sorrell, Pittwater and the Derwent, a strangely-shaped point of +land--the Italian boot with its toe bent upwards--projects into the bay, +and, separated from this projection by a narrow channel, dotted with +rocks, the long length of Bruny Island makes, between its western +side and the cliffs of Mount Royal, the dangerous passage known as +D'Entrecasteaux Channel. At the southern entrance of D'Entrecasteaux +Channel, a line of sunken rocks, known by the generic name of the +Actaeon reef, attests that Bruny Head was once joined with the shores +of Recherche Bay; while, from the South Cape to the jaws of Macquarie +Harbour, the white water caused by sunken reefs, or the jagged peaks of +single rocks abruptly rising in mid sea, warn the mariner off shore. + +It would seem as though nature, jealous of the beauties of her silver +Derwent, had made the approach to it as dangerous as possible; but +once through the archipelago of D'Entrecasteaux Channel, or the less +dangerous eastern passage of Storm Bay, the voyage up the river is +delightful. From the sentinel solitude of the Iron Pot to the smiling +banks of New Norfolk, the river winds in a succession of reaches, +narrowing to a deep channel cleft between rugged and towering cliffs. A +line drawn due north from the source of the Derwent would strike another +river winding out from the northern part of the island, as the Derwent +winds out from the south. The force of the waves, expended, perhaps, in +destroying the isthmus which, two thousand years ago, probably connected +Van Diemen's Land with the continent has been here less violent. The +rounding currents of the Southern Ocean, meeting at the mouth of the +Tamar, have rushed upwards over the isthmus they have devoured, and +pouring against the south coast of Victoria, have excavated there that +inland sea called Port Philip Bay. If the waves have gnawed the south +coast of Van Diemen's Land, they have bitten a mouthful out of the south +coast of Victoria. The Bay is a millpool, having an area of nine hundred +square miles, with a race between the heads two miles across. + +About a hundred and seventy miles to the south of this mill-race lies +Van Diemen's Land, fertile, fair, and rich, rained upon by the genial +showers from the clouds which, attracted by the Frenchman's Cap, Wyld's +Crag, or the lofty peaks of the Wellington and Dromedary range, pour +down upon the sheltered valleys their fertilizing streams. No parching +hot wind--the scavenger, if the torment, of the continent--blows upon +her crops and corn. The cool south breeze ripples gently the blue waters +of the Derwent, and fans the curtains of the open windows of the city +which nestles in the broad shadow of Mount Wellington. The hot wind, +born amid the burning sand of the interior of the vast Australian +continent, sweeps over the scorched and cracking plains, to lick up +their streams and wither the herbage in its path, until it meets the +waters of the great south bay; but in its passage across the straits it +is reft of its fire, and sinks, exhausted with its journey, at the feet +of the terraced slopes of Launceston. + +The climate of Van Diemen's Land is one of the loveliest in the world. +Launceston is warm, sheltered, and moist; and Hobart Town, protected by +Bruny Island and its archipelago of D'Entrecasteaux Channel and Storm +Bay from the violence of the southern breakers, preserves the mean +temperature of Smyrna; whilst the district between these two towns +spreads in a succession of beautiful valleys, through which glide clear +and sparkling streams. But on the western coast, from the steeple-rocks +of Cape Grim to the scrub-encircled barrenness of Sandy Cape, and +the frowning entrance to Macquarie Harbour, the nature of the country +entirely changes. Along that iron-bound shore, from Pyramid Island and +the forest-backed solitude of Rocky Point, to the great Ram Head, and +the straggling harbour of Port Davey, all is bleak and cheerless. Upon +that dreary beach the rollers of the southern sea complete their circuit +of the globe, and the storm that has devastated the Cape, and united in +its eastern course with the icy blasts which sweep northward from the +unknown terrors of the southern pole, crashes unchecked upon the Huon +pine forests, and lashes with rain the grim front of Mount Direction. +Furious gales and sudden tempests affright the natives of the coast. +Navigation is dangerous, and the entrance to the "Hell's Gates" of +Macquarie Harbour--at the time of which we are writing (1833), in the +height of its ill-fame as a convict settlement--is only to be attempted +in calm weather. The sea-line is marked with wrecks. The sunken rocks +are dismally named after the vessels they have destroyed. The air is +chill and moist, the soil prolific only in prickly undergrowth and +noxious weeds, while foetid exhalations from swamp and fen cling close +to the humid, spongy ground. All around breathes desolation; on the face +of nature is stamped a perpetual frown. The shipwrecked sailor, crawling +painfully to the summit of basalt cliffs, or the ironed convict, +dragging his tree trunk to the edge of some beetling plateau, looks down +upon a sea of fog, through which rise mountain-tops like islands; or +sees through the biting sleet a desert of scrub and crag rolling to the +feet of Mount Heemskirk and Mount Zeehan--crouched like two sentinel +lions keeping watch over the seaboard. + + + + +CHAPTER II. THE SOLITARY OF "HELL'S GATES". + + + +"Hell's Gates," formed by a rocky point, which runs abruptly northward, +almost touches, on its eastern side, a projecting arm of land which +guards the entrance to King's River. In the middle of the gates is a +natural bolt--that is to say, an island-which, lying on a sandy bar in +the very jaws of the current, creates a double whirlpool, impossible +to pass in the smoothest weather. Once through the gates, the convict, +chained on the deck of the inward-bound vessel, sees in front of him the +bald cone of the Frenchman's Cap, piercing the moist air at a height of +five thousand feet; while, gloomed by overhanging rocks, and shadowed +by gigantic forests, the black sides of the basin narrow to the mouth of +the Gordon. The turbulent stream is the colour of indigo, and, being fed +by numerous rivulets, which ooze through masses of decaying vegetable +matter, is of so poisonous a nature that it is not only undrinkable, but +absolutely kills the fish, which in stormy weather are driven in from +the sea. As may be imagined, the furious tempests which beat upon this +exposed coast create a strong surf-line. After a few days of north-west +wind the waters of the Gordon will be found salt for twelve miles up +from the bar. The head-quarters of the settlement were placed on an +island not far from the mouth of this inhospitable river, called Sarah +Island. + +Though now the whole place is desolate, and a few rotting posts and logs +alone remain-mute witnesses of scenes of agony never to be revived--in +the year 1833 the buildings were numerous and extensive. On Philip's +Island, on the north side of the harbour, was a small farm, where +vegetables were grown for the use of the officers of the establishment; +and, on Sarah Island, were sawpits, forges, dockyards, gaol, +guard-house, barracks, and jetty. The military force numbered about +sixty men, who, with convict-warders and constables, took charge of +more than three hundred and fifty prisoners. These miserable wretches, +deprived of every hope, were employed in the most degrading labour. +No beast of burden was allowed on the settlement; all the pulling and +dragging was done by human beings. About one hundred "good-conduct" men +were allowed the lighter toil of dragging timber to the wharf, to +assist in shipbuilding; the others cut down the trees that fringed the +mainland, and carried them on their shoulders to the water's edge. The +denseness of the scrub and bush rendered it necessary for a "roadway," +perhaps a quarter of a mile in length, to be first constructed; and the +trunks of trees, stripped of their branches, were rolled together in +this roadway, until a "slide" was made, down which the heavier logs +could be shunted towards the harbour. The timber thus obtained was made +into rafts, and floated to the sheds, or arranged for transportation +to Hobart Town. The convicts were lodged on Sarah Island, in barracks +flanked by a two-storied prison, whose "cells" were the terror of the +most hardened. Each morning they received their breakfast of porridge, +water, and salt, and then rowed, under the protection of their guard, to +the wood-cutting stations, where they worked without food, until night. +The launching and hewing of the timber compelled them to work up to +their waists in water. Many of them were heavily ironed. Those who died +were buried on a little plot of ground, called Halliday's Island (from +the name of the first man buried there), and a plank stuck into the +earth, and carved with the initials of the deceased, was the only +monument vouchsafed him. + +Sarah Island, situated at the south-east corner of the harbour, is long +and low. The commandant's house was built in the centre, having the +chaplain's house and barracks between it and the gaol. The hospital was +on the west shore, and in a line with it lay the two penitentiaries. +Lines of lofty palisades ran round the settlement, giving it the +appearance of a fortified town. These palisades were built for the +purpose of warding off the terrific blasts of wind, which, shrieking +through the long and narrow bay as through the keyhole of a door, had in +former times tore off roofs and levelled boat-sheds. The little town +was set, as it were, in defiance of Nature, at the very extreme of +civilization, and its inhabitants maintained perpetual warfare with the +winds and waves. + +But the gaol of Sarah Island was not the only prison in this desolate +region. + +At a little distance from the mainland is a rock, over the rude side +of which the waves dash in rough weather. On the evening of the 3rd +December, 1833, as the sun was sinking behind the tree-tops on the left +side of the harbour, the figure of a man appeared on the top of this +rock. He was clad in the coarse garb of a convict, and wore round his +ankles two iron rings, connected by a short and heavy chain. To the +middle of this chain a leathern strap was attached, which, splitting +in the form of a T, buckled round his waist, and pulled the chain high +enough to prevent him from stumbling over it as he walked. His head was +bare, and his coarse, blue-striped shirt, open at the throat, displayed +an embrowned and muscular neck. Emerging from out a sort of cell, or +den, contrived by nature or art in the side of the cliff, he threw on +a scanty fire, which burned between two hollowed rocks, a small log of +pine wood, and then returning to his cave, and bringing from it an iron +pot, which contained water, he scooped with his toil-hardened hands a +resting-place for it in the ashes, and placed it on the embers. It was +evident that the cave was at once his storehouse and larder, and that +the two hollowed rocks formed his kitchen. + +Having thus made preparations for supper, he ascended a pathway which +led to the highest point of the rock. His fetters compelled him to take +short steps, and, as he walked, he winced as though the iron bit him. +A handkerchief or strip of cloth was twisted round his left ankle; on +which the circlet had chafed a sore. Painfully and slowly, he gained his +destination, and flinging himself on the ground, gazed around him. The +afternoon had been stormy, and the rays of the setting sun shone redly +on the turbid and rushing waters of the bay. On the right lay Sarah +Island; on the left the bleak shore of the opposite and the tall peak of +the Frenchman's Cap; while the storm hung sullenly over the barren hills +to the eastward. Below him appeared the only sign of life. A brig was +being towed up the harbour by two convict-manned boats. + +The sight of this brig seemed to rouse in the mind of the solitary of +the rock a strain of reflection, for, sinking his chin upon his hand, +he fixed his eyes on the incoming vessel, and immersed himself in moody +thought. More than an hour had passed, yet he did not move. The ship +anchored, the boats detached themselves from her sides, the sun sank, +and the bay was plunged in gloom. Lights began to twinkle along the +shore of the settlement. The little fire died, and the water in the iron +pot grew cold; yet the watcher on the rock did not stir. With his eyes +staring into the gloom, and fixed steadily on the vessel, he lay along +the barren cliff of his lonely prison as motionless as the rock on which +he had stretched himself. + +This solitary man was Rufus Dawes. + + + + +CHAPTER III. A SOCIAL EVENING. + + + +In the house of Major Vickers, Commandant of Macquarie Harbour, there +was, on this evening of December 3rd, unusual gaiety. + +Lieutenant Maurice Frere, late in command at Maria Island, had +unexpectedly come down with news from head-quarters. The Ladybird, +Government schooner, visited the settlement on ordinary occasions twice +a year, and such visits were looked forward to with no little eagerness +by the settlers. To the convicts the arrival of the Ladybird meant +arrival of new faces, intelligence of old comrades, news of how the +world, from which they were exiled, was progressing. When the Ladybird +arrived, the chained and toil-worn felons felt that they were yet human, +that the universe was not bounded by the gloomy forests which surrounded +their prison, but that there was a world beyond, where men, like +themselves, smoked, and drank, and laughed, and rested, and were Free. +When the Ladybird arrived, they heard such news as interested them--that +is to say, not mere foolish accounts of wars or ship arrivals, or city +gossip, but matters appertaining to their own world--how Tom was with +the road gangs, Dick on a ticket-of-leave, Harry taken to the bush, and +Jack hung at the Hobart Town Gaol. Such items of intelligence were the +only news they cared to hear, and the new-comers were well posted up in +such matters. To the convicts the Ladybird was town talk, theatre, +stock quotations, and latest telegrams. She was their newspaper and +post-office, the one excitement of their dreary existence, the one link +between their own misery and the happiness of their fellow-creatures. To +the Commandant and the "free men" this messenger from the outer life +was scarcely less welcome. There was not a man on the island who did not +feel his heart grow heavier when her white sails disappeared behind the +shoulder of the hill. + +On the present occasion business of more than ordinary importance had +procured for Major Vickers this pleasurable excitement. It had been +resolved by Governor Arthur that the convict establishment should be +broken up. A succession of murders and attempted escapes had called +public attention to the place, and its distance from Hobart Town +rendered it inconvenient and expensive. Arthur had fixed upon Tasman's +Peninsula--the earring of which we have spoken--as a future convict +depot, and naming it Port Arthur, in honour of himself, had sent down +Lieutenant Maurice Frere with instructions for Vickers to convey the +prisoners of Macquarie Harbour thither. + +In order to understand the magnitude and meaning of such an order as +that with which Lieutenant Frere was entrusted, we must glance at the +social condition of the penal colony at this period of its history. + +Nine years before, Colonel Arthur, late Governor of Honduras, had +arrived at a most critical moment. The former Governor, Colonel Sorrell, +was a man of genial temperament, but little strength of character. He +was, moreover, profligate in his private life; and, encouraged by his +example, his officers violated all rules of social decency. It was +common for an officer to openly keep a female convict as his mistress. +Not only would compliance purchase comforts, but strange stories were +afloat concerning the persecution of women who dared to choose their own +lovers. To put down this profligacy was the first care of Arthur; and in +enforcing a severe attention to etiquette and outward respectability, he +perhaps erred on the side of virtue. Honest, brave, and high-minded, +he was also penurious and cold, and the ostentatious good humour of +the colonists dashed itself in vain against his polite indifference. In +opposition to this official society created by Governor Arthur was that +of the free settlers and the ticket-of-leave men. The latter were more +numerous than one would be apt to suppose. On the 2nd November, 1829, +thirty-eight free pardons and fifty-six conditional pardons appeared on +the books; and the number of persons holding tickets-of-leave, on the +26th of September the same year, was seven hundred and forty-five. + +Of the social condition of these people at this time it is impossible to +speak without astonishment. According to the recorded testimony of many +respectable persons-Government officials, military officers, and free +settlers-the profligacy of the settlers was notorious. Drunkenness was +a prevailing vice. Even children were to be seen in the streets +intoxicated. On Sundays, men and women might be observed standing round +the public-house doors, waiting for the expiration of the hours of +public worship, in order to continue their carousing. As for the +condition of the prisoner population, that, indeed, is indescribable. +Notwithstanding the severe punishment for sly grog-selling, it was +carried on to a large extent. Men and women were found intoxicated +together, and a bottle of brandy was considered to be cheaply bought at +the price of twenty lashes. In the factory--a prison for females--the +vilest abuses were committed, while the infamies current, as matters +of course, in chain gangs and penal settlements, were of too horrible +a nature to be more than hinted at here. All that the vilest and most +bestial of human creatures could invent and practise, was in this +unhappy country invented and practised without restraint and without +shame. + +Seven classes of criminals were established in 1826, when the new +barracks for prisoners at Hobart Town were finished. The first class +were allowed to sleep out of barracks, and to work for themselves on +Saturday; the second had only the last-named indulgence; the third were +only allowed Saturday afternoon; the fourth and fifth were "refractory +and disorderly characters--to work in irons;" the sixth were "men of +the most degraded and incorrigible character--to be worked in irons, and +kept entirely separate from the other prisoners;" while the seventh were +the refuse of this refuse--the murderers, bandits, and villains, whom +neither chain nor lash could tame. They were regarded as socially dead, +and shipped to Hell's Gates, or Maria Island. Hells Gates was the most +dreaded of all these houses of bondage. The discipline at the place was +so severe, and the life so terrible, that prisoners would risk all to +escape from it. In one year, of eighty-five deaths there, only thirty +were from natural causes; of the remaining dead, twenty-seven were +drowned, eight killed accidentally, three shot by the soldiers, and +twelve murdered by their comrades. In 1822, one hundred and sixty-nine +men out of one hundred and eighty-two were punished to the extent of two +thousand lashes. During the ten years of its existence, one hundred +and twelve men escaped, out of whom sixty-two only were found-dead. +The prisoners killed themselves to avoid living any longer, and if so +fortunate as to penetrate the desert of scrub, heath, and swamp, which +lay between their prison and the settled districts, preferred death to +recapture. Successfully to transport the remnant of this desperate band +of doubly-convicted felons to Arthur's new prison, was the mission of +Maurice Frere. + +He was sitting by the empty fire-place, with one leg carelessly thrown +over the other, entertaining the company with his usual indifferent air. +The six years that had passed since his departure from England had given +him a sturdier frame and a fuller face. His hair was coarser, his face +redder, and his eye more hard, but in demeanour he was little changed. +Sobered he might be, and his voice had acquired that decisive, insured +tone which a voice exercised only in accents of command invariably +acquires, but his bad qualities were as prominent as ever. His five +years' residence at Maria Island had increased that brutality of +thought, and overbearing confidence in his own importance, for which he +had been always remarkable, but it had also given him an assured air of +authority, which covered the more unpleasant features of his character. +He was detested by the prisoners--as he said, "it was a word and a blow +with him"--but, among his superiors, he passed for an officer, honest +and painstaking, though somewhat bluff and severe. + +"Well, Mrs. Vickers," he said, as he took a cup of tea from the hands +of that lady, "I suppose you won't be sorry to get away from this place, +eh? Trouble you for the toast, Vickers!" + +"No indeed," says poor Mrs. Vickers, with the old girlishness shadowed +by six years; "I shall be only too glad. A dreadful place! John's +duties, however, are imperative. But the wind! My dear Mr. Frere, you've +no idea of it; I wanted to send Sylvia to Hobart Town, but John would +not let her go." + +"By the way, how is Miss Sylvia?" asked Frere, with the patronising air +which men of his stamp adopt when they speak of children. + +"Not very well, I'm sorry to say," returned Vickers. "You see, it's +lonely for her here. There are no children of her own age, with the +exception of the pilot's little girl, and she cannot associate with her. +But I did not like to leave her behind, and endeavoured to teach her +myself." + +"Hum! There was a-ha-governess, or something, was there not?" said +Frere, staring into his tea-cup. "That maid, you know--what was her +name?" + +"Miss Purfoy," said Mrs. Vickers, a little gravely. "Yes, poor thing! A +sad story, Mr. Frere." + +Frere's eye twinkled. + +"Indeed! I left, you know, shortly after the trial of the mutineers, and +never heard the full particulars." He spoke carelessly, but he awaited +the reply with keen curiosity. + +"A sad story!" repeated Mrs. Vickers. "She was the wife of that wretched +man, Rex, and came out as my maid in order to be near him. She would +never tell me her history, poor thing, though all through the dreadful +accusations made by that horrid doctor--I always disliked that man--I +begged her almost on my knees. You know how she nursed Sylvia and poor +John. Really a most superior creature. I think she must have been a +governess." + +Mr. Frere raised his eyebrows abruptly, as though he would say, +Governess! Of course. Happy suggestion. Wonder it never occurred to +me before. "However, her conduct was most exemplary--really most +exemplary--and during the six months we were in Hobart Town she taught +little Sylvia a great deal. Of course she could not help her wretched +husband, you know. Could she?" + +"Certainly not!" said Frere heartily. "I heard something about him too. +Got into some scrape, did he not? Half a cup, please." + +"Miss Purfoy, or Mrs. Rex, as she really was, though I don't suppose Rex +is her real name either--sugar and milk, I think you said--came into +a little legacy from an old aunt in England." Mr. Frere gave a little +bluff nod, meaning thereby, Old aunt! Exactly. Just what might have been +expected. "And left my service. She took a little cottage on the New +Town road, and Rex was assigned to her as her servant." + +"I see. The old dodge!" says Frere, flushing a little. "Well?" + +"Well, the wretched man tried to escape, and she helped him. He was to +get to Launceston, and so on board a vessel to Sydney; but they took the +unhappy creature, and he was sent down here. She was only fined, but it +ruined her." + +"Ruined her?" + +"Well, you see, only a few people knew of her relationship to Rex, and +she was rather respected. Of course, when it became known, what with +that dreadful trial and the horrible assertions of Dr. Pine--you will +not believe me, I know, there was something about that man I never +liked--she was quite left alone. She wanted me to bring her down here to +teach Sylvia; but John thought that it was only to be near her husband, +and wouldn't allow it." + +"Of course it was," said Vickers, rising. "Frere, if you'd like to +smoke, we'll go on the verandah.--She will never be satisfied until she +gets that scoundrel free." + +"He's a bad lot, then?" says Frere, opening the glass window, and +leading the way to the sandy garden. "You will excuse my roughness, Mrs. +Vickers, but I have become quite a slave to my pipe. Ha, ha, it's wife +and child to me!" + +"Oh, a very bad lot," returned Vickers; "quiet and silent, but ready +for any villainy. I count him one of the worst men we have. With the +exception of one or two more, I think he is the worst." + +"Why don't you flog 'em?" says Frere, lighting his pipe in the gloom. +"By George, sir, I cut the hides off my fellows if they show any +nonsense!" + +"Well," says Vickers, "I don't care about too much cat myself. Barton, +who was here before me, flogged tremendously, but I don't think it +did any good. They tried to kill him several times. You remember those +twelve fellows who were hung? No! Ah, of course, you were away." + +"What do you do with 'em?" + +"Oh, flog the worst, you know; but I don't flog more than a man a week, +as a rule, and never more than fifty lashes. They're getting quieter +now. Then we iron, and dumb-cells, and maroon them." + +"Do what?" + +"Give them solitary confinement on Grummet Island. When a man gets very +bad, we clap him into a boat with a week's provisions and pull him over +to Grummet. There are cells cut in the rock, you see, and the fellow +pulls up his commissariat after him, and lives there by himself for a +month or so. It tames them wonderfully." + +"Does it?" said Frere. "By Jove! it's a capital notion. I wish I had a +place of that sort at Maria." + +"I've a fellow there now," says Vickers; "Dawes. You remember him, of +course--the ringleader of the mutiny in the Malabar. A dreadful ruffian. +He was most violent the first year I was here. Barton used to flog +a good deal, and Dawes had a childish dread of the cat. When I came +in--when was it?--in '29, he'd made a sort of petition to be sent back +to the settlement. Said that he was innocent of the mutiny, and that the +accusation against him was false." + +"The old dodge," said Frere again. "A match? Thanks." + +"Of course, I couldn't let him go; but I took him out of the chain-gang, +and put him on the Osprey. You saw her in the dock as you came in. He +worked for some time very well, and then tried to bolt again." + +"The old trick. Ha! ha! don't I know it?" says Mr. Frere, emitting a +streak of smoke in the air, expressive of preternatural wisdom. + +"Well, we caught him, and gave him fifty. Then he was sent to the +chain-gang, cutting timber. Then we put him into the boats, but +he quarrelled with the coxswain, and then we took him back to the +timber-rafts. About six weeks ago he made another attempt--together with +Gabbett, the man who nearly killed you--but his leg was chafed with the +irons, and we took him. Gabbett and three more, however, got away." + +"Haven't you found 'em?" asked Frere, puffing at his pipe. + +"No. But they'll come to the same fate as the rest," said Vickers, with +a sort of dismal pride. "No man ever escaped from Macquarie Harbour." + +Frere laughed. "By the Lord!" said he, "it will be rather hard for 'em +if they don't come back before the end of the month, eh?" + +"Oh," said Vickers, "they're sure to come--if they can come at all; but +once lost in the scrub, a man hasn't much chance for his life." + +"When do you think you will be ready to move?" asked Frere. + +"As soon as you wish. I don't want to stop a moment longer than I can +help. It is a terrible life, this." + +"Do you think so?" asked his companion, in unaffected surprise. "I like +it. It's dull, certainly. When I first went to Maria I was dreadfully +bored, but one soon gets used to it. There is a sort of satisfaction +to me, by George, in keeping the scoundrels in order. I like to see the +fellows' eyes glint at you as you walk past 'em. Gad, they'd tear me to +pieces, if they dared, some of 'em!" and he laughed grimly, as though +the hate he inspired was a thing to be proud of. + +"How shall we go?" asked Vickers. "Have you got any instructions?" + +"No," says Frere; "it's all left to you. Get 'em up the best way you +can, Arthur said, and pack 'em off to the new peninsula. He thinks you +too far off here, by George! He wants to have you within hail." + +"It's dangerous taking so many at once," suggested Vickers. + +"Not a bit. Batten 'em down and keep the sentries awake, and they won't +do any harm." + +"But Mrs. Vickers and the child?" + +"I've thought of that. You take the Ladybird with the prisoners, and +leave me to bring up Mrs. Vickers in the Osprey." + +"We might do that. Indeed, it's the best way, I think. I don't like the +notion of having Sylvia among those wretches, and yet I don't like to +leave her." + +"Well," says Frere, confident of his own ability to accomplish anything +he might undertake, "I'll take the Ladybird, and you the Osprey. Bring +up Mrs. Vickers yourself." + +"No, no," said Vickers, with a touch of his old pomposity, "that won't +do. By the King's Regulations--" + +"All right," interjected Frere, "you needn't quote 'em. 'The officer +commanding is obliged to place himself in charge'--all right, my dear +sir. I've no objection in life." + +"It was Sylvia that I was thinking of," said Vickers. + +"Well, then," cries the other, as the door of the room inside opened, +and a little white figure came through into the broad verandah. "Here +she is! Ask her yourself. Well, Miss Sylvia, will you come and shake +hands with an old friend?" + +The bright-haired baby of the Malabar had become a bright-haired child +of some eleven years old, and as she stood in her simple white dress in +the glow of the lamplight, even the unaesthetic mind of Mr. Frere was +struck by her extreme beauty. Her bright blue eyes were as bright and as +blue as ever. Her little figure was as upright and as supple as a willow +rod; and her innocent, delicate face was framed in a nimbus of that fine +golden hair--dry and electrical, each separate thread shining with a +lustre of its own--with which the dreaming painters of the middle ages +endowed and glorified their angels. + +"Come and give me a kiss, Miss Sylvia!" cries Frere. "You haven't +forgotten me, have you?" + +But the child, resting one hand on her father's knee, surveyed Mr. Frere +from head to foot with the charming impertinence of childhood, and then, +shaking her head, inquired: "Who is he, papa?" + +"Mr. Frere, darling. Don't you remember Mr. Frere, who used to play ball +with you on board the ship, and who was so kind to you when you were +getting well? For shame, Sylvia!" + +There was in the chiding accents such an undertone of tenderness, that +the reproof fell harmless. + +"I remember you," said Sylvia, tossing her head; "but you were nicer +then than you are now. I don't like you at all." + +"You don't remember me," said Frere, a little disconcerted, and +affecting to be intensely at his ease. "I am sure you don't. What is my +name?" + +"Lieutenant Frere. You knocked down a prisoner who picked up my ball. I +don't like you." + +"You're a forward young lady, upon my word!" said Frere, with a great +laugh. "Ha! ha! so I did, begad, I recollect now. What a memory you've +got!" + +"He's here now, isn't he, papa?" went on Sylvia, regardless of +interruption. "Rufus Dawes is his name, and he's always in trouble. Poor +fellow, I'm sorry for him. Danny says he's queer in his mind." + +"And who's Danny?" asked Frere, with another laugh. + +"The cook," replied Vickers. "An old man I took out of hospital. Sylvia, +you talk too much with the prisoners. I have forbidden you once or twice +before." + +"But Danny is not a prisoner, papa--he's a cook," says Sylvia, nothing +abashed, "and he's a clever man. He told me all about London, where the +Lord Mayor rides in a glass coach, and all the work is done by free men. +He says you never hear chains there. I should like to see London, papa!" + +"So would Mr. Danny, I have no doubt," said Frere. + +"No--he didn't say that. But he wants to see his old mother, he says. +Fancy Danny's mother! What an ugly old woman she must be! He says he'll +see her in Heaven. Will he, papa?" + +"I hope so, my dear." + +"Papa!" + +"Yes." + +"Will Danny wear his yellow jacket in Heaven, or go as a free man?" + +Frere burst into a roar at this. + +"You're an impertinent fellow, sir!" cried Sylvia, her bright eyes +flashing. "How dare you laugh at me? If I was papa, I'd give you half an +hour at the triangles. Oh, you impertinent man!" and, crimson with rage, +the spoilt little beauty ran out of the room. Vickers looked grave, but +Frere was constrained to get up to laugh at his ease. + +"Good! 'Pon honour, that's good! The little vixen!--Half an hour at the +triangles! Ha-ha! ha, ha, ha!" + +"She is a strange child," said Vickers, "and talks strangely for her +age; but you mustn't mind her. She is neither girl nor woman, you see; +and her education has been neglected. Moreover, this gloomy place and +its associations--what can you expect from a child bred in a convict +settlement?" + +"My dear sir," says the other, "she's delightful! Her innocence of the +world is amazing!" + +"She must have three or four years at a good finishing school at Sydney. +Please God, I will give them to her when we go back--or send her to +England if I can. She is a good-hearted girl, but she wants polishing +sadly, I'm afraid." + +Just then someone came up the garden path and saluted. + +"What is it, Troke?" + +"Prisoner given himself up, sir." + +"Which of them?" + +"Gabbett. He came back to-night." + +"Alone?" "Yes, sir. The rest have died--he says." + +"What's that?" asked Frere, suddenly interested. + +"The bolter I was telling you about--Gabbett, your old friend. He's +returned." + +"How long has he been out?" + +"Nigh six weeks, sir," said the constable, touching his cap. + +"Gad, he's had a narrow squeak for it, I'll be bound. I should like to +see him." + +"He's down at the sheds," said the ready Troke--"a 'good conduct' +burglar. You can see him at once, gentlemen, if you like." + +"What do you say, Vickers?" + +"Oh, by all means." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. THE BOLTER. + + + +It was not far to the sheds, and after a few minutes' walk through the +wooden palisades they reached a long stone building, two storeys high, +from which issued a horrible growling, pierced with shrilly screamed +songs. At the sound of the musket butts clashing on the pine-wood +flagging, the noises ceased, and a silence more sinister than sound fell +on the place. + +Passing between two rows of warders, the two officers reached a sort of +ante-room to the gaol, containing a pine-log stretcher, on which a mass +of something was lying. On a roughly-made stool, by the side of this +stretcher, sat a man, in the grey dress (worn as a contrast to the +yellow livery) of "good conduct" prisoners. This man held between his +knees a basin containing gruel, and was apparently endeavouring to feed +the mass on the pine logs. + +"Won't he eat, Steve?" asked Vickers. + +And at the sound of the Commandant's voice, Steve arose. + +"Dunno what's wrong wi' 'un, sir," he said, jerking up a finger to his +forehead. "He seems jest muggy-pated. I can't do nothin' wi' 'un." + +"Gabbett!" + +The intelligent Troke, considerately alive to the wishes of his superior +officers, dragged the mass into a sitting posture. + +Gabbett--for it was he--passed one great hand over his face, and leaning +exactly in the position in which Troke placed him, scowled, bewildered, +at his visitors. + +"Well, Gabbett," says Vickers, "you've come back again, you see. When +will you learn sense, eh? Where are your mates?" + +The giant did not reply. + +"Do you hear me? Where are your mates?" + +"Where are your mates?" repeated Troke. + +"Dead," says Gabbett. + +"All three of them?" + +"Ay." + +"And how did you get back?" + +Gabbett, in eloquent silence, held out a bleeding foot. + +"We found him on the point, sir," said Troke, jauntily explaining, "and +brought him across in the boat. He had a basin of gruel, but he didn't +seem hungry." + +"Are you hungry?" + +"Yes." + +"Why don't you eat your gruel?" + +Gabbett curled his great lips. + +"I have eaten it. Ain't yer got nuffin' better nor that to flog a man +on? Ugh! yer a mean lot! Wot's it to be this time, Major? Fifty?" + +And laughing, he rolled down again on the logs. + +"A nice specimen!" said Vickers, with a hopeless smile. "What can one do +with such a fellow?" + +"I'd flog his soul out of his body," said Frere, "if he spoke to me like +that!" + +Troke and the others, hearing the statement, conceived an instant +respect for the new-comer. He looked as if he would keep his word. + +The giant raised his great head and looked at the speaker, but did not +recognize him. He saw only a strange face--a visitor perhaps. "You +may flog, and welcome, master," said he, "if you'll give me a fig o' +tibbacky." Frere laughed. The brutal indifference of the rejoinder +suited his humour, and, with a glance at Vickers, he took a small piece +of cavendish from the pocket of his pea-jacket, and gave it to the +recaptured convict. Gabbett snatched it as a cur snatches at a bone, and +thrust it whole into his mouth. + +"How many mates had he?" asked Maurice, watching the champing jaws +as one looks at a strange animal, and asking the question as though a +"mate" was something a convict was born with--like a mole, for instance. + +"Three, sir." + +"Three, eh? Well, give him thirty lashes, Vickers." + +"And if I ha' had three more," growled Gabbett, mumbling at his tobacco, +"you wouldn't ha' had the chance." + +"What does he say?" + +But Troke had not heard, and the "good-conduct" man, shrinking as it +seemed, slightly from the prisoner, said he had not heard either. The +wretch himself, munching hard at his tobacco, relapsed into his restless +silence, and was as though he had never spoken. + +As he sat there gloomily chewing, he was a spectacle to shudder at. Not +so much on account of his natural hideousness, increased a thousand-fold +by the tattered and filthy rags which barely covered him. Not so much on +account of his unshaven jaws, his hare-lip, his torn and bleeding +feet, his haggard cheeks, and his huge, wasted frame. Not only because, +looking at the animal, as he crouched, with one foot curled round the +other, and one hairy arm pendant between his knees, he was so horribly +unhuman, that one shuddered to think that tender women and fair children +must, of necessity, confess to fellowship of kind with such a monster. +But also because, in his slavering mouth, his slowly grinding jaws, his +restless fingers, and his bloodshot, wandering eyes, there lurked a hint +of some terror more awful than the terror of starvation--a memory of a +tragedy played out in the gloomy depths of that forest which had vomited +him forth again; and the shadow of this unknown horror, clinging to him, +repelled and disgusted, as though he bore about with him the reek of the +shambles. + +"Come," said Vickers, "Let us go back. I shall have to flog him again, I +suppose. Oh, this place! No wonder they call it 'Hell's Gates'." + +"You are too soft-hearted, my dear sir," said Frere, half-way up the +palisaded path. "We must treat brutes like brutes." + +Major Vickers, inured as he was to such sentiments, sighed. "It is +not for me to find fault with the system," he said, hesitating, in +his reverence for "discipline", to utter all the thought; "but I have +sometimes wondered if kindness would not succeed better than the chain +and the cat." + +"Your old ideas!" laughed his companion. "Remember, they nearly cost +us our lives on the Malabar. No, no. I've seen something of +convicts--though, to be sure, my fellows were not so bad as yours--and +there's only one way. Keep 'em down, sir. Make 'em feel what they are. +They're there to work, sir. If they won't work, flog 'em until they +will. If they work well--why a taste of the cat now and then keeps 'em +in mind of what they may expect if they get lazy." They had reached the +verandah now. The rising moon shone softly on the bay beneath them, and +touched with her white light the summit of the Grummet Rock. + +"That is the general opinion, I know," returned Vickers. "But consider +the life they lead. Good God!" he added, with sudden vehemence, as Frere +paused to look at the bay. "I'm not a cruel man, and never, I believe, +inflicted an unmerited punishment, but since I have been here ten +prisoners have drowned themselves from yonder rock, rather than live +on in their misery. Only three weeks ago, two men, with a wood-cutting +party in the hills, having had some words with the overseer, shook hands +with the gang, and then, hand in hand, flung themselves over the cliff. +It's horrible to think of!" + +"They shouldn't get sent here," said practical Frere. "They knew what +they had to expect. Serve 'em right." + +"But imagine an innocent man condemned to this place!" + +"I can't," said Frere, with a laugh. "Innocent man be hanged! They're +all innocent, if you'd believe their own stories. Hallo! what's that red +light there?" + +"Dawes's fire, on Grummet Rock," says Vickers, going in; "the man I told +you about. Come in and have some brandy-and-water, and we'll shut the +door in place." + + + + +CHAPTER V. SYLVIA. + + + +"Well," said Frere, as they went in, "you'll be out of it soon. You can +get all ready to start by the end of the month, and I'll bring on Mrs. +Vickers afterwards." + +"What is that you say about me?" asked the sprightly Mrs. Vickers from +within. "You wicked men, leaving me alone all this time!" + +"Mr. Frere has kindly offered to bring you and Sylvia after us in the +Osprey. I shall, of course, have to take the Ladybird." + +"You are most kind, Mr. Frere, really you are," says Mrs. Vickers, a +recollection of her flirtation with a certain young lieutenant, six +years before, tinging her cheeks. "It is really most considerate of +you. Won't it be nice, Sylvia, to go with Mr. Frere and mamma to Hobart +Town?" + +"Mr. Frere," says Sylvia, coming from out a corner of the room, "I am +very sorry for what I said just now. Will you forgive me?" + +She asked the question in such a prim, old-fashioned way, standing in +front of him, with her golden locks streaming over her shoulders, and +her hands clasped on her black silk apron (Julia Vickers had her own +notions about dressing her daughter), that Frere was again inclined to +laugh. + +"Of course I'll forgive you, my dear," he said. "You didn't mean it, I +know." + +"Oh, but I did mean it, and that's why I'm sorry. I am a very naughty +girl sometimes, though you wouldn't think so" (this with a charming +consciousness of her own beauty), "especially with Roman history. I +don't think the Romans were half as brave as the Carthaginians; do you, +Mr. Frere?" + +Maurice, somewhat staggered by this question, could only ask, "Why not?" + +"Well, I don't like them half so well myself," says Sylvia, with +feminine disdain of reasons. "They always had so many soldiers, though +the others were so cruel when they conquered." + +"Were they?" says Frere. + +"Were they! Goodness gracious, yes! Didn't they cut poor Regulus's +eyelids off, and roll him down hill in a barrel full of nails? What do +you call that, I should like to know?" and Mr. Frere, shaking his red +head with vast assumption of classical learning, could not but concede +that that was not kind on the part of the Carthaginians. + +"You are a great scholar, Miss Sylvia," he remarked, with a +consciousness that this self-possessed girl was rapidly taking him out +of his depth. + +"Are you fond of reading?" + +"Very." + +"And what books do you read?" + +"Oh, lots! 'Paul and Virginia', and 'Paradise Lost', and 'Shakespeare's +Plays', and 'Robinson Crusoe', and 'Blair's Sermons', and 'The Tasmanian +Almanack', and 'The Book of Beauty', and 'Tom Jones'." + +"A somewhat miscellaneous collection, I fear," said Mrs. Vickers, with a +sickly smile--she, like Gallio, cared for none of these things--"but +our little library is necessarily limited, and I am not a great reader. +John, my dear, Mr. Frere would like another glass of brandy-and-water. +Oh, don't apologize; I am a soldier's wife, you know. Sylvia, my love, +say good-night to Mr. Frere, and retire." + +"Good-night, Miss Sylvia. Will you give me a kiss?" + +"No!" + +"Sylvia, don't be rude!" + +"I'm not rude," cries Sylvia, indignant at the way in which her literary +confidence had been received. "He's rude! I won't kiss you. Kiss you +indeed! My goodness gracious!" + +"Won't you, you little beauty?" cried Frere, suddenly leaning forward, +and putting his arm round the child. "Then I must kiss you!" + +To his astonishment, Sylvia, finding herself thus seized and kissed +despite herself, flushed scarlet, and, lifting up her tiny fist, struck +him on the cheek with all her force. + +The blow was so sudden, and the momentary pain so sharp, that Maurice +nearly slipped into his native coarseness, and rapped out an oath. + +"My dear Sylvia!" cried Vickers, in tones of grave reproof. + +But Frere laughed, caught both the child's hands in one of his own, and +kissed her again and again, despite her struggles. "There!" he said, +with a sort of triumph in his tone. "You got nothing by that, you see." + +Vickers rose, with annoyance visible on his face, to draw the child +away; and as he did so, she, gasping for breath, and sobbing with rage, +wrenched her wrist free, and in a storm of childish passion struck her +tormentor again and again. "Man!" she cried, with flaming eyes, "Let me +go! I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!" + +"I am very sorry for this, Frere," said Vickers, when the door was +closed again. "I hope she did not hurt you." + +"Not she! I like her spirit. Ha, ha! That's the way with women all the +world over. Nothing like showing them that they've got a master." + +Vickers hastened to turn the conversation, and, amid recollections of +old days, and speculations as to future prospects, the little incident +was forgotten. But when, an hour later, Mr. Frere traversed the passage +that led to his bedroom, he found himself confronted by a little figure +wrapped in a shawl. It was his childish enemy. + +"I've waited for you, Mr. Frere," said she, "to beg pardon. I ought not +to have struck you; I am a wicked girl. Don't say no, because I am; and +if I don't grow better I shall never go to Heaven." + +Thus addressing him, the child produced a piece of paper, folded like a +letter, from beneath the shawl, and handed it to him. + +"What's this?" he asked. "Go back to bed, my dear; you'll catch cold." + +"It's a written apology; and I sha'n't catch cold, because I've got my +stockings on. If you don't accept it," she added, with an arching of the +brows, "it is not my fault. I have struck you, but I apologize. Being a +woman, I can't offer you satisfaction in the usual way." + +Mr. Frere stifled the impulse to laugh, and made his courteous adversary +a low bow. + +"I accept your apology, Miss Sylvia," said he. + +"Then," returned Miss Sylvia, in a lofty manner, "there is nothing more +to be said, and I have the honour to bid you good-night, sir." + +The little maiden drew her shawl close around her with immense dignity, +and marched down the passage as calmly as though she had been Amadis of +Gaul himself. + +Frere, gaining his room choking with laughter, opened the folded paper +by the light of the tallow candle, and read, in a quaint, childish +hand:-- + +SIR,--I have struck you. I apologize in writing. Your humble servant to +command, SYLVIA VICKERS. + +"I wonder what book she took that out of?" he said. "'Pon my word she +must be a little cracked. 'Gad, it's a queer life for a child in this +place, and no mistake." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. A LEAP IN THE DARK. + + + +Two or three mornings after the arrival of the Ladybird, the solitary +prisoner of the Grummet Rock noticed mysterious movements along the +shore of the island settlement. The prison boats, which had put off +every morning at sunrise to the foot of the timbered ranges on the other +side of the harbour, had not appeared for some days. The building of a +pier, or breakwater, running from the western point of the settlement, +was discontinued; and all hands appeared to be occupied with the +newly-built Osprey, which was lying on the slips. Parties of soldiers +also daily left the Ladybird, and assisted at the mysterious work +in progress. Rufus Dawes, walking his little round each day, in vain +wondered what this unusual commotion portended. Unfortunately, no one +came to enlighten his ignorance. + +A fortnight after this, about the 15th of December, he observed another +curious fact. All the boats on the island put off one morning to the +opposite side of the harbour, and in the course of the day a great smoke +arose along the side of the hills. The next day the same was repeated; +and on the fourth day the boats returned, towing behind them a huge +raft. This raft, made fast to the side of the Ladybird, proved to be +composed of planks, beams, and joists, all of which were duly hoisted +up, and stowed in the hold of the brig. + +This set Rufus Dawes thinking. Could it possibly be that the +timber-cutting was to be abandoned, and that the Government had hit upon +some other method of utilizing its convict labour? He had hewn timber +and built boats, and tanned hides and made shoes. Was it possible that +some new trade was to be initiated? Before he had settled this point +to his satisfaction, he was startled by another boat expedition. Three +boats' crews went down the bay, and returned, after a day's absence, +with an addition to their number in the shape of four strangers and a +quantity of stores and farming implements. Rufus Dawes, catching +sight of these last, came to the conclusion that the boats had been to +Philip's Island, where the "garden" was established, and had taken off +the gardeners and garden produce. Rufus Dawes decided that the Ladybird +had brought a new commandant--his sight, trained by his half-savage +life, had already distinguished Mr. Maurice Frere--and that these +mysteries were "improvements" under the new rule. When he arrived at +this point of reasoning, another conjecture, assuming his first to have +been correct, followed as a natural consequence. Lieutenant Frere +would be a more severe commandant than Major Vickers. Now, severity had +already reached its height, so far as he was concerned; so the unhappy +man took a final resolution--he would kill himself. Before we exclaim +against the sin of such a determination, let us endeavour to set before +us what the sinner had suffered during the past six years. + +We have already a notion of what life on a convict ship means; and we +have seen through what a furnace Rufus Dawes had passed before he set +foot on the barren shore of Hell's Gates. But to appreciate in its +intensity the agony he suffered since that time, we must multiply the +infamy of the 'tween decks of the Malabar a hundred fold. In that prison +was at least some ray of light. All were not abominable; all were not +utterly lost to shame and manhood. Stifling though the prison, infamous +the companionship, terrible the memory of past happiness--there was yet +ignorance of the future, there was yet hope. But at Macquarie Harbour +was poured out the very dregs of this cup of desolation. The worst had +come, and the worst must for ever remain. The pit of torment was so deep +that one could not even see Heaven. There was no hope there so long as +life remained. Death alone kept the keys of that island prison. + +Is it possible to imagine, even for a moment, what an innocent man, +gifted with ambition, endowed with power to love and to respect, must +have suffered during one week of such punishment? We ordinary men, +leading ordinary lives--walking, riding, laughing, marrying and giving +in marriage--can form no notion of such misery as this. Some dim ideas +we may have about the sweetness of liberty and the loathing that evil +company inspires; but that is all. We know that were we chained and +degraded, fed like dogs, employed as beasts of burden, driven to our +daily toil with threats and blows, and herded with wretches among whom +all that savours of decency and manliness is held in an open scorn, we +should die, perhaps, or go mad. But we do not know, and can never know, +how unutterably loathsome life must become when shared with such beings +as those who dragged the tree-trunks to the banks of the Gordon, and +toiled, blaspheming, in their irons, on the dismal sandpit of Sarah +Island. No human creature could describe to what depth of personal +abasement and self-loathing one week of such a life would plunge him. +Even if he had the power to write, he dared not. As one whom in a +desert, seeking for a face, should come to a pool of blood, and +seeing his own reflection, fly--so would such a one hasten from the +contemplation of his own degrading agony. Imagine such torment endured +for six years! + +Ignorant that the sights and sounds about him were symptoms of the final +abandonment of the settlement, and that the Ladybird was sent down to +bring away the prisoners, Rufus Dawes decided upon getting rid of that +burden of life which pressed upon him so heavily. For six years he had +hewn wood and drawn water; for six years he had hoped against hope; for +six years he had lived in the valley of the shadow of Death. He dared +not recapitulate to himself what he had suffered. Indeed, his senses +were deadened and dulled by torture. He cared to remember only one +thing--that he was a Prisoner for Life. In vain had been his first dream +of freedom. He had done his best, by good conduct, to win release; +but the villainy of Vetch and Rex had deprived him of the fruit of his +labour. Instead of gaining credit by his exposure of the plot on board +the Malabar, he was himself deemed guilty, and condemned, despite his +asseverations of innocence. The knowledge of his "treachery"--for so it +was deemed among his associates--while it gained for him no credit with +the authorities, procured for him the detestation and ill-will of the +monsters among whom he found himself. On his arrival at Hell's Gates he +was a marked man--a Pariah among those beings who were Pariahs to all +the world beside. Thrice his life was attempted; but he was not then +quite tired of living, and he defended it. This defence was construed by +an overseer into a brawl, and the irons from which he had been relieved +were replaced. His strength--brute attribute that alone could avail +him--made him respected after this, and he was left at peace. At first +this treatment was congenial to his temperament; but by and by it became +annoying, then painful, then almost unendurable. Tugging at his oar, +digging up to his waist in slime, or bending beneath his burden of pine +wood, he looked greedily for some excuse to be addressed. He would take +double weight when forming part of the human caterpillar along whose +back lay a pine tree, for a word of fellowship. He would work double +tides to gain a kindly sentence from a comrade. In his utter desolation +he agonized for the friendship of robbers and murderers. Then the +reaction came, and he hated the very sound of their voices. He never +spoke, and refused to answer when spoken to. He would even take +his scanty supper alone, did his chain so permit him. He gained the +reputation of a sullen, dangerous, half-crazy ruffian. Captain Barton, +the superintendent, took pity on him, and made him his gardener. He +accepted the pity for a week or so, and then Barton, coming down one +morning, found the few shrubs pulled up by the roots, the flower-beds +trampled into barrenness, and his gardener sitting on the ground among +the fragments of his gardening tools. For this act of wanton mischief he +was flogged. At the triangles his behaviour was considered curious. +He wept and prayed to be released, fell on his knees to Barton, and +implored pardon. Barton would not listen, and at the first blow the +prisoner was silent. From that time he became more sullen than ever, +only at times he was observed, when alone, to fling himself on the +ground and cry like a child. It was generally thought that his brain was +affected. + +When Vickers came, Dawes sought an interview, and begged to be sent back +to Hobart Town. This was refused, of course, but he was put to work on +the Osprey. After working there for some time, and being released from +his irons, he concealed himself on the slip, and in the evening swam +across the harbour. He was pursued, retaken, and flogged. Then he ran +the dismal round of punishment. He burnt lime, dragged timber, and +tugged at the oar. The heaviest and most degrading tasks were always +his. Shunned and hated by his companions, feared by the convict +overseers, and regarded with unfriendly eyes by the authorities, Rufus +Dawes was at the very bottom of that abyss of woe into which he had +voluntarily cast himself. Goaded to desperation by his own thoughts, he +had joined with Gabbett and the unlucky three in their desperate +attempt to escape; but, as Vickers stated, he had been captured +almost instantly. He was lamed by the heavy irons he wore, and +though Gabbett--with a strange eagerness for which after events +accounted--insisted that he could make good his flight, the unhappy man +fell in the first hundred yards of the terrible race, and was seized by +two volunteers before he could rise again. His capture helped to secure +the brief freedom of his comrades; for Mr. Troke, content with one +prisoner, checked a pursuit which the nature of the ground rendered +dangerous, and triumphantly brought Dawes back to the settlement as his +peace-offering for the negligence which had resulted in the loss of the +other four. For this madness the refractory convict had been condemned +to the solitude of the Grummet Rock. + +In that dismal hermitage, his mind, preying on itself, had become +disordered. He saw visions and dreamt dreams. He would lie for hours +motionless, staring at the sun or the sea. He held converse with +imaginary beings. He enacted the scene with his mother over again. He +harangued the rocks, and called upon the stones about him to witness his +innocence and his sacrifice. He was visited by the phantoms of his early +friends, and sometimes thought his present life a dream. Whenever he +awoke, however, he was commanded by a voice within himself to leap into +the surges which washed the walls of his prison, and to dream these sad +dreams no more. + +In the midst of this lethargy of body and brain, the unusual occurrences +along the shore of the settlement roused in him a still fiercer hatred +of life. He saw in them something incomprehensible and terrible, and +read in them threats of an increase of misery. Had he known that the +Ladybird was preparing for sea, and that it had been already decided to +fetch him from the Rock and iron him with the rest for safe passage to +Hobart Town, he might have paused; but he knew nothing, save that the +burden of life was insupportable, and that the time had come for him to +be rid of it. + +In the meantime, the settlement was in a fever of excitement. In less +than three weeks from the announcement made by Vickers, all had been got +ready. The Commandant had finally arranged with Frere as to his course +of action. He would himself accompany the Ladybird with the main body. +His wife and daughter were to remain until the sailing of the Osprey, +which Mr. Frere--charged with the task of final destruction--was to +bring up as soon as possible. "I will leave you a corporal's guard, and +ten prisoners as a crew," Vickers said. "You can work her easily +with that number." To which Frere, smiling at Mrs. Vickers in a +self-satisfied way, had replied that he could do with five prisoners if +necessary, for he knew how to get double work out of the lazy dogs. + +Among the incidents which took place during the breaking up was one +which it is necessary to chronicle. Near Philip's Island, on the north +side of the harbour, is situated Coal Head, where a party had been +lately at work. This party, hastily withdrawn by Vickers to assist in +the business of devastation, had left behind it some tools and timber, +and at the eleventh hour a boat's crew was sent to bring away the +debris. The tools were duly collected, and the pine logs--worth +twenty-five shillings apiece in Hobart Town--duly rafted and chained. +The timber was secured, and the convicts, towing it after them, +pulled for the ship just as the sun sank. In the general relaxation of +discipline and haste, the raft had not been made with as much care +as usual, and the strong current against which the boat was labouring +assisted the negligence of the convicts. The logs began to loosen, and +although the onward motion of the boat kept the chain taut, when the +rowers slackened their exertions the mass parted, and Mr. Troke, hooking +himself on to the side of the Ladybird, saw a huge log slip out from +its fellows and disappear into the darkness. Gazing after it with +an indignant and disgusted stare, as though it had been a refractory +prisoner who merited two days' "solitary", he thought he heard a cry +from the direction in which it had been borne. He would have paused +to listen, but all his attention was needed to save the timber, and to +prevent the boat from being swamped by the struggling mass at her stern. + +The cry had proceeded from Rufus Dawes. From his solitary rock he had +watched the boat pass him and make for the Ladybird in the channel, +and he had decided--with that curious childishness into which the mind +relapses on such supreme occasions--that the moment when the gathering +gloom swallowed her up, should be the moment when he would plunge into +the surge below him. The heavily-labouring boat grew dimmer and dimmer, +as each tug of the oars took her farther from him. Presently, only the +figure of Mr. Troke in the stern sheets was visible; then that also +disappeared, and as the nose of the timber raft rose on the swell of the +next wave, Rufus Dawes flung himself into the sea. + +He was heavily ironed, and he sank like a stone. He had resolved not to +attempt to swim, and for the first moment kept his arms raised above his +head, in order to sink the quicker. But, as the short, sharp agony of +suffocation caught him, and the shock of the icy water dispelled the +mental intoxication under which he was labouring, he desperately struck +out, and, despite the weight of his irons, gained the surface for an +instant. As he did so, all bewildered, and with the one savage instinct +of self-preservation predominant over all other thoughts, he became +conscious of a huge black mass surging upon him out of the darkness. +An instant's buffet with the current, an ineffectual attempt to dive +beneath it, a horrible sense that the weight at his feet was dragging +him down,--and the huge log, loosened from the raft, was upon him, +crushing him beneath its rough and ragged sides. All thoughts of +self-murder vanished with the presence of actual peril, and uttering +that despairing cry which had been faintly heard by Troke, he flung up +his arms to clutch the monster that was pushing him down to death. The +log passed completely over him, thrusting him beneath the water, but his +hand, scraping along the splintered side, came in contact with the loop +of hide rope that yet hung round the mass, and clutched it with the +tenacity of a death grip. In another instant he got his head above +water, and making good his hold, twisted himself, by a violent effort, +across the log. + +For a moment he saw the lights from the stern windows of the anchored +vessels low in the distance, Grummet Rock disappeared on his left, then, +exhausted, breathless, and bruised, he closed his eyes, and the drifting +log bore him swiftly and silently away into the darkness. + + + * * * * * + + +At daylight the next morning, Mr. Troke, landing on the prison rock +found it deserted. The prisoner's cap was lying on the edge of the +little cliff, but the prisoner himself had disappeared. Pulling back to +the Ladybird, the intelligent Troke pondered on the circumstance, and in +delivering his report to Vickers mentioned the strange cry he had heard +the night before. "It's my belief, sir, that he was trying to swim the +bay," he said. "He must ha' gone to the bottom anyhow, for he couldn't +swim five yards with them irons." + +Vickers, busily engaged in getting under weigh, accepted this very +natural supposition without question. The prisoner had met his death +either by his own act, or by accident. It was either a suicide or an +attempt to escape, and the former conduct of Rufus Dawes rendered the +latter explanation a more probable one. In any case, he was dead. As Mr. +Troke rightly surmised, no man could swim the bay in irons; and when +the Ladybird, an hour later, passed the Grummet Rock, all on board her +believed that the corpse of its late occupant was lying beneath the +waves that seethed at its base. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. THE LAST OF MACQUARIE HARBOUR. + + + +Rufus Dawes was believed to be dead by the party on board the Ladybird, +and his strange escape was unknown to those still at Sarah Island. +Maurice Frere, if he bestowed a thought upon the refractory prisoner of +the Rock, believed him to be safely stowed in the hold of the schooner, +and already half-way to Hobart Town; while not one of the eighteen +persons on board the Osprey suspected that the boat which had put off +for the marooned man had returned without him. Indeed the party had +little leisure for thought; Mr. Frere, eager to prove his ability and +energy, was making strenuous exertions to get away, and kept his +unlucky ten so hard at work that within a week from the departure of +the Ladybird the Osprey was ready for sea. Mrs. Vickers and the child, +having watched with some excusable regret the process of demolishing +their old home, had settled down in their small cabin in the brig, and +on the evening of the 11th of January, Mr. Bates, the pilot, who acted +as master, informed the crew that Lieutenant Frere had given orders to +weigh anchor at daybreak. + +At daybreak accordingly the brig set sail, with a light breeze from +the south-west, and by three o'clock in the afternoon anchored safely +outside the Gates. Unfortunately the wind shifted to the north-west, +which caused a heavy swell on the bar, and prudent Mr. Bates, having +consideration for Mrs. Vickers and the child, ran back ten miles +into Wellington Bay, and anchored there again at seven o'clock in the +morning. The tide was running strongly, and the brig rolled a good deal. +Mrs. Vickers kept to her cabin, and sent Sylvia to entertain Lieutenant +Frere. Sylvia went, but was not entertaining. She had conceived for +Frere one of those violent antipathies which children sometimes own +without reason, and since the memorable night of the apology had been +barely civil to him. In vain did he pet her and compliment her, she was +not to be flattered into liking him. "I do not like you, sir," she said +in her stilted fashion, "but that need make no difference to you. You +occupy yourself with your prisoners; I can amuse myself without you, +thank you." "Oh, all right," said Frere, "I don't want to interfere"; +but he felt a little nettled nevertheless. On this particular evening +the young lady relaxed her severity of demeanour. Her father away, and +her mother sick, the little maiden felt lonely, and as a last resource +accepted her mother's commands and went to Frere. He was walking up and +down the deck, smoking. + +"Mr. Frere, I am sent to talk to you." + +"Are you? All right--go on." + +"Oh dear, no. It is the gentleman's place to entertain. Be amusing!" + +"Come and sit down then," said Frere, who was in good humour at the +success of his arrangements. "What shall we talk about?" + +"You stupid man! As if I knew! It is your place to talk. Tell me a fairy +story." + +"'Jack and the Beanstalk'?" suggested Frere. + +"Jack and the grandmother! Nonsense. Make one up out of your head, you +know." + +Frere laughed. + +"I can't," he said. "I never did such a thing in my life." + +"Then why not begin? I shall go away if you don't begin." + +Frere rubbed his brows. "Well, have you read--have you read 'Robinson +Crusoe?'"--as if the idea was a brilliant one. + +"Of course I have," returned Sylvia, pouting. "Read it?--yes. +Everybody's read 'Robinson Crusoe!'" + +"Oh, have they? Well, I didn't know; let me see now." And pulling hard +at his pipe, he plunged into literary reflection. + +Sylvia, sitting beside him, eagerly watching for the happy thought that +never came, pouted and said, "What a stupid, stupid man you are! I shall +be so glad to get back to papa again. He knows all sorts of stories, +nearly as many as old Danny." + +"Danny knows some, then?" + +"Danny!"--with as much surprise as if she said "Walter Scott!" "Of +course he does. I suppose now," putting her head on one side, with an +amusing expression of superiority, "you never heard the story of the +'Banshee'?" + +"No, I never did." + +"Nor the 'White Horse of the Peppers'?" + +"No." + +"No, I suppose not. Nor the 'Changeling'? nor the 'Leprechaun'?" "No." + +Sylvia got off the skylight on which she had been sitting, and surveyed +the smoking animal beside her with profound contempt. + +"Mr. Frere, you are really a most ignorant person. Excuse me if I hurt +your feelings; I have no wish to do that; but really you are a most +ignorant person--for your age, of course." + +Maurice Frere grew a little angry. "You are very impertinent, Sylvia," +said he. + +"Miss Vickers is my name, Lieutenant Frere, and I shall go and talk to +Mr. Bates." + +Which threat she carried out on the spot; and Mr. Bates, who had filled +the dangerous office of pilot, told her about divers and coral reefs, +and some adventures of his--a little apocryphal--in the China Seas. +Frere resumed his smoking, half angry with himself, and half angry with +the provoking little fairy. This elfin creature had a fascination for +him which he could not account for. + +However, he saw no more of her that evening, and at breakfast the next +morning she received him with quaint haughtiness. + +"When shall we be ready to sail? Mr. Frere, I'll take some marmalade. +Thank you." + +"I don't know, missy," said Bates. "It's very rough on the Bar; me and +Mr. Frere was a soundin' of it this marnin', and it ain't safe yet." + +"Well," said Sylvia, "I do hope and trust we sha'n't be shipwrecked, and +have to swim miles and miles for our lives." + +"Ho, ho!" laughed Frere; "don't be afraid. I'll take care of you." + +"Can you swim, Mr. Bates?" asked Sylvia. + +"Yes, miss, I can." + +"Well, then, you shall take me; I like you. Mr. Frere can take mamma. +We'll go and live on a desert island, Mr. Bates, won't we, and grow +cocoa-nuts and bread-fruit, and--what nasty hard biscuits!--I'll be +Robinson Crusoe, and you shall be Man Friday. I'd like to live on a +desert island, if I was sure there were no savages, and plenty to eat +and drink." + +"That would be right enough, my dear, but you don't find them sort of +islands every day." + +"Then," said Sylvia, with a decided nod, "we won't be ship-wrecked, will +we?" + +"I hope not, my dear." + +"Put a biscuit in your pocket, Sylvia, in case of accidents," suggested +Frere, with a grin. + +"Oh! you know my opinion of you, sir. Don't speak; I don't want any +argument". + +"Don't you?--that's right." + +"Mr. Frere," said Sylvia, gravely pausing at her mother's cabin door, +"if I were Richard the Third, do you know what I should do with you?" + +"No," says Frere, eating complacently; "what would you do?" + +"Why, I'd make you stand at the door of St. Paul's Cathedral in a white +sheet, with a lighted candle in your hand, until you gave up your wicked +aggravating ways--you Man!" + +The picture of Mr. Frere in a white sheet, with a lighted candle in his +hand, at the door of St. Paul's Cathedral, was too much for Mr. Bates's +gravity, and he roared with laughter. "She's a queer child, ain't she, +sir? A born natural, and a good-natured little soul." + +"When shall we be able to get away, Mr. Bates?" asked Frere, whose +dignity was wounded by the mirth of the pilot. + +Bates felt the change of tone, and hastened to accommodate himself to +his officer's humour. "I hopes by evening, sir," said he; "if the tide +slackens then I'll risk it; but it's no use trying it now." + +"The men were wanting to go ashore to wash their clothes," said Frere. + +"If we are to stop here till evening, you had better let them go after +dinner." + +"All right, sir," said Bates. + +The afternoon passed off auspiciously. The ten prisoners went ashore and +washed their clothes. Their names were James Barker, James Lesly, John +Lyon, Benjamin Riley, William Cheshire, Henry Shiers, William Russen, +James Porter, John Fair, and John Rex. This last scoundrel had come on +board latest of all. He had behaved himself a little better recently, +and during the work attendant upon the departure of the Ladybird, had +been conspicuously useful. His intelligence and influence among his +fellow-prisoners combined to make him a somewhat important personage, +and Vickers had allowed him privileges from which he had been hitherto +debarred. Mr. Frere, however, who superintended the shipment of some +stores, seemed to be resolved to take advantage of Rex's evident +willingness to work. He never ceased to hurry and find fault with him. +He vowed that he was lazy, sulky, or impertinent. It was "Rex, come +here! Do this! Do that!" As the prisoners declared among themselves, it +was evident that Mr. Frere had a "down" on the "Dandy". The day before +the Ladybird sailed, Rex--rejoicing in the hope of speedy departure--had +suffered himself to reply to some more than usually galling remark and +Mr. Frere had complained to Vickers. "The fellow's too ready to get +away," said he. "Let him stop for the Osprey, it will be a lesson to +him." Vickers assented, and John Rex was informed that he was not to +sail with the first party. His comrades vowed that this order was an act +of tyranny; but he himself said nothing. He only redoubled his activity, +and--despite all his wish to the contrary--Frere was unable to find +fault. He even took credit to himself for "taming" the convict's spirit, +and pointed out Rex--silent and obedient--as a proof of the excellence +of severe measures. To the convicts, however, who knew John Rex better, +this silent activity was ominous. He returned with the rest, however, on +the evening of the 13th, in apparently cheerful mood. Indeed Mr. Frere, +who, wearied by the delay, had decided to take the whale-boat in which +the prisoners had returned, and catch a few fish before dinner, observed +him laughing with some of the others, and again congratulated himself. + +The time wore on. Darkness was closing in, and Mr. Bates, walking the +deck, kept a look-out for the boat, with the intention of weighing +anchor and making for the Bar. All was secure. Mrs. Vickers and the +child were safely below. The two remaining soldiers (two had gone with +Frere) were upon deck, and the prisoners in the forecastle were singing. +The wind was fair, and the sea had gone down. In less than an hour the +Osprey would be safely outside the harbour. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. THE POWER OF THE WILDERNESS. + + + +The drifting log that had so strangely served as a means of saving Rufus +Dawes swam with the current that was running out of the bay. For some +time the burden that it bore was an insensible one. Exhausted with his +desperate struggle for life, the convict lay along the rough back of +this Heaven-sent raft without motion, almost without breath. At length a +violent shock awoke him to consciousness, and he perceived that the log +had become stranded on a sandy point, the extremity of which was lost in +darkness. Painfully raising himself from his uncomfortable posture, +he staggered to his feet, and crawling a few paces up the beach, flung +himself upon the ground and slept. + +When morning dawned, he recognized his position. The log had, in passing +under the lee of Philip's Island, been cast upon the southern point of +Coal Head; some three hundred yards from him were the mutilated sheds of +the coal gang. For some time he lay still, basking in the warm rays of +the rising sun, and scarcely caring to move his bruised and shattered +limbs. The sensation of rest was so exquisite, that it overpowered all +other considerations, and he did not even trouble himself to conjecture +the reason for the apparent desertion of the huts close by him. If there +was no one there--well and good. If the coal party had not gone, he +would be discovered in a few moments, and brought back to his island +prison. In his exhaustion and misery, he accepted the alternative and +slept again. + +As he laid down his aching head, Mr. Troke was reporting his death to +Vickers, and while he still slept, the Ladybird, on her way out, passed +him so closely that any one on board her might, with a good glass, have +espied his slumbering figure as it lay upon the sand. + +When he woke it was past midday, and the sun poured its full rays upon +him. His clothes were dry in all places, save the side on which he had +been lying, and he rose to his feet refreshed by his long sleep. He +scarcely comprehended, as yet, his true position. He had escaped, it +was true, but not for long. He was versed in the history of escapes, +and knew that a man alone on that barren coast was face to face with +starvation or recapture. Glancing up at the sun, he wondered indeed, +how it was that he had been free so long. Then the coal sheds caught his +eye, and he understood that they were untenanted. This astonished him, +and he began to tremble with vague apprehension. Entering, he looked +around, expecting every moment to see some lurking constable, or armed +soldier. Suddenly his glance fell upon the food rations which lay in the +corner where the departing convicts had flung them the night before. +At such a moment, this discovery seemed like a direct revelation from +Heaven. He would not have been surprised had they disappeared. Had he +lived in another age, he would have looked round for the angel who had +brought them. + +By and by, having eaten of this miraculous provender, the poor creature +began--reckoning by his convict experience--to understand what had taken +place. The coal workings were abandoned; the new Commandant had probably +other work for his beasts of burden to execute, and an absconder would +be safe here for a few hours at least. But he must not stay. For him +there was no rest. If he thought to escape, it behoved him to commence +his journey at once. As he contemplated the meat and bread, something +like a ray of hope entered his gloomy soul. Here was provision for his +needs. The food before him represented the rations of six men. Was it +not possible to cross the desert that lay between him and freedom on +such fare? The very supposition made his heart beat faster. It surely +was possible. He must husband his resources; walk much and eat little; +spread out the food for one day into the food for three. Here was six +men's food for one day, or one man's food for six days. He would live on +a third of this, and he would have rations for eighteen days. Eighteen +days! What could he not do in eighteen days? He could walk thirty miles +a day--forty miles a day--that would be six hundred miles and more. Yet +stay; he must not be too sanguine; the road was difficult; the scrub was +in places impenetrable. He would have to make detours, and turn upon +his tracks, to waste precious time. He would be moderate, and say twenty +miles a day. Twenty miles a day was very easy walking. Taking a piece +of stick from the ground, he made the calculation in the sand. Eighteen +days, and twenty miles a day--three hundred and sixty miles. More than +enough to take him to freedom. It could be done! With prudence, it could +be done! He must be careful and abstemious! Abstemious! He had already +eaten too much, and he hastily pulled a barely-tasted piece of meat from +his mouth, and replaced it with the rest. The action which at any +other time would have seemed disgusting, was, in the case of this poor +creature, merely pitiable. + +Having come to this resolution, the next thing was to disencumber +himself of his irons. This was more easily done than he expected. He +found in the shed an iron gad, and with that and a stone he drove out +the rivets. The rings were too strong to be "ovalled", * or he would +have been free long ago. He packed the meat and bread together, and +then pushing the gad into his belt--it might be needed as a weapon of +defence--he set out on his journey. + + * Ovalled--"To oval" is a term in use among convicts, and + means so to bend the round ring of the ankle fetter that the + heel can be drawn up through it. + +His intention was to get round the settlement to the coast, reach the +settled districts, and, by some tale of shipwreck or of wandering, +procure assistance. As to what was particularly to be done when he found +himself among free men, he did not pause to consider. At that point his +difficulties seemed to him to end. Let him but traverse the desert that +was before him, and he would trust to his own ingenuity, or the chance +of fortune, to avert suspicion. The peril of immediate detection was +so imminent that, beside it, all other fears were dwarfed into +insignificance. + +Before dawn next morning he had travelled ten miles, and by husbanding +his food, he succeeded by the night of the fourth day in accomplishing +forty more. Footsore and weary, he lay in a thicket of the thorny +melaleuca, and felt at last that he was beyond pursuit. The next day he +advanced more slowly. The bush was unpropitious. Dense scrub and savage +jungle impeded his path; barren and stony mountain ranges arose before +him. He was lost in gullies, entangled in thickets, bewildered in +morasses. The sea that had hitherto gleamed, salt, glittering, and +hungry upon his right hand, now shifted to his left. He had mistaken his +course, and he must turn again. For two days did this bewilderment last, +and on the third he came to a mighty cliff that pierced with its blunt +pinnacle the clustering bush. He must go over or round this obstacle, +and he decided to go round it. A natural pathway wound about its foot. +Here and there branches were broken, and it seemed to the poor wretch, +fainting under the weight of his lessening burden, that his were not the +first footsteps which had trodden there. The path terminated in a glade, +and at the bottom of this glade was something that fluttered. Rufus +Dawes pressed forward, and stumbled over a corpse! + +In the terrible stillness of that solitary place he felt suddenly as +though a voice had called to him. All the hideous fantastic tales of +murder which he had read or heard seemed to take visible shape in the +person of the loathly carcase before him, clad in the yellow dress of a +convict, and lying flung together on the ground as though struck down. +Stooping over it, impelled by an irresistible impulse to know the worst, +he found the body was mangled. One arm was missing, and the skull had +been beaten in by some heavy instrument! The first thought--that this +heap of rags and bones was a mute witness to the folly of his own +undertaking, the corpse of some starved absconder--gave place to a +second more horrible suspicion. He recognized the number imprinted on +the coarse cloth as that which had designated the younger of the two +men who had escaped with Gabbett. He was standing on the place where a +murder had been committed! A murder!--and what else? Thank God the +food he carried was not yet exhausted! He turned and fled, looking back +fearfully as he went. He could not breathe in the shadow of that awful +mountain. + +Crashing through scrub and brake, torn, bleeding, and wild with terror, +he reached a spur on the range, and looked around him. Above him rose +the iron hills, below him lay the panorama of the bush. The white cone +of the Frenchman's Cap was on his right hand, on his left a succession +of ranges seemed to bar further progress. A gleam, as of a lake, +streaked the eastward. Gigantic pine trees reared their graceful heads +against the opal of the evening sky, and at their feet the dense scrub +through which he had so painfully toiled, spread without break and +without flaw. It seemed as though he could leap from where he stood upon +a solid mass of tree-tops. He raised his eyes, and right against him, +like a long dull sword, lay the narrow steel-blue reach of the harbour +from which he had escaped. One darker speck moved on the dark water. +It was the Osprey making for the Gates. It seemed that he could throw +a stone upon her deck. A faint cry of rage escaped him. During the last +three days in the bush he must have retraced his steps, and returned +upon his own track to the settlement! More than half his allotted time +had passed, and he was not yet thirty miles from his prison. Death had +waited to overtake him in this barbarous wilderness. As a cat allows a +mouse to escape her for a while, so had he been permitted to trifle with +his fate, and lull himself into a false security. Escape was hopeless +now. He never could escape; and as the unhappy man raised his despairing +eyes, he saw that the sun, redly sinking behind a lofty pine which +topped the opposite hill, shot a ray of crimson light into the glade +below him. It was as though a bloody finger pointed at the corpse which +lay there, and Rufus Dawes, shuddering at the dismal omen, averting his +face, plunged again into the forest. + +For four days he wandered aimlessly through the bush. He had given up +all hopes of making the overland journey, and yet, as long as his scanty +supply of food held out, he strove to keep away from the settlement. +Unable to resist the pangs of hunger, he had increased his daily ration; +and though the salted meat, exposed to rain and heat, had begun to turn +putrid, he never looked at it but he was seized with a desire to eat his +fill. The coarse lumps of carrion and the hard rye-loaves were to him +delicious morsels fit for the table of an emperor. Once or twice he +was constrained to pluck and eat the tops of tea-trees and peppermint +shrubs. These had an aromatic taste, and sufficed to stay the cravings +of hunger for a while, but they induced a raging thirst, which he slaked +at the icy mountain springs. Had it not been for the frequency of these +streams, he must have died in a few days. At last, on the twelfth day +from his departure from the Coal Head, he found himself at the foot of +Mount Direction, at the head of the peninsula which makes the western +side of the harbour. His terrible wandering had but led him to make a +complete circuit of the settlement, and the next night brought him +round the shores of Birches Inlet to the landing-place opposite to Sarah +Island. His stock of provisions had been exhausted for two days, and he +was savage with hunger. He no longer thought of suicide. His dominant +idea was now to get food. He would do as many others had done before +him--give himself up to be flogged and fed. When he reached the +landing-place, however, the guard-house was empty. He looked across at +the island prison, and saw no sign of life. The settlement was deserted! +The shock of this discovery almost deprived him of reason. For days, +that had seemed centuries, he had kept life in his jaded and lacerated +body solely by the strength of his fierce determination to reach +the settlement; and now that he had reached it, after a journey of +unparalleled horror, he found it deserted. He struck himself to see if +he was not dreaming. He refused to believe his eyesight. He shouted, +screamed, and waved his tattered garments in the air. Exhausted by these +paroxysms, he said to himself, quite calmly, that the sun beating on +his unprotected head had dazed his brain, and that in a few minutes he +should see well-remembered boats pulling towards him. Then, when no boat +came, he argued that he was mistaken in the place; the island yonder was +not Sarah Island, but some other island like it, and that in a second +or so he would be able to detect the difference. But the inexorable +mountains, so hideously familiar for six weary years, made mute +reply, and the sea, crawling at his feet, seemed to grin at him with +a thin-lipped, hungry mouth. Yet the fact of the desertion seemed so +inexplicable that he could not realize it. He felt as might have felt +that wanderer in the enchanted mountains, who, returning in the morning +to look for his companions, found them turned to stone. + +At last the dreadful truth forced itself upon him; he retired a few +paces, and then, with a horrible cry of furious despair, stumbled +forward towards the edge of the little reef that fringed the shore. +Just as he was about to fling himself for the second time into the dark +water, his eyes, sweeping in a last long look around the bay, caught +sight of a strange appearance on the left horn of the sea beach. A thin, +blue streak, uprising from behind the western arm of the little inlet, +hung in the still air. It was the smoke of a fire! + +The dying wretch felt inspired with new hope. God had sent him a direct +sign from Heaven. The tiny column of bluish vapour seemed to him as +glorious as the Pillar of Fire that led the Israelites. There were yet +human beings near him!--and turning his face from the hungry sea, +he tottered with the last effort of his failing strength towards the +blessed token of their presence. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. THE SEIZURE OF THE "OSPREY" + + + +Frere's fishing expedition had been unsuccessful, and in consequence +prolonged. The obstinacy of his character appeared in the most trifling +circumstances, and though the fast deepening shades of an Australian +evening urged him to return, yet he lingered, unwilling to come back +empty-handed. At last a peremptory signal warned him. It was the sound +of a musket fired on board the brig: Mr. Bates was getting impatient; +and with a scowl, Frere drew up his lines, and ordered the two soldiers +to pull for the vessel. + +The Osprey yet sat motionless on the water, and her bare masts gave no +sign of making sail. To the soldiers, pulling with their backs to her, +the musket shot seemed the most ordinary occurrence in the world. Eager +to quit the dismal prison-bay, they had viewed Mr Frere's persistent +fishing with disgust, and had for the previous half hour longed to hear +the signal of recall which had just startled them. Suddenly, however, +they noticed a change of expression in the sullen face of their +commander. Frere, sitting in the stern sheets, with his face to the +Osprey, had observed a peculiar appearance on her decks. The bulwarks +were every now and then topped by strange figures, who disappeared as +suddenly as they came, and a faint murmur of voices floated across the +intervening sea. Presently the report of another musket shot echoed +among the hills, and something dark fell from the side of the vessel +into the water. Frere, with an imprecation of mingled alarm and +indignation, sprang to his feet, and shading his eyes with his hand, +looked towards the brig. The soldiers, resting on their oars, imitated +his gesture, and the whale-boat, thus thrown out of trim, rocked from +side to side dangerously. A moment's anxious pause, and then another +musket shot, followed by a woman's shrill scream, explained all. The +prisoners had seized the brig. "Give way!" cried Frere, pale with rage +and apprehension, and the soldiers, realizing at once the full terror of +their position, forced the heavy whale-boat through the water as fast as +the one miserable pair of oars could take her. + + + * * * * * + + +Mr. Bates, affected by the insidious influence of the hour, and lulled +into a sense of false security, had gone below to tell his little +playmate that she would soon be on her way to the Hobart Town of which +she had heard so much; and, taking advantage of his absence, the soldier +not on guard went to the forecastle to hear the prisoners singing. He +found the ten together, in high good humour, listening to a "shanty" +sung by three of their number. The voices were melodious enough, and the +words of the ditty--chanted by many stout fellows in many a forecastle +before and since--of that character which pleases the soldier nature. +Private Grimes forgot all about the unprotected state of the deck, and +sat down to listen. + +While he listened, absorbed in tender recollections, James Lesly, +William Cheshire, William Russen, John Fair, and James Barker slipped to +the hatchway and got upon the deck. Barker reached the aft hatchway as +the soldier who was on guard turned to complete his walk, and passing +his arm round his neck, pulled him down before he could utter a cry. +In the confusion of the moment the man loosed his grip of the musket to +grapple with his unseen antagonist, and Fair, snatching up the weapon, +swore to blow out his brains if he raised a finger. Seeing the sentry +thus secured, Cheshire, as if in pursuance of a preconcerted plan, leapt +down the after hatchway, and passed up the muskets from the arm-racks to +Lesly and Russen. There were three muskets in addition to the one taken +from the sentry, and Barker, leaving his prisoner in charge of Fair, +seized one of them, and ran to the companion ladder. Russen, left +unarmed by this manoeuvre, appeared to know his own duty. He came back +to the forecastle, and passing behind the listening soldier, touched +the singer on the shoulder. This was the appointed signal, and John Rex, +suddenly terminating his song with a laugh, presented his fist in the +face of the gaping Grimes. "No noise!" he cried. "The brig's ours"; +and ere Grimes could reply, he was seized by Lyon and Riley, and bound +securely. + +"Come on, lads!" says Rex, "and pass the prisoner down here. We've got +her this time, I'll go bail!" In obedience to this order, the now gagged +sentry was flung down the fore hatchway, and the hatch secured. "Stand +on the hatchway, Porter," cries Rex again; "and if those fellows come +up, knock 'em down with a handspoke. Lesly and Russen, forward to the +companion ladder! Lyon, keep a look-out for the boat, and if she comes +too near, fire!" + +As he spoke the report of the first musket rang out. Barker had +apparently fired up the companion hatchway. + + + * * * * * + + +When Mr. Bates had gone below, he found Sylvia curled upon the cushions +of the state-room, reading. "Well, missy!" he said, "we'll soon be on +our way to papa." + +Sylvia answered by asking a question altogether foreign to the subject. +"Mr. Bates," said she, pushing the hair out of her blue eyes, "what's a +coracle?" + +"A which?" asked Mr. Bates. + +"A coracle. C-o-r-a-c-l-e," said she, spelling it slowly. "I want to +know." + +The bewildered Bates shook his head. "Never heard of one, missy," said +he, bending over the book. "What does it say?" + +"'The Ancient Britons,'" said Sylvia, reading gravely, "'were little +better than Barbarians. They painted their bodies with Woad'--that's +blue stuff, you know, Mr. Bates--'and, seated in their light coracles +of skin stretched upon slender wooden frames, must have presented a wild +and savage appearance.'" + +"Hah," said Mr. Bates, when this remarkable passage was read to him, +"that's very mysterious, that is. A corricle, a cory "--a bright light +burst upon him. "A curricle you mean, missy! It's a carriage! I've seen +'em in Hy' Park, with young bloods a-drivin' of 'em." + +"What are young bloods?" asked Sylvia, rushing at this "new opening". + +"Oh, nobs! Swell coves, don't you know," returned poor Bates, thus +again attacked. "Young men o' fortune that is, that's given to doing it +grand." + +"I see," said Sylvia, waving her little hand graciously. "Noblemen and +Princes and that sort of people. Quite so. But what about coracle?" + +"Well," said the humbled Bates, "I think it's a carriage, missy. A sort +of Pheayton, as they call it." + +Sylvia, hardly satisfied, returned to the book. It was a little +mean-looking volume--a "Child's History of England"--and after perusing +it awhile with knitted brows, she burst into a childish laugh. + +"Why, my dear Mr. Bates!" she cried, waving the History above her head +in triumph, "what a pair of geese we are! A carriage! Oh you silly man! +It's a boat!" + +"Is it?" said Mr. Bates, in admiration of the intelligence of his +companion. "Who'd ha' thought that now? Why couldn't they call it a boat +at once, then, and ha' done with it?" and he was about to laugh also, +when, raising his eyes, he saw in the open doorway the figure of James +Barker, with a musket in his hand. + +"Hallo! What's this? What do you do here, sir?" + +"Sorry to disturb yer," says the convict, with a grin, "but you must +come along o' me, Mr. Bates." + +Bates, at once comprehending that some terrible misfortune had occurred, +did not lose his presence of mind. One of the cushions of the couch was +under his right hand, and snatching it up he flung it across the little +cabin full in the face of the escaped prisoner. The soft mass struck +the man with force sufficient to blind him for an instant. The musket +exploded harmlessly in the air, and ere the astonished Barker could +recover his footing, Bates had hurled him out of the cabin, and crying +"Mutiny!" locked the cabin door on the inside. + +The noise brought out Mrs. Vickers from her berth, and the poor little +student of English history ran into her arms. + +"Good Heavens, Mr. Bates, what is it?" + +Bates, furious with rage, so far forgot himself as to swear. "It's a +mutiny, ma'am," said he. "Go back to your cabin and lock the door. Those +bloody villains have risen on us!" Julia Vickers felt her heart grow +sick. Was she never to escape out of this dreadful life? "Go into your +cabin, ma'am," says Bates again, "and don't move a finger till I tell +ye. Maybe it ain't so bad as it looks; I've got my pistols with me, +thank God, and Mr. Frere'll hear the shot anyway. Mutiny? On deck +there!" he cried at the full pitch of his voice, and his brow grew damp +with dismay when a mocking laugh from above was the only response. + +Thrusting the woman and child into the state berth, the bewildered pilot +cocked a pistol, and snatching a cutlass from the arm stand fixed to the +butt of the mast which penetrated the cabin, he burst open the door with +his foot, and rushed to the companion ladder. Barker had retreated to +the deck, and for an instant he thought the way was clear, but Lesly and +Russen thrust him back with the muzzles of the loaded muskets. He struck +at Russen with the cutlass, missed him, and, seeing the hopelessness of +the attack, was fain to retreat. + +In the meanwhile, Grimes and the other soldier had loosed themselves +from their bonds, and, encouraged by the firing, which seemed to them +a sign that all was not yet lost, made shift to force up the forehatch. +Porter, whose courage was none of the fiercest, and who had been for +years given over to that terror of discipline which servitude induces, +made but a feeble attempt at resistance, and forcing the handspike from +him, the sentry, Jones, rushed aft to help the pilot. As Jones reached +the waist, Cheshire, a cold-blooded blue-eyed man, shot him dead. Grimes +fell over the corpse, and Cheshire, clubbing the musket--had he another +barrel he would have fired--coolly battered his head as he lay, and +then, seizing the body of the unfortunate Jones in his arms, tossed it +into the sea. "Porter, you lubber!" he cried, exhausted with the effort +to lift the body, "come and bear a hand with this other one!" Porter +advanced aghast, but just then another occurrence claimed the villain's +attention, and poor Grimes's life was spared for that time. + +Rex, inwardly raging at this unexpected resistance on the part of the +pilot, flung himself on the skylight, and tore it up bodily. As he did +so, Barker, who had reloaded his musket, fired down into the cabin. +The ball passed through the state-room door, and splintering the wood, +buried itself close to the golden curls of poor little Sylvia. It was +this hair's-breadth escape which drew from the agonized mother that +shriek which, pealing through the open stern window, had roused the +soldiers in the boat. + +Rex, who, by the virtue of his dandyism, yet possessed some abhorrence +of useless crime, imagined that the cry was one of pain, and that +Barker's bullet had taken deadly effect. "You've killed the child, you +villain!" he cried. + +"What's the odds?" asked Barker sulkily. "She must die any way, sooner +or later." + +Rex put his head down the skylight, and called on Bates to surrender, +but Bates only drew his other pistol. "Would you commit murder?" he +asked, looking round with desperation in his glance. + +"No, no," cried some of the men, willing to blink the death of poor +Jones. "It's no use making things worse than they are. Bid him come up, +and we'll do him no harm." "Come up, Mr. Bates," says Rex, "and I give +you my word you sha'n't be injured." + +"Will you set the major's lady and child ashore, then?" asked Bates, +sturdily facing the scowling brows above him. + +"Yes." + +"Without injury?" continued the other, bargaining, as it were, at the +very muzzles of the muskets. + +"Ay, ay! It's all right!" returned Russen. "It's our liberty we want, +that's all." + +Bates, hoping against hope for the return of the boat, endeavoured to +gain time. "Shut down the skylight, then," said he, with the ghost of an +authority in his voice, "until I ask the lady." + +This, however, John Rex refused to do. "You can ask well enough where +you are," he said. + +But there was no need for Mr. Bates to put a question. The door of the +state-room opened, and Mrs. Vickers appeared, trembling, with Sylvia by +her side. "Accept, Mr. Bates," she said, "since it must be so. We should +gain nothing by refusing. We are at their mercy--God help us!" + +"Amen to that," says Bates under his breath, and then aloud, "We agree!" + +"Put your pistols on the table, and come up, then," says Rex, covering +the table with his musket as he spoke. "And nobody shall hurt you." + + + + +CHAPTER X. JOHN REX'S REVENGE. + + + +Mrs Vickers, pale and sick with terror, yet sustained by that strange +courage of which we have before spoken, passed rapidly under the open +skylight, and prepared to ascend. Sylvia--her romance crushed by too +dreadful reality--clung to her mother with one hand, and with the +other pressed close to her little bosom the "English History". In her +all-absorbing fear she had forgotten to lay it down. + +"Get a shawl, ma'am, or something," says Bates, "and a hat for missy." + +Mrs. Vickers looked back across the space beneath the open skylight, +and shuddering, shook her head. The men above swore impatiently at the +delay, and the three hastened on deck. + +"Who's to command the brig now?" asked undaunted Bates, as they came up. + +"I am," says John Rex, "and, with these brave fellows, I'll take her +round the world." + +The touch of bombast was not out of place. It jumped so far with the +humour of the convicts that they set up a feeble cheer, at which Sylvia +frowned. Frightened as she was, the prison-bred child was as much +astonished at hearing convicts cheer as a fashionable lady would be to +hear her footman quote poetry. Bates, however--practical and calm--took +quite another view of the case. The bold project, so boldly avowed, +seemed to him a sheer absurdity. The "Dandy" and a crew of nine convicts +navigate a brig round the world! Preposterous; why, not a man aboard +could work a reckoning! His nautical fancy pictured the Osprey +helplessly rolling on the swell of the Southern Ocean, or hopelessly +locked in the ice of the Antarctic Seas, and he dimly guessed at the +fate of the deluded ten. Even if they got safe to port, the chances of +final escape were all against them, for what account could they give of +themselves? Overpowered by these reflections, the honest fellow made one +last effort to charm his captors back to their pristine bondage. + +"Fools!" he cried, "do you know what you are about to do? You will never +escape. Give up the brig, and I will declare, before my God, upon the +Bible, that I will say nothing, but give all good characters." + +Lesly and another burst into a laugh at this wild proposition, but +Rex, who had weighed his chances well beforehand, felt the force of the +pilot's speech, and answered seriously. + +"It's no use talking," he said, shaking his still handsome head. "We +have got the brig, and we mean to keep her. I can navigate her, though +I am no seaman, so you needn't talk further about it, Mr. Bates. It's +liberty we require." + +"What are you going to do with us?" asked Bates. + +"Leave you behind." + +Bates's face blanched. "What, here?" + +"Yes. It don't look a picturesque spot, does it? And yet I've lived here +for some years"; and he grinned. + +Bates was silent. The logic of that grin was unanswerable. + +"Come!" cried the Dandy, shaking off his momentary melancholy, "look +alive there! Lower away the jolly-boat. Mrs. Vickers, go down to your +cabin and get anything you want. I am compelled to put you ashore, but I +have no wish to leave you without clothes." Bates listened, in a sort +of dismal admiration, at this courtly convict. He could not have spoken +like that had life depended on it. "Now, my little lady," continued Rex, +"run down with your mamma, and don't be frightened." + +Sylvia flashed burning red at this indignity. "Frightened! If there had +been anybody else here but women, you never would have taken the brig. +Frightened! Let me pass, prisoner!" + +The whole deck burst into a great laugh at this, and poor Mrs. Vickers +paused, trembling for the consequences of the child's temerity. To thus +taunt the desperate convict who held their lives in his hands seemed +sheer madness. In the boldness of the speech however, lay its safeguard. +Rex--whose politeness was mere bravado--was stung to the quick by the +reflection upon his courage, and the bitter accent with which the child +had pronounced the word prisoner (the generic name of convicts) made him +bite his lips with rage. Had he had his will, he would have struck the +little creature to the deck, but the hoarse laugh of his companions +warned him to forbear. There is "public opinion" even among convicts, +and Rex dared not vent his passion on so helpless an object. As men do +in such cases, he veiled his anger beneath an affectation of amusement. +In order to show that he was not moved by the taunt, he smiled upon the +taunter more graciously than ever. + +"Your daughter has her father's spirit, madam," said he to Mrs. Vickers, +with a bow. + +Bates opened his mouth to listen. His ears were not large enough to take +in the words of this complimentary convict. He began to think that he +was the victim of a nightmare. He absolutely felt that John Rex was a +greater man at that moment than John Bates. + +As Mrs. Vickers descended the hatchway, the boat with Frere and the +soldiers came within musket range, and Lesly, according to orders, +fired his musket over their heads, shouting to them to lay to But Frere, +boiling with rage at the manner in which the tables had been turned on +him, had determined not to resign his lost authority without a struggle. +Disregarding the summons, he came straight on, with his eyes fixed on +the vessel. It was now nearly dark, and the figures on the deck were +indistinguishable. The indignant lieutenant could but guess at the +condition of affairs. Suddenly, from out of the darkness a voice hailed +him-- + +"Hold water! back water!" it cried, and was then seemingly choked in its +owner's throat. + +The voice was the property of Mr. Bates. Standing near the side, he had +observed Rex and Fair bring up a great pig of iron, erst used as part of +the ballast of the brig, and poise it on the rail. Their intention was +but too evident; and honest Bates, like a faithful watch-dog, barked +to warn his master. Bloodthirsty Cheshire caught him by the throat, and +Frere, unheeding, ran the boat alongside, under the very nose of the +revengeful Rex. The mass of iron fell half in-board upon the now stayed +boat, and gave her sternway, with a splintered plank. + +"Villains!" cried Frere, "would you swamp us?" + +"Aye," laughed Rex, "and a dozen such as ye! The brig's ours, can't ye +see, and we're your masters now!" + +Frere, stifling an exclamation of rage, cried to the bow to hook on, but +the bow had driven the boat backward, and she was already beyond arm's +length of the brig. Looking up, he saw Cheshire's savage face, and +heard the click of the lock as he cocked his piece. The two soldiers, +exhausted by their long pull, made no effort to stay the progress of the +boat, and almost before the swell caused by the plunge of the mass of +iron had ceased to agitate the water, the deck of the Osprey had become +invisible in the darkness. + +Frere struck his fist upon the thwart in sheer impotence of rage. "The +scoundrels!" he said, between his teeth, "they've mastered us. What do +they mean to do next?" + +The answer came pat to the question. From the dark hull of the brig +broke a flash and a report, and a musket ball cut the water beside +them with a chirping noise. Between the black indistinct mass which +represented the brig, and the glimmering water, was visible a white +speck, which gradually neared them. + +"Come alongside with ye!" hailed a voice, "or it will be the worse for +ye!" + +"They want to murder us," says Frere. "Give way, men!" + +But the two soldiers, exchanging glances one with the other, pulled the +boat's head round, and made for the vessel. "It's no use, Mr. Frere," +said the man nearest him; "we can do no good now, and they won't hurt +us, I dare say." + +"You dogs, you are in league with them," bursts out Frere, purple with +indignation. "Do you mutiny?" + +"Come, come, sir," returned the soldier, sulkily, "this ain't the time +to bully; and, as for mutiny, why, one man's about as good as another +just now." + +This speech from the lips of a man who, but a few minutes before, would +have risked his life to obey orders of his officer, did more than +an hour's reasoning to convince Maurice Frere of the hopelessness +of resistance. His authority--born of circumstance, and supported by +adventitious aid--had left him. The musket shot had reduced him to the +ranks. He was now no more than anyone else; indeed, he was less than +many, for those who held the firearms were the ruling powers. With a +groan he resigned himself to his fate, and looking at the sleeve of the +undress uniform he wore, it seemed to him that virtue had gone out of +it. When they reached the brig, they found that the jolly-boat had +been lowered and laid alongside. In her were eleven persons; Bates with +forehead gashed, and hands bound, the stunned Grimes, Russen and Fair +pulling, Lyon, Riley, Cheshire, and Lesly with muskets, and John Rex +in the stern sheets, with Bates's pistols in his trousers' belt, and a +loaded musket across his knees. The white object which had been seen +by the men in the whale-boat was a large white shawl which wrapped Mrs. +Vickers and Sylvia. + +Frere muttered an oath of relief when he saw this white bundle. He +had feared that the child was injured. By the direction of Rex the +whale-boat was brought alongside the jolly-boat, and Cheshire and Lesly +boarded her. Lesly then gave his musket to Rex, and bound Frere's +hands behind him, in the same manner as had been done for Bates. Frere +attempted to resist this indignity, but Cheshire, clapping his musket +to his ear, swore he would blow out his brains if he uttered another +syllable; Frere, catching the malignant eye of John Rex, remembered how +easily a twitch of the finger would pay off old scores, and was silent. +"Step in here, sir, if you please," said Rex, with polite irony. "I am +sorry to be compelled to tie you, but I must consult my own safety as +well as your convenience." Frere scowled, and, stepping awkwardly into +the jolly-boat, fell. Pinioned as he was, he could not rise without +assistance, and Russen pulled him roughly to his feet with a coarse +laugh. In his present frame of mind, that laugh galled him worse than +his bonds. + +Poor Mrs. Vickers, with a woman's quick instinct, saw this, and, even +amid her own trouble, found leisure to console him. "The wretches!" she +said, under her breath, as Frere was flung down beside her, "to subject +you to such indignity!" Sylvia said nothing, and seemed to shrink from +the lieutenant. Perhaps in her childish fancy she had pictured him as +coming to her rescue, armed cap-a-pie, and clad in dazzling mail, or, at +the very least, as a muscular hero, who would settle affairs out of hand +by sheer personal prowess. If she had entertained any such notion, the +reality must have struck coldly upon her senses. Mr. Frere, purple, +clumsy, and bound, was not at all heroic. + +"Now, my lads," says Rex--who seemed to have endured the cast-off +authority of Frere--"we give you your choice. Stay at Hell's Gates, or +come with us!" + +The soldiers paused, irresolute. To join the mutineers meant a certainty +of hard work, with a chance of ultimate hanging. Yet to stay with the +prisoners was--as far as they could see--to incur the inevitable fate of +starvation on a barren coast. As is often the case on such occasions, +a trifle sufficed to turn the scale. The wounded Grimes, who was slowly +recovering from his stupor, dimly caught the meaning of the sentence, +and in his obfuscated condition of intellect must needs make comment +upon it. "Go with him, ye beggars!" said he, "and leave us honest men! +Oh, ye'll get a tying-up for this." + +The phrase "tying-up" brought with it recollection of the worst portion +of military discipline, the cat, and revived in the minds of the pair +already disposed to break the yoke that sat so heavily upon them, a +train of dismal memories. The life of a soldier on a convict station +was at that time a hard one. He was often stinted in rations, and of +necessity deprived of all rational recreation, while punishment for +offences was prompt and severe. The companies drafted to the penal +settlements were not composed of the best material, and the pair had +good precedent for the course they were about to take. + +"Come," says Rex, "I can't wait here all night. The wind is freshening, +and we must make the Bar. Which is it to be?" + +"We'll go with you!" says the man who had pulled the stroke in the +whale-boat, spitting into the water with averted face. Upon which +utterance the convicts burst into joyous oaths, and the pair were +received with much hand-shaking. + +Then Rex, with Lyon and Riley as a guard, got into the whale boat, and +having loosed the two prisoners from their bonds, ordered them to take +the place of Russen and Fair. The whale-boat was manned by the seven +mutineers, Rex steering, Fair, Russen, and the two recruits pulling, +and the other four standing up, with their muskets levelled at the +jolly-boat. Their long slavery had begotten such a dread of authority in +these men that they feared it even when it was bound and menaced by four +muskets. "Keep your distance!" shouted Cheshire, as Frere and Bates, in +obedience to orders, began to pull the jolly-boat towards the shore; and +in this fashion was the dismal little party conveyed to the mainland. + +It was night when they reached it, but the clear sky began to thrill +with a late moon as yet unrisen, and the waves, breaking gently upon +the beach, glimmered with a radiance born of their own motion. Frere and +Bates, jumping ashore, helped out Mrs. Vickers, Sylvia, and the wounded +Grimes. This being done under the muzzles of the muskets, Rex commanded +that Bates and Frere should push the jolly-boat as far as they could +from the shore, and Riley catching her by a boat-hook as she came +towards them, she was taken in tow. + +"Now, boys," says Cheshire, with a savage delight, "three cheers for old +England and Liberty!" + +Upon which a great shout went up, echoed by the grim hills which had +witnessed so many miseries. + +To the wretched five, this exultant mirth sounded like a knell of death. +"Great God!" cried Bates, running up to his knees in water after the +departing boats, "would you leave us here to starve?" + +The only answer was the jerk and dip of the retreating oars. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. LEFT AT "HELL'S GATES." + + + +There is no need to dwell upon the mental agonies of that miserable +night. Perhaps, of all the five, the one least qualified to endure +it realized the prospect of suffering most acutely. Mrs. +Vickers--lay-figure and noodle as she was--had the keen instinct of +approaching danger, which is in her sex a sixth sense. She was a woman +and a mother, and owned a double capacity for suffering. Her feminine +imagination pictured all the horrors of death by famine, and having +realized her own torments, her maternal love forced her to live them +over again in the person of her child. Rejecting Bates's offer of a +pea-jacket and Frere's vague tenders of assistance, the poor woman +withdrew behind a rock that faced the sea, and, with her daughter in her +arms, resigned herself to her torturing thoughts. Sylvia, recovered +from her terror, was almost content, and, curled in her mother's shawl, +slept. To her little soul this midnight mystery of boats and muskets had +all the flavour of a romance. With Bates, Frere, and her mother so close +to her, it was impossible to be afraid; besides, it was obvious that +papa--the Supreme Being of the settlement--must at once return and +severely punish the impertinent prisoners who had dared to insult his +wife and child, and as Sylvia dropped off to sleep, she caught herself, +with some indignation, pitying the mutineers for the tremendous scrape +they had got themselves into. How they would be flogged when papa came +back! In the meantime this sleeping in the open air was novel and rather +pleasant. + +Honest Bates produced a piece of biscuit, and, with all the generosity +of his nature, suggested that this should be set aside for the sole use +of the two females, but Mrs. Vickers would not hear of it. "We must all +share alike," said she, with something of the spirit that she knew her +husband would have displayed under like circumstance; and Frere +wondered at her apparent strength of mind. Had he been gifted with more +acuteness, he would not have wondered; for when a crisis comes to one +of two persons who have lived much together, the influence of the nobler +spirit makes itself felt. Frere had a tinder-box in his pocket, and he +made a fire with some dry leaves and sticks. Grimes fell asleep, and the +two men sitting at their fire discussed the chances of escape. Neither +liked to openly broach the supposition that they had been finally +deserted. It was concluded between them that unless the brig sailed in +the night--and the now risen moon showed her yet lying at anchor--the +convicts would return and bring them food. This supposition proved +correct, for about an hour after daylight they saw the whale-boat +pulling towards them. + +A discussion had arisen amongst the mutineers as to the propriety of at +once making sail, but Barker, who had been one of the pilot-boat crew, +and knew the dangers of the Bar, vowed that he would not undertake to +steer the brig through the Gates until morning; and so the boats being +secured astern, a strict watch was set, lest the helpless Bates should +attempt to rescue the vessel. During the evening--the excitement +attendant upon the outbreak having passed away, and the magnitude of the +task before them being more fully apparent to their minds--a feeling of +pity for the unfortunate party on the mainland took possession of them. +It was quite possible that the Osprey might be recaptured, in which case +five useless murders would have been committed; and however callous +in bloodshed were the majority of the ten, not one among them could +contemplate in cold blood, without a twinge of remorse, the death of the +harmless child of the Commandant. + +John Rex, seeing how matters were going, made haste to take to himself +the credit of mercy. He ruled, and had always ruled, his ruffians not +so much by suggesting to them the course they should take, as by leading +them on the way they had already chosen for themselves. "I propose," +said he, "that we divide the provisions. There are five of them and +twelve of us. Then nobody can blame us." + +"Ay," said Porter, mindful of a similar exploit, "and if we're taken, +they can tell what we have done. Don't let our affair be like that of +the Cypress, to leave them to starve." "Ay, ay," says Barker, "you're +right! When Fergusson was topped at Hobart Town, I heard old Troke say +that if he'd not refused to set the tucker ashore, he might ha' got off +with a whole skin." + +Thus urged, by self-interest, as well as sentiment, to mercy, the +provision was got upon deck by daylight, and a division was made. The +soldiers, with generosity born of remorse, were for giving half to the +marooned men, but Barker exclaimed against this. "When the schooner +finds they don't get to headquarters, she's bound to come back and look +for 'em," said he; "and we'll want all the tucker we can get, maybe, +afore we sights land." + +This reasoning was admitted and acted upon. There was in the +harness-cask about fifty pounds of salt meat, and a third of this +quantity, together with half a small sack of flour, some tea and sugar +mixed together in a bag, and an iron kettle and pannikin, was placed +in the whale-boat. Rex, fearful of excesses among his crew, had also +lowered down one of the two small puncheons of rum which the store-room +contained. Cheshire disputed this, and stumbling over a goat that had +been taken on board from Philip's Island, caught the creature by the +leg, and threw it into the sea, bidding Rex take that with him also. Rex +dragged the poor beast into the boat, and with this miscellaneous +cargo pushed off to the shore. The poor goat, shivering, began to bleat +piteously, and the men laughed. To a stranger it would have appeared +that the boat contained a happy party of fishermen, or coast settlers, +returning with the proceeds of a day's marketing. + +Laying off as the water shallowed, Rex called to Bates to come for the +cargo, and three men with muskets standing up as before, ready to resist +any attempt at capture, the provisions, goat and all, were carried +ashore. "There!" says Rex, "you can't say we've used you badly, for +we've divided the provisions." The sight of this almost unexpected +succour revived the courage of the five, and they felt grateful. After +the horrible anxiety they had endured all that night, they were prepared +to look with kindly eyes upon the men who had come to their assistance. + +"Men," said Bates, with something like a sob in his voice, "I didn't +expect this. You are good fellows, for there ain't much tucker aboard, I +know." + +"Yes," affirmed Frere, "you're good fellows." + +Rex burst into a savage laugh. "Shut your mouth, you tyrant," said he, +forgetting his dandyism in the recollection of his former suffering. "It +ain't for your benefit. You may thank the lady and the child for it." + +Julia Vickers hastened to propitiate the arbiter of her daughter's +fate. "We are obliged to you," she said, with a touch of quiet dignity +resembling her husband's; "and if I ever get back safely, I will take +care that your kindness shall be known." + +The swindler and forger took off his leather cap with quite an air. It +was five years since a lady had spoken to him, and the old time when he +was Mr. Lionel Crofton, a "gentleman sportsman", came back again for +an instant. At that moment, with liberty in his hand, and fortune all +before him, he felt his self-respect return, and he looked the lady in +the face without flinching. + +"I sincerely trust, madam," said he, "that you will get back safely. May +I hope for your good wishes for myself and my companions?" + +Listening, Bates burst into a roar of astonished enthusiasm. "What a +dog it is!" he cried. "John Rex, John Rex, you were never made to be a +convict, man!" + +Rex smiled. "Good-bye, Mr. Bates, and God preserve you!" + +"Good-bye," says Bates, rubbing his hat off his face, "and I--I--damme, +I hope you'll get safe off--there! for liberty's sweet to every man." + +"Good-bye, prisoners!" says Sylvia, waving her handkerchief; "and I hope +they won't catch you, too." + +So, with cheers and waving of handkerchiefs, the boat departed. + +In the emotion which the apparently disinterested conduct of John Rex +had occasioned the exiles, all earnest thought of their own position +had vanished, and, strange to say, the prevailing feeling was that of +anxiety for the ultimate fate of the mutineers. But as the boat grew +smaller and smaller in the distance, so did their consciousness of their +own situation grow more and more distinct; and when at last the boat had +disappeared in the shadow of the brig, all started, as if from a dream, +to the wakeful contemplation of their own case. + +A council of war was held, with Mr. Frere at the head of it, and the +possessions of the little party were thrown into common stock. The salt +meat, flour, and tea were placed in a hollow rock at some distance from +the beach, and Mr. Bates was appointed purser, to apportion to each, +without fear or favour, his stated allowance. The goat was tethered with +a piece of fishing line sufficiently long to allow her to browse. The +cask of rum, by special agreement, was placed in the innermost recess +of the rock, and it was resolved that its contents should not be touched +except in case of sickness, or in last extremity. There was no lack of +water, for a spring ran bubbling from the rocks within a hundred yards +of the spot where the party had landed. They calculated that, with +prudence, their provisions would last them for nearly four weeks. + +It was found, upon a review of their possessions, that they had among +them three pocket knives, a ball of string, two pipes, matches and a fig +of tobacco, fishing lines with hooks, and a big jack-knife which Frere +had taken to gut the fish he had expected to catch. But they saw with +dismay that there was nothing which could be used axe-wise among the +party. Mrs. Vickers had her shawl, and Bates a pea-jacket, but Frere +and Grimes were without extra clothing. It was agreed that each should +retain his own property, with the exception of the fishing lines, which +were confiscated to the commonwealth. + +Having made these arrangements, the kettle, filled with water from the +spring, was slung from three green sticks over the fire, and a pannikin +of weak tea, together with a biscuit, served out to each of the party, +save Grimes, who declared himself unable to eat. Breakfast over, Bates +made a damper, which was cooked in the ashes, and then another council +was held as to future habitation. + +It was clearly evident that they could not sleep in the open air. It was +the middle of summer, and though no annoyance from rain was apprehended, +the heat in the middle of the day was most oppressive. Moreover, it was +absolutely necessary that Mrs. Vickers and the child should have some +place to themselves. At a little distance from the beach was a sandy +rise, that led up to the face of the cliff, and on the eastern side of +this rise grew a forest of young trees. Frere proposed to cut down +these trees, and make a sort of hut with them. It was soon discovered, +however, that the pocket knives were insufficient for this purpose, but +by dint of notching the young saplings and then breaking them down, they +succeeded, in a couple of hours, in collecting wood enough to roof +over a space between the hollow rock which contained the provisions and +another rock, in shape like a hammer, which jutted out within five +yards of it. Mrs. Vickers and Sylvia were to have this hut as a +sleeping-place, and Frere and Bates, lying at the mouth of the larder, +would at once act as a guard to it and them. Grimes was to make for +himself another hut where the fire had been lighted on the previous +night. + +When they got back to dinner, inspirited by this resolution, they found +poor Mrs. Vickers in great alarm. Grimes, who, by reason of the dint +in his skull, had been left behind, was walking about the sea-beach, +talking mysteriously, and shaking his fist at an imaginary foe. On going +up to him, they discovered that the blow had affected his brain, for he +was delirious. Frere endeavoured to soothe him, without effect; and at +last, by Bates's advice, the poor fellow was rolled in the sea. The cold +bath quelled his violence, and, being laid beneath the shade of a rock +hard by, he fell into a condition of great muscular exhaustion, and +slept. + +The damper was then portioned out by Bates, and, together with a small +piece of meat, it formed the dinner of the party. Mrs. Vickers reported +that she had observed a great commotion on board the brig, and thought +that the prisoners must be throwing overboard such portions of the cargo +as were not absolutely necessary to them, in order to lighten her. This +notion Bates declared to be correct, and further pointed out that the +mutineers had got out a kedge-anchor, and by hauling on the kedge-line, +were gradually warping the brig down the harbour. Before dinner was +over a light breeze sprang up, and the Osprey, running up the union-jack +reversed, fired a musket, either in farewell or triumph, and, spreading +her sails, disappeared round the western horn of the harbour. + +Mrs. Vickers, taking Sylvia with her, went away a few paces, and leaning +against the rugged wall of her future home, wept bitterly. Bates and +Frere affected cheerfulness, but each felt that he had hitherto regarded +the presence of the brig as a sort of safeguard, and had never fully +realized his own loneliness until now. + +The necessity for work, however, admitted of no indulgence of vain +sorrow, and Bates setting the example, the pair worked so hard that by +nightfall they had torn down and dragged together sufficient brushwood +to complete Mrs. Vickers's hut. During the progress of this work they +were often interrupted by Grimes, who persisted in vague rushes at them, +exclaiming loudly against their supposed treachery in leaving him at the +mercy of the mutineers. Bates also complained of the pain caused by the +wound in his forehead, and that he was afflicted with a giddiness which +he knew not how to avert. By dint of frequently bathing his head at the +spring, however, he succeeded in keeping on his legs, until the work of +dragging together the boughs was completed, when he threw himself on the +ground, and declared that he could rise no more. + +Frere applied to him the remedy that had been so successfully tried upon +Grimes, but the salt water inflamed his wound and rendered his condition +worse. Mrs. Vickers recommended that a little spirit and water should +be used to wash the cut, and the cask was got out and broached for that +purpose. Tea and damper formed their evening meal; and by the light of +a blazing fire, their condition looked less desperate. Mrs. Vickers +had set the pannikin on a flat stone, and dispensed the tea with an +affectation of dignity which would have been absurd had it not been +heart-rending. She had smoothed her hair and pinned the white shawl +about her coquettishly; she even ventured to lament to Mr. Frere that +she had not brought more clothes. Sylvia was in high spirits, and +scorned to confess hunger. When the tea had been drunk, she fetched +water from the spring in the kettle, and bathed Bates's head with it. It +was resolved that, on the morrow, a search should be made for some place +from which to cast the fishing line, and that one of the number should +fish daily. + +The condition of the unfortunate Grimes now gave cause for the greatest +uneasiness. From maundering foolishly he had taken to absolute violence, +and had to be watched by Frere. After much muttering and groaning, the +poor fellow at last dropped off to sleep, and Frere, having assisted +Bates to his sleeping-place in front of the rock, and laid him down on +a heap of green brushwood, prepared to snatch a few hours' slumber. +Wearied by excitement and the labours of the day, he slept heavily, but, +towards morning, was awakened by a strange noise. + +Grimes, whose delirium had apparently increased, had succeeded in +forcing his way through the rude fence of brushwood, and had thrown +himself upon Bates with the ferocity of insanity. Growling to himself, +he had seized the unfortunate pilot by the throat, and the pair were +struggling together. Bates, weakened by the sickness that had followed +upon his wound in the head, was quite unable to cope with his desperate +assailant, but calling feebly upon Frere for help, had made shift to lay +hold upon the jack-knife of which we have before spoken. Frere, starting +to his feet, rushed to the assistance of the pilot, but was too late. +Grimes, enraged by the sight of the knife, tore it from Bates's +grasp, and before Frere could catch his arm, plunged it twice into the +unfortunate man's breast. + +"I'm a dead man!" cried Bates faintly. + +The sight of the blood, together with the exclamation of his victim, +recalled Grimes to consciousness. He looked in bewilderment at the +bloody weapon, and then, flinging it from him, rushed away towards the +sea, into which he plunged headlong. + +Frere, aghast at this sudden and terrible tragedy, gazed after him, and +saw from out the placid water, sparkling in the bright beams of morning, +a pair of arms, with outstretched hands, emerge; a black spot, that was +a head, uprose between these stiffening arms, and then, with a horrible +cry, the whole disappeared, and the bright water sparkled as placidly as +before. The eyes of the terrified Frere, travelling back to the wounded +man, saw, midway between this sparkling water and the knife that lay on +the sand, an object that went far to explain the maniac's sudden burst +of fury. The rum cask lay upon its side by the remnants of last night's +fire, and close to it was a clout, with which the head of the wounded +man had been bound. It was evident that the poor creature, wandering +in his delirium, had come across the rum cask, drunk a quantity of its +contents, and been maddened by the fiery spirit. + +Frere hurried to the side of Bates, and lifting him up, strove to +staunch the blood that flowed from his chest. It would seem that he had +been resting himself on his left elbow, and that Grimes, snatching the +knife from his right hand, had stabbed him twice in the right breast. +He was pale and senseless, and Frere feared that the wound was mortal. +Tearing off his neck-handkerchief, he endeavoured to bandage the wound, +but found that the strip of silk was insufficient for the purpose. The +noise had roused Mrs. Vickers, who, stifling her terror, made haste to +tear off a portion of her dress, and with this a bandage of sufficient +width was made. Frere went to the cask to see if, haply, he could obtain +from it a little spirit with which to moisten the lips of the dying man, +but it was empty. Grimes, after drinking his fill, had overturned +the unheaded puncheon, and the greedy sand had absorbed every drop of +liquor. Sylvia brought some water from the spring, and Mrs. Vickers +bathing Bates's head with this, he revived a little. By-and-by Mrs. +Vickers milked the goat--she had never done such a thing before in all +her life--and the milk being given to Bates in a pannikin, he drank it +eagerly, but vomited it almost instantly. It was evident that he was +sinking from some internal injury. + +None of the party had much appetite for breakfast, but Frere, whose +sensibilities were less acute than those of the others, ate a piece of +salt meat and damper. It struck him, with a curious feeling of pleasant +selfishness, that now Grimes had gone, the allowance of provisions would +be increased, and that if Bates went also, it would be increased still +further. He did not give utterance to his thoughts, however, but sat +with the wounded man's head on his knees, and brushed the settling flies +from his face. He hoped, after all, that the pilot would not die, for +he should then be left alone to look after the women. Perhaps some such +thought was agitating Mrs. Vickers also. As for Sylvia, she made no +secret of her anxiety. + +"Don't die, Mr. Bates--oh, don't die!" she said, standing piteously +near, but afraid to touch him. "Don't leave mamma and me alone in this +dreadful place!" + +Poor Bates, of course, said nothing, but Frere frowned heavily, and Mrs. +Vickers said reprovingly, "Sylvia!" just as if they had been in the old +house on distant Sarah Island. + +In the afternoon Frere went away to drag together some wood for the +fire, and when he returned he found the pilot near his end. Mrs. Vickers +said that for an hour he had lain without motion, and almost without +breath. The major's wife had seen more than one death-bed, and was calm +enough; but poor little Sylvia, sitting on a stone hard by, shook with +terror. She had a dim notion that death must be accompanied by violence. +As the sun sank, Bates rallied; but the two watchers knew that it was +but the final flicker of the expiring candle. "He's going!" said +Frere at length, under his breath, as though fearful of awaking his +half-slumbering soul. Mrs. Vickers, her eyes streaming with silent +tears, lifted the honest head, and moistened the parched lips with her +soaked handkerchief. A tremor shook the once stalwart limbs, and the +dying man opened his eyes. For an instant he seemed bewildered, and +then, looking from one to the other, intelligence returned to his +glance, and it was evident that he remembered all. His gaze rested upon +the pale face of the affrighted Sylvia, and then turned to Frere. There +could be no mistaking the mute appeal of those eloquent eyes. + +"Yes, I'll take care of her," said Frere. + +Bates smiled, and then, observing that the blood from his wound had +stained the white shawl of Mrs. Vickers, he made an effort to move his +head. It was not fitting that a lady's shawl should be stained with the +blood of a poor fellow like himself. The fashionable fribble, with quick +instinct, understood the gesture, and gently drew the head back upon her +bosom. In the presence of death the woman was womanly. For a moment all +was silent, and they thought he had gone; but all at once he opened his +eyes and looked round for the sea. + +"Turn my face to it once more," he whispered; and as they raised him, +he inclined his ear to listen. "It's calm enough here, God bless it," he +said; "but I can hear the waves a-breaking hard upon the Bar!" + +And so his head dropped, and he died. + +As Frere relieved Mrs. Vickers from the weight of the corpse, Sylvia ran +to her mother. "Oh, mamma, mamma," she cried, "why did God let him die +when we wanted him so much?" + +Before it grew dark, Frere made shift to carry the body to the shelter +of some rocks at a little distance, and spreading the jacket over the +face, he piled stones upon it to keep it steady. The march of events had +been so rapid that he scarcely realized that since the previous evening +two of the five human creatures left in this wilderness had escaped +from it. As he did realize it, he began to wonder whose turn it would be +next. + +Mrs. Vickers, worn out by the fatigue and excitement of the day, retired +to rest early; and Sylvia, refusing to speak to Frere, followed her +mother. This manifestation of unaccountable dislike on the part of the +child hurt Maurice more than he cared to own. He felt angry with her for +not loving him, and yet he took no pains to conciliate her. It was with +a curious pleasure that he remembered how she must soon look up to him +as her chief protector. Had Sylvia been just a few years older, the +young man would have thought himself in love with her. + +The following day passed gloomily. It was hot and sultry, and a dull +haze hung over the mountains. Frere spent the morning in scooping a +grave in the sand, in which to inter poor Bates. Practically awake to +his own necessities, he removed such portions of clothing from the body +as would be useful to him, but hid them under a stone, not liking to let +Mrs. Vickers see what he had done. Having completed the grave by midday, +he placed the corpse therein, and rolled as many stones as possible to +the sides of the mound. In the afternoon he cast the fishing line from +the point of a rock he had marked the day before, but caught nothing. +Passing by the grave, on his return, he noticed that Mrs. Vickers had +placed at the head of it a rude cross, formed by tying two pieces of +stick together. + +After supper--the usual salt meat and damper--he lit an economical pipe, +and tried to talk to Sylvia. "Why won't you be friends with me, missy?" +he asked. + +"I don't like you," said Sylvia. "You frighten me." + +"Why?" + +"You are not kind. I don't mean that you do cruel things; but you +are--oh, I wish papa was here!" "Wishing won't bring him!" says Frere, +pressing his hoarded tobacco together with prudent forefinger. + +"There! That's what I mean! Is that kind? 'Wishing won't bring him!' Oh, +if it only would!" + +"I didn't mean it unkindly," says Frere. "What a strange child you are." + +"There are persons," says Sylvia, "who have no Affinity for each other. +I read about it in a book papa had, and I suppose that's what it is. I +have no Affinity for you. I can't help it, can I?" + +"Rubbish!" Frere returned. "Come here, and I'll tell you a story." + +Mrs. Vickers had gone back to her cave, and the two were alone by the +fire, near which stood the kettle and the newly-made damper. The child, +with some show of hesitation, came to him, and he caught and placed her +on his knee. The moon had not yet risen, and the shadows cast by the +flickering fire seemed weird and monstrous. The wicked wish to frighten +this helpless creature came to Maurice Frere. + +"There was once," said he, "a Castle in an old wood, and in this Castle +there lived an Ogre, with great goggle eyes." + +"You silly man!" said Sylvia, struggling to be free. "You are trying to +frighten me!" + +"And this Ogre lived on the bones of little girls. One day a little girl +was travelling the wood, and she heard the Ogre coming. 'Haw! haw! Haw! +haw!'" + +"Mr. Frere, let me down!" + +"She was terribly frightened, and she ran, and ran, and ran, until all +of a sudden she saw--" + +A piercing scream burst from his companion. "Oh! oh! What's that?" she +cried, and clung to her persecutor. + +Beyond the fire stood the figure of a man. He staggered forward, and +then, falling on his knees, stretched out his hands, and hoarsely +articulated one word--"Food." It was Rufus Dawes. + +The sound of a human voice broke the spell of terror that was on the +child, and as the glow from the fire fell upon the tattered yellow +garments, she guessed at once the whole story. Not so Maurice Frere. He +saw before him a new danger, a new mouth to share the scanty provision, +and snatching a brand from the fire he kept the convict at bay. But +Rufus Dawes, glaring round with wolfish eyes, caught sight of the damper +resting against the iron kettle, and made a clutch at it. Frere dashed +the brand in his face. "Stand back!" he cried. "We have no food to +spare!" + +The convict uttered a savage cry, and raising the iron gad, plunged +forward desperately to attack this new enemy; but, quick as thought, the +child glided past Frere, and, snatching the loaf, placed it in the hands +of the starving man, with "Here, poor prisoner, eat!" and then, turning +to Frere, she cast upon him a glance so full of horror, indignation, and +surprise, that the man blushed and threw down the brand. + +As for Rufus Dawes, the sudden apparition of this golden-haired girl +seemed to have transformed him. Allowing the loaf to slip through his +fingers, he gazed with haggard eyes at the retreating figure of the +child, and as it vanished into the darkness outside the circle of +firelight, the unhappy man sank his face upon his blackened, horny +hands, and burst into tears. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. "MR." DAWES. + + + +The coarse tones of Maurice Frere roused him. "What do you want?" he +asked. Rufus Dawes, raising his head, contemplated the figure before +him, and recognized it. "Is it you?" he said slowly. + +"What do you mean? Do you know me?" asked Frere, drawing back. But the +convict did not reply. His momentary emotion passed away, the pangs of +hunger returned, and greedily seizing upon the piece of damper, he began +to eat in silence. + +"Do you hear, man?" repeated Frere, at length. "What are you?" + +"An escaped prisoner. You can give me up in the morning. I've done my +best, and I'm beat." + +The sentence struck Frere with dismay. The man did not know that the +settlement had been abandoned! + +"I cannot give you up. There is no one but myself and a woman and child +on the settlement." Rufus Dawes, pausing in his eating, stared at him in +amazement. "The prisoners have gone away in the schooner. If you choose +to remain free, you can do so as far as I am concerned. I am as helpless +as you are." + +"But how do you come here?" + +Frere laughed bitterly. To give explanations to convicts was foreign to +his experience, and he did not relish the task. In this case, however, +there was no help for it. "The prisoners mutinied and seized the brig." + +"What brig?" + +"The Osprey." + +A terrible light broke upon Rufus Dawes, and he began to understand how +he had again missed his chance. "Who took her?" + +"That double-dyed villain, John Rex," says Frere, giving vent to his +passion. "May she sink, and burn, and--" + +"Have they gone, then?" cried the miserable man, clutching at his hair +with a gesture of hopeless rage. + +"Yes; two days ago, and left us here to starve." Rufus Dawes burst into +a laugh so discordant that it made the other shudder. "We'll starve +together, Maurice Frere," said he, "for while you've a crust, I'll share +it. If I don't get liberty, at least I'll have revenge!" + +The sinister aspect of this famished savage, sitting with his chin on +his ragged knees, rocking himself to and fro in the light of the fire, +gave Mr. Maurice Frere a new sensation. He felt as might have felt that +African hunter who, returning to his camp fire, found a lion there. +"Wretch!" said he, shrinking from him, "why should you wish to be +revenged on me?" + +The convict turned upon him with a snarl. "Take care what you say! I'll +have no hard words. Wretch! If I am a wretch, who made me one? If I hate +you and myself and the world, who made me hate it? I was born free--as +free as you are. Why should I be sent to herd with beasts, and condemned +to this slavery, worse than death? Tell me that, Maurice Frere--tell me +that!" "I didn't make the laws," says Frere, "why do you attack me?" + +"Because you are what I was. You are FREE! You can do as you please. You +can love, you can work, you can think. I can only hate!" He paused as if +astonished at himself, and then continued, with a low laugh. "Fine words +for a convict, eh! But, never mind, it's all right, Mr. Frere; we're +equal now, and I sha'n't die an hour sooner than you, though you are a +'free man'!" + +Frere began to think that he was dealing with another madman. + +"Die! There's no need to talk of dying," he said, as soothingly as it +was possible for him to say it. "Time enough for that by-and-by." + +"There spoke the free man. We convicts have an advantage over you +gentlemen. You are afraid of death; we pray for it. It is the best thing +that can happen to us. Die! They were going to hang me once. I wish they +had. My God, I wish they had!" + +There was such a depth of agony in this terrible utterance that Maurice +Frere was appalled at it. "There, go and sleep, my man," he said. "You +are knocked up. We'll talk in the morning." + +"Hold on a bit!" cried Rufus Dawes, with a coarseness of manner +altogether foreign to that he had just assumed. "Who's with ye?" + +"The wife and daughter of the Commandant," replied Frere, half afraid to +refuse an answer to a question so fiercely put. + +"No one else?" + +"No." "Poor souls!" said the convict, "I pity them." And then he +stretched himself, like a dog, before the blaze, and went to sleep +instantly. Maurice Frere, looking at the gaunt figure of this addition +to the party, was completely puzzled how to act. Such a character had +never before come within the range of his experience. He knew not what +to make of this fierce, ragged, desperate man, who wept and threatened +by turns--who was now snarling in the most repulsive bass of the convict +gamut, and now calling upon Heaven in tones which were little less than +eloquent. At first he thought of precipitating himself upon the sleeping +wretch and pinioning him, but a second glance at the sinewy, though +wasted, limbs forbade him to follow out the rash suggestion of his +own fears. Then a horrible prompting--arising out of his former +cowardice--made him feel for the jack-knife with which one murder had +already been committed. Their stock of provisions was so scanty, and +after all, the lives of the woman and child were worth more than that +of this unknown desperado! But, to do him justice, the thought no sooner +shaped itself than he crushed it out. "We'll wait till morning, and +see how he shapes," said Frere to himself; and pausing at the brushwood +barricade, behind which the mother and daughter were clinging to each +other, he whispered that he was on guard outside, and that the absconder +slept. But when morning dawned, he found that there was no need for +alarm. The convict was lying in almost the same position as that +in which he had left him, and his eyes were closed. His threatening +outbreak of the previous night had been produced by the excitement of +his sudden rescue, and he was now incapable of violence. Frere advanced, +and shook him by the shoulder. + +"Not alive!" cried the poor wretch, waking with a start, and raising his +arm to strike. "Keep off!" + +"It's all right," said Frere. "No one is going to harm you. Wake up." + +Rufus Dawes glanced around him stupidly, and then remembering what had +happened, with a great effort, he staggered to his feet. "I thought +they'd got me!" he said, "but it's the other way, I see. Come, let's +have breakfast, Mr. Frere. I'm hungry." + +"You must wait," said Frere. "Do you think there is no one here but +yourself?" + +Rufus Dawes, swaying to and fro from weakness, passed his shred of a +cuff over his eyes. "I don't know anything about it. I only know I'm +hungry." + +Frere stopped short. Now or never was the time to settle future +relations. Lying awake in the night, with the jack-knife ready to his +hand, he had decided on the course of action that must be adopted. The +convict should share with the rest, but no more. If he rebelled at that, +there must be a trial of strength between them. "Look you here," he +said. "We have but barely enough food to serve us until help comes--if +it does come. I have the care of that poor woman and child, and I will +see fair play for their sakes. You shall share with us to our last bit +and drop, but, by Heaven, you shall get no more." + +The convict, stretching out his wasted arms, looked down upon them with +the uncertain gaze of a drunken man. "I am weak now," he said. "You +have the best of me"; and then he sank suddenly down upon the ground, +exhausted. "Give me a drink," he moaned, feebly motioning with his hand. +Frere got him water in the pannikin, and having drunk it, he smiled and +lay down to sleep again. Mrs. Vickers and Sylvia, coming out while he +still slept, recognized him as the desperado of the settlement. + +"He was the most desperate man we had," said Mrs. Vickers, identifying +herself with her husband. "Oh, what shall we do?" + +"He won't do much harm," returned Frere, looking down at the notorious +ruffian with curiosity. "He's as near dead as can be." + +Sylvia looked up at him with her clear child's glance. "We mustn't let +him die," said she. "That would be murder." "No, no," returned Frere, +hastily, "no one wants him to die. But what can we do?" + +"I'll nurse him!" cried Sylvia. + +Frere broke into one of his coarse laughs, the first one that he had +indulged in since the mutiny. "You nurse him! By George, that's a good +one!" The poor little child, weak and excitable, felt the contempt in +the tone, and burst into a passion of sobs. "Why do you insult me, you +wicked man? The poor fellow's ill, and he'll--he'll die, like Mr. Bates. +Oh, mamma, mamma, Let's go away by ourselves." + +Frere swore a great oath, and walked away. He went into the little wood +under the cliff, and sat down. He was full of strange thoughts, which he +could not express, and which he had never owned before. The dislike +the child bore to him made him miserable, and yet he took delight in +tormenting her. He was conscious that he had acted the part of a +coward the night before in endeavouring to frighten her, and that the +detestation she bore him was well earned; but he had fully determined to +stake his life in her defence, should the savage who had thus come upon +them out of the desert attempt violence, and he was unreasonably angry +at the pity she had shown. It was not fair to be thus misinterpreted. +But he had done wrong to swear, and more so in quitting them so +abruptly. The consciousness of his wrong-doing, however, only made +him more confirmed in it. His native obstinacy would not allow him to +retract what he had said--even to himself. Walking along, he came to +Bates's grave, and the cross upon it. Here was another evidence of +ill-treatment. She had always preferred Bates. Now that Bates was gone, +she must needs transfer her childish affections to a convict. "Oh," said +Frere to himself, with pleasant recollections of many coarse triumphs in +love-making, "if you were a woman, you little vixen, I'd make you love +me!" When he had said this, he laughed at himself for his folly--he was +turning romantic! When he got back, he found Dawes stretched upon the +brushwood, with Sylvia sitting near him. + +"He is better," said Mrs. Vickers, disdaining to refer to the scene of +the morning. "Sit down and have something to eat, Mr. Frere." + +"Are you better?" asked Frere, abruptly. + +To his surprise, the convict answered quite civilly, "I shall be strong +again in a day or two, and then I can help you, sir." + +"Help me? How?" "To build a hut here for the ladies. And we'll live here +all our lives, and never go back to the sheds any more." + +"He has been wandering a little," said Mrs. Vickers. "Poor fellow, he +seems quite well behaved." + +The convict began to sing a little German song, and to beat the refrain +with his hand. Frere looked at him with curiosity. "I wonder what the +story of that man's life has been," he said. "A queer one, I'll be +bound." + +Sylvia looked up at him with a forgiving smile. "I'll ask him when he +gets well," she said, "and if you are good, I'll tell you, Mr. Frere." + +Frere accepted the proffered friendship. "I am a great brute, Sylvia, +sometimes, ain't I?" he said, "but I don't mean it." + +"You are," returned Sylvia, frankly, "but let's shake hands, and be +friends. It's no use quarrelling when there are only four of us, is it?" +And in this way was Rufus Dawes admitted a member of the family circle. + +Within a week from the night on which he had seen the smoke of Frere's +fire, the convict had recovered his strength, and had become an +important personage. The distrust with which he had been at first viewed +had worn off, and he was no longer an outcast, to be shunned and pointed +at, or to be referred to in whispers. He had abandoned his rough manner, +and no longer threatened or complained, and though at times a profound +melancholy would oppress him, his spirits were more even than those of +Frere, who was often moody, sullen, and overbearing. Rufus Dawes was no +longer the brutalized wretch who had plunged into the dark waters of the +bay to escape a life he loathed, and had alternately cursed and wept +in the solitudes of the forests. He was an active member of society--a +society of four--and he began to regain an air of independence and +authority. This change had been wrought by the influence of little +Sylvia. Recovered from the weakness consequent upon this terrible +journey, Rufus Dawes had experienced for the first time in six years +the soothing power of kindness. He had now an object to live for beyond +himself. He was of use to somebody, and had he died, he would have +been regretted. To us this means little; to this unhappy man it meant +everything. He found, to his astonishment, that he was not despised, and +that, by the strange concurrence of circumstances, he had been brought +into a position in which his convict experiences gave him authority. +He was skilled in all the mysteries of the prison sheds. He knew how to +sustain life on as little food as possible. He could fell trees without +an axe, bake bread without an oven, build a weatherproof hut without +bricks or mortar. From the patient he became the adviser; and from the +adviser, the commander. In the semi-savage state to which these four +human beings had been brought, he found that savage accomplishments +were of most value. Might was Right, and Maurice Frere's authority of +gentility soon succumbed to Rufus Dawes's authority of knowledge. + +As the time wore on, and the scanty stock of provisions decreased, he +found that his authority grew more and more powerful. Did a question +arise as to the qualities of a strange plant, it was Rufus Dawes who +could pronounce upon it. Were fish to be caught, it was Rufus Dawes +who caught them. Did Mrs. Vickers complain of the instability of her +brushwood hut, it was Rufus Dawes who worked a wicker shield, and +plastering it with clay, produced a wall that defied the keenest wind. +He made cups out of pine-knots, and plates out of bark-strips. He worked +harder than any three men. Nothing daunted him, nothing discouraged him. +When Mrs. Vickers fell sick, from anxiety and insufficient food, it was +Rufus Dawes who gathered fresh leaves for her couch, who cheered her by +hopeful words, who voluntarily gave up half his own allowance of meat +that she might grow stronger on it. The poor woman and her child called +him "Mr." Dawes. + +Frere watched all this with dissatisfaction that amounted at times +to positive hatred. Yet he could say nothing, for he could not but +acknowledge that, beside Dawes, he was incapable. He even submitted +to take orders from this escaped convict--it was so evident that the +escaped convict knew better than he. Sylvia began to look upon Dawes as +a second Bates. He was, moreover, all her own. She had an interest in +him, for she had nursed and protected him. If it had not been for +her, this prodigy would not have lived. He felt for her an absorbing +affection that was almost a passion. She was his good angel, his +protectress, his glimpse of Heaven. She had given him food when he was +starving, and had believed in him when the world--the world of four--had +looked coldly on him. He would have died for her, and, for love of her, +hoped for the vessel which should take her back to freedom and give him +again into bondage. + +But the days stole on, and no vessel appeared. Each day they eagerly +scanned the watery horizon; each day they longed to behold the bowsprit +of the returning Ladybird glide past the jutting rock that shut out the +view of the harbour--but in vain. Mrs. Vickers's illness increased, +and the stock of provisions began to run short. Dawes talked of putting +himself and Frere on half allowance. It was evident that, unless succour +came in a few days, they must starve. + +Frere mooted all sorts of wild plans for obtaining food. He would make +a journey to the settlement, and, swimming the estuary, search if haply +any casks of biscuit had been left behind in the hurry of departure. He +would set springes for the seagulls, and snare the pigeons at Liberty +Point. But all these proved impracticable, and with blank faces they +watched their bag of flour grow smaller and smaller daily. Then the +notion of escape was broached. Could they construct a raft? Impossible +without nails or ropes. Could they build a boat? Equally impossible for +the same reason. Could they raise a fire sufficient to signal a ship? +Easily; but what ship would come within reach of that doubly-desolate +spot? Nothing could be done but wait for a vessel, which was sure to +come for them sooner or later; and, growing weaker day by day, they +waited. + +One morning Sylvia was sitting in the sun reading the "English History", +which, by the accident of fright, she had brought with her on the night +of the mutiny. "Mr. Frere," said she, suddenly, "what is an alchemist?" + +"A man who makes gold," was Frere's not very accurate definition. + +"Do you know one?" + +"No." + +"Do you, Mr. Dawes?" + +"I knew a man once who thought himself one." + +"What! A man who made gold?" + +"After a fashion." + +"But did he make gold?" persisted Sylvia. + +"No, not absolutely make it. But he was, in his worship of money, an +alchemist for all that." + +"What became of him?" + +"I don't know," said Dawes, with so much constraint in his tone that the +child instinctively turned the subject. + +"Then, alchemy is a very old art?" + +"Oh, yes." + +"Did the Ancient Britons know it?" + +"No, not as old as that!" + +Sylvia suddenly gave a little scream. The remembrance of the evening +when she read about the Ancient Britons to poor Bates came vividly into +her mind, and though she had since re-read the passage that had then +attracted her attention a hundred times, it had never before presented +itself to her in its full significance. Hurriedly turning the +well-thumbed leaves, she read aloud the passage which had provoked +remark:-- + +"'The Ancient Britons were little better than Barbarians. They +painted their bodies with Woad, and, seated in their light coracles of +skin stretched upon slender wooden frames, must have presented a wild +and savage appearance.'" + +"A coracle! That's a boat! Can't we make a coracle, Mr. Dawes?" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. WHAT THE SEAWEED SUGGESTED. + + + +The question gave the marooned party new hopes. Maurice Frere, with his +usual impetuosity, declared that the project was a most feasible one, +and wondered--as such men will wonder--that it had never occurred to him +before. "It's the simplest thing in the world!" he cried. "Sylvia, +you have saved us!" But upon taking the matter into more earnest +consideration, it became apparent that they were as yet a long way +from the realization of their hopes. To make a coracle of skins seemed +sufficiently easy, but how to obtain the skins! The one miserable +hide of the unlucky she-goat was utterly inadequate for the purpose. +Sylvia--her face beaming with the hope of escape, and with delight at +having been the means of suggesting it--watched narrowly the countenance +of Rufus Dawes, but she marked no answering gleam of joy in those eyes. +"Can't it be done, Mr. Dawes?" she asked, trembling for the reply. + +The convict knitted his brows gloomily. + +"Come, Dawes!" cried Frere, forgetting his enmity for an instant in the +flash of new hope, "can't you suggest something?" + +Rufus Dawes, thus appealed to as the acknowledged Head of the little +society, felt a pleasant thrill of self-satisfaction. "I don't know," +he said. "I must think of it. It looks easy, and yet--" He paused as +something in the water caught his eye. It was a mass of bladdery seaweed +that the returning tide was wafting slowly to the shore. This object, +which would have passed unnoticed at any other time, suggested to Rufus +Dawes a new idea. "Yes," he added slowly, with a change of tone, "it may +be done. I think I can see my way." + +The others preserved a respectful silence until he should speak again. +"How far do you think it is across the bay?" he asked of Frere. + +"What, to Sarah Island?" + +"No, to the Pilot Station." + +"About four miles." + +The convict sighed. "Too far to swim now, though I might have done it +once. But this sort of life weakens a man. It must be done after all." + +"What are you going to do?" asked Frere. + +"To kill the goat." + +Sylvia uttered a little cry; she had become fond of her dumb companion. +"Kill Nanny! Oh, Mr. Dawes! What for?" + +"I am going to make a boat for you," he said, "and I want hides, and +thread, and tallow." + +A few weeks back Maurice Frere would have laughed at such a sentence, +but he had begun now to comprehend that this escaped convict was not a +man to be laughed at, and though he detested him for his superiority, he +could not but admit that he was superior. + +"You can't get more than one hide off a goat, man?" he said, with an +inquiring tone in his voice--as though it was just possible that such +a marvellous being as Dawes could get a second hide, by virtue of some +secret process known only to himself. + +"I am going to catch other goats." "Where?" + +"At the Pilot Station." + +"But how are you going to get there?" + +"Float across. Come, there is not time for questioning! Go and cut down +some saplings, and let us begin!" + +The lieutenant-master looked at the convict prisoner with astonishment, +and then gave way to the power of knowledge, and did as he was ordered. +Before sundown that evening the carcase of poor Nanny, broken into +various most unbutcherly fragments, was hanging on the nearest tree; and +Frere, returning with as many young saplings as he could drag together, +found Rufus Dawes engaged in a curious occupation. He had killed the +goat, and having cut off its head close under the jaws, and its legs +at the knee-joint, had extracted the carcase through a slit made in the +lower portion of the belly, which slit he had now sewn together with +string. This proceeding gave him a rough bag, and he was busily engaged +in filling this bag with such coarse grass as he could collect. Frere +observed, also, that the fat of the animal was carefully preserved, and +the intestines had been placed in a pool of water to soak. + +The convict, however, declined to give information as to what he +intended to do. "It's my own notion," he said. "Let me alone. I may make +a failure of it." Frere, on being pressed by Sylvia, affected to know +all about the scheme, but to impose silence on himself. He was galled to +think that a convict brain should contain a mystery which he might not +share. + +On the next day, by Rufus Dawes's direction, Frere cut down some rushes +that grew about a mile from the camping ground, and brought them in on +his back. This took him nearly half a day to accomplish. Short rations +were beginning to tell upon his physical powers. The convict, on the +other hand, trained by a woeful experience in the Boats to endurance of +hardship, was slowly recovering his original strength. + +"What are they for?" asked Frere, as he flung the bundles down. His +master condescended to reply. "To make a float." + +"Well?" + +The other shrugged his broad shoulders. "You are very dull, Mr. Frere. +I am going to swim over to the Pilot Station, and catch some of those +goats. I can get across on the stuffed skin, but I must float them back +on the reeds." + +"How the doose do you mean to catch 'em?" asked Frere, wiping the sweat +from his brow. + +The convict motioned to him to approach. He did so, and saw that his +companion was cleaning the intestines of the goat. The outer membrane +having been peeled off, Rufus Dawes was turning the gut inside out. +This he did by turning up a short piece of it, as though it were a +coat-sleeve, and dipping the turned-up cuff into a pool of water. The +weight of the water pressing between the cuff and the rest of the gut, +bore down a further portion; and so, by repeated dippings, the whole +length was turned inside out. The inner membrane having been scraped +away, there remained a fine transparent tube, which was tightly twisted, +and set to dry in the sun. + +"There is the catgut for the noose," said Dawes. "I learnt that trick at +the settlement. Now come here." + +Frere, following, saw that a fire had been made between two stones, and +that the kettle was partly sunk in the ground near it. On approaching +the kettle, he found it full of smooth pebbles. + +"Take out those stones," said Dawes. + +Frere obeyed, and saw at the bottom of the kettle a quantity of +sparkling white powder, and the sides of the vessel crusted with the +same material. + +"What's that?" he asked. + +"Salt." + +"How did you get it?" + +"I filled the kettle with sea-water, and then, heating those pebbles +red-hot in the fire, dropped them into it. We could have caught the +steam in a cloth and wrung out fresh water had we wished to do so. But, +thank God, we have plenty." + +Frere started. "Did you learn that at the settlement, too?" he asked. + +Rufus Dawes laughed, with a sort of bitterness in his tones. "Do you +think I have been at 'the settlement' all my life? The thing is very +simple, it is merely evaporation." + +Frere burst out in sudden, fretful admiration: "What a fellow you are, +Dawes! What are you--I mean, what have you been?" + +A triumphant light came into the other's face, and for the instant he +seemed about to make some startling revelation. But the light faded, and +he checked himself with a gesture of pain. + +"I am a convict. Never mind what I have been. A sailor, a shipbuilder, +prodigal, vagabond--what does it matter? It won't alter my fate, will +it?" + +"If we get safely back," says Frere, "I'll ask for a free pardon for +you. You deserve it." + +"Come," returned Dawes, with a discordant laugh. "Let us wait until we +get back." + +"You don't believe me?" + +"I don't want favour at your hands," he said, with a return of the old +fierceness. "Let us get to work. Bring up the rushes here, and tie them +with a fishing line." + +At this instant Sylvia came up. "Good afternoon, Mr. Dawes. Hard at +work? Oh! what's this in the kettle?" The voice of the child acted like +a charm upon Rufus Dawes. He smiled quite cheerfully. + +"Salt, miss. I am going to catch the goats with that." + +"Catch the goats! How? Put it on their tails?" she cried merrily. + +"Goats are fond of salt, and when I get over to the Pilot Station I +shall set traps for them baited with this salt. When they come to +lick it, I shall have a noose of catgut ready to catch them--do you +understand?" + +"But how will you get across?" + +"You will see to-morrow." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. A WONDERFUL DAY'S WORK. + + + +The next morning Rufus Dawes was stirring by daylight. He first got his +catgut wound upon a piece of stick, and then, having moved his frail +floats alongside the little rock that served as a pier, he took a +fishing line and a larger piece of stick, and proceeded to draw a +diagram on the sand. This diagram when completed represented a rude +outline of a punt, eight feet long and three broad. At certain distances +were eight points--four on each side--into which small willow rods were +driven. He then awoke Frere and showed the diagram to him. + +"Get eight stakes of celery-top pine," he said. "You can burn them where +you cannot cut them, and drive a stake into the place of each of these +willow wands. When you have done that, collect as many willows as you +can get. I shall not be back until tonight. Now give me a hand with the +floats." + +Frere, coming to the pier, saw Dawes strip himself, and piling his +clothes upon the stuffed goat-skin, stretch himself upon the reed +bundles, and, paddling with his hands, push off from the shore. The +clothes floated high and dry, but the reeds, depressed by the weight +of the body, sank so that the head of the convict alone appeared above +water. In this fashion he gained the middle of the current, and the +out-going tide swept him down towards the mouth of the harbour. + +Frere, sulkily admiring, went back to prepare the breakfast--they were +on half rations now, Dawes having forbidden the slaughtered goat to be +eaten, lest his expedition should prove unsuccessful--wondering at the +chance which had thrown this convict in his way. "Parsons would call it +'a special providence,'" he said to himself. "For if it hadn't been for +him, we should never have got thus far. If his 'boat' succeeds, we're +all right, I suppose. He's a clever dog. I wonder who he is." His +training as a master of convicts made him think how dangerous such a man +would be on a convict station. It would be difficult to keep a fellow +of such resources. "They'll have to look pretty sharp after him if they +ever get him back," he thought. "I'll have a fine tale to tell of his +ingenuity." The conversation of the previous day occurred to him. "I +promised to ask for a free pardon. He wouldn't have it, though. Too +proud to accept it at my hands! Wait until we get back. I'll teach him +his place; for, after all, it is his own liberty that he is working for +as well as mine--I mean ours." Then a thought came into his head that +was in every way worthy of him. "Suppose we took the boat, and left +him behind!" The notion seemed so ludicrously wicked that he laughed +involuntarily. + +"What is it, Mr. Frere?" + +"Oh, it's you, Sylvia, is it? Ha, ha, ha! I was thinking of +something--something funny." + +"Indeed," said Sylvia, "I am glad of that. Where's Mr. Dawes?" + +Frere was displeased at the interest with which she asked the question. + +"You are always thinking of that fellow. It's Dawes, Dawes, Dawes all +day long. He has gone." + +"Oh!" with a sorrowful accent. "Mamma wants to see him." + +"What about?" says Frere roughly. "Mamma is ill, Mr. Frere." + +"Dawes isn't a doctor. What's the matter with her?" + +"She is worse than she was yesterday. I don't know what is the matter." + +Frere, somewhat alarmed, strode over to the little cavern. + +The "lady of the Commandant" was in a strange plight. The cavern was +lofty, but narrow. In shape it was three-cornered, having two sides open +to the wind. The ingenuity of Rufus Dawes had closed these sides with +wicker-work and clay, and a sort of door of interlaced brushwood hung at +one of them. Frere pushed open this door and entered. The poor woman was +lying on a bed of rushes strewn over young brushwood, and was moaning +feebly. From the first she had felt the privation to which she was +subjected most keenly, and the mental anxiety from which she suffered +increased her physical debility. The exhaustion and lassitude to +which she had partially succumbed soon after Dawes's arrival, had now +completely overcome her, and she was unable to rise. + +"Cheer up, ma'am," said Maurice, with an assumption of heartiness. "It +will be all right in a day or two." + +"Is it you? I sent for Mr. Dawes." + +"He is away just now. I am making a boat. Did not Sylvia tell you?" + +"She told me that he was making one." + +"Well, I--that is, we--are making it. He will be back again tonight. Can +I do anything for you?" + +"No, thank you. I only wanted to know how he was getting on. I must go +soon--if I am to go. Thank you, Mr. Frere. I am much obliged to you. +This is a--he-e--dreadful place to have visitors, isn't it?" + +"Never mind," said Frere, again, "you will be back in Hobart Town in a +few days now. We are sure to get picked up by a ship. But you must cheer +up. Have some tea or something." + +"No, thank you--I don't feel well enough to eat. I am tired." + +Sylvia began to cry. + +"Don't cry, dear. I shall be better by and by. Oh, I wish Mr. Dawes was +back." + +Maurice Frere went out indignant. This "Mr." Dawes was everybody, it +seemed, and he was nobody. Let them wait a little. All that day, working +hard to carry out the convict's directions, he meditated a thousand +plans by which he could turn the tables. He would accuse Dawes +of violence. He would demand that he should be taken back as an +"absconder". He would insist that the law should take its course, and +that the "death" which was the doom of all who were caught in the act of +escape from a penal settlement should be enforced. Yet if they got safe +to land, the marvellous courage and ingenuity of the prisoner would tell +strongly in his favour. The woman and child would bear witness to his +tenderness and skill, and plead for him. As he had said, the convict +deserved a pardon. The mean, bad man, burning with wounded vanity and +undefined jealousy, waited for some method to suggest itself, by which +he might claim the credit of the escape, and snatch from the prisoner, +who had dared to rival him, the last hope of freedom. + +Rufus Dawes, drifting with the current, had allowed himself to coast +along the eastern side of the harbour until the Pilot Station appeared +in view on the opposite shore. By this time it was nearly seven o'clock. +He landed at a sandy cove, and drawing up his raft, proceeded to unpack +from among his garments a piece of damper. Having eaten sparingly, and +dried himself in the sun, he replaced the remains of his breakfast, +and pushed his floats again into the water. The Pilot Station lay some +distance below him, on the opposite shore. He had purposely made +his second start from a point which would give him this advantage of +position; for had he attempted to paddle across at right angles, the +strength of the current would have swept him out to sea. Weak as he was, +he several times nearly lost his hold on the reeds. The clumsy bundle +presenting too great a broadside to the stream, whirled round and +round, and was once or twice nearly sucked under. At length, however, +breathless and exhausted, he gained the opposite bank, half a mile below +the point he had attempted to make, and carrying his floats out of reach +of the tide, made off across the hill to the Pilot Station. + +Arrived there about midday, he set to work to lay his snares. The +goats, with whose hides he hoped to cover the coracle, were sufficiently +numerous and tame to encourage him to use every exertion. He carefully +examined the tracks of the animals, and found that they converged to +one point--the track to the nearest water. With much labour he cut down +bushes, so as to mask the approach to the waterhole on all sides save +where these tracks immediately conjoined. Close to the water, and at +unequal distances along the various tracks, he scattered the salt he had +obtained by his rude distillation of sea-water. Between this scattered +salt and the points where he judged the animals would be likely to +approach, he set his traps, made after the following manner. He took +several pliant branches of young trees, and having stripped them of +leaves and twigs, dug with his knife and the end of the rude paddle he +had made for the voyage across the inlet, a succession of holes, about a +foot deep. At the thicker end of these saplings he fastened, by a piece +of fishing line, a small cross-bar, which swung loosely, like the stick +handle which a schoolboy fastens to the string of his pegtop. Forcing +the ends of the saplings thus prepared into the holes, he filled in and +stamped down the earth all around them. The saplings, thus anchored as +it were by the cross-pieces of stick, not only stood firm, but resisted +all his efforts to withdraw them. To the thin ends of these saplings +he bound tightly, into notches cut in the wood, and secured by a +multiplicity of twisting, the catgut springes he had brought from the +camping ground. The saplings were then bent double, and the gutted ends +secured in the ground by the same means as that employed to fix the +butts. This was the most difficult part of the business, for it was +necessary to discover precisely the amount of pressure that would hold +the bent rod without allowing it to escape by reason of this elasticity, +and which would yet "give" to a slight pull on the gut. After many +failures, however, this happy medium was discovered; and Rufus Dawes, +concealing his springes by means of twigs, smoothed the disturbed sand +with a branch and retired to watch the effect of his labours. About two +hours after he had gone, the goats came to drink. There were five goats +and two kids, and they trotted calmly along the path to the water. The +watcher soon saw that his precautions had been in a manner wasted. The +leading goat marched gravely into the springe, which, catching him round +his neck, released the bent rod, and sprang him off his legs into the +air. He uttered a comical bleat, and then hung kicking. Rufus Dawes, +though the success of the scheme was a matter of life and death, burst +out laughing at the antics of the beast. The other goats bounded off at +this sudden elevation of their leader, and three more were entrapped at +a little distance. Rufus Dawes now thought it time to secure his prize, +though three of the springes were as yet unsprung. He ran down to the +old goat, knife in hand, but before he could reach him the barely-dried +catgut gave way, and the old fellow, shaking his head with grotesque +dismay, made off at full speed. The others, however, were secured and +killed. The loss of the springe was not a serious one, for three traps +remained unsprung, and before sundown Rufus Dawes had caught four more +goats. Removing with care the catgut that had done such good service, he +dragged the carcases to the shore, and proceeded to pack them upon his +floats. He discovered, however, that the weight was too great, and that +the water, entering through the loops of the stitching in the hide, had +so soaked the rush-grass as to render the floats no longer buoyant. He +was compelled, therefore, to spend two hours in re-stuffing the skin +with such material as he could find. Some light and flock-like seaweed, +which the action of the water had swathed after the fashion of haybands +along the shore, formed an excellent substitute for grass, and, +having bound his bundle of rushes lengthwise, with the goat-skin as a +centre-piece, he succeeded in forming a sort of rude canoe, upon which +the carcases floated securely. + +He had eaten nothing since the morning, and the violence of his +exertions had exhausted him. Still, sustained by the excitement of the +task he had set himself, he dismissed with fierce impatience the thought +of rest, and dragged his weary limbs along the sand, endeavouring to +kill fatigue by further exertion. The tide was now running in, and he +knew it was imperative that he should regain the further shore while the +current was in his favour. To cross from the Pilot Station at low water +was impossible. If he waited until the ebb, he must spend another day +on the shore, and he could not afford to lose an hour. Cutting a long +sapling, he fastened to one end of it the floating bundle, and thus +guided it to a spot where the beach shelved abruptly into deep water. +It was a clear night, and the risen moon large and low, flung a rippling +streak of silver across the sea. On the other side of the bay all +was bathed in a violet haze, which veiled the inlet from which he had +started in the morning. The fire of the exiles, hidden behind a point +of rock, cast a red glow into the air. The ocean breakers rolled in upon +the cliffs outside the bar, with a hoarse and threatening murmur; and +the rising tide rippled and lapped with treacherous melody along the +sand. He touched the chill water and drew back. For an instant he +determined to wait until the beams of morning should illumine that +beautiful but treacherous sea, and then the thought of the helpless +child, who was, without doubt, waiting and watching for him on the +shore, gave new strength to his wearied frame; and fixing his eyes on +the glow that, hovering above the dark tree-line, marked her presence, +he pushed the raft before him out into the sea. The reeds sustained +him bravely, but the strength of the current sucked him underneath the +water, and for several seconds he feared that he should be compelled +to let go his hold. But his muscles, steeled in the slow fire +of convict-labour, withstood this last strain upon them, and, +half-suffocated, with bursting chest and paralysed fingers, he preserved +his position, until the mass, getting out of the eddies along the +shore-line, drifted steadily down the silvery track that led to the +settlement. After a few moments' rest, he set his teeth, and urged his +strange canoe towards the shore. Paddling and pushing, he gradually +edged it towards the fire-light; and at last, just when his stiffened +limbs refused to obey the impulse of his will, and he began to drift +onwards with the onward tide, he felt his feet strike firm ground. +Opening his eyes--closed in the desperation of his last efforts--he +found himself safe under the lee of the rugged promontory which hid +the fire. It seemed that the waves, tired of persecuting him, had, with +disdainful pity, cast him ashore at the goal of his hopes. Looking back, +he for the first time realized the frightful peril he had escaped, and +shuddered. To this shudder succeeded a thrill of triumph. "Why had he +stayed so long, when escape was so easy?" Dragging the carcases above +high-water mark, he rounded the little promontory and made for the fire. +The recollection of the night when he had first approached it came upon +him, and increased his exultation. How different a man was he now from +then! Passing up the sand, he saw the stakes which he had directed Frere +to cut whiten in the moonshine. His officer worked for him! In his own +brain alone lay the secret of escape! He--Rufus Dawes--the scarred, +degraded "prisoner", could alone get these three beings back to +civilization. Did he refuse to aid them, they would for ever remain in +that prison, where he had so long suffered. The tables were turned--he +had become a gaoler! He had gained the fire before the solitary watcher +there heard his footsteps, and spread his hands to the blaze in silence. +He felt as Frere would have felt, had their positions been reversed, +disdainful of the man who had stopped at home. + +Frere, starting, cried, "It is you! Have you succeeded?" + +Rufus Dawes nodded. + +"What! Did you catch them?" + +"There are four carcases down by the rocks. You can have meat for +breakfast to-morrow!" + +The child, at the sound of the voice, came running down from the hut. +"Oh, Mr. Dawes! I am so glad! We were beginning to despair--mamma and +I." + +Dawes snatched her from the ground, and bursting into a joyous laugh, +swung her into the air. "Tell me," he cried, holding up the child with +two dripping arms above him, "what you will do for me if I bring you and +mamma safe home again?" + +"Give you a free pardon," says Sylvia, "and papa shall make you his +servant!" Frere burst out laughing at this reply, and Dawes, with a +choking sensation in his throat, put the child upon the ground and +walked away. + +This was in truth all he could hope for. All his scheming, all his +courage, all his peril, would but result in the patronage of a great man +like Major Vickers. His heart, big with love, with self-denial, and with +hopes of a fair future, would have this flattering unction laid to it. +He had performed a prodigy of skill and daring, and for his reward he +was to be made a servant to the creatures he had protected. Yet what +more could a convict expect? Sylvia saw how deeply her unconscious hand +had driven the iron, and ran up to the man she had wounded. "And, Mr. +Dawes, remember that I shall love you always." The convict, however, his +momentary excitement over, motioned her away; and she saw him stretch +himself wearily under the shadow of a rock. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. THE CORACLE. + + + +In the morning, however, Rufus Dawes was first at work, and made no +allusion to the scene of the previous evening. He had already skinned +one of the goats, and he directed Frere to set to work upon another. +"Cut down the rump to the hock, and down the brisket to the knee," he +said. "I want the hides as square as possible." By dint of hard work +they got the four goats skinned, and the entrails cleaned ready for +twisting, by breakfast time; and having broiled some of the flesh, made +a hearty meal. Mrs. Vickers being no better, Dawes went to see her, and +seemed to have made friends again with Sylvia, for he came out of the +hut with the child's hand in his. Frere, who was cutting the meat in +long strips to dry in the sun, saw this, and it added fresh fuel to the +fire in his unreasonable envy and jealousy. However, he said nothing, +for his enemy had not yet shown him how the boat was to be made. Before +midday, however, he was a partner in the secret, which, after all, was a +very simple one. + +Rufus Dawes took two of the straightest and most tapered of the +celery-top pines which Frere had cut on the previous day, and lashed +them tightly together, with the butts outwards. He thus produced a +spliced stick about twelve feet long. About two feet from either end he +notched the young tree until he could bend the extremities upwards; and +having so bent them, he secured the bent portions in their places by +means of lashings of raw hide. The spliced trees now presented a rude +outline of the section of a boat, having the stem, keel, and stern all +in one piece. This having been placed lengthwise between the stakes, +four other poles, notched in two places, were lashed from stake to +stake, running crosswise to the keel, and forming the knees. Four +saplings were now bent from end to end of the upturned portions of the +keel that represented stem and stern. Two of these four were placed +above, as gunwales; two below as bottom rails. At each intersection the +sticks were lashed firmly with fishing line. The whole framework being +complete, the stakes were drawn out, and there lay upon the ground the +skeleton of a boat eight feet long by three broad. + +Frere, whose hands were blistered and sore, would fain have rested; but +the convict would not hear of it. "Let us finish," he said regardless of +his own fatigue; "the skins will be dry if we stop." + +"I can work no more," says Frere sulkily; "I can't stand. You've got +muscles of iron, I suppose. I haven't." + +"They made me work when I couldn't stand, Maurice Frere. It is wonderful +what spirit the cat gives a man. There's nothing like work to get rid of +aching muscles--so they used to tell me." + +"Well, what's to be done now?" + +"Cover the boat. There, you can set the fat to melt, and sew these hides +together. Two and two, do you see? and then sew the pair at the necks. +There is plenty of catgut yonder." + +"Don't talk to me as if I was a dog!" says Frere suddenly. "Be civil, +can't you." + +But the other, busily trimming and cutting at the projecting pieces +of sapling, made no reply. It is possible that he thought the fatigued +lieutenant beneath his notice. About an hour before sundown the hides +were ready, and Rufus Dawes, having in the meantime interlaced the ribs +of the skeleton with wattles, stretched the skins over it, with the +hairy side inwards. Along the edges of this covering he bored holes at +intervals, and passing through these holes thongs of twisted skin, +he drew the whole to the top rail of the boat. One last precaution +remained. Dipping the pannikin into the melted tallow, he plentifully +anointed the seams of the sewn skins. The boat, thus turned topsy-turvy, +looked like a huge walnut shell covered with red and reeking hide, +or the skull of some Titan who had been scalped. "There!" cried Rufus +Dawes, triumphant. "Twelve hours in the sun to tighten the hides, and +she'll swim like a duck." + +The next day was spent in minor preparations. The jerked goat-meat was +packed securely into as small a compass as possible. The rum barrel was +filled with water, and water bags were improvised out of portions of +the intestines of the goats. Rufus Dawes, having filled these last with +water, ran a wooden skewer through their mouths, and twisted it tight, +tourniquet fashion. He also stripped cylindrical pieces of bark, and +having sewn each cylinder at the side, fitted to it a bottom of the same +material, and caulked the seams with gum and pine-tree resin. Thus four +tolerable buckets were obtained. One goatskin yet remained, and out of +that it was determined to make a sail. "The currents are strong," said +Rufus Dawes, "and we shall not be able to row far with such oars as we +have got. If we get a breeze it may save our lives." It was impossible +to "step" a mast in the frail basket structure, but this difficulty was +overcome by a simple contrivance. From thwart to thwart two poles were +bound, and the mast, lashed between these poles with thongs of raw hide, +was secured by shrouds of twisted fishing line running fore and aft. +Sheets of bark were placed at the bottom of the craft, and made a safe +flooring. It was late in the afternoon on the fourth day when these +preparations were completed, and it was decided that on the morrow they +should adventure the journey. "We will coast down to the Bar," said +Rufus Dawes, "and wait for the slack of the tide. I can do no more now." + +Sylvia, who had seated herself on a rock at a little distance, called +to them. Her strength was restored by the fresh meat, and her childish +spirits had risen with the hope of safety. The mercurial little creature +had wreathed seaweed about her head, and holding in her hand a long twig +decorated with a tuft of leaves to represent a wand, she personified one +of the heroines of her books. + +"I am the Queen of the Island," she said merrily, "and you are my +obedient subjects. Pray, Sir Eglamour, is the boat ready?" + +"It is, your Majesty," said poor Dawes. + +"Then we will see it. Come, walk in front of me. I won't ask you to +rub your nose upon the ground, like Man Friday, because that would be +uncomfortable. Mr. Frere, you don't play?" + +"Oh, yes!" says Frere, unable to withstand the charming pout that +accompanied the words. "I'll play. What am I to do?" + +"You must walk on this side, and be respectful. Of course it is only +Pretend, you know," she added, with a quick consciousness of Frere's +conceit. "Now then, the Queen goes down to the Seashore surrounded by +her Nymphs! There is no occasion to laugh, Mr. Frere. Of course, Nymphs +are very different from you, but then we can't help that." + +Marching in this pathetically ridiculous fashion across the sand, they +halted at the coracle. "So that is the boat!" says the Queen, fairly +surprised out of her assumption of dignity. "You are a Wonderful Man, +Mr. Dawes!" + +Rufus Dawes smiled sadly. "It is very simple." + +"Do you call this simple?" says Frere, who in the general joy had +shaken off a portion of his sulkiness. "By George, I don't! This is +ship-building with a vengeance, this is. There's no scheming about +this--it's all sheer hard work." + +"Yes!" echoed Sylvia, "sheer hard work--sheer hard work by good Mr. +Dawes!" And she began to sing a childish chant of triumph, drawing lines +and letters in the sand the while, with the sceptre of the Queen. + +"Good Mr. Dawes! Good Mr. Dawes! This is the work of Good Mr. Dawes!" + +Maurice could not resist a sneer. + +"See-saw, Margery Daw, Sold her bed, and lay upon straw!" said he. + +"Good Mr. Dawes!" repeated Sylvia. "Good Mr. Dawes! Why shouldn't I say +it? You are disagreeable, sir. I won't play with you any more," and she +went off along the sand. + +"Poor little child," said Rufus Dawes. "You speak too harshly to her." + +Frere--now that the boat was made--had regained his self-confidence. +Civilization seemed now brought sufficiently close to him to warrant his +assuming the position of authority to which his social position entitled +him. "One would think that a boat had never been built before to hear +her talk," he said. "If this washing-basket had been one of my old +uncle's three-deckers, she couldn't have said much more. By the Lord!" +he added, with a coarse laugh, "I ought to have a natural talent for +ship-building; for if the old villain hadn't died when he did, I should +have been a ship-builder myself." + +Rufus Dawes turned his back at the word "died", and busied himself with +the fastenings of the hides. Could the other have seen his face, he +would have been struck by its sudden pallor. + +"Ah!" continued Frere, half to himself, and half to his companion, +"that's a sum of money to lose, isn't it?" + +"What do you mean?" asked the convict, without turning his face. + +"Mean! Why, my good fellow, I should have been left a quarter of a +million of money, but the old hunks who was going to give it to me died +before he could alter his will, and every shilling went to a scapegrace +son, who hadn't been near the old man for years. That's the way of the +world, isn't it?" + +Rufus Dawes, still keeping his face away, caught his breath as if in +astonishment, and then, recovering himself, he said in a harsh voice, "A +fortunate fellow--that son!" + +"Fortunate!" cries Frere, with another oath. "Oh yes, he was fortunate! +He was burnt to death in the Hydaspes, and never heard of his luck. His +mother has got the money, though. I never saw a shilling of it." And +then, seemingly displeased with himself for having allowed his tongue +to get the better of his dignity, he walked away to the fire, musing, +doubtless, on the difference between Maurice Frere, with a quarter of a +million, disporting himself in the best society that could be procured, +with command of dog-carts, prize-fighters, and gamecocks galore; and +Maurice Frere, a penniless lieutenant, marooned on the barren coast of +Macquarie Harbour, and acting as boat-builder to a runaway convict. + +Rufus Dawes was also lost in reverie. He leant upon the gunwale of +the much-vaunted boat, and his eyes were fixed upon the sea, weltering +golden in the sunset, but it was evident that he saw nothing of the +scene before him. Struck dumb by the sudden intelligence of his fortune, +his imagination escaped from his control, and fled away to those +scenes which he had striven so vainly to forget. He was looking far +away--across the glittering harbour and the wide sea beyond it--looking +at the old house at Hampstead, with its well-remembered gloomy garden. +He pictured himself escaped from this present peril, and freed from the +sordid thraldom which so long had held him. He saw himself returning, +with some plausible story of his wanderings, to take possession of the +wealth which was his--saw himself living once more, rich, free, and +respected, in the world from which he had been so long an exile. He saw +his mother's sweet pale face, the light of a happy home circle. He saw +himself--received with tears of joy and marvelling affection--entering +into this home circle as one risen from the dead. A new life opened +radiant before him, and he was lost in the contemplation of his own +happiness. + +So absorbed was he that he did not hear the light footstep of the child +across the sand. Mrs. Vickers, having been told of the success which had +crowned the convict's efforts, had overcome her weakness so far as +to hobble down the beach to the boat, and now, heralded by Sylvia, +approached, leaning on the arm of Maurice Frere. + +"Mamma has come to see the boat, Mr. Dawes!" cries Sylvia, but Dawes did +not hear. + +The child reiterated her words, but still the silent figure did not +reply. + +"Mr. Dawes!" she cried again, and pulled him by the coat-sleeve. + +The touch aroused him, and looking down, he saw the pretty, thin face +upturned to his. Scarcely conscious of what he did, and still following +out the imagining which made him free, wealthy, and respected, he +caught the little creature in his arms--as he might have caught his own +daughter--and kissed her. Sylvia said nothing; but Mr. Frere--arrived, +by his chain of reasoning, at quite another conclusion as to the state +of affairs--was astonished at the presumption of the man. The lieutenant +regarded himself as already reinstated in his old position, and with +Mrs. Vickers on his arm, reproved the apparent insolence of the convict +as freely as he would have done had they both been at his own little +kingdom of Maria Island. "You insolent beggar!" he cried. "Do you dare! +Keep your place, sir!" + +The sentence recalled Rufus Dawes to reality. His place was that of a +convict. What business had he with tenderness for the daughter of his +master? Yet, after all he had done, and proposed to do, this harsh +judgment upon him seemed cruel. He saw the two looking at the boat he +had built. He marked the flush of hope on the cheek of the poor lady, +and the full-blown authority that already hardened the eye of Maurice +Frere, and all at once he understood the result of what he had done. He +had, by his own act, given himself again to bondage. As long as escape +was impracticable, he had been useful, and even powerful. Now he had +pointed out the way of escape, he had sunk into the beast of burden once +again. In the desert he was "Mr." Dawes, the saviour; in civilized life +he would become once more Rufus Dawes, the ruffian, the prisoner, the +absconder. He stood mute, and let Frere point out the excellences of the +craft in silence; and then, feeling that the few words of thanks uttered +by the lady were chilled by her consciousness of the ill-advised freedom +he had taken with the child, he turned on his heel, and strode up into +the bush. + +"A queer fellow," said Frere, as Mrs. Vickers followed the retreating +figure with her eyes. "Always in an ill temper." "Poor man! He has +behaved very kindly to us," said Mrs. Vickers. Yet even she felt the +change of circumstance, and knew that, without any reason she could +name, her blind trust and hope in the convict who had saved their lives +had been transformed into a patronizing kindliness which was quite +foreign to esteem or affection. + +"Come, let us have some supper," says Frere. "The last we shall eat +here, I hope. He will come back when his fit of sulks is over." + +But he did not come back, and, after a few expressions of wonder at his +absence, Mrs. Vickers and her daughter, rapt in the hopes and fears +of the morrow, almost forgot that he had left them. With marvellous +credulity they looked upon the terrible stake they were about to +play for as already won. The possession of the boat seemed to them so +wonderful, that the perils of the voyage they were to make in it were +altogether lost sight of. As for Maurice Frere, he was rejoiced that +the convict was out of the way. He wished that he was out of the way +altogether. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. THE WRITING ON THE SAND. + + + +Having got out of eye-shot of the ungrateful creatures he had +befriended, Rufus Dawes threw himself upon the ground in an agony of +mingled rage and regret. For the first time for six years he had tasted +the happiness of doing good, the delight of self-abnegation. For the +first time for six years he had broken through the selfish misanthropy +he had taught himself. And this was his reward! He had held his temper +in check, in order that it might not offend others. He had banished the +galling memory of his degradation, lest haply some shadow of it might +seem to fall upon the fair child whose lot had been so strangely cast +with his. He had stifled the agony he suffered, lest its expression +should give pain to those who seemed to feel for him. He had forborne +retaliation, when retaliation would have been most sweet. Having all +these years waited and watched for a chance to strike his persecutors, +he had held his hand now that an unlooked-for accident had placed the +weapon of destruction in his grasp. He had risked his life, forgone his +enmities, almost changed his nature--and his reward was cold looks and +harsh words, so soon as his skill had paved the way to freedom. +This knowledge coming upon him while the thrill of exultation at the +astounding news of his riches yet vibrated in his brain, made him +grind his teeth with rage at his own hard fate. Bound by the purest and +holiest of ties--the affection of a son to his mother--he had condemned +himself to social death, rather than buy his liberty and life by a +revelation which would shame the gentle creature whom he loved. By a +strange series of accidents, fortune had assisted him to maintain the +deception he had practised. His cousin had not recognized him. The very +ship in which he was believed to have sailed had been lost with every +soul on board. His identity had been completely destroyed--no link +remained which could connect Rufus Dawes, the convict, with Richard +Devine, the vanished heir to the wealth of the dead ship-builder. + +Oh, if he had only known! If, while in the gloomy prison, distracted by +a thousand fears, and weighed down by crushing evidence of circumstance, +he had but guessed that death had stepped between Sir Richard and his +vengeance, he might have spared himself the sacrifice he had made. He +had been tried and condemned as a nameless sailor, who could call no +witnesses in his defence, and give no particulars as to his previous +history. It was clear to him now that he might have adhered to his +statement of ignorance concerning the murder, locked in his breast +the name of the murderer, and have yet been free. Judges are just, but +popular opinion is powerful, and it was not impossible that Richard +Devine, the millionaire, would have escaped the fate which had overtaken +Rufus Dawes, the sailor. Into his calculations in the prison--when, +half-crazed with love, with terror, and despair, he had counted up his +chances of life--the wild supposition that he had even then inherited +the wealth of the father who had disowned him, had never entered. The +knowledge of that fact would have altered the whole current of his life, +and he learnt it for the first time now--too late. Now, lying prone upon +the sand; now, wandering aimlessly up and down among the stunted trees +that bristled white beneath the mist-barred moon; now, sitting--as he +had sat in the prison long ago--with the head gripped hard between his +hands, swaying his body to and fro, he thought out the frightful problem +of his bitter life. Of little use was the heritage that he had gained. A +convict-absconder, whose hands were hard with menial service, and whose +back was scarred with the lash, could never be received among the gently +nurtured. Let him lay claim to his name and rights, what then? He was a +convicted felon, and his name and rights had been taken from him by the +law. Let him go and tell Maurice Frere that he was his lost cousin. He +would be laughed at. Let him proclaim aloud his birth and innocence, and +the convict-sheds would grin, and the convict overseer set him to +harder labour. Let him even, by dint of reiteration, get his wild story +believed, what would happen? If it was heard in England--after the +lapse of years, perhaps--that a convict in the chain-gang in Macquarie +Harbour--a man held to be a murderer, and whose convict career was +one long record of mutiny and punishment--claimed to be the heir to an +English fortune, and to own the right to dispossess staid and worthy +English folk of their rank and station, with what feeling would the +announcement be received? Certainly not with a desire to redeem this +ruffian from his bonds and place him in the honoured seat of his dead +father. Such intelligence would be regarded as a calamity, an unhappy +blot upon a fair reputation, a disgrace to an honoured and unsullied +name. Let him succeed, let him return again to the mother who had by +this time become reconciled, in a measure, to his loss; he would, at the +best, be to her a living shame, scarcely less degrading than that which +she had dreaded. + +But success was almost impossible. He did not dare to retrace his steps +through the hideous labyrinth into which he had plunged. Was he to show +his scarred shoulders as a proof that he was a gentleman and an innocent +man? Was he to relate the nameless infamies of Macquarie Harbour as a +proof that he was entitled to receive the hospitalities of the generous, +and to sit, a respected guest, at the tables of men of refinement? Was +he to quote the horrible slang of the prison-ship, and retail the filthy +jests of the chain-gang and the hulks, as a proof that he was a fit +companion for pure-minded women and innocent children? Suppose even +that he could conceal the name of the real criminal, and show himself +guiltless of the crime for which he had been condemned, all the wealth +in the world could not buy back that blissful ignorance of evil which +had once been his. All the wealth in the world could not purchase the +self-respect which had been cut out of him by the lash, or banish from +his brain the memory of his degradation. + +For hours this agony of thought racked him. He cried out as though with +physical pain, and then lay in a stupor, exhausted with actual physical +suffering. It was hopeless to think of freedom and of honour. Let him +keep silence, and pursue the life fate had marked out for him. He would +return to bondage. The law would claim him as an absconder, and would +mete out to him such punishment as was fitting. Perhaps he might escape +severest punishment, as a reward for his exertions in saving the child. +He might consider himself fortunate if such was permitted to him. +Fortunate! Suppose he did not go back at all, but wandered away into the +wilderness and died? Better death than such a doom as his. Yet need he +die? He had caught goats, he could catch fish. He could build a hut. +In here was, perchance, at the deserted settlement some remnant of seed +corn that, planted, would give him bread. He had built a boat, he had +made an oven, he had fenced in a hut. Surely he could contrive to live +alone savage and free. Alone! He had contrived all these marvels alone! +Was not the boat he himself had built below upon the shore? Why not +escape in her, and leave to their fate the miserable creatures who had +treated him with such ingratitude? + +The idea flashed into his brain, as though someone had spoken the words +into his ear. Twenty strides would place him in possession of the boat, +and half an hour's drifting with the current would take him beyond +pursuit. Once outside the Bar, he would make for the westward, in the +hopes of falling in with some whaler. He would doubtless meet with one +before many days, and he was well supplied with provision and water in +the meantime. A tale of shipwreck would satisfy the sailors, and--he +paused--he had forgotten that the rags which he wore would betray him. +With an exclamation of despair, he started from the posture in which +he was lying. He thrust out his hands to raise himself, and his fingers +came in contact with something soft. He had been lying at the foot of +some loose stones that were piled cairnwise beside a low-growing bush; +and the object that he had touched was protruding from beneath these +stones. He caught it and dragged it forth. It was the shirt of poor +Bates. With trembling hands he tore away the stones, and pulled forth +the rest of the garments. They seemed as though they had been left +purposely for him. Heaven had sent him the very disguise he needed. + +The night had passed during his reverie, and the first faint streaks of +dawn began to lighten in the sky. Haggard and pale, he rose to his feet, +and scarcely daring to think about what he proposed to do, ran towards +the boat. As he ran, however, the voice that he had heard encouraged +him. "Your life is of more importance than theirs. They will die, but +they have been ungrateful and deserve death. You will escape out of this +Hell, and return to the loving heart who mourns you. You can do more +good to mankind than by saving the lives of these people who despise +you. Moreover, they may not die. They are sure to be sent for. Think of +what awaits you when you return--an absconded convict!" + +He was within three feet of the boat, when he suddenly checked himself, +and stood motionless, staring at the sand with as much horror as though +he saw there the Writing which foretold the doom of Belshazzar. He +had come upon the sentence traced by Sylvia the evening before, and +glittering in the low light of the red sun suddenly risen from out the +sea, it seemed to him that the letters had shaped themselves at his very +feet, + +GOOD MR. DAWES. + +"Good Mr. Dawes"! What a frightful reproach there was to him in that +simple sentence! What a world of cowardice, baseness, and cruelty, had +not those eleven letters opened to him! He heard the voice of the child +who had nursed him, calling on him to save her. He saw her at that +instant standing between him and the boat, as she had stood when she +held out to him the loaf, on the night of his return to the settlement. + +He staggered to the cavern, and, seizing the sleeping Frere by the arm, +shook him violently. "Awake! awake!" he cried, "and let us leave this +place!" Frere, starting to his feet, looked at the white face and +bloodshot eyes of the wretched man before him with blunt astonishment. +"What's the matter with you, man?" he said. "You look as if you'd seen a +ghost!" + +At the sound of his voice Rufus Dawes gave a long sigh, and drew his +hand across his eyes. + +"Come, Sylvia!" shouted Frere. "It's time to get up. I am ready to go!" + +The sacrifice was complete. The convict turned away, and two great +glistening tears rolled down his rugged face, and fell upon the sand. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. AT SEA. + + + +An hour after sunrise, the frail boat, which was the last hope of these +four human beings, drifted with the outgoing current towards the mouth +of the harbour. When first launched she had come nigh swamping, being +overloaded, and it was found necessary to leave behind a great portion +of the dried meat. With what pangs this was done can be easily imagined, +for each atom of food seemed to represent an hour of life. Yet there was +no help for it. As Frere said, it was "neck or nothing with them". They +must get away at all hazards. + +That evening they camped at the mouth of the Gates, Dawes being afraid +to risk a passage until the slack of the tide, and about ten o'clock +at night adventured to cross the Bar. The night was lovely, and the +sea calm. It seemed as though Providence had taken pity on them; for, +notwithstanding the insecurity of the craft and the violence of the +breakers, the dreaded passage was made with safety. Once, indeed, when +they had just entered the surf, a mighty wave, curling high above them, +seemed about to overwhelm the frail structure of skins and wickerwork; +but Rufus Dawes, keeping the nose of the boat to the sea, and Frere +baling with his hat, they succeeded in reaching deep water. A great +misfortune, however, occurred. Two of the bark buckets, left by some +unpardonable oversight uncleated, were washed overboard, and with +them nearly a fifth of their scanty store of water. In the face of +the greater peril, the accident seemed trifling; and as, drenched and +chilled, they gained the open sea, they could not but admit that fortune +had almost miraculously befriended them. + +They made tedious way with their rude oars; a light breeze from the +north-west sprang up with the dawn, and, hoisting the goat-skin sail, +they crept along the coast. It was resolved that the two men should keep +watch and watch; and Frere for the second time enforced his authority by +giving the first watch to Rufus Dawes. "I am tired," he said, "and shall +sleep for a little while." + +Rufus Dawes, who had not slept for two nights, and who had done all the +harder work, said nothing. He had suffered so much during the last two +days that his senses were dulled to pain. + +Frere slept until late in the afternoon, and, when he woke, found the +boat still tossing on the sea, and Sylvia and her mother both seasick. +This seemed strange to him. Sea-sickness appeared to be a malady which +belonged exclusively to civilization. Moodily watching the great green +waves which curled incessantly between him and the horizon, he marvelled +to think how curiously events had come about. A leaf had, as it were, +been torn out of his autobiography. It seemed a lifetime since he had +done anything but moodily scan the sea or shore. Yet, on the morning of +leaving the settlement, he had counted the notches on a calendar-stick +he carried, and had been astonished to find them but twenty-two in +number. Taking out his knife, he cut two nicks in the wicker gunwale of +the coracle. That brought him to twenty-four days. The mutiny had taken +place on the 13th of January; it was now the 6th of February. "Surely," +thought he, "the Ladybird might have returned by this time." There was +no one to tell him that the Ladybird had been driven into Port Davey by +stress of weather, and detained there for seventeen days. + +That night the wind fell, and they had to take to their oars. Rowing +all night, they made but little progress, and Rufus Dawes suggested that +they should put in to the shore and wait until the breeze sprang up. +But, upon getting under the lee of a long line of basaltic rocks which +rose abruptly out of the sea, they found the waves breaking furiously +upon a horseshoe reef, six or seven miles in length. There was nothing +for it but to coast again. They coasted for two days, without a sign +of a sail, and on the third day a great wind broke upon them from the +south-east, and drove them back thirty miles. The coracle began to leak, +and required constant bailing. What was almost as bad, the rum cask, +that held the best part of their water, had leaked also, and was now +half empty. They caulked it, by cutting out the leak, and then plugging +the hole with linen. + +"It's lucky we ain't in the tropics," said Frere. Poor Mrs. Vickers, +lying in the bottom of the boat, wrapped in her wet shawl, and chilled +to the bone with the bitter wind, had not the heart to speak. Surely +the stifling calm of the tropics could not be worse than this bleak and +barren sea. + +The position of the four poor creatures was now almost desperate. Mrs. +Vickers, indeed, seemed completely prostrated; and it was evident that, +unless some help came, she could not long survive the continued exposure +to the weather. The child was in somewhat better case. Rufus Dawes had +wrapped her in his woollen shirt, and, unknown to Frere, had divided +with her daily his allowance of meat. She lay in his arms at night, and +in the day crept by his side for shelter and protection. As long as she +was near him she felt safe. They spoke little to each other, but when +Rufus Dawes felt the pressure of her tiny hand in his, or sustained the +weight of her head upon his shoulder, he almost forgot the cold that +froze him, and the hunger that gnawed him. + +So two more days passed, and yet no sail. On the tenth day after +their departure from Macquarie Harbour they came to the end of their +provisions. The salt water had spoiled the goat-meat, and soaked the +bread into a nauseous paste. The sea was still running high, and the +wind, having veered to the north, was blowing with increased violence. +The long low line of coast that stretched upon their left hand was at +times obscured by a blue mist. The water was the colour of mud, and +the sky threatened rain. The wretched craft to which they had entrusted +themselves was leaking in four places. If caught in one of the frequent +storms which ravaged that iron-bound coast, she could not live an hour. +The two men, wearied, hungry, and cold, almost hoped for the end to come +quickly. To add to their distress, the child was seized with fever. +She was hot and cold by turns, and in the intervals of moaning talked +deliriously. Rufus Dawes, holding her in his arms, watched the suffering +he was unable to alleviate with a savage despair at his heart. Was she +to die after all? + +So another day and night passed, and the eleventh morning saw the boat +yet alive, rolling in the trough of the same deserted sea. The four +exiles lay in her almost without breath. + +All at once Dawes uttered a cry, and, seizing the sheet, put the clumsy +craft about. "A sail! a sail!" he cried. "Do you not see her?" + +Frere's hungry eyes ranged the dull water in vain. + +"There is no sail, fool!" he said. "You mock us!" + +The boat, no longer following the line of the coast, was running nearly +due south, straight into the great Southern Ocean. Frere tried to wrest +the thong from the hand of the convict, and bring the boat back to her +course. "Are you mad?" he asked, in fretful terror, "to run us out to +sea?" + +"Sit down!" returned the other, with a menacing gesture, and staring +across the grey water. "I tell you I see a sail!" + +Frere, overawed by the strange light which gleamed in the eyes of his +companion, shifted sulkily back to his place. "Have your own way," +he said, "madman! It serves me right for putting off to sea in such a +devil's craft as this!" + +After all, what did it matter? As well be drowned in mid-ocean as in +sight of land. + +The long day wore out, and no sail appeared. The wind freshened towards +evening, and the boat, plunging clumsily on the long brown waves, +staggered as though drunk with the water she had swallowed, for at one +place near the bows the water ran in and out as through a slit in a wine +skin. The coast had altogether disappeared, and the huge ocean--vast, +stormy, and threatening--heaved and hissed all around them. It seemed +impossible that they should live until morning. But Rufus Dawes, with +his eyes fixed on some object visible alone to him, hugged the child in +his arms, and drove the quivering coracle into the black waste of night +and sea. To Frere, sitting sullenly in the bows, the aspect of this grim +immovable figure, with its back-blown hair and staring eyes, had in it +something supernatural and horrible. He began to think that privation +and anxiety had driven the unhappy convict mad. + +Thinking and shuddering over his fate, he fell--as it seemed to +him--into a momentary sleep, in the midst of which someone called to +him. He started up, with shaking knees and bristling hair. The day had +broken, and the dawn, in one long pale streak of sickly saffron, lay low +on the left hand. Between this streak of saffron-coloured light and the +bows of the boat gleamed for an instant a white speck. + +"A sail! a sail!" cried Rufus Dawes, a wild light gleaming in his eyes, +and a strange tone vibrating in his voice. "Did I not tell you that I +saw a sail?" + +Frere, utterly confounded, looked again, with his heart in his mouth, +and again did the white speck glimmer. For an instant he felt almost +safe, and then a blanker despair than before fell upon him. From the +distance at which she was, it was impossible for the ship to sight the +boat. + +"They will never see us!" he cried. "Dawes--Dawes! Do you hear? They +will never see us!" + +Rufus Dawes started as if from a trance. Lashing the sheet to the pole +which served as a gunwale, he laid the sleeping child by her mother, and +tearing up the strip of bark on which he had been sitting, moved to the +bows of the boat. + +"They will see this! Tear up that board! So! Now, place it thus across +the bows. Hack off that sapling end! Now that dry twist of osier! Never +mind the boat, man; we can afford to leave her now. Tear off that outer +strip of hide. See, the wood beneath is dry! Quick--you are so slow." + +"What are you going to do?" cried Frere, aghast, as the convict tore +up all the dry wood he could find, and heaped it on the sheet of bark +placed on the bows. + +"To make a fire! See!" + +Frere began to comprehend. "I have three matches left," he said, +fumbling, with trembling fingers, in his pocket. "I wrapped them in one +of the leaves of the book to keep them dry." + +The word "book" was a new inspiration. Rufus Dawes seized upon the +English History, which had already done such service, tore out the drier +leaves in the middle of the volume, and carefully added them to the +little heap of touchwood. + +"Now, steady!" + +The match was struck and lighted. The paper, after a few obstinate +curlings, caught fire, and Frere, blowing the young flame with his +breath, the bark began to burn. He piled upon the fire all that was +combustible, the hides began to shrivel, and a great column of black +smoke rose up over the sea. + +"Sylvia!" cried Rufus Dawes. "Sylvia! My darling! You are saved!" + +She opened her blue eyes and looked at him, but gave no sign of +recognition. Delirium had hold of her, and in the hour of safety the +child had forgotten her preserver. Rufus Dawes, overcome by this last +cruel stroke of fortune, sat down in the stern of the boat, with the +child in his arms, speechless. Frere, feeding the fire, thought that the +chance he had so longed for had come. With the mother at the point +of death, and the child delirious, who could testify to this hated +convict's skilfulness? No one but Mr. Maurice Frere, and Mr. Maurice +Frere, as Commandant of convicts, could not but give up an "absconder" +to justice. + +The ship changed her course, and came towards this strange fire in the +middle of the ocean. The boat, the fore part of her blazing like a pine +torch, could not float above an hour. The little group of the convict +and the child remained motionless. Mrs. Vickers was lying senseless, +ignorant even of the approaching succour. + +The ship--a brig, with American colours flying--came within hail of +them. Frere could almost distinguish figures on her deck. He made his +way aft to where Dawes was sitting, unconscious, with the child in his +arms, and stirred him roughly with his foot. + +"Go forward," he said, in tones of command, "and give the child to me." + +Rufus Dawes raised his head, and, seeing the approaching vessel, awoke +to the consciousness of his duty. With a low laugh, full of unutterable +bitterness, he placed the burden he had borne so tenderly in the arms of +the lieutenant, and moved to the blazing bows. + + + * * * * * + + +The brig was close upon them. Her canvas loomed large and dusky, +shadowing the sea. Her wet decks shone in the morning sunlight. From her +bulwarks peered bearded and eager faces, looking with astonishment at +this burning boat and its haggard company, alone on that barren and +stormy ocean. + +Frere, with Sylvia in his arms, waited for her. + + + +END OF BOOK THE SECOND + + + + + + +BOOK III.--PORT ARTHUR. 1838. + + + + +CHAPTER I. A LABOURER IN THE VINEYARD. + + + +"Society in Hobart Town, in this year of grace 1838, is, my dear lord, +composed of very curious elements." So ran a passage in the sparkling +letter which the Rev. Mr. Meekin, newly-appointed chaplain, and +seven-days' resident in Van Diemen's Land, was carrying to the post +office, for the delectation of his patron in England. As the reverend +gentleman tripped daintily down the summer street that lay between the +blue river and the purple mountain, he cast his mild eyes hither and +thither upon human nature, and the sentence he had just penned recurred +to him with pleasurable appositeness. Elbowed by well-dressed officers +of garrison, bowing sweetly to well-dressed ladies, shrinking from +ill-dressed, ill-odoured ticket-of-leave men, or hastening across a +street to avoid being run down by the hand-carts that, driven by little +gangs of grey-clothed convicts, rattled and jangled at him unexpectedly +from behind corners, he certainly felt that the society through which he +moved was composed of curious elements. Now passed, with haughty nose in +the air, a newly-imported government official, relaxing for an instant +his rigidity of demeanour to smile languidly at the chaplain whom +Governor Sir John Franklin delighted to honour; now swaggered, with +coarse defiance of gentility and patronage, a wealthy ex-prisoner, grown +fat on the profits of rum. The population that was abroad on that sunny +December afternoon had certainly an incongruous appearance to a dapper +clergyman lately arrived from London, and missing, for the first time +in his sleek, easy-going life, those social screens which in London +civilization decorously conceal the frailties and vices of human nature. +Clad in glossy black, of the most fashionable clerical cut, with dandy +boots, and gloves of lightest lavender--a white silk overcoat hinting +that its wearer was not wholly free from sensitiveness to sun and +heat--the Reverend Meekin tripped daintily to the post office, and +deposited his letter. Two ladies met him as he turned. + +"Mr. Meekin!" + +Mr. Meekin's elegant hat was raised from his intellectual brow and +hovered in the air, like some courteous black bird, for an instant. +"Mrs. Jellicoe! Mrs. Protherick! My dear leddies, this is an unexpected +pleasure! And where, pray, are you going on this lovely afternoon? To +stay in the house is positively sinful. Ah! what a climate--but +the Trail of the Serpent, my dear Mrs. Protherick--the Trail of the +Serpent--" and he sighed. + +"It must be a great trial to you to come to the colony," said Mrs. +Jellicoe, sympathizing with the sigh. + +Meekin smiled, as a gentlemanly martyr might have smiled. "The Lord's +work, dear leddies--the Lord's work. I am but a poor labourer in the +vineyard, toiling through the heat and burden of the day." The aspect +of him, with his faultless tie, his airy coat, his natty boots, and his +self-satisfied Christian smile, was so unlike a poor labourer toiling +through the heat and burden of the day, that good Mrs. Jellicoe, the +wife of an orthodox Comptroller of Convicts' Stores, felt a horrible +thrill of momentary heresy. "I would rather have remained in England," +continued Mr. Meekin, smoothing one lavender finger with the tip of +another, and arching his elegant eyebrows in mild deprecation of any +praise of his self-denial, "but I felt it my duty not to refuse the +offer made me through the kindness of his lordship. Here is a field, +leddies--a field for the Christian pastor. They appeal to me, leddies, +these lambs of our Church--these lost and outcast lambs of our Church." + +Mrs. Jellicoe shook her gay bonnet ribbons at Mr. Meekin, with a hearty +smile. "You don't know our convicts," she said (from the tone of +her jolly voice it might have been "our cattle"). "They are horrible +creatures. And as for servants--my goodness, I have a fresh one every +week. When you have been here a little longer, you will know them +better, Mr. Meekin." + +"They are quite unbearable at times." said Mrs. Protherick, the widow +of a Superintendent of Convicts' Barracks, with a stately indignation +mantling in her sallow cheeks. "I am ordinarily the most patient +creature breathing, but I do confess that the stupid vicious wretches +that one gets are enough to put a saint out of temper." "We have all +our crosses, dear leddies--all our crosses," said the Rev. Mr. Meekin +piously. "Heaven send us strength to bear them! Good-morning." + +"Why, you are going our way," said Mrs. Jellicoe. "We can walk +together." + +"Delighted! I am going to call on Major Vickers." + +"And I live within a stone's throw," returned Mrs. Protherick. + +"What a charming little creature she is, isn't she?" + +"Who?" asked Mr. Meekin, as they walked. + +"Sylvia. You don't know her! Oh, a dear little thing." + +"I have only met Major Vickers at Government House," said Meekin. + +"I haven't yet had the pleasure of seeing his daughter." + +"A sad thing," said Mrs. Jellicoe. "Quite a romance, if it was not so +sad, you know. His wife, poor Mrs. Vickers." + +"Indeed! What of her?" asked Meekin, bestowing a condescending bow on a +passer-by. "Is she an invalid?" + +"She is dead, poor soul," returned jolly Mrs. Jellicoe, with a fat sigh. +"You don't mean to say you haven't heard the story, Mr. Meekin?" + +"My dear leddies, I have only been in Hobart Town a week, and I have not +heard the story." + +"It's about the mutiny, you know, the mutiny at Macquarie Harbour. +The prisoners took the ship, and put Mrs. Vickers and Sylvia ashore +somewhere. Captain Frere was with them, too. The poor things had a +dreadful time, and nearly died. Captain Frere made a boat at last, and +they were picked up by a ship. Poor Mrs. Vickers only lived a few +hours, and little Sylvia--she was only twelve years old then--was quite +light-headed. They thought she wouldn't recover." + +"How dreadful! And has she recovered?" + +"Oh, yes, she's quite strong now, but her memory's gone." + +"Her memory?" + +"Yes," struck in Mrs. Protherick, eager to have a share in the +storytelling. "She doesn't remember anything about the three or four +weeks they were ashore--at least, not distinctly." + +"It's a great mercy!" interrupted Mrs. Jellicoe, determined to keep the +post of honour. "Who wants her to remember these horrors? From Captain +Frere's account, it was positively awful!" + +"You don't say so!" said Mr. Meekin, dabbing his nose with a dainty +handkerchief. + +"A 'bolter'--that's what we call an escaped prisoner, Mr. +Meekin--happened to be left behind, and he found them out, and insisted +on sharing the provisions--the wretch! Captain Frere was obliged to +watch him constantly for fear he should murder them. Even in the boat he +tried to run them out to sea and escape. He was one of the worst men +in the Harbour, they say; but you should hear Captain Frere tell the +story." + +"And where is he now?" asked Mr. Meekin, with interest. + +"Captain Frere?" + +"No, the prisoner." + +"Oh, goodness, I don't know--at Port Arthur, I think. I know that he was +tried for bolting, and would have been hanged but for Captain Frere's +exertions." + +"Dear, dear! a strange story, indeed," said Mr. Meekin. "And so the +young lady doesn't know anything about it?" "Only what she has been +told, of course, poor dear. She's engaged to Captain Frere." + +"Really! To the man who saved her. How charming--quite a romance!" + +"Isn't it? Everybody says so. And Captain Frere's so much older than she +is." + +"But her girlish love clings to her heroic protector," said Meekin, +mildly poetical. "Remarkable and beautiful. Quite the--hem!--the ivy +and the oak, dear leddies. Ah, in our fallen nature, what sweet spots--I +think this is the gate." + + + +A smart convict servant--he had been a pickpocket of note in days gone +by--left the clergyman to repose in a handsomely furnished drawing-room, +whose sun blinds revealed a wealth of bright garden flecked with +shadows, while he went in search of Miss Vickers. The Major was out, it +seemed, his duties as Superintendent of Convicts rendering such absences +necessary; but Miss Vickers was in the garden, and could be called in at +once. The Reverend Meekin, wiping his heated brow, and pulling down his +spotless wristbands, laid himself back on the soft sofa, soothed by the +elegant surroundings no less than by the coolness of the atmosphere. +Having no better comparison at hand, he compared this luxurious room, +with its soft couches, brilliant flowers, and opened piano, to the +chamber in the house of a West India planter, where all was glare and +heat and barbarism without, and all soft and cool and luxurious within. +He was so charmed with this comparison--he had a knack of being easily +pleased with his own thoughts--that he commenced to turn a fresh +sentence for the Bishop, and to sketch out an elegant description of +the oasis in his desert of a vineyard. While at this occupation, he was +disturbed by the sound of voices in the garden, and it appeared to him +that someone near at hand was sobbing and crying. Softly stepping on the +broad verandah, he saw, on the grass-plot, two persons, an old man and a +young girl. The sobbing proceeded from the old man. + +"'Deed, miss, it's the truth, on my soul. I've but jest come back to yez +this morning. O my! but it's a cruel trick to play an ould man." + +He was a white-haired old fellow, in a grey suit of convict frieze, and +stood leaning with one veiny hand upon the pedestal of a vase of roses. + +"But it is your own fault, Danny; we all warned you against her," said +the young girl softly. "Sure ye did. But oh! how did I think it, miss? +'Tis the second time she served me so." + +"How long was it this time, Danny?" + +"Six months, miss. She said I was a drunkard, and beat her. Beat her, +God help me!" stretching forth two trembling hands. "And they believed +her, o' course. Now, when I kem back, there's me little place all +thrampled by the boys, and she's away wid a ship's captain, saving your +presence, miss, dhrinking in the 'George the Fourth'. O my, but it's +hard on an old man!" and he fell to sobbing again. + +The girl sighed. "I can do nothing for you, Danny. I dare say you can +work about the garden as you did before. I'll speak to the Major when he +comes home." + +Danny, lifting his bleared eyes to thank her, caught sight of Mr. +Meekin, and saluted abruptly. Miss Vickers turned, and Mr. Meekin, +bowing his apologies, became conscious that the young lady was about +seventeen years of age, that her eyes were large and soft, her hair +plentiful and bright, and that the hand which held the little book she +had been reading was white and small. + +"Miss Vickers, I think. My name is Meekin--the Reverend Arthur Meekin." + +"How do you do, Mr. Meekin?" said Sylvia, putting out one of her small +hands, and looking straight at him. "Papa will be in directly." + +"His daughter more than compensates for his absence, my dear Miss +Vickers." + +"I don't like flattery, Mr. Meekin, so don't use it. At least," +she added, with a delicious frankness, that seemed born of her very +brightness and beauty, "not that sort of flattery. Young girls do like +flattery, of course. Don't you think so?" + +This rapid attack quite disconcerted Mr. Meekin, and he could only bow +and smile at the self-possessed young lady. "Go into the kitchen, Danny, +and tell them to give you some tobacco. Say I sent you. Mr. Meekin, +won't you come in?" + +"A strange old gentleman, that, Miss Vickers. A faithful retainer, I +presume?" + +"An old convict servant of ours," said Sylvia. "He was with papa many +years ago. He has got into trouble lately, though, poor old man." + +"Into trouble?" asked Mr. Meekin, as Sylvia took off her hat. + +"On the roads, you know. That's what they call it here. He married a +free woman much younger than himself, and she makes him drink, and then +gives him in charge for insubordination." + +"For insubordination! Pardon me, my dear young lady, did I understand +you rightly?" + +"Yes, insubordination. He is her assigned servant, you know," said +Sylvia, as if such a condition of things was the most ordinary in +the world, "and if he misbehaves himself, she sends him back to the +road-gang." + +The Reverend Mr. Meekin opened his mild eyes very wide indeed. "What +an extraordinary anomaly! I am beginning, my dear Miss Vickers, to find +myself indeed at the antipodes." + +"Society here is different from society in England, I believe. Most new +arrivals say so," returned Sylvia quietly. + +"But for a wife to imprison her husband, my dear young lady!" + +"She can have him flogged if she likes. Danny has been flogged. But then +his wife is a bad woman. He was very silly to marry her; but you can't +reason with an old man in love, Mr. Meekin." + +Mr. Meekin's Christian brow had grown crimson, and his decorous blood +tingled to his finger-tips. To hear a young lady talk in such an open +way was terrible. Why, in reading the Decalogue from the altar, Mr. +Meekin was accustomed to soften one indecent prohibition, lest +its uncompromising plainness of speech might offend the delicate +sensibilities of his female souls! He turned from the dangerous theme +without an instant's pause, for wonder at the strange power accorded to +Hobart Town "free" wives. "You have been reading?" + +"'Paul et Virginie'. I have read it before in English." + +"Ah, you read French, then, my dear young lady?" + +"Not very well. I had a master for some months, but papa had to send +him back to the gaol again. He stole a silver tankard out of the +dining-room." + +"A French master! Stole--" + +"He was a prisoner, you know. A clever man. He wrote for the London +Magazine. I have read his writings. Some of them are quite above the +average." + +"And how did he come to be transported?" asked Mr. Meekin, feeling that +his vineyard was getting larger than he had anticipated. + +"Poisoning his niece, I think, but I forget the particulars. He was a +gentlemanly man, but, oh, such a drunkard!" + +Mr. Meekin, more astonished than ever at this strange country, where +beautiful young ladies talked of poisoning and flogging as matters of +little moment, where wives imprisoned their husbands, and murderers +taught French, perfumed the air with his cambric handkerchief in +silence. + +"You have not been here long, Mr. Meekin," said Sylvia, after a pause. + +"No, only a week; and I confess I am surprised. A lovely climate, but, +as I said just now to Mrs. Jellicoe, the Trail of the Serpent--the Trail +of the Serpent--my dear young lady." + +"If you send all the wretches in England here, you must expect the Trail +of the Serpent," said Sylvia. "It isn't the fault of the colony." + +"Oh, no; certainly not," returned Meekin, hastening to apologize. "But +it is very shocking." + +"Well, you gentlemen should make it better. I don't know what the +penal settlements are like, but the prisoners in the town have not much +inducement to become good men." + +"They have the beautiful Liturgy of our Holy Church read to them twice +every week, my dear young lady," said Mr. Meekin, as though he should +solemnly say, "if that doesn't reform them, what will?" + +"Oh, yes," returned Sylvia, "they have that, certainly; but that is only +on Sundays. But don't let us talk about this, Mr. Meekin," she added, +pushing back a stray curl of golden hair. "Papa says that I am not to +talk about these things, because they are all done according to the +Rules of the Service, as he calls it." + +"An admirable notion of papa's," said Meekin, much relieved as the door +opened, and Vickers and Frere entered. + +Vickers's hair had grown white, but Frere carried his thirty years as +easily as some men carry two-and-twenty. + +"My dear Sylvia," began Vickers, "here's an extraordinary thing!" and +then, becoming conscious of the presence of the agitated Meekin, he +paused. + +"You know Mr. Meekin, papa?" said Sylvia. "Mr. Meekin, Captain Frere." + +"I have that pleasure," said Vickers. "Glad to see you, sir. Pray sit +down." Upon which, Mr. Meekin beheld Sylvia unaffectedly kiss both +gentlemen; but became strangely aware that the kiss bestowed upon her +father was warmer than that which greeted her affianced husband. + +"Warm weather, Mr. Meekin," said Frere. "Sylvia, my darling, I hope you +have not been out in the heat. You have! My dear, I've begged you--" + +"It's not hot at all," said Sylvia pettishly. "Nonsense! I'm not made +of butter--I sha'n't melt. Thank you, dear, you needn't pull the blind +down." And then, as though angry with herself for her anger, she +added, "You are always thinking of me, Maurice," and gave him her hand +affectionately. + +"It's very oppressive, Captain Frere," said Meekin; "and to a stranger, +quite enervating." + +"Have a glass of wine," said Frere, as if the house was his own. "One +wants bucking up a bit on a day like this." + +"Ay, to be sure," repeated Vickers. "A glass of wine. Sylvia, dear, some +sherry. I hope she has not been attacking you with her strange theories, +Mr. Meekin." + +"Oh, dear, no; not at all," returned Meekin, feeling that this charming +young lady was regarded as a creature who was not to be judged by +ordinary rules. "We got on famously, my dear Major." + +"That's right," said Vickers. "She is very plain-spoken, is my little +girl, and strangers can't understand her sometimes. Can they, Poppet?" + +Poppet tossed her head saucily. "I don't know," she said. "Why shouldn't +they? But you were going to say something extraordinary when you came +in. What is it, dear?" + +"Ah," said Vickers with grave face. "Yes, a most extraordinary thing. +They've caught those villains." + +"What, you don't mean? No, papa!" said Sylvia, turning round with +alarmed face. + +In that little family there were, for conversational purposes, but one +set of villains in the world--the mutineers of the Osprey. + +"They've got four of them in the bay at this moment--Rex, Barker, +Shiers, and Lesly. They are on board the Lady Jane. The most +extraordinary story I ever heard in my life. The fellows got to China +and passed themselves off as shipwrecked sailors. The merchants in +Canton got up a subscription, and sent them to London. They were +recognized there by old Pine, who had been surgeon on board the ship +they came out in." + +Sylvia sat down on the nearest chair, with heightened colour. "And where +are the others?" + +"Two were executed in England; the other six have not been taken. These +fellows have been sent out for trial." + +"To what are you alluding, dear sir?" asked Meekin, eyeing the sherry +with the gaze of a fasting saint. + +"The piracy of a convict brig five years ago," replied Vickers. "The +scoundrels put my poor wife and child ashore, and left them to starve. +If it hadn't been for Frere--God bless him!--they would have died. They +shot the pilot and a soldier--and--but it's a long story." + +"I have heard of it already," said Meekin, sipping the sherry, which +another convict servant had brought for him; "and of your gallant +conduct, Captain Frere." + +"Oh, that's nothing," said Frere, reddening. "We were all in the same +boat. Poppet, have a glass of wine?" + +"No," said Sylvia, "I don't want any." + +She was staring at the strip of sunshine between the verandah and +the blind, as though the bright light might enable her to remember +something. "What's the matter?" asked Frere, bending over her. "I was +trying to recollect, but I can't, Maurice. It is all confused. I only +remember a great shore and a great sea, and two men, one of whom--that's +you, dear--carried me in his arms." + +"Dear, dear," said Mr. Meekin. + +"She was quite a baby," said Vickers, hastily, as though unwilling to +admit that her illness had been the cause of her forgetfulness. + +"Oh, no; I was twelve years old," said Sylvia; "that's not a baby, you +know. But I think the fever made me stupid." + +Frere, looking at her uneasily, shifted in his seat. "There, don't think +about it now," he said. + +"Maurice," asked she suddenly, "what became of the other man?" + +"Which other man?" + +"The man who was with us; the other one, you know." + +"Poor Bates?" + +"No, not Bates. The prisoner. What was his name?" + +"Oh, ah--the prisoner," said Frere, as if he, too, had forgotten. + +"Why, you know, darling, he was sent to Port Arthur." + +"Ah!" said Sylvia, with a shudder. "And is he there still?" + +"I believe so," said Frere, with a frown. + +"By the by," said Vickers, "I suppose we shall have to get that fellow +up for the trial. We have to identify the villains." + +"Can't you and I do that?" asked Frere uneasily. + +"I am afraid not. I wouldn't like to swear to a man after five years." + +"By George," said Frere, "I'd swear to him! When once I see a man's +face--that's enough for me." + +"We had better get up a few prisoners who were at the Harbour at the +time," said Vickers, as if wishing to terminate the discussion. "I +wouldn't let the villains slip through my fingers for anything." + +"And are the men at Port Arthur old men?" asked Meekin. + +"Old convicts," returned Vickers. "It's our place for 'colonial +sentence' men. The worst we have are there. It has taken the place of +Macquarie Harbour. What excitement there will be among them when the +schooner goes down on Monday!" + +"Excitement! Indeed? How charming! Why?" asked Meekin. + +"To bring up the witnesses, my dear sir. Most of the prisoners are +Lifers, you see, and a trip to Hobart Town is like a holiday for them." + +"And do they never leave the place when sentenced for life?" said +Meekin, nibbling a biscuit. "How distressing!" + +"Never, except when they die," answered Frere, with a laugh; "and then +they are buried on an island. Oh, it's a fine place! You should come +down with me and have a look at it, Mr. Meekin. Picturesque, I can +assure you." + +"My dear Maurice," says Sylvia, going to the piano, as if in protest to +the turn the conversation was taking, "how can you talk like that?" + +"I should much like to see it," said Meekin, still nibbling, "for Sir +John was saying something about a chaplaincy there, and I understand +that the climate is quite endurable." + +The convict servant, who had entered with some official papers for the +Major, stared at the dainty clergyman, and rough Maurice laughed again. + +"Oh, it's a stunning climate," he said; "and nothing to do. Just the +place for you. There's a regular little colony there. All the scandals +in Van Diemen's Land are hatched at Port Arthur." + +This agreeable chatter about scandal and climate seemed a strange +contrast to the grave-yard island and the men who were prisoners for +life. Perhaps Sylvia thought so, for she struck a few chords, which, +compelling the party, out of sheer politeness, to cease talking for the +moment, caused the conversation to flag, and hinted to Mr. Meekin that +it was time for him to depart. + +"Good afternoon, dear Miss Vickers," he said, rising with his sweetest +smile. "Thank you for your delightful music. That piece is an old, old +favourite of mine. It was quite a favourite of dear Lady Jane's, and +the Bishop's. Pray excuse me, my dear Captain Frere, but this strange +occurrence--of the capture of the wreckers, you know--must be my +apology for touching on a delicate subject. How charming to contemplate! +Yourself and your dear young lady! The preserved and preserver, dear +Major. 'None but the brave, you know, none but the brave, none but the +brave, deserve the fair!' You remember glorious John, of course. Well, +good afternoon." + +"It's rather a long invitation," said Vickers, always well disposed to +anyone who praised his daughter, "but if you've nothing better to do, +come and dine with us on Christmas Day, Mr. Meekin. We usually have a +little gathering then." + +"Charmed," said Meekin--"charmed, I am sure. It is so refreshing to meet +with persons of one's own tastes in this delightful colony. 'Kindred +souls together knit,' you know, dear Miss Vickers. Indeed yes. Once +more--good afternoon." + +Sylvia burst into laughter as the door closed. "What a ridiculous +creature!" said she. "Bless the man, with his gloves and his umbrella, +and his hair and his scent! Fancy that mincing noodle showing me the way +to Heaven! I'd rather have old Mr. Bowes, papa, though he is as blind as +a beetle, and makes you so angry by bottling up his trumps as you call +it." + +"My dear Sylvia," said Vickers, seriously, "Mr. Meekin is a clergyman, +you know." + +"Oh, I know," said Sylvia, "but then, a clergyman can talk like a man, +can't he? Why do they send such people here? I am sure they could do +much better at home. Oh, by the way, papa dear, poor old Danny's come +back again. I told him he might go into the kitchen. May he, dear?" + +"You'll have the house full of these vagabonds, you little puss," said +Vickers, kissing her. "I suppose I must let him stay. What has he been +doing now?" + +"His wife," said Sylvia, "locked him up, you know, for being drunk. +Wife! What do people want with wives, I wonder?" + +"Ask Maurice," said her father, smiling. + +Sylvia moved away, and tossed her head. + +"What does he know about it? Maurice, you are a great bear; and if you +hadn't saved my life, you know, I shouldn't love you a bit. There, you +may kiss me" (her voice grew softer). "This convict business has brought +it all back; and I should be ungrateful if I didn't love you, dear." + +Maurice Frere, with suddenly crimsoned face, accepted the proffered +caress, and then turned to the window. A grey-clothed man was working in +the garden, and whistling as he worked. "They're not so badly off," said +Frere, under his breath. + +"What's that, sir?" asked Sylvia. + +"That I am not half good enough for you," cried Frere, with sudden +vehemence. "I--" + +"It's my happiness you've got to think of, Captain Bruin," said the +girl. "You've saved my life, haven't you, and I should be wicked if I +didn't love you! No, no more kisses," she added, putting out her hand. +"Come, papa, it's cool now; let's walk in the garden, and leave Maurice +to think of his own unworthiness." + +Maurice watched the retreating pair with a puzzled expression. "She +always leaves me for her father," he said to himself. "I wonder if she +really loves me, or if it's only gratitude, after all?" + +He had often asked himself the same question during the five years of +his wooing, but he had never satisfactorily answered it. + + + + +CHAPTER II. SARAH PURFOY'S REQUEST. + + + +The evening passed as it had passed a hundred times before; and having +smoked a pipe at the barracks, Captain Frere returned home. His home was +a cottage on the New Town Road--a cottage which he had occupied since +his appointment as Assistant Police Magistrate, an appointment given to +him as a reward for his exertions in connection with the Osprey mutiny. +Captain Maurice Frere had risen in life. Quartered in Hobart Town, +he had assumed a position in society, and had held several of those +excellent appointments which in the year 1834 were bestowed upon +officers of garrison. He had been Superintendent of Works at +Bridgewater, and when he got his captaincy, Assistant Police Magistrate +at Bothwell. The affair of the Osprey made a noise; and it was tacitly +resolved that the first "good thing" that fell vacant should be given to +the gallant preserver of Major Vickers's child. + +Major Vickers also prospered. He had always been a careful man, and +having saved some money, had purchased land on favourable terms. The +"assignment system" enabled him to cultivate portions of it at a small +expense, and, following the usual custom, he stocked his run with cattle +and sheep. He had sold his commission, and was now a comparatively +wealthy man. He owned a fine estate; the house he lived in was purchased +property. He was in good odour at Government House, and his office of +Superintendent of Convicts caused him to take an active part in that +local government which keeps a man constantly before the public. +Major Vickers, a colonist against his will, had become, by force of +circumstances, one of the leading men in Van Diemen's Land. His daughter +was a good match for any man; and many ensigns and lieutenants, cursing +their hard lot in "country quarters", many sons of settlers living on +their father's station among the mountains, and many dapper clerks on +the civil establishment envied Maurice Frere his good fortune. Some went +so far as to say that the beautiful daughter of "Regulation Vickers" was +too good for the coarse red-faced Frere, who was noted for his fondness +for low society, and overbearing, almost brutal demeanour. No one +denied, however, that Captain Frere was a valuable officer. It was said +that, in consequence of his tastes, he knew more about the tricks of +convicts than any man on the island. It was said, even, that he was wont +to disguise himself, and mix with the pass-holders and convict +servants, in order to learn their signs and mysteries. When in charge at +Bridgewater it had been his delight to rate the chain-gangs in their +own hideous jargon, and to astound a new-comer by his knowledge of his +previous history. The convict population hated and cringed to him, for, +with his brutality, and violence, he mingled a ferocious good humour, +that resulted sometimes in tacit permission to go without the letter +of the law. Yet, as the convicts themselves said, "a man was never safe +with the Captain"; for, after drinking and joking with them, as the Sir +Oracle of some public-house whose hostess he delighted to honour, he +would disappear through a side door just as the constables burst in +at the back, and show himself as remorseless, in his next morning's +sentence of the captured, as if he had never entered a tap-room in all +his life. His superiors called this "zeal"; his inferiors "treachery". +For himself, he laughed. "Everything is fair to those wretches," he was +accustomed to say. + +As the time for his marriage approached, however, he had in a measure +given up these exploits, and strove, by his demeanour, to make his +acquaintances forget several remarkable scandals concerning his +private life, for the promulgation of which he once cared little. When +Commandant at the Maria Island, and for the first two years after his +return from the unlucky expedition to Macquarie Harbour, he had not +suffered any fear of society's opinion to restrain his vices, but, +as the affection for the pure young girl, who looked upon him as her +saviour from a dreadful death, increased in honest strength, he had +resolved to shut up those dark pages in his colonial experience, and to +read therein no more. He was not remorseful, he was not even disgusted. +He merely came to the conclusion that, when a man married, he was to +consider certain extravagances common to all bachelors as at an end. +He had "had his fling, like all young men", perhaps he had been foolish +like most young men, but no reproachful ghost of past misdeeds haunted +him. His nature was too prosaic to admit the existence of such phantoms. +Sylvia, in her purity and excellence, was so far above him, that in +raising his eyes to her, he lost sight of all the sordid creatures to +whose level he had once debased himself, and had come in part to regard +the sins he had committed, before his redemption by the love of this +bright young creature, as evil done by him under a past condition of +existence, and for the consequences of which he was not responsible. One +of the consequences, however, was very close to him at this moment. His +convict servant had, according to his instructions, sat up for him, and +as he entered, the man handed him a letter, bearing a superscription in +a female hand. + +"Who brought this?" asked Frere, hastily tearing it open to read. +"The groom, sir. He said that there was a gentleman at the 'George the +Fourth' who wished to see you." + +Frere smiled, in admiration of the intelligence which had dictated such +a message, and then frowned in anger at the contents of the letter. "You +needn't wait," he said to the man. "I shall have to go back again, I +suppose." + +Changing his forage cap for a soft hat, and selecting a stick from a +miscellaneous collection in a corner, he prepared to retrace his steps. +"What does she want now?" he asked himself fiercely, as he strode down +the moonlit road; but beneath the fierceness there was an under-current +of petulance, which implied that, whatever "she" did want, she had a +right to expect. + +The "George the Fourth" was a long low house, situated in Elizabeth +Street. Its front was painted a dull red, and the narrow panes of glass +in its windows, and the ostentatious affectation of red curtains and +homely comfort, gave to it a spurious appearance of old English +jollity. A knot of men round the door melted into air as Captain Frere +approached, for it was now past eleven o'clock, and all persons found +in the streets after eight could be compelled to "show their pass" or +explain their business. The convict constables were not scrupulous in +the exercise of their duty, and the bluff figure of Frere, clad in the +blue serge which he affected as a summer costume, looked not unlike that +of a convict constable. + +Pushing open the side door with the confident manner of one well +acquainted with the house, Frere entered, and made his way along a +narrow passage to a glass door at the further end. A tap upon this door +brought a white-faced, pock-pitted Irish girl, who curtsied with servile +recognition of the visitor, and ushered him upstairs. The room into +which he was shown was a large one. It had three windows looking into +the street, and was handsomely furnished. The carpet was soft, the +candles were bright, and the supper tray gleamed invitingly from a table +between the windows. As Frere entered, a little terrier ran barking to +his feet. It was evident that he was not a constant visitor. The rustle +of a silk dress behind the terrier betrayed the presence of a woman; and +Frere, rounding the promontory of an ottoman, found himself face to face +with Sarah Purfoy. + +"Thank you for coming," she said. "Pray, sit down." + +This was the only greeting that passed between them, and Frere sat down, +in obedience to a motion of a plump hand that twinkled with rings. + +The eleven years that had passed since we last saw this woman had dealt +gently with her. Her foot was as small and her hand as white as of yore. +Her hair, bound close about her head, was plentiful and glossy, and +her eyes had lost none of their dangerous brightness. Her figure was +coarser, and the white arm that gleamed through a muslin sleeve showed +an outline that a fastidious artist might wish to modify. The most +noticeable change was in her face. The cheeks owned no longer that +delicate purity which they once boasted, but had become thicker, while +here and there showed those faint red streaks--as though the rich blood +throbbed too painfully in the veins--which are the first signs of the +decay of "fine" women. With middle age and the fullness of figure +to which most women of her temperament are prone, had come also that +indescribable vulgarity of speech and manner which habitual absence of +moral restraint never fails to produce. + +Maurice Frere spoke first; he was anxious to bring his visit to as +speedy a termination as possible. "What do you want of me?" he asked. + +Sarah Purfoy laughed; a forced laugh, that sounded so unnatural, that +Frere turned to look at her. "I want you to do me a favour--a very great +favour; that is if it will not put you out of the way." + +"What do you mean?" asked Frere roughly, pursing his lips with a sullen +air. "Favour! What do you call this?" striking the sofa on which he +sat. "Isn't this a favour? What do you call your precious house and all +that's in it? Isn't that a favour? What do you mean?" + +To his utter astonishment the woman replied by shedding tears. For some +time he regarded her in silence, as if unwilling to be softened by such +shallow device, but eventually felt constrained to say something. "Have +you been drinking again?" he asked, "or what's the matter with you? +Tell me what it is you want, and have done with it. I don't know what +possessed me to come here at all." + +Sarah sat upright, and dashed away her tears with one passionate hand. + +"I am ill, can't you see, you fool!" said she. "The news has unnerved +me. If I have been drinking, what then? It's nothing to you, is it?" + +"Oh, no," returned the other, "it's nothing to me. You are the principal +party concerned. If you choose to bloat yourself with brandy, do it by +all means." + +"You don't pay for it, at any rate!" said she, with quickness of +retaliation which showed that this was not the only occasion on which +they had quarrelled. + +"Come," said Frere, impatiently brutal, "get on. I can't stop here all +night." + +She suddenly rose, and crossed to where he was standing. + +"Maurice, you were very fond of me once." + +"Once," said Maurice. + +"Not so very many years ago." + +"Hang it!" said he, shifting his arm from beneath her hand, "don't let +us have all that stuff over again. It was before you took to drinking +and swearing, and going raving mad with passion, any way." + +"Well, dear," said she, with her great glittering eyes belying the soft +tones of her voice, "I suffered for it, didn't I? Didn't you turn me out +into the streets? Didn't you lash me with your whip like a dog? Didn't +you put me in gaol for it, eh? It's hard to struggle against you, +Maurice." + +The compliment to his obstinacy seemed to please him--perhaps the crafty +woman intended that it should--and he smiled. + +"Well, there; let old times be old times, Sarah. You haven't done badly, +after all," and he looked round the well-furnished room. "What do you +want?" + +"There was a transport came in this morning." + +"Well?" + +"You know who was on board her, Maurice!" + +Maurice brought one hand into the palm of the other with a rough laugh. + +"Oh, that's it, is it! 'Gad, what a flat I was not to think of it +before! You want to see him, I suppose?" She came close to him, and, in +her earnestness, took his hand. "I want to save his life!" + +"Oh, that be hanged, you know! Save his life! It can't be done." + +"You can do it, Maurice." + +"I save John Rex's life?" cried Frere. "Why, you must be mad!" + +"He is the only creature that loves me, Maurice--the only man who cares +for me. He has done no harm. He only wanted to be free--was it not +natural? You can save him if you like. I only ask for his life. What +does it matter to you? A miserable prisoner--his death would be of no +use. Let him live, Maurice." + +Maurice laughed. "What have I to do with it?" + +"You are the principal witness against him. If you say that he behaved +well--and he did behave well, you know: many men would have left you to +starve--they won't hang him." + +"Oh, won't they! That won't make much difference." + +"Ah, Maurice, be merciful!" She bent towards him, and tried to retain +his hand, but he withdrew it. + +"You're a nice sort of woman to ask me to help your lover--a man who +left me on that cursed coast to die, for all he cared," he said, with a +galling recollection of his humiliation of five years back. "Save him! +Confound him, not I!" + +"Ah, Maurice, you will." She spoke with a suppressed sob in her voice. +"What is it to you? You don't care for me now. You beat me, and turned +me out of doors, though I never did you wrong. This man was a husband +to me--long, long before I met you. He never did you any harm; he never +will. He will bless you if you save him, Maurice." + +Frere jerked his head impatiently. "Bless me!" he said. "I don't want +his blessings. Let him swing. Who cares?" + +Still she persisted, with tears streaming from her eyes, with white arms +upraised, on her knees even, catching at his coat, and beseeching him +in broken accents. In her wild, fierce beauty and passionate abandonment +she might have been a deserted Ariadne--a suppliant Medea. Anything +rather than what she was--a dissolute, half-maddened woman, praying for +the pardon of her convict husband. + +Maurice Frere flung her off with an oath. "Get up!" he cried brutally, +"and stop that nonsense. I tell you the man's as good as dead for all I +shall do to save him." + +At this repulse, her pent-up passion broke forth. She sprang to her +feet, and, pushing back the hair that in her frenzied pleading had +fallen about her face, poured out upon him a torrent of abuse. "You! Who +are you, that you dare to speak to me like that? His little finger is +worth your whole body. He is a man, a brave man, not a coward, like you. +A coward! Yes, a coward! a coward! A coward! You are very brave with +defenceless men and weak women. You have beaten me until I was bruised +black, you cur; but who ever saw you attack a man unless he was +chained or bound? Do not I know you? I have seen you taunt a man at +the triangles, until I wished the screaming wretch could get loose, +and murder you as you deserve! You will be murdered one of these days, +Maurice Frere--take my word for it. Men are flesh and blood, and flesh +and blood won't endure the torments you lay on it!" + +"There, that'll do," says Frere, growing paler. "Don't excite yourself." + +"I know you, you brutal coward. I have not been your mistress--God +forgive me!--without learning you by heart. I've seen your ignorance and +your conceit. I've seen the men who ate your food and drank your +wine laugh at you. I've heard what your friends say; I've heard the +comparisons they make. One of your dogs has more brains than you, and +twice as much heart. And these are the men they send to rule us! Oh, +Heaven! And such an animal as this has life and death in his hand! He +may hang, may he? I'll hang with him, then, and God will forgive me for +murder, for I will kill you!" + +Frere had cowered before this frightful torrent of rage, but, at the +scream which accompanied the last words, he stepped forward as though +to seize her. In her desperate courage, she flung herself before him. +"Strike me! You daren't! I defy you! Bring up the wretched creatures who +learn the way to Hell in this cursed house, and let them see you do it. +Call them! They are old friends of yours. They all know Captain Maurice +Frere." + +"Sarah!" + +"You remember Lucy Barnes--poor little Lucy Barnes that stole +sixpennyworth of calico. She is downstairs now. Would you know her if +you saw her? She isn't the bright-faced baby she was when they sent her +here to 'reform', and when Lieutenant Frere wanted a new housemaid from +the Factory! Call for her!--call! do you hear? Ask any one of those +beasts whom you lash and chain for Lucy Barnes. He'll tell you all +about her--ay, and about many more--many more poor souls that are at +the bidding of any drunken brute that has stolen a pound note to fee the +Devil with! Oh, you good God in Heaven, will You not judge this man?" + +Frere trembled. He had often witnessed this creature's whirlwinds +of passion, but never had he seen her so violent as this. Her frenzy +frightened him. "For Heaven's sake, Sarah, be quiet. What is it you +want? What would you do?" + +"I'll go to this girl you want to marry, and tell her all I know of you. +I have seen her in the streets--have seen her look the other way when +I passed her--have seen her gather up her muslin skirts when my silks +touched her--I that nursed her, that heard her say her baby-prayers (O +Jesus, pity me!)--and I know what she thinks of women like me. She is +good--and virtuous--and cold. She would shudder at you if she knew what +I know. Shudder! She would hate you! And I will tell her! Ay, I will! +You will be respectable, will you? A model husband! Wait till I tell her +my story--till I send some of these poor women to tell theirs. You kill +my love; I'll blight and ruin yours!" + +Frere caught her by both wrists, and with all his strength forced her to +her knees. "Don't speak her name," he said in a hoarse voice, "or I'll +do you a mischief. I know all you mean to do. I'm not such a fool as not +to see that. Be quiet! Men have murdered women like you, and now I know +how they came to do it." + +For a few minutes a silence fell upon the pair, and at last Frere, +releasing her hands, fell back from her. + +"I'll do what you want, on one condition." + +"What?" + +"That you leave this place." + +"Where for?" + +"Anywhere--the farther the better. I'll pay your passage to Sydney, and +you go or stay there as you please." + +She had grown calmer, hearing him thus relenting. "But this house, +Maurice?" + +"You are not in debt?" + +"No." + +"Well, leave it. It's your own affair, not mine. If I help you, you must +go." + +"May I see him?" + +"No." + +"Ah, Maurice!" + +"You can see him in the dock if you like," says Frere, with a laugh, cut +short by a flash of her eyes. "There, I didn't mean to offend you." + +"Offend me! Go on." + +"Listen here," said he doggedly. "If you will go away, and promise never +to interfere with me by word or deed, I'll do what you want." + +"What will you do?" she asked, unable to suppress a smile at the victory +she had won. + +"I will not say all I know about this man. I will say he befriended me. +I will do my best to save his life." + +"You can save it if you like." + +"Well, I will try. On my honour, I will try." + +"I must believe you, I suppose?" said she doubtfully; and then, with +a sudden pitiful pleading, in strange contrast to her former violence, +"You are not deceiving me, Maurice?" + +"No. Why should I? You keep your promise, and I'll keep mine. Is it a +bargain?" + +"Yes." + +He eyed her steadfastly for some seconds, and then turned on his heel. +As he reached the door she called him back. Knowing him as she did, +she felt that he would keep his word, and her feminine nature could not +resist a parting sneer. + +"There is nothing in the bargain to prevent me helping him to escape!" +she said with a smile. + +"Escape! He won't escape again, I'll go bail. Once get him in double +irons at Port Arthur, and he's safe enough." + +The smile on her face seemed infectious, for his own sullen features +relaxed. "Good night, Sarah," he said. + +She put out her hand, as if nothing had happened. "Good night, Captain +Frere. It's a bargain, then?" + +"A bargain." + +"You have a long walk home. Will you have some brandy?" + +"I don't care if I do," he said, advancing to the table, and filling his +glass. "Here's a good voyage to you!" + +Sarah Purfoy, watching him, burst into a laugh. "Human beings are queer +creatures," she said. "Who would have thought that we had been calling +each other names just now? I say, I'm a vixen when I'm roused, ain't I, +Maurice?" + +"Remember what you've promised," said he, with a threat in his voice, +as he moved to the door. "You must be out of this by the next ship that +leaves." + +"Never fear, I'll go." + +Getting into the cool street directly, and seeing the calm stars +shining, and the placid water sleeping with a peace in which he had +no share, he strove to cast off the nervous fear that was on him. That +interview had frightened him, for it had made him think. It was hard +that, just as he had turned over a new leaf, this old blot should +come through to the clean page. It was cruel that, having comfortably +forgotten the past, he should be thus rudely reminded of it. + + + + +CHAPTER III. THE STORY OF TWO BIRDS OF PREY. + + + +The reader of the foregoing pages has doubtless asked himself, "what is +the link which binds together John Rex and Sarah Purfoy?" + +In the year 1825 there lived at St. Heliers, Jersey, an old watchmaker, +named Urban Purfoy. He was a hard-working man, and had amassed a little +money--sufficient to give his grand-daughter an education above the +common in those days. At sixteen, Sarah Purfoy was an empty-headed, +strong-willed, precocious girl, with big brown eyes. She had a bad +opinion of her own sex, and an immense admiration for the young and +handsome members of the other. The neighbours said that she was too +high and mighty for her rank in life. Her grandfather said she was a +"beauty", and like her poor dear mother. She herself thought rather +meanly of her personal attractions, and rather highly of her mental +ones. She was brimful of vitality, with strong passions, and little +religious sentiment. She had not much respect for moral courage, for +she did not understand it; but she was a profound admirer of personal +prowess. Her distaste for the humdrum life she was leading found +expression in a rebellion against social usages. She courted notoriety +by eccentricities of dress, and was never so happy as when she was +misunderstood. She was the sort of girl of whom women say--"It is a pity +she has no mother"; and men, "It is a pity she does not get a husband"; +and who say to themselves, "When shall I have a lover?" There was no +lack of beings of this latter class among the officers quartered in Fort +Royal and Fort Henry; but the female population of the island was free +and numerous, and in the embarrassment of riches, Sarah was overlooked. +Though she adored the soldiery, her first lover was a civilian. Walking +one day on the cliff, she met a young man. He was tall, well-looking, +and well-dressed. His name was Lemoine; he was the son of a somewhat +wealthy resident of the island, and had come down from London to recruit +his health and to see his friends. Sarah was struck by his appearance, +and looked back at him. He had been struck by hers, and looked back +also. He followed her, and spoke to her--some remark about the wind +or the weather--and she thought his voice divine. They got into +conversation--about scenery, lonely walks, and the dullness of St. +Heliers. "Did she often walk there?" "Sometimes." "Would she be there +tomorrow?" "She might." Mr. Lemoine lifted his hat, and went back to +dinner, rather pleased with himself. + +They met the next day, and the day after that. Lemoine was not a +gentleman, but he had lived among gentlemen, and had caught something of +their manner. He said that, after all, virtue was a mere name, and that +when people were powerful and rich, the world respected them more than +if they had been honest and poor. Sarah agreed with this sentiment. Her +grandfather was honest and poor, and yet nobody respected him--at least, +not with such respect as she cared to acknowledge. In addition to his +talent for argument, Lemoine was handsome and had money--he showed her +quite a handful of bank-notes one day. He told her of London and the +great ladies there, and hinting that they were not always virtuous, drew +himself up with a moody air, as though he had been unhappily the cause +of their fatal lapse into wickedness. Sarah did not wonder at this in +the least. Had she been a great lady, she would have done the same. She +began to coquet with this seductive fellow, and to hint to him that +she had too much knowledge of the world to set a fictitious value upon +virtue. He mistook her artfulness for innocence, and thought he had made +a conquest. Moreover, the girl was pretty, and when dressed properly, +would look well. Only one obstacle stood in the way of their loves--the +dashing profligate was poor. He had been living in London above his +means, and his father was not inclined to increase his allowance. + +Sarah liked him better than anybody else she had seen, but there are +two sides to every bargain. Sarah Purfoy must go to London. In vain her +lover sighed and swore. Unless he would promise to take her away with +him, Diana was not more chaste. The more virtuous she grew, the more +vicious did Lemoine feel. His desire to possess her increased in +proportionate ratio to her resistance, and at last he borrowed two +hundred pounds from his father's confidential clerk (the Lemoines were +merchants by profession), and acceded to her wishes. There was no love +on either side--vanity was the mainspring of the whole transaction. +Lemoine did not like to be beaten; Sarah sold herself for a passage to +England and an introduction into the "great world". + +We need not describe her career at this epoch. Suffice it to say that +she discovered that vice is not always conducive to happiness, and is +not, even in this world, so well rewarded as its earnest practice might +merit. Sated, and disappointed, she soon grew tired of her life, and +longed to escape from its wearying dissipations. At this juncture she +fell in love. + +The object of her affections was one Mr. Lionel Crofton. Crofton was +tall, well made, and with an insinuating address. His features were too +strongly marked for beauty. His eyes were the best part of his face, +and, like his hair, they were jet black. He had broad shoulders, sinewy +limbs, and small hands and feet. His head was round, and well-shaped, +but it bulged a little over the ears which were singularly small and lay +close to his head. With this man, barely four years older than herself, +Sarah, at seventeen, fell violently in love. This was the more strange +as, though fond of her, he would tolerate no caprices, and possessed +an ungovernable temper, which found vent in curses, and even blows. He +seemed to have no profession or business, and though he owned a good +address, he was even less of a gentleman than Lemoine. Yet Sarah, +attracted by one of the strange sympathies which constitute the romance +of such women's lives, was devoted to him. Touched by her affection, +and rating her intelligence and unscrupulousness at their true value, he +told her who he was. He was a swindler, a forger, and a thief, and +his name was John Rex. When she heard this she experienced a sinister +delight. He told her of his plots, his tricks, his escapes, his +villainies; and seeing how for years this young man had preyed upon the +world which had deceived and disowned her, her heart went out to him. "I +am glad you found me," she said. "Two heads are better than one. We will +work together." + +John Rex, known among his intimate associates as Dandy Jack, was +the putative son of a man who had been for many years valet to Lord +Bellasis, and who retired from the service of that profligate nobleman +with a sum of money and a wife. John Rex was sent to as good a school as +could be procured for him, and at sixteen was given, by the interest +of his mother with his father's former master, a clerkship in an +old-established city banking-house. Mrs. Rex was intensely fond of her +son, and imbued him with a desire to shine in aristocratic circles. He +was a clever lad, without any principle; he would lie unblushingly, and +steal deliberately, if he thought he could do so with impunity. He was +cautious, acquisitive, imaginative, self-conceited, and destructive. He +had strong perceptive faculties, and much invention and versatility, but +his "moral sense" was almost entirely wanting. He found that his fellow +clerks were not of that "gentlemanly" stamp which his mother thought so +admirable, and therefore he despised them. He thought he should like to +go into the army, for he was athletic, and rejoiced in feats of muscular +strength. To be tied all day to a desk was beyond endurance. But John +Rex, senior, told him to "wait and see what came of it." He did so, and +in the meantime kept late hours, got into bad company, and forged the +name of a customer of the bank to a cheque for twenty pounds. The fraud +was a clumsy one, and was detected in twenty-four hours. Forgeries by +clerks, however easily detected, are unfortunately not considered to +add to the attractions of a banking-house, and the old-established firm +decided not to prosecute, but dismissed Mr. John Rex from their service. +The ex-valet, who never liked his legalized son, was at first for +turning him out of doors, but by the entreaties of his wife, was at last +induced to place the promising boy in a draper's shop, in the City Road. + +This employment was not a congenial one, and John Rex planned to leave +it. He lived at home, and had his salary--about thirty shillings a +week--for pocket money. Though he displayed considerable skill with the +cue, and not infrequently won considerable sums for one in his position, +his expenses averaged more than his income; and having borrowed all +he could, he found himself again in difficulties. His narrow escape, +however, had taught him a lesson, and he resolved to confess all to his +indulgent mother, and be more economical for the future. Just then +one of those "lucky chances" which blight so many lives occurred. The +"shop-walker" died, and Messrs. Baffaty & Co. made the gentlemanly Rex +act as his substitute for a few days. Shop-walkers have opportunities +not accorded to other folks, and on the evening of the third day Mr. Rex +went home with a bundle of lace in his pocket. Unfortunately, he owed +more than the worth of this petty theft, and was compelled to steal +again. This time he was detected. One of his fellow-shopmen caught +him in the very act of concealing a roll of silk, ready for future +abstraction, and, to his astonishment, cried "Halves!" Rex pretended to +be virtuously indignant, but soon saw that such pretence was useless; +his companion was too wily to be fooled with such affectation of +innocence. "I saw you take it," said he, "and if you won't share I'll +tell old Baffaty." This argument was irresistible, and they shared. +Having become good friends, the self-made partner lent Rex a helping +hand in the disposal of the booty, and introduced him to a purchaser. +The purchaser violated all rules of romance by being--not a Jew, but a +very orthodox Christian. He kept a second-hand clothes warehouse in +the City Road, and was supposed to have branch establishments all over +London. + +Mr. Blicks purchased the stolen goods for about a third of their value, +and seemed struck by Mr. Rex's appearance. "I thort you was a swell +mobsman," said he. This, from one so experienced, was a high compliment. +Encouraged by success, Rex and his companion took more articles of +value. John Rex paid off his debts, and began to feel himself quite a +"gentleman" again. Just as Rex had arrived at this pleasing state of +mind, Baffaty discovered the robbery. Not having heard about the bank +business, he did not suspect Rex--he was such a gentlemanly young +man--but having had his eye for some time upon Rex's partner, who was +vulgar, and squinted, he sent for him. Rex's partner stoutly denied the +accusation, and old Baffaty, who was a man of merciful tendencies, and +could well afford to lose fifty pounds, gave him until the next +morning to confess, and state where the goods had gone, hinting at the +persuasive powers of a constable at the end of that time. The shopman, +with tears in his eyes, came in a hurry to Rex, and informed him that +all was lost. He did not want to confess, because he must implicate +his friend Rex, but if he did not confess he would be given in charge. +Flight was impossible, for neither had money. In this dilemma John Rex +remembered Blicks's compliment, and burned to deserve it. If he must +retreat, he would lay waste the enemy's country. His exodus should +be like that of the Israelites--he would spoil the Egyptians. The +shop-walker was allowed half an hour in the middle of the day for lunch. +John Rex took advantage of this half-hour to hire a cab and drive to +Blicks. That worthy man received him cordially, for he saw that he was +bent upon great deeds. John Rex rapidly unfolded his plan of operations. +The warehouse doors were fastened with a spring. He would remain behind +after they were locked, and open them at a given signal. A light cart or +cab could be stationed in the lane at the back, three men could fill +it with valuables in as many hours. Did Blicks know of three such men? +Blicks's one eye glistened. He thought he did know. At half-past eleven +they should be there. Was that all? No. Mr. John Rex was not going to +"put up" such a splendid thing for nothing. The booty was worth at least +L5,000 if it was worth a shilling--he must have L100 cash when the cart +stopped at Blicks's door. Blicks at first refused point blank. Let +there be a division, but he would not buy a pig in a poke. Rex was firm, +however; it was his only chance, and at last he got a promise of L80. +That night the glorious achievement known in the annals of Bow Street +as "The Great Silk Robbery" took place, and two days afterwards John Rex +and his partner, dining comfortably at Birmingham, read an account of +the transaction--not in the least like it--in a London paper. + +John Rex, who had now fairly broken with dull respectability, bid adieu +to his home, and began to realize his mother's wishes. He was, after his +fashion, a "gentleman". As long as the L80 lasted, he lived in +luxury, and by the time it was spent he had established himself in +his profession. This profession was a lucrative one. It was that of a +swindler. Gifted with a handsome person, facile manner, and ready wit, +he had added to these natural advantages some skill at billiards, some +knowledge of gambler's legerdemain, and the useful consciousness that he +must prey or be preyed on. John Rex was no common swindler; his natural +as well as his acquired abilities saved him from vulgar errors. He saw +that to successfully swindle mankind, one must not aim at comparative, +but superlative, ingenuity. He who is contented with being only cleverer +than the majority must infallibly be outwitted at last, and to be once +outwitted is--for a swindler--to be ruined. Examining, moreover, into +the history of detected crime, John Rex discovered one thing. At the +bottom of all these robberies, deceptions, and swindles, was some lucky +fellow who profited by the folly of his confederates. This gave him +an idea. Suppose he could not only make use of his own talents to rob +mankind, but utilize those of others also? Crime runs through infinite +grades. He proposed to himself to be at the top; but why should he +despise those good fellows beneath him? His speciality was swindling, +billiard-playing, card-playing, borrowing money, obtaining goods, never +risking more than two or three coups in a year. But others plundered +houses, stole bracelets, watches, diamonds--made as much in a night as +he did in six months--only their occupation was more dangerous. Now came +the question--why more dangerous? Because these men were mere clods, +bold enough and clever enough in their own rude way, but no match +for the law, with its Argus eyes and its Briarean hands. They did the +rougher business well enough; they broke locks, and burst doors, and +"neddied" constables, but in the finer arts of plan, attack, and escape, +they were sadly deficient. Good. These men should be the hands; he would +be the head. He would plan the robberies; they should execute them. + +Working through many channels, and never omitting to assist a +fellow-worker when in distress, John Rex, in a few years, and in a most +prosaic business way, became the head of a society of ruffians. Mixing +with fast clerks and unsuspecting middle-class profligates, he found out +particulars of houses ill guarded, and shops insecurely fastened, and +"put up" Blicks's ready ruffians to the more dangerous work. In his +various disguises, and under his many names, he found his way into those +upper circles of "fast" society, where animals turn into birds, where a +wolf becomes a rook, and a lamb a pigeon. Rich spendthrifts who affected +male society asked him to their houses, and Mr. Anthony Croftonbury, +Captain James Craven, and Mr. Lionel Crofton were names remembered, +sometimes with pleasure, oftener with regret, by many a broken man +of fortune. He had one quality which, to a man of his profession, +was invaluable--he was cautious, and master of himself. Having made +a success, wrung commission from Blicks, rooked a gambling ninny like +Lemoine, or secured an assortment of jewellery sent down to his "wife" +in Gloucestershire, he would disappear for a time. He liked comfort, and +revelled in the sense of security and respectability. Thus he had lived +for three years when he met Sarah Purfoy, and thus he proposed to live +for many more. With this woman as a coadjutor, he thought he could defy +the law. She was the net spread to catch his "pigeons"; she was the +well-dressed lady who ordered goods in London for her husband at +Canterbury, and paid half the price down, "which was all this letter +authorized her to do," and where a less beautiful or clever woman might +have failed, she succeeded. Her husband saw fortune before him, +and believed that, with common prudence, he might carry on his most +lucrative employment of "gentleman" until he chose to relinquish it. +Alas for human weakness! He one day did a foolish thing, and the law he +had so successfully defied got him in the simplest way imaginable. + +Under the names of Mr. and Mrs. Skinner, John Rex and Sarah Purfoy +were living in quiet lodgings in the neighbourhood of Bloomsbury. +Their landlady was a respectable poor woman, and had a son who was a +constable. This son was given to talking, and, coming in to supper one +night, he told his mother that on the following evening an attack was +to be made on a gang of coiners in the Old Street Road. The mother, +dreaming all sorts of horrors during the night, came the next day to +Mrs. Skinner, in the parlour, and, under a pledge of profound secrecy, +told her of the dreadful expedition in which her son was engaged. John +Rex was out at a pigeon match with Lord Bellasis, and when he returned, +at nine o'clock, Sarah told him what she had heard. + +Now, 4, Bank-place, Old Street Road, was the residence of a man named +Green, who had for some time carried on the lucrative but dangerous +trade of "counterfeiting". This man was one of the most daring of that +army of ruffians whose treasure chest and master of the mint was Blicks, +and his liberty was valuable. John Rex, eating his dinner more nervously +than usual, ruminated on the intelligence, and thought it would be +but wise to warn Green of his danger. Not that he cared much for +Green personally, but it was bad policy to miss doing a good turn to +a comrade, and, moreover, Green, if captured might wag his tongue too +freely. But how to do it? If he went to Blicks, it might be too late; he +would go himself. He went out--and was captured. When Sarah heard of the +calamity she set to work to help him. She collected all her money and +jewels, paid Mrs. Skinner's rent, went to see Rex, and arranged +his defence. Blicks was hopeful, but Green--who came very near +hanging--admitted that the man was an associate of his, and the +Recorder, being in a severe mood, transported him for seven years. Sarah +Purfoy vowed that she would follow him. She was going as passenger, +as emigrant, anything, when she saw Mrs. Vickers's advertisement for a +"lady's-maid," and answered it. It chanced that Rex was shipped in the +Malabar, and Sarah, discovering this before the vessel had been a week +at sea, conceived the bold project of inciting a mutiny for the rescue +of her lover. We know the result of that scheme, and the story of the +scoundrel's subsequent escape from Macquarie Harbour. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. "THE NOTORIOUS DAWES." + + + +The mutineers of the Osprey had been long since given up as dead, and +the story of their desperate escape had become indistinct to the general +public mind. Now that they had been recaptured in a remarkable manner, +popular belief invested them with all sorts of strange surroundings. +They had been--according to report--kings over savage islanders, chiefs +of lawless and ferocious pirates, respectable married men in Java, +merchants in Singapore, and swindlers in Hong Kong. Their adventures had +been dramatized at a London theatre, and the popular novelist of that +day was engaged in a work descriptive of their wondrous fortunes. + +John Rex, the ringleader, was related, it was said, to a noble family, +and a special message had come out to Sir John Franklin concerning him. +He had every prospect of being satisfactorily hung, however, for even +the most outspoken admirers of his skill and courage could not but admit +that he had committed an offence which was death by the law. The Crown +would leave nothing undone to convict him, and the already crowded +prison was re-crammed with half a dozen life sentence men, brought up +from Port Arthur to identify the prisoners. Amongst this number was +stated to be "the notorious Dawes". + +This statement gave fresh food for recollection and invention. It was +remembered that "the notorious Dawes" was the absconder who had been +brought away by Captain Frere, and who owed such fettered life as he +possessed to the fact that he had assisted Captain Frere to make the +wonderful boat in which the marooned party escaped. It was remembered, +also, how sullen and morose he had been on his trial five years before, +and how he had laughed when the commutation of his death sentence was +announced to him. The Hobart Town Gazette published a short biography of +this horrible villain--a biography setting forth how he had been engaged +in a mutiny on board the convict ship, how he had twice escaped from the +Macquarie Harbour, how he had been repeatedly flogged for violence and +insubordination, and how he was now double-ironed at Port Arthur, +after two more ineffectual attempts to regain his freedom. Indeed, the +Gazette, discovering that the wretch had been originally transported for +highway robbery, argued very ably it would be far better to hang such +wild beasts in the first instance than suffer them to cumber the ground, +and grow confirmed in villainy. "Of what use to society," asked the +Gazette, quite pathetically, "has this scoundrel been during the last +eleven years?" And everybody agreed that he had been of no use whatever. + +Miss Sylvia Vickers also received an additional share of public +attention. Her romantic rescue by the heroic Frere, who was shortly to +reap the reward of his devotion in the good old fashion, made her almost +as famous as the villain Dawes, or his confederate monster John Rex. It +was reported that she was to give evidence on the trial, together with +her affianced husband, they being the only two living witnesses who +could speak to the facts of the mutiny. It was reported also that her +lover was naturally most anxious that she should not give evidence, as +she was--an additional point of romantic interest--affected deeply by +the illness consequent on the suffering she had undergone, and in a +state of pitiable mental confusion as to the whole business. These +reports caused the Court, on the day of the trial, to be crowded with +spectators; and as the various particulars of the marvellous history of +this double escape were detailed, the excitement grew more intense. The +aspect of the four heavily-ironed prisoners caused a sensation which, +in that city of the ironed, was quite novel, and bets were offered and +taken as to the line of defence which they would adopt. At first it +was thought that they would throw themselves on the mercy of the Crown, +seeking, in the very extravagance of their story, to excite public +sympathy; but a little study of the demeanour of the chief prisoner, +John Rex, dispelled that conjecture. Calm, placid, and defiant, he +seemed prepared to accept his fate, or to meet his accusers with some +plea which should be sufficient to secure his acquittal on the capital +charge. Only when he heard the indictment, setting forth that he had +"feloniously pirated the brig Osprey," he smiled a little. + +Mr. Meekin, sitting in the body of the Court, felt his religious +prejudices sadly shocked by that smile. "A perfect wild beast, my dear +Miss Vickers," he said, returning, in a pause during the examination +of the convicts who had been brought to identify the prisoner, to the +little room where Sylvia and her father were waiting. "He has quite a +tigerish look about him." + +"Poor man!" said Sylvia, with a shudder. + +"Poor! My dear young lady, you do not pity him?" + +"I do," said Sylvia, twisting her hands together as if in pain. "I pity +them all, poor creatures." + +"Charming sensibility!" says Meekin, with a glance at Vickers. "The true +woman's heart, my dear Major." + +The Major tapped his fingers impatiently at this ill-timed twaddle. +Sylvia was too nervous just then for sentiment. "Come here, Poppet," he +said, "and look through this door. You can see them from here, and if +you do not recognize any of them, I can't see what is the use of putting +you in the box; though, of course, if it is necessary, you must go." + +The raised dock was just opposite to the door of the room in which +they were sitting, and the four manacled men, each with an armed warder +behind him, were visible above the heads of the crowd. The girl had +never before seen the ceremony of trying a man for his life, and the +silent and antique solemnities of the business affected her, as it +affects all who see it for the first time. The atmosphere was heavy and +distressing. The chains of the prisoners clanked ominously. The crushing +force of judge, gaolers, warders, and constables assembled to punish +the four men, appeared cruel. The familiar faces, that in her momentary +glance, she recognized, seemed to her evilly transfigured. Even the +countenance of her promised husband, bent eagerly forward towards +the witness-box, showed tyrannous and bloodthirsty. Her eyes hastily +followed the pointing finger of her father, and sought the men in the +dock. Two of them lounged, sullen and inattentive; one nervously chewed +a straw, or piece of twig, pawing the dock with restless hand; the +fourth scowled across the Court at the witness-box, which she could not +see. The four faces were all strange to her. + +"No, papa," she said, with a sigh of relief, "I can't recognize them at +all." + +As she was turning from the door, a voice from the witness-box behind +her made her suddenly pale and pause to look again. The Court itself +appeared, at that moment, affected, for a murmur ran through it, and +some official cried, "Silence!" + +The notorious criminal, Rufus Dawes, the desperado of Port Arthur, the +wild beast whom the Gazette had judged not fit to live, had just entered +the witness-box. He was a man of thirty, in the prime of life, with a +torso whose muscular grandeur not even the ill-fitting yellow jacket +could altogether conceal, with strong, embrowned, and nervous hands, an +upright carriage, and a pair of fierce, black eyes that roamed over the +Court hungrily. + +Not all the weight of the double irons swaying from the leathern thong +around his massive loins, could mar that elegance of attitude which +comes only from perfect muscular development. Not all the frowning faces +bent upon him could frown an accent of respect into the contemptuous +tones in which he answered to his name, "Rufus Dawes, prisoner of the +Crown". + +"Come away, my darling," said Vickers, alarmed at his daughter's +blanched face and eager eyes. + +"Wait," she said impatiently, listening for the voice whose owner she +could not see. "Rufus Dawes! Oh, I have heard that name before!" + +"You are a prisoner of the Crown at the penal settlement of Port +Arthur?" + +"Yes." + +"For life?" + +"For life." + +Sylvia turned to her father with breathless inquiry in her eyes. "Oh, +papa! who is that speaking? I know the name! the voice!" + +"That is the man who was with you in the boat, dear," says Vickers +gravely. "The prisoner." + +The eager light died out of her eyes, and in its place came a look +of disappointment and pain. "I thought it was a good man," she said, +holding by the edge of the doorway. "It sounded like a good voice." + +And then she pressed her hands over her eyes and shuddered. "There, +there," says Vickers soothingly, "don't be afraid, Poppet; he can't hurt +you now." + +"No, ha! ha!" says Meekin, with great display of off-hand courage, "the +villain's safe enough now." + +The colloquy in the Court went on. "Do you know the prisoners in the +dock?" + +"Yes." "Who are they?" + +"John Rex, Henry Shiers, James Lesly, and, and--I'm not sure about the +last man." "You are not sure about the last man. Will you swear to the +three others?" + +"Yes." + +"You remember them well?" + +"I was in the chain-gang at Macquarie Harbour with them for three +years." Sylvia, hearing this hideous reason for acquaintance, gave a low +cry, and fell into her father's arms. + +"Oh, papa, take me away! I feel as if I was going to remember something +terrible!" + +Amid the deep silence that prevailed, the cry of the poor girl was +distinctly audible in the Court, and all heads turned to the door. In +the general wonder no one noticed the change that passed over Rufus +Dawes. His face flushed scarlet, great drops of sweat stood on his +forehead, and his black eyes glared in the direction from whence the +sound came, as though they would pierce the envious wood that separated +him from the woman whose voice he had heard. Maurice Frere sprang up and +pushed his way through the crowd under the bench. + +"What's this?" he said to Vickers, almost brutally. "What did you bring +her here for? She is not wanted. I told you that." + +"I considered it my duty, sir," says Vickers, with stately rebuke. + +"What has frightened her? What has she heard? What has she seen?" asked +Frere, with a strangely white face. "Sylvia, Sylvia!" + +She opened her eyes at the sound of his voice. "Take me home, papa; I'm +ill. Oh, what thoughts!" + +"What does she mean?" cried Frere, looking in alarm from one to the +other. + +"That ruffian Dawes frightened her," said Meekin. "A gush of +recollection, poor child. There, there, calm yourself, Miss Vickers. He +is quite safe." + +"Frightened her, eh?" "Yes," said Sylvia faintly, "he frightened me, +Maurice. I needn't stop any longer, dear, need I?" + +"No," says Frere, the cloud passing from his face. "Major, I beg your +pardon, but I was hasty. Take her home at once. This sort of thing is +too much for her." And so he went back to his place, wiping his brow, +and breathing hard, as one who had just escaped from some near peril. + +Rufus Dawes had remained in the same attitude until the figure of Frere, +passing through the doorway, roused him. "Who is she?" he said, in a +low, hoarse voice, to the constable behind him. "Miss Vickers," said the +man shortly, flinging the information at him as one might fling a bone +to a dangerous dog. + +"Miss Vickers," repeated the convict, still staring in a sort of +bewildered agony. "They told me she was dead!" + +The constable sniffed contemptuously at this preposterous conclusion, as +who should say, "If you know all about it, animal, why did you ask?" +and then, feeling that the fixed gaze of his interrogator demanded some +reply, added, "You thort she was, I've no doubt. You did your best to +make her so, I've heard." + +The convict raised both his hands with sudden action of wrathful +despair, as though he would seize the other, despite the loaded muskets; +but, checking himself with sudden impulse, wheeled round to the Court. + +"Your Honour!--Gentlemen! I want to speak." + +The change in the tone of his voice, no less than the sudden loudness +of the exclamation, made the faces, hitherto bent upon the door through +which Mr. Frere had passed, turn round again. To many there it seemed +that the "notorious Dawes" was no longer in the box, for, in place of +the upright and defiant villain who stood there an instant back, was a +white-faced, nervous, agitated creature, bending forward in an attitude +almost of supplication, one hand grasping the rail, as though to save +himself from falling, the other outstretched towards the bench. "Your +Honour, there has been some dreadful mistake made. I want to explain +about myself. I explained before, when first I was sent to Port Arthur, +but the letters were never forwarded by the Commandant; of course, +that's the rule, and I can't complain. I've been sent there unjustly, +your Honour. I made that boat, your Honour. I saved the Major's wife and +daughter. I was the man; I did it all myself, and my liberty was sworn +away by a villain who hated me. I thought, until now, that no one knew +the truth, for they told me that she was dead." His rapid utterance +took the Court so much by surprise that no one interrupted him. "I was +sentenced to death for bolting, sir, and they reprieved me because I +helped them in the boat. Helped them! Why, I made it! She will tell you +so. I nursed her! I carried her in my arms! I starved myself for +her! She was fond of me, sir. She was indeed. She called me 'Good Mr. +Dawes'." + +At this, a coarse laugh broke out, which was instantly checked. The +judge bent over to ask, "Does he mean Miss Vickers?" and in this +interval Rufus Dawes, looking down into the Court, saw Maurice Frere +staring up at him with terror in his eyes. "I see you, Captain Frere, +coward and liar! Put him in the box, gentlemen, and make him tell his +story. She'll contradict him, never fear. Oh, and I thought she was dead +all this while!" + +The judge had got his answer from the clerk by this time. "Miss Vickers +had been seriously ill, had fainted just now in the Court. Her only +memories of the convict who had been with her in the boat were those +of terror and disgust. The sight of him just now had most seriously +affected her. The convict himself was an inveterate liar and schemer, +and his story had been already disproved by Captain Frere." + +The judge, a man inclining by nature to humanity, but forced by +experience to receive all statements of prisoners with caution, said +all he could say, and the tragedy of five years was disposed of in the +following dialogue:- JUDGE: This is not the place for an accusation +against Captain Frere, nor the place to argue upon your alleged +wrongs. If you have suffered injustice, the authorities will hear your +complaint, and redress it. + +RUFUS DAWES I have complained, your Honour. I wrote letter after letter +to the Government, but they were never sent. Then I heard she was +dead, and they sent me to the Coal Mines after that, and we never hear +anything there. + +JUDGE I can't listen to you. Mr. Mangles, have you any more questions to +ask the witness? + +But Mr. Mangles not having any more, someone called, "Matthew Gabbett," +and Rufus Dawes, still endeavouring to speak, was clanked away with, +amid a buzz of remark and surmise. + + + * * * * * + + +The trial progressed without further incident. Sylvia was not called, +and, to the astonishment of many of his enemies, Captain Frere went into +the witness-box and generously spoke in favour of John Rex. "He might +have left us to starve," Frere said; "he might have murdered us; we were +completely in his power. The stock of provisions on board the brig was +not a large one, and I consider that, in dividing it with us, he showed +great generosity for one in his situation." This piece of evidence told +strongly in favour of the prisoners, for Captain Frere was known to +be such an uncompromising foe to all rebellious convicts that it was +understood that only the sternest sense of justice and truth could lead +him to speak in such terms. The defence set up by Rex, moreover, was +most ingenious. He was guilty of absconding, but his moderation might +plead an excuse for that. His only object was his freedom, and, having +gained it, he had lived honestly for nearly three years, as he could +prove. He was charged with piratically seizing the brig Osprey, and he +urged that the brig Osprey, having been built by convicts at Macquarie +Harbour, and never entered in any shipping list, could not be said to +be "piratically seized", in the strict meaning of the term. The Court +admitted the force of this objection, and, influenced doubtless by +Captain Frere's evidence, the fact that five years had passed since the +mutiny, and that the two men most guilty (Cheshire and Barker) had +been executed in England, sentenced Rex and his three companions to +transportation for life to the penal settlements of the colony. + + + + +CHAPTER V. MAURICE FRERE'S GOOD ANGEL. + + + +At this happy conclusion to his labours, Frere went down to comfort the +girl for whose sake he had suffered Rex to escape the gallows. On his +way he was met by a man who touched his hat, and asked to speak with +him an instant. This man was past middle age, owned a red brandy-beaten +face, and had in his gait and manner that nameless something that +denotes the seaman. + +"Well, Blunt," says Frere, pausing with the impatient air of a man who +expects to hear bad news, "what is it now?" + +"Only to tell you that it is all right, sir," says Blunt. "She's come +aboard again this morning." + +"Come aboard again!" ejaculated Frere. "Why, I didn't know that she +had been ashore. Where did she go?" He spoke with an air of confident +authority, and Blunt--no longer the bluff tyrant of old--seemed to quail +before him. The trial of the mutineers of the Malabar had ruined Phineas +Blunt. Make what excuses he might, there was no concealing the fact that +Pine found him drunk in his cabin when he ought to have been attending +to his duties on deck, and the "authorities" could not, or would not, +pass over such a heinous breach of discipline. Captain Blunt--who, of +course, had his own version of the story--thus deprived of the honour of +bringing His Majesty's prisoners to His Majesty's colonies of New South +Wales and Van Diemen's Land, went on a whaling cruise to the South Seas. +The influence which Sarah Purfoy had acquired over him had, however, +irretrievably injured him. It was as though she had poisoned his moral +nature by the influence of a clever and wicked woman over a sensual +and dull-witted man. Blunt gradually sank lower and lower. He became +a drunkard, and was known as a man with a "grievance against the +Government". Captain Frere, having had occasion for him in some +capacity, had become in a manner his patron, and had got him the command +of a schooner trading from Sydney. On getting this command--not without +some wry faces on the part of the owner resident in Hobart Town--Blunt +had taken the temperance pledge for the space of twelve months, and was +a miserable dog in consequence. He was, however, a faithful henchman, +for he hoped by Frere's means to get some "Government billet"--the grand +object of all colonial sea captains of that epoch. + +"Well, sir, she went ashore to see a friend," says Blunt, looking at the +sky and then at the earth. + +"What friend?" + +"The--the prisoner, sir." + +"And she saw him, I suppose?" + +"Yes, but I thought I'd better tell you, sir," says Blunt. + +"Of course; quite right," returned the other; "you had better start at +once. It's no use waiting." + +"As you wish, sir. I can sail to-morrow morning--or this evening, if you +like." + +"This evening," says Frere, turning away; "as soon as possible." + +"There's a situation in Sydney I've been looking after," said the other, +uneasily, "if you could help me to it." + +"What is it?" + +"The command of one of the Government vessels, sir." + +"Well, keep sober, then," says Frere, "and I'll see what I can do. And +keep that woman's tongue still if you can." + +The pair looked at each other, and Blunt grinned slavishly. + +"I'll do my best." "Take care you do," returned his patron, leaving him +without further ceremony. + +Frere found Vickers in the garden, and at once begged him not to talk +about the "business" to his daughter. + +"You saw how bad she was to-day, Vickers. For goodness sake don't make +her ill again." + +"My dear sir," says poor Vickers, "I won't refer to the subject. She's +been very unwell ever since. Nervous and unstrung. Go in and see her." + +So Frere went in and soothed the excited girl, with real sorrow at her +suffering. + +"It's all right now, Poppet," he said to her. "Don't think of it any +more. Put it out of your mind, dear." + +"It was foolish of me, Maurice, I know, but I could not help it. The +sound of--of--that man's voice seemed to bring back to me some great +pity for something or someone. I don't explain what I mean, I know, +but I felt that I was on the verge of remembering a story of some great +wrong, just about to hear some dreadful revelation that should make me +turn from all the people whom I ought most to love. Do you understand?" + +"I think I know what you mean," says Frere, with averted face. "But +that's all nonsense, you know." + +"Of course," returned she, with a touch of her old childish manner of +disposing of questions out of hand. "Everybody knows it's all nonsense. +But then we do think such things. It seems to me that I am double, that +I have lived somewhere before, and have had another life--a dream-life." + +"What a romantic girl you are," said the other, dimly comprehending her +meaning. "How could you have a dream-life?" + +"Of course, not really, stupid! But in thought, you know. I dream such +strange things now and then. I am always falling down precipices and +into cataracts, and being pushed into great caverns in enormous rocks. +Horrible dreams!" + +"Indigestion," returned Frere. "You don't take exercise enough. You +shouldn't read so much. Have a good five-mile walk." + +"And in these dreams," continued Sylvia, not heeding his interruption, +"there is one strange thing. You are always there, Maurice." + +"Come, that's all right," says Maurice. + +"Ah, but not kind and good as you are, Captain Bruin, but scowling, and +threatening, and angry, so that I am afraid of you." + +"But that is only a dream, darling." + +"Yes, but--" playing with the button of his coat. + +"But what?" + +"But you looked just so to-day in the Court, Maurice, and I think that's +what made me so silly." + +"My darling! There; hush--don't cry!" + +But she had burst into a passion of sobs and tears, that shook her +slight figure in his arms. + +"Oh, Maurice, I am a wicked girl! I don't know my own mind. I think +sometimes I don't love you as I ought--you who have saved me and nursed +me." + +"There, never mind about that," muttered Maurice Frere, with a sort of +choking in his throat. + +She grew more composed presently, and said, after a while, lifting her +face, "Tell me, Maurice, did you ever, in those days of which you have +spoken to me--when you nursed me as a little child in your arms, and fed +me, and starved for me--did you ever think we should be married?" + +"I don't know," says Maurice. "Why?" + +"I think you must have thought so, because--it's not vanity, dear--you +would not else have been so kind, and gentle, and devoted." + +"Nonsense, Poppet," he said, with his eyes resolutely averted. + +"No, but you have been, and I am very pettish, sometimes. Papa has +spoiled me. You are always affectionate, and those worrying ways of +yours, which I get angry at, all come from love for me, don't they?" + +"I hope so," said Maurice, with an unwonted moisture in his eyes. + +"Well, you see, that is the reason why I am angry with myself for not +loving you as I ought. I want you to like the things I like, and to love +the books and the music and the pictures and the--the World I love; +and I forget that you are a man, you know, and I am only a girl; and I +forget how nobly you behaved, Maurice, and how unselfishly you risked +your life for mine. Why, what is the matter, dear?" + +He had put her away from him suddenly, and gone to the window, gazing +across the sloping garden at the bay below, sleeping in the soft evening +light. The schooner which had brought the witnesses from Port Arthur lay +off the shore, and the yellow flag at her mast fluttered gently in the +cool evening breeze. The sight of this flag appeared to anger him, for, +as his eyes fell on it, he uttered an impatient exclamation, and turned +round again. + +"Maurice!" she cried, "I have wounded you!" + +"No, no. It is nothing," said he, with the air of a man surprised in +a moment of weakness. "I--I did not like to hear you talk in this +way--about not loving me." + +"Oh, forgive me, dear; I did not mean to hurt you. It is my silly way of +saying more than I mean. How could I do otherwise than love you--after +all you have done?" + +Some sudden desperate whim caused him to exclaim, "But suppose I had not +done all you think, would you not love me still?" + +Her eyes, raised to his face with anxious tenderness for the pain she +had believed herself to have inflicted, fell at this speech. + +"What a question! I don't know. I suppose I should; yet--but what is the +use, Maurice, of supposing? I know you have done it, and that is enough. +How can I say what I might have done if something else had happened? +Why, you might not have loved me." + +If there had been for a moment any sentiment of remorse in his selfish +heart, the hesitation of her answer went far to dispel it. + +"To be sure, that's true," and he placed his arm round her. + +She lifted her face again with a bright laugh. + +"We are a pair of geese--supposing! How can we help what has past? We +have the Future, darling--the Future, in which I am to be your little +wife, and we are to love each other all our lives, like the people in +the story-books." + +Temptation to evil had often come to Maurice Frere, and his selfish +nature had succumbed to it when in far less witching shape than this +fair and innocent child luring him with wistful eyes to win her. What +hopes had he not built upon her love; what good resolutions had he not +made by reason of the purity and goodness she was to bring to him? As +she said, the past was beyond recall; the future--in which she was +to love him all her life--was before them. With the hypocrisy of +selfishness which deceives even itself, he laid the little head upon his +heart with a sensible glow of virtue. + +"God bless you, darling! You are my Good Angel." + +The girl sighed. "I will be your Good Angel, dear, if you will let me." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. MR. MEEKIN ADMINISTERS CONSOLATION. + + + +Rex told Mr. Meekin, who, the next day, did him the honour to visit +him, that, "under Providence, he owed his escape from death to the kind +manner in which Captain Frere had spoken of him." + +"I hope your escape will be a warning to you, my man," said Mr. Meekin, +"and that you will endeavour to make the rest of your life, thus spared +by the mercy of Providence, an atonement for your early errors." + +"Indeed I will, sir," said John Rex, who had taken Mr. Meekin's measure +very accurately, "and it is very kind of you to condescend to speak so +to a wretch like me." + +"Not at all," said Meekin, with affability; "it is my duty. I am a +Minister of the Gospel." + +"Ah! sir, I wish I had attended to the Gospel's teachings when I was +younger. I might have been saved from all this." + +"You might, indeed, poor man; but the Divine Mercy is infinite--quite +infinite, and will be extended to all of us--to you as well as to me." +(This with the air of saying, "What do you think of that!") "Remember +the penitent thief, Rex--the penitent thief." + +"Indeed I do, sir." + +"And read your Bible, Rex, and pray for strength to bear your +punishment." + +"I will, Mr. Meekin. I need it sorely, sir--physical as well as +spiritual strength, sir--for the Government allowance is sadly +insufficient." + +"I will speak to the authorities about a change in your dietary scale," +returned Meekin, patronizingly. "In the meantime, just collect together +in your mind those particulars of your adventures of which you spoke, +and have them ready for me when next I call. Such a remarkable history +ought not to be lost." + +"Thank you kindly, sir. I will, sir. Ah! I little thought when I +occupied the position of a gentleman, Mr. Meekin"--the cunning scoundrel +had been piously grandiloquent concerning his past career--"that I +should be reduced to this. But it is only just, sir." + +"The mysterious workings of Providence are always just, Rex," returned +Meekin, who preferred to speak of the Almighty with well-bred vagueness. + +"I am glad to see you so conscious of your errors. Good morning." + +"Good morning, and Heaven bless you, sir," said Rex, with his tongue in +his cheek for the benefit of his yard mates; and so Mr. Meekin tripped +gracefully away, convinced that he was labouring most successfully in +the Vineyard, and that the convict Rex was really a superior person. + +"I will send his narrative to the Bishop," said he to himself. "It will +amuse him. There must be many strange histories here, if one could but +find them out." + +As the thought passed through his brain, his eye fell upon the +"notorious Dawes", who, while waiting for the schooner to take him back +to Port Arthur, had been permitted to amuse himself by breaking stones. +The prison-shed which Mr. Meekin was visiting was long and low, roofed +with iron, and terminating at each end in the stone wall of the gaol. At +one side rose the cells, at the other the outer wall of the prison. From +the outer wall projected a weatherboard under-roof, and beneath this +were seated forty heavily-ironed convicts. Two constables, with loaded +carbines, walked up and down the clear space in the middle, and another +watched from a sort of sentry-box built against the main wall. Every +half-hour a third constable went down the line and examined the irons. +The admirable system of solitary confinement--which in average cases +produces insanity in the space of twelve months--was as yet unknown in +Hobart Town, and the forty heavily-ironed men had the pleasure of seeing +each other's faces every day for six hours. + +The other inmates of the prison were at work on the roads, or otherwise +bestowed in the day time, but the forty were judged too desperate to be +let loose. They sat, three feet apart, in two long lines, each man with +a heap of stones between his outstretched legs, and cracked the pebbles +in leisurely fashion. The double row of dismal woodpeckers tapping at +this terribly hollow beech-tree of penal discipline had a semi-ludicrous +appearance. It seemed so painfully absurd that forty muscular men should +be ironed and guarded for no better purpose than the cracking of a +cartload of quartz-pebbles. In the meantime the air was heavy with angry +glances shot from one to the other, and the passage of the parson +was hailed by a grumbling undertone of blasphemy. It was considered +fashionable to grunt when the hammer came in contact with the stone, and +under cover of this mock exclamation of fatigue, it was convenient +to launch an oath. A fanciful visitor, seeing the irregularly rising +hammers along the line, might have likened the shed to the interior of +some vast piano, whose notes an unseen hand was erratically fingering. +Rufus Dawes was seated last on the line--his back to the cells, his face +to the gaol wall. This was the place nearest the watching constable, +and was allotted on that account to the most ill-favoured. Some of his +companions envied him that melancholy distinction. + +"Well, Dawes," says Mr. Meekin, measuring with his eye the distance +between the prisoner and himself, as one might measure the chain of some +ferocious dog. "How are you this morning, Dawes?" + +Dawes, scowling in a parenthesis between the cracking of two stones, was +understood to say that he was very well. + +"I am afraid, Dawes," said Mr. Meekin reproachfully, "that you have done +yourself no good by your outburst in court on Monday. I understand that +public opinion is quite incensed against you." + +Dawes, slowly arranging one large fragment of bluestone in a comfortable +basin of smaller fragments, made no reply. + +"I am afraid you lack patience, Dawes. You do not repent of your +offences against the law, I fear." + +The only answer vouchsafed by the ironed man--if answer it could be +called--was a savage blow, which split the stone into sudden fragments, +and made the clergyman skip a step backward. + +"You are a hardened ruffian, sir! Do you not hear me speak to you?" + +"I hear you," said Dawes, picking up another stone. + +"Then listen respectfully, sir," said Meekin, roseate with celestial +anger. "You have all day to break those stones." + +"Yes, I have all day," returned Rufus Dawes, with a dogged look +upward, "and all next day, for that matter. Ugh!" and again the hammer +descended. + +"I came to console you, man--to console you," says Meekin, indignant at +the contempt with which his well-meant overtures had been received. "I +wanted to give you some good advice!" + +The self-important annoyance of the tone seemed to appeal to whatever +vestige of appreciation for the humorous, chains and degradation had +suffered to linger in the convict's brain, for a faint smile crossed his +features. + +"I beg your pardon, sir," he said. "Pray, go on." + +"I was going to say, my good fellow, that you have done yourself a great +deal of injury by your ill-advised accusation of Captain Frere, and the +use you made of Miss Vickers's name." + +A frown, as of pain, contracted the prisoner's brows, and he seemed +with difficulty to put a restraint upon his speech. "Is there to be +no inquiry, Mr. Meekin?" he asked, at length. "What I stated was the +truth--the truth, so help me God!" + +"No blasphemy, sir," said Meekin, solemnly. "No blasphemy, wretched man. +Do not add to the sin of lying the greater sin of taking the name of the +Lord thy God in vain. He will not hold him guiltless, Dawes. He will not +hold him guiltless, remember. No, there is to be no inquiry." + +"Are they not going to ask her for her story?" asked Dawes, with a +pitiful change of manner. "They told me that she was to be asked. Surely +they will ask her." + +"I am not, perhaps, at liberty," said Meekin, placidly unconscious of +the agony of despair and rage that made the voice of the strong man +before him quiver, "to state the intentions of the authorities, but I +can tell you that Miss Vickers will not be asked anything about you. You +are to go back to Port Arthur on the 24th, and to remain there." + +A groan burst from Rufus Dawes; a groan so full of torture that even the +comfortable Meekin was thrilled by it. + +"It is the Law, you know, my good man. I can't help it," he said. "You +shouldn't break the Law, you know." + +"Curse the Law!" cries Dawes. "It's a Bloody Law; it's--there, I beg +your pardon," and he fell to cracking his stones again, with a laugh +that was more terrible in its bitter hopelessness of winning attention +or sympathy, than any outburst of passion could have been. + +"Come," says Meekin, feeling uneasily constrained to bring forth some of +his London-learnt platitudes. "You can't complain. You have broken the +Law, and you must suffer. Civilized Society says you sha'n't do certain +things, and if you do them you must suffer the penalty Civilized +Society imposes. You are not wanting in intelligence, Dawes, more's the +pity--and you can't deny the justice of that." + +Rufus Dawes, as if disdaining to answer in words, cast his eyes round +the yard with a glance that seemed to ask grimly if Civilized Society +was progressing quite in accordance with justice, when its civilization +created such places as that stone-walled, carbine-guarded prison-shed, +and filled it with such creatures as those forty human beasts, doomed to +spend the best years of their manhood cracking pebbles in it. + +"You don't deny that?" asked the smug parson, "do you, Dawes?" + +"It's not my place to argue with you, sir," said Dawes, in a tone of +indifference, born of lengthened suffering, so nicely balanced between +contempt and respect, that the inexperienced Meekin could not tell +whether he had made a convert or subjected himself to an impertinence; +"but I'm a prisoner for life, and don't look at it in the same way that +you do." + +This view of the question did not seem to have occurred to Mr. Meekin, +for his mild cheek flushed. Certainly, the fact of being a prisoner for +life did make some difference. The sound of the noonday bell, however, +warned him to cease argument, and to take his consolations out of the +way of the mustering prisoners. + +With a great clanking and clashing of irons, the forty rose and stood +each by his stone-heap. The third constable came round, rapping the +leg-irons of each man with easy nonchalance, and roughly pulling up the +coarse trousers (made with buttoned flaps at the sides, like Mexican +calzoneros, in order to give free play to the ankle fetters), so that +he might assure himself that no tricks had been played since his last +visit. As each man passed this ordeal he saluted, and clanked, with +wide-spread legs, to the place in the double line. Mr. Meekin, though +not a patron of field sports, found something in the scene that reminded +him of a blacksmith picking up horses' feet to examine the soundness of +their shoes. + +"Upon my word," he said to himself, with a momentary pang of genuine +compassion, "it is a dreadful way to treat human beings. I don't wonder +at that wretched creature groaning under it. But, bless me, it is near +one o'clock, and I promised to lunch with Major Vickers at two. How time +flies, to be sure!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII. RUFUS DAWES'S IDYLL. + + + +That afternoon, while Mr. Meekin was digesting his lunch, and chatting +airily with Sylvia, Rufus Dawes began to brood over a desperate scheme. +The intelligence that the investigation he had hoped for was not to be +granted to him had rendered doubly bitter those galling fetters of self +restraint which he had laid upon himself. For five years of desolation +he had waited and hoped for a chance which might bring him to Hobart +Town, and enable him to denounce the treachery of Maurice Frere. He had, +by an almost miraculous accident, obtained that chance of open speech, +and, having obtained it, he found that he was not allowed to speak. +All the hopes he had formed were dashed to earth. All the calmness +with which he had forced himself to bear his fate was now turned into +bitterest rage and fury. Instead of one enemy he had twenty. All--judge, +jury, gaoler, and parson--were banded together to work him evil and deny +him right. The whole world was his foe: there was no honesty or truth in +any living creature--save one. + +During the dull misery of his convict life at Port Arthur one bright +memory shone upon him like a star. In the depth of his degradation, +at the height of his despair, he cherished one pure and ennobling +thought--the thought of the child whom he had saved, and who loved him. +When, on board the whaler that had rescued him from the burning boat, he +had felt that the sailors, believing in Frere's bluff lies, shrunk from +the moody felon, he had gained strength to be silent by thinking of the +suffering child. When poor Mrs. Vickers died, making no sign, and thus +the chief witness to his heroism perished before his eyes, the thought +that the child was left had restrained his selfish regrets. When Frere, +handing him over to the authorities as an absconder, ingeniously twisted +the details of the boat-building to his own glorification, the knowledge +that Sylvia would assign to these pretensions their true value had given +him courage to keep silence. So strong was his belief in her gratitude, +that he scorned to beg for the pardon he had taught himself to believe +that she would ask for him. So utter was his contempt for the coward and +boaster who, dressed in brief authority, bore insidious false witness +against him, that, when he heard his sentence of life banishment, he +disdained to make known the true part he had played in the matter, +preferring to wait for the more exquisite revenge, the more complete +justification which would follow upon the recovery of the child from +her illness. But when, at Port Arthur, day after day passed over, and +brought no word of pity or justification, he began, with a sickening +feeling of despair, to comprehend that something strange had happened. +He was told by newcomers that the child of the Commandant lay still +and near to death. Then he heard that she and her father had left the +colony, and that all prospect of her righting him by her evidence was at +an end. This news gave him a terrible pang; and at first he was inclined +to break out into upbraidings of her selfishness. But, with that depth +of love which was in him, albeit crusted over and concealed by the +sullenness of speech and manner which his sufferings had produced, he +found excuses for her even then. She was ill. She was in the hands of +friends who loved her, and disregarded him; perhaps, even her entreaties +and explanations were put aside as childish babblings. She would free +him if she had the power. Then he wrote "Statements", agonized to see +the Commandant, pestered the gaolers and warders with the story of his +wrongs, and inundated the Government with letters, which, containing, as +they did always, denunciations of Maurice Frere, were never suffered to +reach their destination. The authorities, willing at the first to look +kindly upon him in consideration of his strange experience, grew weary +of this perpetual iteration of what they believed to be malicious +falsehoods, and ordered him heavier tasks and more continuous labour. +They mistook his gloom for treachery, his impatient outbursts of passion +at his fate for ferocity, his silent endurance for dangerous cunning. +As he had been at Macquarie Harbour, so did he become at Port Arthur--a +marked man. Despairing of winning his coveted liberty by fair means, +and horrified at the hideous prospect of a life in chains, he twice +attempted to escape, but escape was even more hopeless than it had been +at Hell's Gates. The peninsula of Port Arthur was admirably guarded, +signal stations drew a chain round the prison, an armed boat's crew +watched each bay, and across the narrow isthmus which connected it with +the mainland was a cordon of watch-dogs, in addition to the soldier +guard. He was retaken, of course, flogged, and weighted with heavier +irons. The second time, they sent him to the Coal Mines, where the +prisoners lived underground, worked half-naked, and dragged their +inspecting gaolers in wagons upon iron tramways, when such great people +condescended to visit them. The day on which he started for this place +he heard that Sylvia was dead, and his last hope went from him. + +Then began with him a new religion. He worshipped the dead. For the +living, he had but hatred and evil words; for the dead, he had love and +tender thoughts. Instead of the phantoms of his vanished youth which +were wont to visit him, he saw now but one vision--the vision of the +child who had loved him. Instead of conjuring up for himself pictures of +that home circle in which he had once moved, and those creatures who in +the past years had thought him worthy of esteem and affection, he placed +before himself but one idea, one embodiment of happiness, one being who +was without sin and without stain, among all the monsters of that pit +into which he had fallen. Around the figure of the innocent child who +had lain in his breast, and laughed at him with her red young mouth, +he grouped every image of happiness and love. Having banished from his +thoughts all hope of resuming his name and place, he pictured to himself +some quiet nook at the world's end--a deep-gardened house in a German +country town, or remote cottage by the English seashore, where he and +his dream-child might have lived together, happier in a purer affection +than the love of man for woman. He bethought him how he could have +taught her out of the strange store of learning which his roving life +had won for him, how he could have confided to her his real name, and +perhaps purchased for her wealth and honour by reason of it. Yet, he +thought, she would not care for wealth and honour; she would prefer +a quiet life--a life of unassuming usefulness, a life devoted to good +deeds, to charity and love. He could see her--in his visions--reading by +a cheery fireside, wandering in summer woods, or lingering by the marge +of the slumbering mid-day sea. He could feel--in his dreams--her soft +arms about his neck, her innocent kisses on his lips; he could hear her +light laugh, and see her sunny ringlets float, back-blown, as she ran +to meet him. Conscious that she was dead, and that he did to her gentle +memory no disrespect by linking her fortunes to those of a wretch who +had seen so much of evil as himself, he loved to think of her as still +living, and to plot out for her and for himself impossible plans for +future happiness. In the noisome darkness of the mine, in the glaring +light of the noonday--dragging at his loaded wagon, he could see her +ever with him, her calm eyes gazing lovingly on his, as they had gazed +in the boat so long ago. She never seemed to grow older, she never +seemed to wish to leave him. It was only when his misery became too +great for him to bear, and he cursed and blasphemed, mingling for a +time in the hideous mirth of his companions, that the little figure fled +away. Thus dreaming, he had shaped out for himself a sorrowful comfort, +and in his dream-world found a compensation for the terrible affliction +of living. Indifference to his present sufferings took possession of +him; only at the bottom of this indifference lurked a fixed hatred of +the man who had brought these sufferings upon him, and a determination +to demand at the first opportunity a reconsideration of that man's +claims to be esteemed a hero. It was in this mood that he had intended +to make the revelation which he had made in Court, but the intelligence +that Sylvia lived unmanned him, and his prepared speech had been usurped +by a passionate torrent of complaint and invective, which convinced no +one, and gave Frere the very argument he needed. It was decided that the +prisoner Dawes was a malicious and artful scoundrel, whose only object +was to gain a brief respite of the punishment which he had so justly +earned. Against this injustice he had resolved to rebel. It was +monstrous, he thought, that they should refuse to hear the witness who +was so ready to speak in his favour, infamous that they should send him +back to his doom without allowing her to say a word in his defence. But +he would defeat that scheme. He had planned a method of escape, and he +would break from his bonds, fling himself at her feet, and pray her to +speak the truth for him, and so save him. Strong in his faith in her, +and with his love for her brightened by the love he had borne to her +dream-image, he felt sure of her power to rescue him now, as he had +rescued her before. "If she knew I was alive, she would come to me," he +said. "I am sure she would. Perhaps they told her that I was dead." + +Meditating that night in the solitude of his cell--his evil character +had gained him the poor luxury of loneliness--he almost wept to think of +the cruel deception that had doubtless been practised on her. "They have +told her that I was dead, in order that she might learn to forget me; +but she could not do that. I have thought of her so often during these +weary years that she must sometimes have thought of me. Five years! +She must be a woman now. My little child a woman! Yet she is sure to be +childlike, sweet, and gentle. How she will grieve when she hears of my +sufferings. Oh! my darling, my darling, you are not dead!" And then, +looking hastily about him in the darkness, as though fearful even there +of being seen, he pulled from out his breast a little packet, and felt +it lovingly with his coarse, toil-worn fingers, reverently raising it to +his lips, and dreaming over it, with a smile on his face, as though it +were a sacred talisman that should open to him the doors of freedom. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. AN ESCAPE. + + + +A few days after this--on the 23rd of December--Maurice Frere was +alarmed by a piece of startling intelligence. The notorious Dawes had +escaped from gaol! + +Captain Frere had inspected the prison that very afternoon, and it had +seemed to him that the hammers had never fallen so briskly, nor the +chains clanked so gaily, as on the occasion of his visit. "Thinking +of their Christmas holiday, the dogs!" he had said to the patrolling +warder. "Thinking about their Christmas pudding, the luxurious +scoundrels!" and the convict nearest him had laughed appreciatively, as +convicts and schoolboys do laugh at the jests of the man in authority. +All seemed contentment. Moreover, he had--by way of a pleasant stroke +of wit--tormented Rufus Dawes with his ill-fortune. "The schooner sails +to-morrow, my man," he had said; "you'll spend your Christmas at the +mines." And congratulated himself upon the fact that Rufus Dawes +merely touched his cap, and went on with his stone-cracking in silence. +Certainly double irons and hard labour were fine things to break a man's +spirit. So that, when in the afternoon of that same day he heard the +astounding news that Rufus Dawes had freed himself from his fetters, +climbed the gaol wall in broad daylight, run the gauntlet of Macquarie +Street, and was now supposed to be safely hidden in the mountains, he +was dumbfounded. + +"How the deuce did he do it, Jenkins?" he asked, as soon as he reached +the yard. + +"Well, I'm blessed if I rightly know, your honour," says Jenkins. "He +was over the wall before you could say 'knife'. Scott fired and missed +him, and then I heard the sentry's musket, but he missed him, too." + +"Missed him!" cries Frere. "Pretty fellows you are, all of you! I +suppose you couldn't hit a haystack at twenty yards? Why, the man wasn't +three feet from the end of your carbine!" + +The unlucky Scott, standing in melancholy attitude by the empty irons, +muttered something about the sun having been in his eyes. "I don't know +how it was, sir. I ought to have hit him, for certain. I think I did +touch him, too, as he went up the wall." + +A stranger to the customs of the place might have imagined that he was +listening to a conversation about a pigeon match. + +"Tell me all about it," says Frere, with an angry curse. "I was just +turning, your honour, when I hears Scott sing out 'Hullo!' and when I +turned round, I saw Dawes's irons on the ground, and him a-scrambling +up the heap o' stones yonder. The two men on my right jumped up, and +I thought it was a made-up thing among 'em, so I covered 'em with my +carbine, according to instructions, and called out that I'd shoot the +first that stepped out. Then I heard Scott's piece, and the men gave a +shout like. When I looked round, he was gone." + +"Nobody else moved?" + +"No, sir. I was confused at first, and thought they were all in it, but +Parton and Haines they runs in and gets between me and the wall, and +then Mr. Short he come, and we examined their irons." + +"All right?" + +"All right, your honour; and they all swore they knowed nothing of it. I +know Dawes's irons was all right when he went to dinner." + +Frere stopped and examined the empty fetters. "All right be hanged," he +said. "If you don't know your duty better than this, the sooner you go +somewhere else the better, my man. Look here!" + +The two ankle fetters were severed. One had been evidently filed +through, and the other broken transversely. The latter was bent, as from +a violent blow. + +"Don't know where he got the file from," said Warder Short. + +"Know! Of course you don't know. You men never do know anything until +the mischief's done. You want me here for a month or so. I'd teach you +your duty! Don't know--with things like this lying about? I wonder the +whole yard isn't loose and dining with the Governor." + +"This" was a fragment of delft pottery which Frere's quick eye had +detected among the broken metal. + +"I'd cut the biggest iron you've got with this; and so would he and +plenty more, I'll go bail. You ought to have lived with me at Sarah +Island, Mr. Short. Don't know!" + +"Well, Captain Frere, it's an accident," says Short, "and can't be +helped now." + +"An accident!" roared Frere. "What business have you with accidents? +How, in the devil's name, you let the man get over the wall, I don't +know." + +"He ran up that stone heap," says Scott, "and seemed to me to jump at +the roof of the shed. I fired at him, and he swung his legs over the top +of the wall and dropped." + +Frere measured the distance from his eye, and an irrepressible feeling +of admiration, rising out of his own skill in athletics, took possession +of him for an instant. + +"By the Lord Harry, but it's a big jump!" he said; and then the +instinctive fear with which the consciousness of the hideous wrong +he had done the now escaped convict inspired him, made him add: "A +desperate villain like that wouldn't stick at a murder if you pressed +him hard. Which way did he go?" + +"Right up Macquarie Street, and then made for the mountain. There were +few people about, but Mr. Mays, of the Star Hotel, tried to stop him, +and was knocked head over heels. He says the fellow runs like a deer." + +"We'll have the reward out if we don't get him to-night," says Frere, +turning away; "and you'd better put on an extra warder. This sort of +game is catching." And he strode away to the Barracks. + +From right to left, from east to west, through the prison city flew the +signal of alarm, and the patrol, clattering out along the road to New +Norfolk, made hot haste to strike the trail of the fugitive. But night +came and found him yet at large, and the patrol returning, weary and +disheartened, protested that he must be lying hid in some gorge of the +purple mountain that overshadowed the town, and would have to be starved +into submission. Meanwhile the usual message ran through the island, +and so admirable were the arrangements which Arthur the reformer had +initiated, that, before noon of the next day, not a signal station on +the coast but knew that No. 8942, etc., etc., prisoner for life, was +illegally at large. This intelligence, further aided by a paragraph in +the Gazette anent the "Daring Escape", noised abroad, the world cared +little that the Mary Jane, Government schooner, had sailed for Port +Arthur without Rufus Dawes. + +But two or three persons cared a good deal. Major Vickers, for one, was +indignant that his boasted security of bolts and bars should have been +so easily defied, and in proportion to his indignation was the grief of +Messieurs Jenkins, Scott, and Co., suspended from office, and threatened +with absolute dismissal. Mr. Meekin was terribly frightened at the fact +that so dangerous a monster should be roaming at large within reach of +his own saintly person. Sylvia had shown symptoms of nervous terror, +none the less injurious because carefully repressed; and Captain Maurice +Frere was a prey to the most cruel anxiety. He had ridden off at a +hand-gallop within ten minutes after he had reached the Barracks, and +had spent the few hours of remaining daylight in scouring the country +along the road to the North. At dawn the next day he was away to the +mountain, and with a black-tracker at his heels, explored as much of +that wilderness of gully and chasm as nature permitted to him. He had +offered to double the reward, and had examined a number of suspicious +persons. It was known that he had been inspecting the prison a few hours +before the escape took place, and his efforts were therefore attributed +to zeal, not unmixed with chagrin. "Our dear friend feels his reputation +at stake," the future chaplain of Port Arthur said to Sylvia at the +Christmas dinner. "He is so proud of his knowledge of these unhappy men +that he dislikes to be outwitted by any of them." + +Notwithstanding all this, however, Dawes had disappeared. The fat +landlord of the Star Hotel was the last person who saw him, and the +flying yellow figure seemed to have been as completely swallowed up by +the warm summer's afternoon as if it had run headlong into the blackest +night that ever hung above the earth. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. JOHN REX'S LETTER HOME. + + + +The "little gathering" of which Major Vickers had spoken to Mr. Meekin, +had grown into something larger than he had anticipated. Instead of a +quiet dinner at which his own household, his daughter's betrothed, and +the stranger clergyman only should be present, the Major found himself +entangled with Mesdames Protherick and Jellicoe, Mr. McNab of the +garrison, and Mr. Pounce of the civil list. His quiet Christmas dinner +had grown into an evening party. + +The conversation was on the usual topic. + +"Heard anything about that fellow Dawes?" asked Mr. Pounce. + +"Not yet," says Frere, sulkily, "but he won't be out long. I've got a +dozen men up the mountain." + +"I suppose it is not easy for a prisoner to make good his escape?" says +Meekin. + +"Oh, he needn't be caught," says Frere, "if that's what you mean; but +he'll starve instead. The bushranging days are over now, and it's a +precious poor look-out for any man to live upon luck in the bush." + +"Indeed, yes," says Mr. Pounce, lapping his soup. "This island seems +specially adapted by Providence for a convict settlement; for with an +admirable climate, it carries little indigenous vegetation which will +support human life." + +"Wull," said McNab to Sylvia, "I don't think Prauvidence had any thocht +o' caunveect deesiplin whun He created the cauleny o' Van Deemen's +Lan'." + +"Neither do I," said Sylvia. + +"I don't know," says Mrs. Protherick. "Poor Protherick used often to +say that it seemed as if some Almighty Hand had planned the Penal +Settlements round the coast, the country is so delightfully barren." + +"Ay, Port Arthur couldn't have been better if it had been made on +purpose," says Frere; "and all up the coast from Tenby to St. Helen's +there isn't a scrap for human being to make a meal on. The West Coast is +worse. By George, sir, in the old days, I remember--" + +"By the way," says Meekin, "I've got something to show you. Rex's +confession. I brought it down on purpose." + +"Rex's confession!" + +"His account of his adventures after he left Macquarie Harbour. I am +going to send it to the Bishop." + +"Oh, I should like to see it," said Sylvia, with heightened colour. "The +story of these unhappy men has a personal interest for me." + +"A forbidden subject, Poppet." + +"No, papa, not altogether forbidden; for it does not affect me now as it +used to do. You must let me read it, Mr. Meekin." + +"A pack of lies, I expect," said Frere, with a scowl. "That scoundrel +Rex couldn't tell the truth to save his life." + +"You misjudge him, Captain Frere," said Meekin. "All the prisoners are +not hardened in iniquity like Rufus Dawes. Rex is, I believe, truly +penitent, and has written a most touching letter to his father." + +"A letter!" said Vickers. "You know that, by the King's--no, the +Queen's Regulations, no letters are allowed to be sent to the friends of +prisoners without first passing through the hands of the authorities." + +"I am aware of that, Major, and for that reason have brought it with me, +that you may read it for yourself. It seems to me to breathe a spirit of +true piety." + +"Let's have a look at it," said Frere. + +"Here it is," returned Meekin, producing a packet; "and when the cloth +is removed, I will ask permission of the ladies to read it aloud. It is +most interesting." + +A glance of surprise passed between the ladies Protherick and Jellicoe. +The idea of a convict's letter proving interesting! Mr. Meekin was new +to the ways of the place. + +Frere, turning the packet between his finger, read the address:-- + +John Rex, sen., Care of Mr. Blicks, 38, Bishopsgate Street Within, +London. + +"Why can't he write to his father direct?" said he. "Who's Blick?" + +"A worthy merchant, I am told, in whose counting-house the fortunate +Rex passed his younger days. He had a tolerable education, as you are +aware." + +"Educated prisoners are always the worst," said Vickers. "James, some +more wine. We don't drink toasts here, but as this is Christmas Eve, +'Her Majesty the Queen'!" + +"Hear, hear, hear!" says Maurice. "'Her Majesty the Queen'!" + +Having drunk this loyal toast with due fervour, Vickers proposed, "His +Excellency Sir John Franklin", which toast was likewise duly honoured. + +"Here's a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you, sir," said Frere, +with the letter still in his hand. "God bless us all." + +"Amen!" says Meekin piously. "Let us hope He will; and now, leddies, the +letter. I will read you the Confession afterwards." Opening the packet +with the satisfaction of a Gospel vineyard labourer who sees his first +vine sprouting, the good creature began to read aloud: + +"'Hobart Town, "'December 27, 1838. "'My Dear Father,--Through all the +chances, changes, and vicissitudes of my chequered life, I never had a +task so painful to my mangled feelings as the present one, of addressing +you from this doleful spot--my sea-girt prison, on the beach of which I +stand a monument of destruction, driven by the adverse winds of fate to +the confines of black despair, and into the vortex of galling misery.'" + +"Poetical!" said Frere. + +"'I am just like a gigantic tree of the forest which has stood many a +wintry blast, and stormy tempest, but now, alas! I am become a withered +trunk, with all my greenest and tenderest branches lopped off. Though +fast attaining middle age, I am not filling an envied and honoured +post with credit and respect. No--I shall be soon wearing the garb of +degradation, and the badge and brand of infamy at P.A., which is, being +interpreted, Port Arthur, the 'Villain's Home'." + +"Poor fellow!" said Sylvia. + +"Touching, is it not?" assented Meekin, continuing-- + +"'I am, with heartrending sorrow and anguish of soul, ranged and mingled +with the Outcasts of Society. My present circumstances and pictures you +will find well and truly drawn in the 102nd Psalm, commencing with the +4th verse to the 12th inclusive, which, my dear father, I request you +will read attentively before you proceed any further.'" + +"Hullo!" said Frere, pulling out his pocket-book, "what's that? Read +those numbers again." Mr. Meekin complied, and Frere grinned. "Go on," +he said. "I'll show you something in that letter directly." + +"'Oh, my dear father, avoid, I beg of you, the reading of profane books. +Let your mind dwell upon holy things, and assiduously study to grow +in grace. Psalm lxxiii 2. Yet I have hope even in this, my desolate +condition. Psalm xxxv 18. "For the Lord our God is merciful, and +inclineth His ear unto pity".'" + +"Blasphemous dog!" said Vickers. "You don't believe all that, Meekin, do +you?" The parson reproved him gently. "Wait a moment, sir, until I have +finished." + +"'Party spirit runs very high, even in prison in Van Diemen's Land. I +am sorry to say that a licentious press invariably evinces a very great +degree of contumely, while the authorities are held in respect by all +well-disposed persons, though it is often endeavoured by some to bring +on them the hatred and contempt of prisoners. But I am glad to tell you +that all their efforts are without avail; but, nevertheless, do not read +in any colonial newspaper. There is so much scurrility and vituperation +in their productions.'" + +"That's for your benefit, Frere," said Vickers, with a smile. "You +remember what was said about your presence at the race meetings?" + +"Of course," said Frere. "Artful scoundrel! Go on, Mr. Meekin, pray." + +"'I am aware that you will hear accounts of cruelty and tyranny, said, +by the malicious and the evil-minded haters of the Government and +Government officials, to have been inflicted by gaolers on convicts. To +be candid, this is not the dreadful place it has been represented to be +by vindictive writers. Severe flogging and heavy chaining is sometimes +used, no doubt, but only in rare cases; and nominal punishments are +marked out by law for slight breaches of discipline. So far as I have an +opportunity of judging, the lash is never bestowed unless merited.'" + +"As far as he is concerned, I don't doubt it!" said Frere, cracking a +walnut. + +"'The texts of Scripture quoted by our chaplain have comforted me much, +and I have much to be grateful for; for after the rash attempt I made to +secure my freedom, I have reason to be thankful for the mercy shown to +me. Death--dreadful death of soul and body--would have been my portion; +but, by the mercy of Omnipotence, I have been spared to repentance--John +iii. I have now come to bitterness. The chaplain, a pious gentleman, +says it never really pays to steal. "Lay up for yourselves treasures in +Heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt." Honesty is the +best policy, I am convinced, and I would not for L1,000 repeat my evil +courses--Psalm xxxviii 14. When I think of the happy days I once passed +with good Mr. Blicks, in the old house in Blue Anchor Yard, and reflect +that since that happy time I have recklessly plunged in sin, and stolen +goods and watches, studs, rings, and jewellery, become, indeed, a common +thief, I tremble with remorse, and fly to prayer--Psalm v. Oh what +sinners we are! Let me hope that now I, by God's blessing placed beyond +temptation, will live safely, and that some day I even may, by the will +of the Lord Jesus, find mercy for my sins. Some kind of madness has +method in it, but madness of sin holds us without escape. Such is, dear +father, then, my hope and trust for my remaining life here--Psalm c 74. +I owe my bodily well-being to Captain Maurice Frere, who was good enough +to speak of my conduct in reference to the Osprey, when, with Shiers, +Barker, and others, we captured that vessel. Pray for Captain Frere, my +dear father. He is a good man, and though his public duty is painful and +trying to his feelings, yet, as a public functionary, he could not allow +his private feelings, whether of mercy or revenge, to step between him +and his duty.'" + +"Confound the rascal!" said Frere, growing crimson. + +"'Remember me most affectionately to Sarah and little William, and +all friends who yet cherish the recollection of me, and bid them take +warning by my fate, and keep from evil courses. A good conscience is +better than gold, and no amount can compensate for the misery incident +to a return to crime. Whether I shall ever see you again, dear father, +is more than uncertain; for my doom is life, unless the Government +alter their plans concerning me, and allow me an opportunity to earn my +freedom by hard work. + +"'The blessing of God rest with you, my dear father, and that you may be +washed white in the blood of the Lamb is the prayer of your + +"'Unfortunate Son,' "John Rex" 'P.S.---Though your sins be as scarlet +they shall be whiter than snow.'" + +"Is that all?" said Frere. + +"That is all, sir, and a very touching letter it is." + +"So it is," said Frere. "Now let me have it a moment, Mr. Meekin." + +He took the paper, and referring to the numbers of the texts which he +had written in his pocket-book, began to knit his brows over Mr. John +Rex's impious and hypocritical production. "I thought so," he said, at +length. "Those texts were never written for nothing. It's an old trick, +but cleverly done." + +"What do you mean?" said Meekin. "Mean!" cries Frere, with a smile at +his own acuteness. "This precious composition contains a very gratifying +piece of intelligence for Mr. Blicks, whoever he is. Some receiver, I've +no doubt. Look here, Mr. Meekin. Take the letter and this pencil, and +begin at the first text. The 102nd Psalm, from the 4th verse to the +12th inclusive, doesn't he say? Very good; that's nine verses, isn't +it? Well, now, underscore nine consecutive words from the second word +immediately following the next text quoted, 'I have hope,' etc. Have you +got it?" + +"Yes," says Meekin, astonished, while all heads bent over the table. + +"Well, now, his text is the eighteenth verse of the thirty-fifth Psalm, +isn't it? Count eighteen words on, then underscore five consecutive +ones. You've done that?" + +"A moment--sixteen--seventeen--eighteen, 'authorities'." + +"Count and score in the same way until you come to the word 'Texts' +somewhere. Vickers, I'll trouble you for the claret." + +"Yes," said Meekin, after a pause. "Here it is--'the texts of Scripture +quoted by our chaplain'. But surely Mr. Frere--" + +"Hold on a bit now," cries Frere. "What's the next quotation?--John +iii. That's every third word. Score every third word beginning with 'I' +immediately following the text, now, until you come to a quotation. Got +it? How many words in it?" + +"'Lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust +doth corrupt'," said Meekin, a little scandalized. "Fourteen words." + +"Count fourteen words on, then, and score the fourteenth. I'm up to this +text-quoting business." + +"The word 'L1000'," said Meekin. "Yes." + +"Then there's another text. Thirty-eighth--isn't it?--Psalm and the +fourteenth verse. Do that the same way as the other--count fourteen +words, and then score eight in succession. Where does that bring you?" + +"The fifth Psalm." + +"Every fifth word then. Go on, my dear sir--go on. 'Method' of 'escape', +yes. The hundredth Psalm means a full stop. What verse? Seventy-four. +Count seventy-four words and score." + +There was a pause for a few minutes while Mr. Meekin counted. The letter +had really turned out interesting. + +"Read out your marked words now, Meekin. Let's see if I'm right." Mr. +Meekin read with gradually crimsoning face:-- + +"'I have hope even in this my desolate condition... in prison Van +Diemen's Land... the authorities are held in... hatred and contempt of +prisoners... read in any colonial newspaper... accounts of cruelty and +tyranny... inflicted by gaolers on convicts... severe flogging and +heavy chaining... for slight breaches of discipline...I... come... the +pious... it... pays...L1,000... in the old house in Blue Anchor +Yard... stolen goods and watches studs rings and +jewellery... are... now... placed... safely...I... +will... find... some... method of escape... then... for revenge.'" + +"Well," said Maurice, looking round with a grin, "what do you think of +that?" + +"Most remarkable!" said Mr. Pounce. + +"How did you find it out, Frere?" + +"Oh, it's nothing," says Frere; meaning that it was a great deal. "I've +studied a good many of these things, and this one is clumsy to some I've +seen. But it's pious, isn't it, Meekin?" + +Mr. Meekin arose in wrath. + +"It's very ungracious on your part, Captain Frere. A capital joke, +I have no doubt; but permit me to say I do not like jesting on such +matters. This poor fellow's letter to his aged father to be made the +subject of heartless merriment, I confess I do not understand. It was +confided to me in my sacred character as a Christian pastor." + +"That's just it. The fellows play upon the parsons, don't you know, and +under cover of your 'sacred character' play all kinds of pranks. How the +dog must have chuckled when he gave you that!" + +"Captain Frere," said Mr. Meekin, changing colour like a chameleon +with indignation and rage, "your interpretation is, I am convinced, an +incorrect one. How could the poor man compose such an ingenious piece of +cryptography?" + +"If you mean, fake up that paper," returned Frere, unconsciously +dropping into prison slang, "I'll tell you. He had a Bible, I suppose, +while he was writing?" + +"I certainly permitted him the use of the Sacred Volume, Captain Frere. +I should have judged it inconsistent with the character of my Office to +have refused it to him." + +"Of course. And that's just where you parsons are always putting your +foot into it. If you'd put your 'Office' into your pocket and open your +eyes a bit--" + +"Maurice! My dear Maurice!" + +"I beg your pardon, Meekin," says Maurice, with clumsy apology; "but I +know these fellows. I've lived among 'em, I came out in a ship with +'em, I've talked with 'em, and drank with 'em, and I'm down to all their +moves, don't you see. The Bible is the only book they get hold of, and +texts are the only bits of learning ever taught 'm, and being chockfull +of villainy and plots and conspiracies, what other book should they make +use of to aid their infernal schemes but the one that the chaplain has +made a text book for 'em?" And Maurice rose in disgust, not unmixed with +self-laudation. + +"Dear me, it is really very terrible," says Meekin, who was not +ill-meaning, but only self-complacent--"very terrible indeed." + +"But unhappily true," said Mr. Pounce. "An olive? Thanks." + +"Upon me soul!" burst out honest McNab, "the hail seestem seems to be +maist ill-calculated tae advance the wark o' reeformation." + +"Mr. McNab, I'll trouble you for the port," said equally honest Vickers, +bound hand and foot in the chains of the rules of the services. And +so, what seemed likely to become a dangerous discussion upon convict +discipline, was stifled judiciously at the birth. But Sylvia, prompted, +perhaps, by curiosity, perhaps by a desire to modify the parson's +chagrin, in passing Mr. Meekin, took up the "confession," that lay +unopened beside his wine glass, and bore it off. + +"Come, Mr. Meekin," said Vickers, when the door closed behind the +ladies, "help yourself. I am sorry the letter turned out so strangely, +but you may rely on Frere, I assure you. He knows more about convicts +than any man on the island." + +"I see, Captain Frere, that you have studied the criminal classes." + +"So I have, my dear sir, and know every turn and twist among 'em. I tell +you my maxim. It's some French fellow's, too, I believe, but that don't +matter--divide to conquer. Set all the dogs spying on each other." + +"Oh!" said Meekin. "It's the only way. Why, my dear sir, if the +prisoners were as faithful to each other as we are, we couldn't hold +the island a week. It's just because no man can trust his neighbour that +every mutiny falls to the ground." + +"I suppose it must be so," said poor Meekin. + +"It is so; and, by George, sir, if I had my way, I'd have it so that no +prisoner should say a word to his right hand man, but his left hand man +should tell me of it. I'd promote the men that peached, and make the +beggars their own warders. Ha, ha!" + +"But such a course, Captain Frere, though perhaps useful in a certain +way, would surely produce harm. It would excite the worst passions of +our fallen nature, and lead to endless lying and tyranny. I'm sure it +would." + +"Wait a bit," cries Frere. "Perhaps one of these days I'll get a chance, +and then I'll try it. Convicts! By the Lord Harry, sir, there's only one +way to treat 'em; give 'em tobacco when they behave 'emselves, and flog +'em when they don't." + +"Terrible!" says the clergyman with a shudder. "You speak of them as if +they were wild beasts." + +"So they are," said Maurice Frere, calmly. + + + + +CHAPTER X. WHAT BECAME OF THE MUTINEERS OF THE "OSPREY" + + + +At the bottom of the long luxuriant garden-ground was a rustic seat +abutting upon the low wall that topped the lane. The branches of the +English trees (planted long ago) hung above it, and between their +rustling boughs one could see the reach of the silver river. Sitting +with her face to the bay and her back to the house, Sylvia opened the +manuscript she had carried off from Meekin, and began to read. It was +written in a firm, large hand, and headed-- + +"A NARRATIVE OF THE SUFFERINGS AND ADVENTURES OF CERTAIN OF THE TEN +CONVICTS WHO SEIZED THE BRIG OSPREY, AT MACQUARIE HARBOUR, IN VAN +DIEMEN'S LAND, RELATED BY ONE OF THE SAID CONVICTS WHILE LYING UNDER +SENTENCE FOR THIS OFFENCE IN THE GAOL AT HOBART TOWN." + +Sylvia, having read this grandiloquent sentence, paused for a moment. +The story of the mutiny, which had been the chief event of her +childhood, lay before her, and it seemed to her that, were it related +truly, she would comprehend something strange and terrible, which had +been for many years a shadow upon her memory. Longing, and yet fearing, +to proceed, she held the paper, half unfolded, in her hand, as, in her +childhood, she had held ajar the door of some dark room, into which she +longed and yet feared to enter. Her timidity lasted but an instant. + + + * * * * * + + +"When orders arrived from head-quarters to break up the penal settlement +of Macquarie Harbour, the Commandant (Major Vickers, --th Regiment) and +most of the prisoners embarked on board a colonial vessel, and set +sail for Hobart Town, leaving behind them a brig that had been built at +Macquarie Harbour, to be brought round after them, and placing Captain +Maurice Frere in command. Left aboard her was Mr. Bates, who had acted +as pilot at the settlement, also four soldiers, and ten prisoners, as +a crew to work the vessel. The Commandant's wife and child were also +aboard." + + + * * * * * + + +"How strangely it reads," thought the girl. + + + * * * * * + + +"On the 12th of January, 1834, we set sail, and in the afternoon +anchored safely outside the Gates; but a breeze setting in from +the north-west caused a swell on the Bar, and Mr. Bates ran back to +Wellington Bay. We remained there all next day; and in the afternoon +Captain Frere took two soldiers and a boat, and went a-fishing. There +were then only Mr. Bates and the other two soldiers aboard, and it +was proposed by William Cheshire to seize the vessel. I was at first +unwilling, thinking that loss of life might ensue; but Cheshire and the +others, knowing that I was acquainted with navigation--having in happier +days lived much on the sea--threatened me if I refused to join. A song +was started in the folksle, and one of the soldiers, coming to listen +to it, was seized, and Lyon and Riley then made prisoner of the +sentry. Forced thus into a project with which I had at first but little +sympathy, I felt my heart leap at the prospect of freedom, and would +have sacrificed all to obtain it. Maddened by the desperate hopes that +inspired me, I from that moment assumed the command of my wretched +companions; and honestly think that, however culpable I may have been in +the eyes of the law, I prevented them from the display of a violence to +which their savage life had unhappily made them but too accustomed." + + + * * * * * + + +"Poor fellow," said Sylvia, beguiled by Master Rex's specious +paragraphs, "I think he was not to blame." + + + * * * * * + + +"Mr. Bates was below in the cabin, and on being summoned by Cheshire to +surrender, with great courage attempted a defence. Barker fired at him +through the skylight, but fearful of the lives of the Commandant's +wife and child, I struck up his musket, and the ball passed through the +mouldings of the stern windows. At the same time, the soldiers whom we +had bound in the folksle forced up the hatch and came on deck. Cheshire +shot the first one, and struck the other with his clubbed musket. The +wounded man lost his footing, and the brig lurching with the rising +tide, he fell into the sea. This was--by the blessing of God--the only +life lost in the whole affair. + +"Mr. Bates, seeing now that we had possession of the deck, surrendered, +upon promise that the Commandant's wife and child should be put ashore +in safety. I directed him to take such matters as he needed, and +prepared to lower the jolly-boat. As she swung off the davits, Captain +Frere came alongside in the whale-boat, and gallantly endeavoured to +board us, but the boat drifted past the vessel. I was now determined to +be free--indeed, the minds of all on board were made up to carry through +the business--and hailing the whale-boat, swore to fire into her unless +she surrendered. Captain Frere refused, and was for boarding us again, +but the two soldiers joined with us, and prevented his intention. Having +now got the prisoners into the jolly-boat, we transferred Captain Frere +into her, and being ourselves in the whale-boat, compelled Captain Frere +and Mr. Bates to row ashore. We then took the jolly-boat in tow, and +returned to the brig, a strict watch being kept for fear that they +should rescue the vessel from us. + +"At break of day every man was upon deck, and a consultation took place +concerning the parting of the provisions. Cheshire was for leaving them +to starve, but Lesly, Shiers, and I held out for an equal division. +After a long and violent controversy, Humanity gained the day, and the +provisions were put into the whale-boat, and taken ashore. Upon the +receipt of the provisions, Mr. Bates thus expressed himself: 'Men, I did +not for one moment expect such kind treatment from you, regarding the +provisions you have now brought ashore for us, out of so little which +there was on board. When I consider your present undertaking, without +a competent navigator, and in a leaky vessel, your situation seems most +perilous; therefore I hope God will prove kind to you, and preserve +you from the manifold dangers you may have to encounter on the stormy +ocean.' Mrs. Vickers also was pleased to say that I had behaved kindly +to her, that she wished me well, and that when she returned to +Hobart Town she would speak in my favour. They then cheered us on our +departure, wishing we might be prosperous on account of our humanity in +sharing the provisions with them. + +"Having had breakfast, we commenced throwing overboard the light cargo +which was in the hold, which employed us until dinnertime. After dinner +we ran out a small kedge-anchor with about one hundred fathoms of line, +and having weighed anchor, and the tide being slack, we hauled on the +kedge-line, and succeeded in this manner by kedging along, and we +came to two islands, called the Cap and Bonnet. The whole of us then +commenced heaving the brig short, sending the whale-boat to take her +in tow, after we had tripped the anchor. By this means we got her safe +across the Bar. Scarcely was this done when a light breeze sprang up +from the south-west, and firing a musket to apprize the party we had +left of our safety, we made sail and put out to sea." + +Having read thus far, Sylvia paused in an agony of recollection. She +remembered the firing of the musket, and that her mother had wept over +her. But beyond this all was uncertainty. Memories slipped across her +mind like shadows--she caught at them, and they were gone. Yet the +reading of this strange story made her nerves thrill. Despite the +hypocritical grandiloquence and affected piety of the narrative, it +was easy to see that, save some warping of facts to make for himself +a better case, and to extol the courage of the gaolers who had him at +their mercy, the narrator had not attempted to better his tale by the +invention of perils. The history of the desperate project that had +been planned and carried out five years before was related with grim +simplicity which (because it at once bears the stamp of truth, and +forces the imagination of the reader to supply the omitted details +of horror), is more effective to inspire sympathy than elaborate +description. The very barrenness of the narration was hideously +suggestive, and the girl felt her heart beat quicker as her poetic +intellect rushed to complete the terrible picture sketched by the +convict. She saw it all--the blue sea, the burning sun, the slowly +moving ship, the wretched company on the shore; she heard--Was that a +rustling in the bushes below her? A bird! How nervous she was growing! + +"Being thus fairly rid--as we thought--of our prison life, we cheerfully +held consultation as to our future course. It was my intention to get +among the islands in the South Seas, and scuttling the brig, to pass +ourselves off among the natives as shipwrecked seamen, trusting to God's +mercy that some homeward bound vessel might at length rescue us. With +this view, I made James Lesly first mate, he being an experienced +mariner, and prepared myself, with what few instruments we had, to take +our departure from Birches Rock. Having hauled the whale-boat alongside, +we stove her, together with the jolly-boat, and cast her adrift. +This done, I parted the landsmen with the seamen, and, steering east +south-east, at eight p.m. we set our first watch. In little more than an +hour after this came on a heavy gale from the south-west. I, and others +of the landsmen, were violently sea-sick, and Lesly had some difficulty +in handling the brig, as the boisterous weather called for two men at +the helm. In the morning, getting upon deck with difficulty, I found +that the wind had abated, but upon sounding the well discovered much +water in the hold. Lesly rigged the pumps, but the starboard one only +could be made to work. From that time there were but two businesses +aboard--from the pump to the helm. The gale lasted two days and a night, +the brig running under close-reefed topsails, we being afraid to shorten +sail lest we might be overtaken by some pursuing vessel, so strong was +the terror of our prison upon us. + +"On the 16th, at noon, I again forced myself on deck, and taking a +meridian observation, altered the course of the brig to east and by +south, wishing to run to the southward of New Zealand, out of the usual +track of shipping; and having a notion that, should our provisions hold +out, we might make the South American coast, and fall into Christian +hands. This done, I was compelled to retire below, and for a week lay +in my berth as one at the last gasp. At times I repented my resolution, +Fair urging me to bestir myself, as the men were not satisfied with our +course. On the 21st a mutiny occurred, led by Lyons, who asserted +we were heading into the Pacific, and must infallibly perish. This +disaffected man, though ignorant of navigation, insisted upon steering +to the south, believing that we had run to the northward of the +Friendly Islands, and was for running the ship ashore and beseeching +the protection of the natives. Lesly in vain protested that a southward +course would bring us into icefields. Barker, who had served on board +a whaler, strove to convince the mutineers that the temperature of such +latitudes was too warm for such an error to escape us. After much noise, +Lyons rushed to the helm, and Russen, drawing one of the pistols taken +from Mr. Bates, shot him dead, upon which the others returned to their +duty. This dreadful deed was, I fear, necessary to the safety of the +brig; and had it occurred on board a vessel manned by free-men, would +have been applauded as a stern but needful measure. + +"Forced by these tumults upon deck, I made a short speech to the crew, +and convinced them that I was competent to perform what I had promised +to do, though at the time my heart inwardly failed me, and I longed for +some sign of land. Supported at each arm by Lesly and Barker, I took an +observation, and altered our course to north by east, the brig running +eleven knots an hour under single-reefed topsails, and the pumps hard at +work. So we ran until the 31st of January, when a white squall took us, +and nearly proved fatal to all aboard. + +"Lesly now committed a great error, for, upon the brig righting (she +was thrown upon her beam ends, and her spanker boom carried away), he +commanded to furl the fore-top sail, strike top-gallant yards, furl the +main course, and take a reef in the maintopsail, leaving her to scud +under single-reefed maintopsail and fore-sail. This caused the vessel to +leak to that degree that I despaired of reaching land in her, and prayed +to the Almighty to send us speedy assistance. For nine days and nights +the storm continued, the men being utterly exhausted. One of the two +soldiers whom we had employed to fish the two pieces of the spanker +boom, with some quartering that we had, was washed overboard and +drowned. Our provision was now nearly done, but the gale abating on +the ninth day, we hastened to put provisions on the launch. The sea +was heavy, and we were compelled to put a purchase on the fore and main +yards, with preventers to windward, to ease the launch in going over the +side. We got her fairly afloat at last, the others battening down the +hatches in the brig. Having dressed ourselves in the clothes of Captain +Frere and the pilot, we left the brig at sundown, lying with her channel +plates nearly under water. + +"The wind freshening during the night, our launch, which might, indeed, +be termed a long-boat, having been fitted with mast, bowsprit, and main +boom, began to be very uneasy, shipping two seas one after the other. +The plan we could devise was to sit, four of us about, in the stern +sheets, with our backs to the sea, to prevent the water pooping us. This +itself was enough to exhaust the strongest men. The day, however, made +us some amends for the dreadful night. Land was not more than ten miles +from us; approaching as nearly as we could with safety, we hauled our +wind, and ran along in, trusting to find some harbour. At half-past two +we sighted a bay of very curious appearance, having two large rocks at +the entrance, resembling pyramids. Shiers, Russen, and Fair landed, in +hopes of discovering fresh water, of which we stood much in need. Before +long they returned, stating that they had found an Indian hut, inside +of which were some rude earthenware vessels. Fearful of surprise, we lay +off the shore all that night, and putting into the bay very early in the +morning, killed a seal. This was the first fresh meat I had tasted for +four years. It seemed strange to eat it under such circumstances. We +cooked the flippers, heart, and liver for breakfast, giving some to +a cat which we had taken with us out of the brig, for I would not, +willingly, allow even that animal to perish. After breakfast, we got +under weigh; and we had scarcely been out half an hour when we had a +fresh breeze, which carried us along at the rate of seven knots an hour, +running from bay to bay to find inhabitants. Steering along the shore, +as the sun went down, we suddenly heard the bellowing of a bullock, and +James Barker, whom, from his violent conduct, I thought incapable of +such sentiment, burst into tears. + +"In about two hours we perceived great fires on the beach and let go +anchor in nineteen fathoms of water. We lay awake all that night. In the +morning, we rowed further inshore, and moored the boat to some seaweed. +As soon as the inhabitants caught sight of us, they came down to the +beach. I distributed needles and thread among the Indians, and on my +saying 'Valdivia,' a woman instantly pointed towards a tongue of land to +the southward, holding up three fingers, and crying 'leaghos'! which I +conjectured to be three leagues; the distance we afterwards found it to +be. + +"About three o'clock in the afternoon, we weathered the point pointed +out by the woman, and perceived a flagstaff and a twelve-gun battery +under our lee. I now divided among the men the sum of six pounds ten +shillings that I had found in Captain Frere's cabin, and made another +and more equal distribution of the clothing. There were also two +watches, one of which I gave to Lesly, and kept the other for myself. It +was resolved among us to say that we were part crew of the brig Julia, +bound for China and wrecked in the South Seas. Upon landing at the +battery, we were heartily entertained, though we did not understand one +word of what they said. Next morning it was agreed that Lesly, Barker, +Shiers, and Russen should pay for a canoe to convey them to the town, +which was nine miles up the river; and on the morning of the 6th March +they took their departure. On the 9th March, a boat, commanded by a +lieutenant, came down with orders that the rest of us should be conveyed +to town; and we accordingly launched the boat under convoy of the +soldiers, and reached the town the same evening, in some trepidation. I +feared lest the Spaniards had obtained a clue as to our real character, +and was not deceived--the surviving soldier having betrayed us. This +fellow was thus doubly a traitor--first, in deserting his officer, and +then in betraying his comrades. + +"We were immediately escorted to prison, where we found our four +companions. Some of them were for brazening out the story of shipwreck, +but knowing how confused must necessarily be our accounts, were we +examined separately, I persuaded them that open confession would be our +best chance of safety. On the 14th we were taken before the Intendente +or Governor, who informed us that we were free, on condition that we +chose to live within the limits of the town. At this intelligence I felt +my heart grow light, and only begged in the name of my companions that +we might not be given up to the British Government; 'rather than which,' +said I, 'I would beg to be shot dead in the palace square.' The Governor +regarded us with tears in his eyes, and spoke as follows: 'My poor men, +do not think that I would take that advantage over you. Do not make an +attempt to escape, and I will be your friend, and should a vessel come +tomorrow to demand you, you shall find I will be as good as my word. All +I have to impress upon you is, to beware of intemperance, which is +very prevalent in this country, and when you find it convenient, to +pay Government the money that was allowed you for subsistence while in +prison.' + +"The following day we all procured employment in launching a vessel of +three hundred tons burden, and my men showed themselves so active +that the owner said he would rather have us than thirty of his own +countrymen; which saying pleased the Governor, who was there with almost +the whole of the inhabitants and a whole band of music, this vessel +having been nearly three years on the stocks. After she was launched, +the seamen amongst us helped to fit her out, being paid fifteen dollars +a month, with provisions on board. As for myself, I speedily obtained +employment in the shipbuilder's yard, and subsisted by honest industry, +almost forgetting, in the unwonted pleasures of freedom, the sad reverse +of fortune which had befallen me. To think that I, who had mingled among +gentlemen and scholars, should be thankful to labour in a shipwright's +yard by day, and sleep on a bundle of hides by night! But this is +personal matter, and need not be obtruded. + +"In the same yard with me worked the soldier who had betrayed us, and I +could not but regard it as a special judgment of Heaven when he one +day fell from a great height and was taken up for dead, dying in much +torment in a few hours. The days thus passed on in comparative happiness +until the 20th of May, 1836, when the old Governor took his departure, +regretted by all the inhabitants of Valdivia, and the Achilles, a +one-and-twenty-gun brig of war, arrived with the new Governor. One of +the first acts of this gentleman was to sell our boat, which was moored +at the back of Government-house. This proceeding looked to my mind +indicative of ill-will; and, fearful lest the Governor should deliver us +again into bondage, I resolved to make my escape from the place. Having +communicated my plans to Barker, Lesly, Riley, Shiers, and Russen, I +offered the Governor to get built for him a handsome whale-boat, making +the iron work myself. The Governor consented, and in a little more +than a fortnight we had completed a four-oared whale-boat, capable of +weathering either sea or storm. We fitted her with sails and provisions +in the Governor's name, and on the 4th of July, being a Saturday night, +we took our departure from Valdivia, dropping down the river shortly +after sunset. Whether the Governor, disgusted at the trick we had +played him, decided not to pursue us, or whether--as I rather think--our +absence was not discovered until the Monday morning, when we were beyond +reach of capture, I know not, but we got out to sea without hazard, +and, taking accurate bearings, ran for the Friendly Islands, as had been +agreed upon amongst us. + +"But it now seemed that the good fortune which had hitherto attended +us had deserted us, for after crawling for four days in sultry +weather, there fell a dead calm, and we lay like a log upon the sea for +forty-eight hours. For three days we remained in the midst of the ocean, +exposed to the burning rays of the sun, in a boat without water or +provisions. On the fourth day, just as we had resolved to draw lots +to determine who should die for the sustenance of the others, we were +picked up by an opium clipper returning to Canton. The captain, +an American, was most kind to us, and on our arrival at Canton, a +subscription was got up for us by the British merchants of that city, +and a free passage to England obtained for us. Russen, however, getting +in drink, made statements which brought suspicion upon us. I had imposed +upon the Consul with a fictitious story of a wreck, but had stated that +my name was Wilson, forgetting that the sextant which had been +preserved in the boat had Captain Bates's name engraved upon it. These +circumstances together caused sufficient doubts in the Consul's mind to +cause him to give directions that, on our arrival in London, we were +to be brought before the Thames Police Court. There being no evidence +against us, we should have escaped, had not a Dr. Pine, who had been +surgeon on board the Malabar transport, being in the Court, recognized +me and swore to my identity. We were remanded, and, to complete the +chain of evidence, Mr. Capon, the Hobart Town gaoler, was, strangely +enough, in London at the time, and identified us all. Our story was +then made public, and Barker and Lesly, turning Queen's evidence against +Russen, he was convicted of the murder of Lyons, and executed. We +were then placed on board the Leviathan hulk, and remained there until +shipped in the Lady Jane, which was chartered, with convicts, for Van +Diemen's Land, in order to be tried in the colony, where the offence was +committed, for piratically seizing the brig Osprey, and arrived here on +the 15th December, 1838." + + + * * * * * + + +Coming, breathless, to the conclusion of this wonderful relation, Sylvia +suffered her hand to fall into her lap, and sat meditative. The history +of this desperate struggle for liberty was to her full of vague horror. +She had never before realized among what manner of men she had lived. +The sullen creatures who worked in the chain-gangs, or pulled in the +boats--their faces brutalized into a uniform blankness--must be very +different men from John Rex and his companions. Her imagination pictured +the voyage in the leaky brig, the South American slavery, the midnight +escape, the desperate rowing, the long, slow agony of starvation, +and the heart-sickness that must have followed upon recapture and +imprisonment. Surely the punishment of "penal servitude" must have been +made very terrible for men to dare such hideous perils to escape +from it. Surely John Rex, the convict, who, alone, and prostrated +by sickness, quelled a mutiny and navigated a vessel through a +storm-ravaged ocean, must possess qualities which could be put to better +use than stone-quarrying. Was the opinion of Maurice Frere the correct +one after all, and were these convict monsters gifted with unnatural +powers of endurance, only to be subdued and tamed by unnatural and +inhuman punishments of lash and chain? Her fancies growing amid the fast +gathering gloom, she shuddered as she guessed to what extremities of +evil might such men proceed did an opportunity ever come to them to +retaliate upon their gaolers. Perhaps beneath each mask of servility and +sullen fear that was the ordinary prison face, lay hid a courage and a +despair as mighty as that which sustained those ten poor wanderers over +the Pacific Ocean. Maurice had told her that these people had their +secret signs, their secret language. She had just seen a specimen of +the skill with which this very Rex--still bent upon escape--could send +a hidden message to his friends beneath the eyes of his gaolers. What +if the whole island was but one smouldering volcano of revolt and +murder--the whole convict population but one incarnated conspiracy, +bound together by crime and suffering! Terrible to think of--yet not +impossible. + +Oh, how strangely must the world have been civilized, that this most +lovely corner of it must needs be set apart as a place of banishment for +the monsters that civilization had brought forth and bred! She cast her +eyes around, and all beauty seemed blotted out from the scene before +her. The graceful foliage melting into indistinctness in the gathering +twilight, appeared to her horrible and treacherous. The river seemed to +flow sluggishly, as though thickened with blood and tears. The shadow of +the trees seemed to hold lurking shapes of cruelty and danger. Even the +whispering breeze bore with it sighs, and threats, and mutterings of +revenge. Oppressed by a terror of loneliness, she hastily caught up the +manuscript, and turned to seek the house, when, as if summoned from the +earth by the power of her own fears, a ragged figure barred her passage. + +To the excited girl this apparition seemed the embodiment of the unknown +evil she had dreaded. She recognized the yellow clothing, and marked the +eager hands outstretched to seize her. Instantly upon her flashed the +story that three days since had set the prison-town agog. The desperado +of Port Arthur, the escaped mutineer and murderer, was before her, with +unchained arms, free to wreak his will of her. + +"Sylvia! It is you! Oh, at last! I have escaped, and come to ask--What? +Do you not know me?" + +Pressing both hands to her bosom, she stepped back a pace, speechless +with terror. + +"I am Rufus Dawes," he said, looking in her face for the grateful smile +of recognition that did not come--"Rufus Dawes." + +The party at the house had finished their wine, and, sitting on the +broad verandah, were listening to some gentle dullness of the clergyman, +when there broke upon their ears a cry. + +"What's that?" said Vickers. + +Frere sprang up, and looked down the garden. He saw two figures that +seemed to struggle together. One glance was enough, and, with a shout, +he leapt the flower-beds, and made straight at the escaped prisoner. + +Rufus Dawes saw him coming, but, secure in the protection of the girl +who owed to him so much, he advanced a step nearer, and loosing his +respectful clasp of her hand, caught her dress. + +"Oh, help, Maurice, help!" cried Sylvia again. + +Into the face of Rufus Dawes came an expression of horror-stricken +bewilderment. For three days the unhappy man had contrived to keep life +and freedom, in order to get speech with the one being who, he thought, +cherished for him some affection. Having made an unparalleled escape +from the midst of his warders, he had crept to the place where lived the +idol of his dreams, braving recapture, that he might hear from her two +words of justice and gratitude. Not only did she refuse to listen to +him, and shrink from him as from one accursed, but, at the sound of +his name, she summoned his deadliest foe to capture him. Such monstrous +ingratitude was almost beyond belief. She, too,--the child he had nursed +and fed, the child for whom he had given up his hard-earned chance of +freedom and fortune, the child of whom he had dreamed, the child whose +image he had worshipped--she, too, against him! Then there was no +justice, no Heaven, no God! He loosed his hold of her dress, and, +regardless of the approaching footsteps, stood speechless, shaking from +head to foot. In another instant Frere and McNab flung themselves upon +him, and he was borne to the ground. Though weakened by starvation, he +shook them off with scarce an effort, and, despite the servants who came +hurrying from the alarmed house, might even then have turned and +made good his escape. But he seemed unable to fly. His chest heaved +convulsively, great drops of sweat beaded his white face, and from his +eyes tears seemed about to break. For an instant his features worked +convulsively, as if he would fain invoke upon the girl, weeping on her +father's shoulder, some hideous curse. But no words came--only thrusting +his hand into his breast, with a supreme gesture of horror and aversion, +he flung something from him. Then a profound sigh escaped him, and he +held out his hands to be bound. + +There was something so pitiable about this silent grief that, as they +led him away, the little group instinctively averted their faces, lest +they should seem to triumph over him. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. A RELIC OF MACQUARIE HARBOUR. + + + +"You must try and save him from further punishment," said Sylvia next +day to Frere. "I did not mean to betray the poor creature, but I had +made myself nervous by reading that convict's story." + +"You shouldn't read such rubbish," said Frere. "What's the use? I don't +suppose a word of it's true." + +"It must be true. I am sure it's true. Oh, Maurice, these are dreadful +men. I thought I knew all about convicts, but I had no idea that such +men as these were among them." + +"Thank God, you know very little," said Maurice. "The servants you have +here are very different sort of fellows from Rex and Company." + +"Oh, Maurice, I am so tired of this place. It's wrong, perhaps, with +poor papa and all, but I do wish I was somewhere out of the sight of +chains. I don't know what has made me feel as I do." + +"Come to Sydney," said Frere. "There are not so many convicts there. It +was arranged that we should go to Sydney, you know." + +"For our honeymoon? Yes," said Sylvia, simply. "I know it was. But we +are not married yet." + +"That's easily done," said Maurice. + +"Oh, nonsense, sir! But I want to speak to you about this poor Dawes. +I don't think he meant any harm. It seems to me now that he was rather +going to ask for food or something, only I was so nervous. They won't +hang him, Maurice, will they?" + +"No," said Maurice. "I spoke to your father this morning. If the fellow +is tried for his life, you may have to give evidence, and so we came to +the conclusion that Port Arthur again, and heavy irons, will meet the +case. We gave him another life sentence this morning. That will make the +third he has had." + +"What did he say?" + +"Nothing. I sent him down aboard the schooner at once. He ought to be +out of the river by this time." "Maurice, I have a strange feeling about +that man." + +"Eh?" said Maurice. + +"I seem to fear him, as if I knew some story about him, and yet didn't +know it." + +"That's not very clear," said Maurice, forcing a laugh, "but don't +let's talk about him any more. We'll soon be far from Port Arthur and +everybody in it." + +"Maurice," said she, caressingly, "I love you, dear. You'll always +protect me against these men, won't you?" + +Maurice kissed her. "You have not got over your fright, Sylvia," he +said. "I see I shall have to take a great deal of care of my wife." + +"Of course," replied Sylvia. + +And then the pair began to make love, or, rather, Maurice made it, and +Sylvia suffered him. + +Suddenly her eye caught something. "What's that--there, on the ground by +the fountain?" They were near the spot where Dawes had been seized the +night before. A little stream ran through the garden, and a Triton--of +convict manufacture--blew his horn in the middle of a--convict +built--rockery. Under the lip of the fountain lay a small packet. Frere +picked it up. It was made of soiled yellow cloth, and stitched evidently +by a man's fingers. "It looks like a needle-case," said he. + +"Let me see. What a strange-looking thing! Yellow cloth, too. Why, +it must belong to a prisoner. Oh, Maurice, the man who was here last +night!" + +"Ay," says Maurice, turning over the packet, "it might have been his, +sure enough." + +"He seemed to fling something from him, I thought. Perhaps this is +it!" said she, peering over his arm, in delicate curiosity. Frere, with +something of a scowl on his brow, tore off the outer covering of the +mysterious packet, and displayed a second envelope, of grey cloth--the +"good-conduct" uniform. Beneath this was a piece, some three inches +square, of stained and discoloured merino, that had once been blue. + +"Hullo!" says Frere. "Why, what's this?" + +"It is a piece of a dress," says Sylvia. + +It was Rufus Dawes's talisman--a portion of the frock she had worn at +Macquarie Harbour, and which the unhappy convict had cherished as a +sacred relic for five weary years. + +Frere flung it into the water. The running stream whirled it away. "Why +did you do that?" cried the girl, with a sudden pang of remorse for +which she could not account. The shred of cloth, caught by a weed, +lingered for an instant on the surface of the water. Almost at the same +moment, the pair, raising their eyes, saw the schooner which bore Rufus +Dawes back to bondage glide past the opening of the trees and disappear. +When they looked again for the strange relic of the desperado of Port +Arthur, it also had vanished. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. AT PORT ARTHUR. + + + +The usual clanking and hammering was prevalent upon the stone jetty of +Port Arthur when the schooner bearing the returned convict, Rufus Dawes, +ran alongside. On the heights above the esplanade rose the grim front +of the soldiers' barracks; beneath the soldiers' barracks was the long +range of prison buildings with their workshops and tan-pits; to the left +lay the Commandant's house, authoritative by reason of its embrasured +terrace and guardian sentry; while the jetty, that faced the purple +length of the "Island of the Dead," swarmed with parti-coloured figures, +clanking about their enforced business, under the muskets of their +gaolers. + +Rufus Dawes had seen this prospect before, had learnt by heart each +beauty of rising sun, sparkling water, and wooded hill. From the +hideously clean jetty at his feet, to the distant signal station, that, +embowered in bloom, reared its slender arms upwards into the cloudless +sky, he knew it all. There was no charm for him in the exquisite blue +of the sea, the soft shadows of the hills, or the soothing ripple of the +waves that crept voluptuously to the white breast of the shining shore. +He sat with his head bowed down, and his hands clasped about his knees, +disdaining to look until they roused him. + +"Hallo, Dawes!" says Warder Troke, halting his train of ironed +yellow-jackets. "So you've come back again! Glad to see yer, Dawes! It +seems an age since we had the pleasure of your company, Dawes!" At this +pleasantry the train laughed, so that their irons clanked more than +ever. They found it often inconvenient not to laugh at Mr. Troke's +humour. "Step down here, Dawes, and let me introduce you to your h'old +friends. They'll be glad to see yer, won't yer, boys? Why, bless +me, Dawes, we thort we'd lost yer! We thort yer'd given us the slip +altogether, Dawes. They didn't take care of yer in Hobart Town, I +expect, eh, boys? We'll look after yer here, Dawes, though. You won't +bolt any more." + +"Take care, Mr. Troke," said a warning voice, "you're at it again! Let +the man alone!" + +By virtue of an order transmitted from Hobart Town, they had begun to +attach the dangerous prisoner to the last man of the gang, riveting the +leg-irons of the pair by means of an extra link, which could be removed +when necessary, but Dawes had given no sign of consciousness. At the +sound of the friendly tones, however, he looked up, and saw a tall, +gaunt man, dressed in a shabby pepper-and-salt raiment, and wearing a +black handkerchief knotted round his throat. He was a stranger to him. + +"I beg yer pardon, Mr. North," said Troke, sinking at once the bully in +the sneak. "I didn't see yer reverence." + +"A parson!" thought Dawes with disappointment, and dropped his eyes. + +"I know that," returned Mr. North, coolly. "If you had, you would have +been all butter and honey. Don't trouble yourself to tell a lie; it's +quite unnecessary." + +Dawes looked up again. This was a strange parson. + +"What's your name, my man?" said Mr. North, suddenly, catching his eye. + +Rufus Dawes had intended to scowl, but the tone, sharply authoritative, +roused his automatic convict second nature, and he answered, almost +despite himself, "Rufus Dawes." + +"Oh," said Mr. North, eyeing him with a curious air of expectation that +had something pitying in it. "This is the man, is it? I thought he was +to go to the Coal Mines." + +"So he is," said Troke, "but we hain't a goin' to send there for a +fortnit, and in the meantime I'm to work him on the chain." + +"Oh!" said Mr. North again. "Lend me your knife, Troke." + +And then, before them all, this curious parson took a piece of tobacco +out of his ragged pocket, and cut off a "chaw" with Mr. Troke's knife. +Rufus Dawes felt what he had not felt for three days--an interest in +something. He stared at the parson in unaffected astonishment. Mr. North +perhaps mistook the meaning of his fixed stare, for he held out the +remnant of tobacco to him. + +The chain line vibrated at this, and bent forward to enjoy the vicarious +delight of seeing another man chew tobacco. Troke grinned with a silent +mirth that betokened retribution for the favoured convict. "Here," said +Mr. North, holding out the dainty morsel upon which so many eyes were +fixed. Rufus Dawes took the tobacco; looked at it hungrily for an +instant, and then--to the astonishment of everybody--flung it away with +a curse. + +"I don't want your tobacco," he said; "keep it." + +From convict mouths went out a respectful roar of amazement, and Mr. +Troke's eyes snapped with pride of outraged janitorship. "You ungrateful +dog!" he cried, raising his stick. + +Mr. North put up a hand. "That will do, Troke," he said; "I know your +respect for the cloth. Move the men on again." + +"Get on!" said Troke, rumbling oaths beneath his breath, and Dawes felt +his newly-riveted chain tug. It was some time since he had been in a +chain-gang, and the sudden jerk nearly overbalanced him. He caught at +his neighbour, and looking up, met a pair of black eyes which gleamed +recognition. His neighbour was John Rex. Mr. North, watching them, was +struck by the resemblance the two men bore to each other. Their height, +eyes, hair, and complexion were similar. Despite the difference in +name they might be related. "They might be brothers," thought he. "Poor +devils! I never knew a prisoner refuse tobacco before." And he looked on +the ground for the despised portion. But in vain. John Rex, oppressed by +no foolish sentiment, had picked it up and put it in his mouth. + +So Rufus Dawes was relegated to his old life again, and came back to +his prison with the hatred of his kind, that his prison had bred in him, +increased a hundred-fold. It seemed to him that the sudden awakening +had dazed him, that the flood of light so suddenly let in upon +his slumbering soul had blinded his eyes, used so long to the +sweetly-cheating twilight. He was at first unable to apprehend the +details of his misery. He knew only that his dream-child was alive and +shuddered at him, that the only thing he loved and trusted had betrayed +him, that all hope of justice and mercy had gone from him for ever, that +the beauty had gone from earth, the brightness from Heaven, and that he +was doomed still to live. He went about his work, unheedful of the jests +of Troke, ungalled by his irons, unmindful of the groans and laughter +about him. His magnificent muscles saved him from the lash; for the +amiable Troke tried to break him down in vain. He did not complain, he +did not laugh, he did not weep. His "mate" Rex tried to converse with +him, but did not succeed. In the midst of one of Rex's excellent +tales of London dissipation, Rufus Dawes would sigh wearily. "There's +something on that fellow's mind," thought Rex, prone to watch the signs +by which the soul is read. "He has some secret which weighs upon him." + +It was in vain that Rex attempted to discover what this secret might be. +To all questions concerning his past life--however artfully put--Rufus +Dawes was dumb. In vain Rex practised all his arts, called up all his +graces of manner and speech--and these were not few--to fascinate the +silent man and win his confidence. Rufus Dawes met his advances with +a cynical carelessness that revealed nothing; and, when not addressed, +held a gloomy silence. Galled by this indifference, John Rex had +attempted to practise those ingenious arts of torment by which Gabbett, +Vetch, or other leading spirits of the gang asserted their superiority +over their quieter comrades. But he soon ceased. "I have been longer in +this hell than you," said Rufus Dawes, "and I know more of the devil's +tricks than you can show me. You had best be quiet." Rex neglected the +warning, and Rufus Dawes took him by the throat one day, and would have +strangled him, but that Troke beat off the angered man with a favourite +bludgeon. Rex had a wholesome respect for personal prowess, and had +the grace to admit the provocation to Troke. Even this instance of +self-denial did not move the stubborn Dawes. He only laughed. Then +Rex came to a conclusion. His mate was plotting an escape. He himself +cherished a notion of the kind, as did Gabbett and Vetch, but by common +distrust no one ever gave utterance to thoughts of this nature. It would +be too dangerous. "He would be a good comrade for a rush," thought Rex, +and resolved more firmly than ever to ally himself to this dangerous and +silent companion. + +One question Dawes had asked which Rex had been able to answer: "Who is +that North?" + +"A chaplain. He is only here for a week or so. There is a new one +coming. North goes to Sydney. He is not in favour with the Bishop." + +"How do you know?" + +"By deduction," says Rex, with a smile peculiar to him. "He wears +coloured clothes, and smokes, and doesn't patter Scripture. The +Bishop dresses in black, detests tobacco, and quotes the Bible like a +concordance. North is sent here for a month, as a warming-pan for that +ass Meekin. Ergo, the Bishop don't care about North." + +Jemmy Vetch, who was next to Rex, let the full weight of his portion +of tree-trunk rest upon Gabbett, in order to express his unrestrained +admiration of Mr. Rex's sarcasm. "Ain't the Dandy a one'er?" said he. + +"Are you thinking of coming the pious?" asked Rex. "It's no good with +North. Wait until the highly-intelligent Meekin comes. You can twist +that worthy successor of the Apostles round your little finger!" + +"Silence there!" cries the overseer. "Do you want me to report yer?" + +Amid such diversions the days rolled on, and Rufus Dawes almost longed +for the Coal Mines. To be sent from the settlement to the Coal Mines, +and from the Coal Mines to the settlement, was to these unhappy men a +"trip". At Port Arthur one went to an out-station, as more fortunate +people go to Queenscliff or the Ocean Beach now-a-days for "change of +air". + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. THE COMMANDANT'S BUTLER. + + + +Rufus Dawes had been a fortnight at the settlement when a new-comer +appeared on the chain-gang. This was a young man of about twenty years +of age, thin, fair, and delicate. His name was Kirkland, and he belonged +to what were known as the "educated" prisoners. He had been a clerk in +a banking house, and was transported for embezzlement, though, by some, +grave doubts as to his guilt were entertained. The Commandant, Captain +Burgess, had employed him as butler in his own house, and his fate was +considered a "lucky" one. So, doubtless, it was, and might have been, +had not an untoward accident occurred. Captain Burgess, who was a +bachelor of the "old school", confessed to an amiable weakness for +blasphemy, and was given to condemning the convicts' eyes and limbs with +indiscriminate violence. Kirkland belonged to a Methodist family and +owned a piety utterly out of place in that region. The language of +Burgess made him shudder, and one day he so far forgot himself and his +place as to raise his hands to his ears. "My blank!" cried Burgess. "You +blank blank, is that your blank game? I'll blank soon cure you of that!" +and forthwith ordered him to the chain-gang for "insubordination". + +He was received with suspicion by the gang, who did not like +white-handed prisoners. Troke, by way of experiment in human nature, +perhaps, placed him next to Gabbett. The day was got through in the +usual way, and Kirkland felt his heart revive. + +The toil was severe, and the companionship uncouth, but despite his +blistered hands and aching back, he had not experienced anything so very +terrible after all. When the muster bell rang, and the gang broke up, +Rufus Dawes, on his silent way to his separate cell, observed a notable +change of custom in the disposition of the new convict. Instead of +placing him in a cell by himself, Troke was turning him into the yard +with the others. + +"I'm not to go in there?" says the ex-bank clerk, drawing back in dismay +from the cloud of foul faces which lowered upon him. + +"By the Lord, but you are, then!" says Troke. "The Governor says a night +in there'll take the starch out of ye. Come, in yer go." + +"But, Mr. Troke--" + +"Stow your gaff," says Troke, with another oath, and impatiently +striking the lad with his thong--"I can't argue here all night. Get in." +So Kirkland, aged twenty-two, and the son of Methodist parents, went in. + +Rufus Dawes, among whose sinister memories this yard was numbered, +sighed. So fierce was the glamour of the place, however, that when +locked into his cell, he felt ashamed for that sigh, and strove to erase +the memory of it. "What is he more than anybody else?" said the wretched +man to himself, as he hugged his misery close. + +About dawn the next morning, Mr. North--who, amongst other vagaries not +approved of by his bishop, had a habit of prowling about the prison +at unofficial hours--was attracted by a dispute at the door of the +dormitory. + +"What's the matter here?" he asked. + +"A prisoner refractory, your reverence," said the watchman. "Wants to +come out." + +"Mr. North! Mr. North!" cried a voice, "for the love of God, let me out +of this place!" + +Kirkland, ghastly pale, bleeding, with his woollen shirt torn, and his +blue eyes wide open with terror, was clinging to the bars. + +"Oh, Mr. North! Mr. North! Oh, Mr. North! Oh, for God's sake, Mr. +North!" + +"What, Kirkland!" cried North, who was ignorant of the vengeance of the +Commandant. "What do you do here?" + +But Kirkland could do nothing but cry,--"Oh, Mr. North! For God's sake, +Mr. North!" and beat on the bars with white and sweating hands. + +"Let him out, watchman!" said North. + +"Can't sir, without an order from the Commandant." + +"I order you, sir!" North cried, indignant. + +"Very sorry, your reverence; but your reverence knows that I daren't do +such a thing." "Mr. North!" screamed Kirkland. "Would you see me +perish, body and soul, in this place? Mr. North! Oh, you ministers of +Christ--wolves in sheep's clothing--you shall be judged for this!" + +"Let him out!" cried North again, stamping his foot. + +"It's no good," returned the gaoler. "I can't. If he was dying, I +can't." + +North rushed away to the Commandant, and the instant his back was +turned, Hailes, the watchman, flung open the door, and darted into the +dormitory. + +"Take that!" he cried, dealing Kirkland a blow on the head with his +keys, that stretched him senseless. "There's more trouble with you +bloody aristocrats than enough. Lie quiet!" + +The Commandant, roused from slumber, told Mr. North that Kirkland might +stop where he was, and that he'd thank the chaplain not to wake him +up in the middle of the night because a blank prisoner set up a blank +howling. + +"But, my good sir," protested North, restraining his impulse to overstep +the bounds of modesty in his language to his superior officer, "you know +the character of the men in that ward. You can guess what that unhappy +boy has suffered." + +"Impertinent young beggar!" said Burgess. "Do him good, curse him! Mr. +North, I'm sorry you should have had the trouble to come here, but will +you let me go to sleep?" + +North returned to the prison disconsolately, found the dutiful Hailes at +his post, and all quiet. + +"What's become of Kirkland?" he asked. + +"Fretted hisself to sleep, yer reverence," said Hailes, in accents of +parental concern. "Poor young chap! It's hard for such young 'uns." + +In the morning, Rufus Dawes, coming to his place on the chain-gang, was +struck by the altered appearance of Kirkland. His face was of a greenish +tint, and wore an expression of bewildered horror. + +"Cheer up, man!" said Dawes, touched with momentary pity. "It's no good +being in the mopes, you know." + +"What do they do if you try to bolt?" whispered Kirkland. + +"Kill you," returned Dawes, in a tone of surprise at so preposterous a +question. + +"Thank God!" said Kirkland. + +"Now then, Miss Nancy," said one of the men, "what's the matter with +you!" Kirkland shuddered, and his pale face grew crimson. + +"Oh," he said, "that such a wretch as I should live!" + +"Silence!" cried Troke. "No. 44, if you can't hold your tongue I'll give +you something to talk about. March!" + +The work of the gang that afternoon was the carrying of some heavy logs +to the water-side, and Rufus Dawes observed that Kirkland was exhausted +long before the task was accomplished. "They'll kill you, you little +beggar!" said he, not unkindly. "What have you been doing to get into +this scrape?" + +"Have you ever been in that--that place I was in last night?" asked +Kirkland. + +Rufus Dawes nodded. + +"Does the Commandant know what goes on there?" + +"I suppose so. What does he care?" + +"Care! Man, do you believe in a God?" "No," said Dawes, "not here. Hold +up, my lad. If you fall, we must fall over you, and then you're done +for." + +He had hardly uttered the words, when the boy flung himself beneath the +log. In another instant the train would have been scrambling over his +crushed body, had not Gabbett stretched out an iron hand, and plucked +the would-be suicide from death. + +"Hold on to me, Miss Nancy," said the giant, "I'm big enough to carry +double." + +Something in the tone or manner of the speaker affected Kirkland to +disgust, for, spurning the offered hand, he uttered a cry and then, +holding up his irons with his hands, he started to run for the water. + +"Halt! you young fool," roared Troke, raising his carbine. But Kirkland +kept steadily on for the river. Just as he reached it, however, the +figure of Mr. North rose from behind a pile of stones. Kirkland jumped +for the jetty, missed his footing, and fell into the arms of the +chaplain. + +"You young vermin--you shall pay for this," cries Troke. "You'll see if +you won't remember this day." + +"Oh, Mr. North," says Kirkland, "why did you stop me? I'd better be dead +than stay another night in that place." + +"You'll get it, my lad," said Gabbett, when the runaway was brought +back. "Your blessed hide'll feel for this, see if it don't." + +Kirkland only breathed harder, and looked round for Mr. North, but Mr. +North had gone. The new chaplain was to arrive that afternoon, and it +was incumbent on him to be at the reception. Troke reported the ex-bank +clerk that night to Burgess, and Burgess, who was about to go to dinner +with the new chaplain, disposed of his case out of hand. "Tried to bolt, +eh! Must stop that. Fifty lashes, Troke. Tell Macklewain to be ready--or +stay, I'll tell him myself--I'll break the young devil's spirit, blank +him." + +"Yes, sir," said Troke. "Good evening, sir." + +"Troke--pick out some likely man, will you? That last fellow you had +ought to have been tied up himself. His flogging wouldn't have killed a +flea." + +"You can't get 'em to warm one another, your honour," says Troke. + +"They won't do it." + +"Oh, yes, they will, though," says Burgess, "or I'll know the reason +why. I won't have my men knocked up with flogging these rascals. If the +scourger won't do his duty, tie him up, and give him five-and-twenty for +himself. I'll be down in the morning myself if I can." + +"Very good, your honour," says Troke. + +Kirkland was put into a separate cell that night; and Troke, by way of +assuring him a good night's rest, told him that he was to have "fifty" +in the morning. "And Dawes'll lay it on," he added. "He's one of the +smartest men I've got, and he won't spare yer, yer may take your oath of +that." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. Mr. NORTH'S DISPOSITION. + + + +"You will find this a terrible place, Mr. Meekin," said North to his +supplanter, as they walked across to the Commandant's to dinner. "It has +made me heartsick." + +"I thought it was a little paradise," said Meekin. "Captain Frere says +that the scenery is delightful." "So it is," returned North, looking +askance, "but the prisoners are not delightful." + +"Poor, abandoned wretches," says Meekin, "I suppose not. How sweet the +moonlight sleeps upon that bank! Eh!" + +"Abandoned, indeed, by God and man--almost." + +"Mr. North, Providence never abandons the most unworthy of His servants. +Never have I seen the righteous forsaken, nor His seed begging their +bread. In the valley of the shadow of death He is with us. His staff, +you know, Mr. North. Really, the Commandant's house is charmingly +situated!" + +Mr. North sighed again. "You have not been long in the colony, Mr. +Meekin. I doubt--forgive me for expressing myself so freely--if you +quite know of our convict system." + +"An admirable one! A most admirable one!" said Meekin. "There were a +few matters I noticed in Hobart Town that did not quite please me--the +frequent use of profane language for instance--but on the whole I was +delighted with the scheme. It is so complete." + +North pursed up his lips. "Yes, it is very complete," he said; "almost +too complete. But I am always in a minority when I discuss the question, +so we will drop it, if you please." + +"If you please," said Meekin gravely. He had heard from the Bishop that +Mr. North was an ill-conditioned sort of person, who smoked clay pipes, +had been detected in drinking beer out of a pewter pot, and had been +heard to state that white neck-cloths were of no consequence. The +dinner went off successfully. Burgess--desirous, perhaps, of favourably +impressing the chaplain whom the Bishop delighted to honour--shut off +his blasphemy for a while, and was urbane enough. "You'll find us rough, +Mr. Meekin," he said, "but you'll find us 'all there' when we're wanted. +This is a little kingdom in itself." + +"Like Beranger's?" asked Meekin, with a smile. Captain Burgess had never +heard of Beranger, but he smiled as if he had learnt his words by heart. + +"Or like Sancho Panza's island," said North. "You remember how justice +was administered there?" + +"Not at this moment, sir," said Burgess, with dignity. He had been often +oppressed by the notion that the Reverend Mr. North "chaffed" him. "Pray +help yourself to wine." + +"Thank you, none," said North, filling a tumbler with water. "I have a +headache." His manner of speech and action was so awkward that a silence +fell upon the party, caused by each one wondering why Mr. North should +grow confused, and drum his fingers on the table, and stare everywhere +but at the decanter. Meekin--ever softly at his ease--was the first to +speak. "Have you many visitors, Captain Burgess?" + +"Very few. Sometimes a party comes over with a recommendation from the +Governor, and I show them over the place; but, as a rule, we see no one +but ourselves." + +"I asked," said Meekin, "because some friends of mine were thinking of +coming." + +"And who may they be?" + +"Do you know Captain Frere?" + +"Frere! I should say so!" returned Burgess, with a laugh, modelled upon +Maurice Frere's own. "I was quartered with him at Sarah Island. So he's +a friend of yours, eh?" + +"I had the pleasure of meeting him in society. He is just married, you +know." + +"Is he?" said Burgess. "The devil he is! I heard something about it, +too." + +"Miss Vickers, a charming young person. They are going to Sydney, where +Captain Frere has some interest, and Frere thinks of taking Port Arthur +on his way down." + +"A strange fancy for a honeymoon trip," said North. + +"Captain Frere takes a deep interest in all relating to convict +discipline," went on Meekin, unheeding the interruption, "and is anxious +that Mrs. Frere should see this place." + +"Yes, one oughtn't to leave the colony without seeing it," says Burgess; +"it's worth seeing." + +"So Captain Frere thinks. A romantic story, Captain Burgess. He saved +her life, you know." + +"Ah! that was a queer thing, that mutiny," said Burgess. "We've got the +fellows here, you know." + +"I saw them tried at Hobart Town," said Meekin. "In fact, the +ringleader, John Rex, gave me his confession, and I sent it to the +Bishop." + +"A great rascal," put in North. "A dangerous, scheming, cold--blooded +villain." + +"Well now!" said Meekin, with asperity, "I don't agree with you. +Everybody seems to be against that poor fellow--Captain Frere tried to +make me think that his letters contained a hidden meaning, but I +don't believe they did. He seems to me to be truly penitent for his +offences--a misguided, but not a hypocritical man, if my knowledge of +human nature goes for anything." + +"I hope he is," said North. "I wouldn't trust him." + +"Oh! there's no fear of him," said Burgess cheerily; "if he grows +uproarious, we'll soon give him a touch of the cat." + +"I suppose severity is necessary," returned Meekin; "though to my ears a +flogging sounds a little distasteful. It is a brutal punishment." + +"It's a punishment for brutes," said Burgess, and laughed, pleased with +the nearest approach to an epigram he ever made in his life. + +Here attention was called by the strange behaviour of Mr. North. He had +risen, and, without apology, flung wide the window, as though he gasped +for air. "Hullo, North! what's the matter?" + +"Nothing," said North, recovering himself with an effort. "A spasm. I +have these attacks at times." "Have some brandy," said Burgess. + +"No, no, it will pass. No, I say. Well, if you insist." And seizing the +tumbler offered to him, he half-filled it with raw spirit, and swallowed +the fiery draught at a gulp. + +The Reverend Meekin eyed his clerical brother with horror. The Reverend +Meekin was not accustomed to clergymen who wore black neckties, smoked +clay pipes, chewed tobacco, and drank neat brandy out of tumblers. + +"Ha!" said North, looking wildly round upon them. "That's better." + +"Let us go on to the verandah," said Burgess. "It's cooler than in the +house." + +So they went on to the verandah, and looked down upon the lights of +the prison, and listened to the sea lapping the shore. The Reverend +Mr. North, in this cool atmosphere, seemed to recover himself, and +conversation progressed with some sprightliness. + +By and by, a short figure, smoking a cheroot, came up out of the dark, +and proved to be Dr. Macklewain, who had been prevented from attending +the dinner by reason of an accident to a constable at Norfolk Bay, which +had claimed his professional attention. + +"Well, how's Forrest?" cried Burgess. "Mr. Meekin--Dr. Macklewain." + +"Dead," said Dr. Macklewain. "Delighted to see you, Mr. Meekin." + +"Confound it--another of my best men," grumbled Burgess. "Macklewain, +have a glass of wine." But Macklewain was tired, and wanted to get home. + +"I must also be thinking of repose," said Meekin; "the journey--though +most enjoyable--has fatigued me." + +"Come on, then," said North. "Our roads lie together, doctor." + +"You won't have a nip of brandy before you start?" asked Burgess. + +"No? Then I shall send round for you in the morning, Mr. Meekin. Good +night. Macklewain, I want to speak with you a moment." + +Before the two clergymen had got half-way down the steep path that led +from the Commandant's house to the flat on which the cottages of the +doctor and chaplain were built, Macklewain rejoined them. "Another +flogging to-morrow," said he grumblingly. "Up at daylight, I suppose, +again." + +"Whom is he going to flog now?" + +"That young butler-fellow of his." "What, Kirkland?" cried North. "You +don't mean to say he's going to flog Kirkland?" + +"Insubordination," says Macklewain. "Fifty lashes." + +"Oh, this must be stopped," cried North, in great alarm. "He can't stand +it. I tell you, he'll die, Macklewain." + +"Perhaps you'll have the goodness to allow me to be the best judge of +that," returned Macklewain, drawing up his little body to its least +insignificant stature. + +"My dear sir," replied North, alive to the importance of conciliating +the surgeon, "you haven't seen him lately. He tried to drown himself +this morning." + +Mr. Meekin expressed some alarm; but Dr. Macklewain re-assured him. +"That sort of nonsense must be stopped," said he. "A nice example to +set. I wonder Burgess didn't give him a hundred." + +"He was put into the long dormitory," said North; "you know what sort of +a place that is. I declare to Heaven his agony and shame terrified me." + +"Well, he'll be put into the hospital for a week or so to-morrow," said +Macklewain, "and that'll give him a spell." + +"If Burgess flogs him I'll report it to the Governor," cries North, in +great heat. "The condition of those dormitories is infamous." + +"If the boy has anything to complain of, why don't he complain? We can't +do anything without evidence." + +"Complain! Would his life be safe if he did? Besides, he's not the sort +of creature to complain. He'd rather kill himself." + +"That's all nonsense," says Macklewain. "We can't flog a whole dormitory +on suspicion. I can't help it. The boy's made his bed, and he must lie +on it." + +"I'll go back and see Burgess," said North. "Mr. Meekin, here's the +gate, and your room is on the right hand. I'll be back shortly." + +"Pray, don't hurry," said Meekin politely. "You are on an errand of +mercy, you know. Everything must give way to that. I shall find my +portmanteau in my room, you said." + +"Yes, yes. Call the servant if you want anything. He sleeps at the +back," and North hurried off. + +"An impulsive gentleman," said Meekin to Macklewain, as the sound of Mr. +North's footsteps died away in the distance. Macklewain shook his head +seriously. + +"There is something wrong about him, but I can't make out what it is. He +has the strangest fits at times. Unless it's a cancer in the stomach, I +don't know what it can be." + +"Cancer in the stomach! dear me, how dreadful!" says Meekin. "Ah! +Doctor, we all have our crosses, have we not? How delightful the grass +smells! This seems a very pleasant place, and I think I shall enjoy +myself very much. Good-night." + +"Good-night, sir. I hope you will be comfortable." + +"And let us hope poor Mr. North will succeed in his labour of love," +said Meekin, shutting the little gate, "and save the unfortunate +Kirkland. Good-night, once more." + +Captain Burgess was shutting his verandah-window when North hurried up. + +"Captain Burgess, Macklewain tells me you are going to flog Kirkland." + +"Well, sir, what of that?" said Burgess. + +"I have come to beg you not to do so, sir. The lad has been cruelly +punished already. He attempted suicide to-day--unhappy creature." + +"Well, that's just what I'm flogging him for. I'll teach my prisoners to +attempt suicide!" + +"But he can't stand it, sir. He's too weak." + +"That's Macklewain's business." + +"Captain Burgess," protested North, "I assure you that he does not +deserve punishment. I have seen him, and his condition of mind is +pitiable." + +"Look here, Mr. North, I don't interfere with what you do to the +prisoner's souls; don't you interfere with what I do to their bodies." + +"Captain Burgess, you have no right to mock at my office." + +"Then don't you interfere with me, sir." + +"Do you persist in having this boy flogged?" + +"I've given my orders, sir." + +"Then, Captain Burgess," cried North, his pale face flushing, "I tell +you the boy's blood will be on your head. I am a minister of God, sir, +and I forbid you to commit this crime." + +"Damn your impertinence, sir!" burst out Burgess. "You're a dismissed +officer of the Government, sir. You've no authority here in any way; +and, by God, sir, if you interfere with my discipline, sir, I'll have +you put in irons until you're shipped out of the island." + +This, of course, was mere bravado on the part of the Commandant. North +knew well that he would never dare to attempt any such act of violence, +but the insult stung him like the cut of a whip. He made a stride +towards the Commandant, as though to seize him by the throat, but, +checking himself in time, stood still, with clenched hands, flashing +eyes, and beard that bristled. + +The two men looked at each other, and presently Burgess's eyes fell +before those of the chaplain. + +"Miserable blasphemer," says North, "I tell you that you shall not flog +the boy." + +Burgess, white with rage, rang the bell that summoned his convict +servant. + +"Show Mr. North out," he said, "and go down to the Barracks, and tell +Troke that Kirkland is to have a hundred lashes to-morrow. I'll show you +who's master here, my good sir." + +"I'll report this to the Government," said North, aghast. "This is +murderous." + +"The Government may go to----, and you, too!" roared Burgess. "Get out!" +And God's viceregent at Port Arthur slammed the door. + +North returned home in great agitation. "They shall not flog that boy," +he said. "I'll shield him with my own body if necessary. I'll report +this to the Government. I'll see Sir John Franklin myself. I'll have the +light of day let into this den of horrors." He reached his cottage, and +lighted the lamp in the little sitting-room. All was silent, save that +from the adjoining chamber came the sound of Meekin's gentlemanly snore. +North took down a book from the shelf and tried to read, but the letters +ran together. "I wish I hadn't taken that brandy," he said. "Fool that I +am." + +Then he began to walk up and down, to fling himself on the sofa, to +read, to pray. "Oh, God, give me strength! Aid me! Help me! I struggle, +but I am weak. O, Lord, look down upon me!" + +To see him rolling on the sofa in agony, to see his white face, his +parched lips, and his contracted brow, to hear his moans and muttered +prayers, one would have thought him suffering from the pangs of some +terrible disease. He opened the book again, and forced himself to read, +but his eyes wandered to the cupboard. There lurked something that +fascinated him. He got up at length, went into the kitchen, and found +a packet of red pepper. He mixed a teaspoonful of this in a pannikin of +water and drank it. It relieved him for a while. + +"I must keep my wits for to-morrow. The life of that lad depends upon +it. Meekin, too, will suspect. I will lie down." + +He went into his bedroom and flung himself on the bed, but only to toss +from side to side. In vain he repeated texts of Scripture and scraps +of verse; in vain counted imaginary sheep, or listened to imaginary +clock-tickings. Sleep would not come to him. It was as though he had +reached the crisis of a disease which had been for days gathering force. +"I must have a teaspoonful," he said, "to allay the craving." + +Twice he paused on the way to the sitting-room, and twice was he driven +on by a power stronger than his will. He reached it at length, and +opening the cupboard, pulled out what he sought. A bottle of brandy. +With this in his hand, all moderation vanished. He raised it to his +lips and eagerly drank. Then, ashamed of what he had done, he thrust the +bottle back, and made for his room. Still he could not sleep. The taste +of the liquor maddened him for more. He saw in the darkness the brandy +bottle--vulgar and terrible apparition! He saw its amber fluid sparkle. +He heard it gurgle as he poured it out. He smelt the nutty aroma of +the spirit. He pictured it standing in the corner of the cupboard, and +imagined himself seizing it and quenching the fire that burned within +him. He wept, he prayed, he fought with his desire as with a madness. He +told himself that another's life depended on his exertions, that to give +way to his fatal passion was unworthy of an educated man and a reasoning +being, that it was degrading, disgusting, and bestial. That, at all +times debasing, at this particular time it was infamous; that a vice, +unworthy of any man, was doubly sinful in a man of education and a +minister of God. In vain. In the midst of his arguments he found himself +at the cupboard, with the bottle at his lips, in an attitude that was at +once ludicrous and horrible. + +He had no cancer. His disease was a more terrible one. The Reverend +James North--gentleman, scholar, and Christian priest--was what the +world calls "a confirmed drunkard". + + + + +CHAPTER XV. ONE HUNDRED LASHES. + + + +The morning sun, bright and fierce, looked down upon a curious sight. In +a stone-yard was a little group of persons--Troke, Burgess, Macklewain, +Kirkland, and Rufus Dawes. + +Three wooden staves, seven feet high, were fastened together in the form +of a triangle. The structure looked not unlike that made by gypsies to +boil their kettles. To this structure Kirkland was bound. His feet were +fastened with thongs to the base of the triangle; his wrists, bound +above his head, at the apex. His body was then extended to its fullest +length, and his white back shone in the sunlight. During his tying up he +had said nothing--only when Troke pulled off his shirt he shivered. + +"Now, prisoner," said Troke to Dawes, "do your duty." + +Rufus Dawes looked from the three stern faces to Kirkland's white back, +and his face grew purple. In all his experience he had never been asked +to flog before. He had been flogged often enough. + +"You don't want me to flog him, sir?" he said to the Commandant. + +"Pick up the cat, sir!" said Burgess, astonished; "what is the meaning +of this?" Rufus Dawes picked up the heavy cat, and drew its knotted +lashes between his fingers. + +"Go on, Dawes," whispered Kirkland, without turning his head. "You are +no more than another man." + +"What does he say?" asked Burgess. + +"Telling him to cut light, sir," said Troke, eagerly lying; "they all +do it." "Cut light, eh! We'll see about that. Get on, my man, and look +sharp, or I'll tie you up and give you fifty for yourself, as sure as +God made little apples." + +"Go on, Dawes," whispered Kirkland again. "I don't mind." + +Rufus Dawes lifted the cat, swung it round his head, and brought its +knotted cords down upon the white back. + +"Wonn!" cried Troke. + +The white back was instantly striped with six crimson bars. Kirkland +stifled a cry. It seemed to him that he had been cut in half. + +"Now then, you scoundrel!" roared Burgess; "separate your cats! What do +you mean by flogging a man that fashion?" + +Rufus Dawes drew his crooked fingers through the entangled cords, and +struck again. This time the blow was more effective, and the blood +beaded on the skin. + +The boy did not cry; but Macklewain saw his hands clutch the staves +tightly, and the muscles of his naked arms quiver. + +"Tew!" + +"That's better," said Burgess. + +The third blow sounded as though it had been struck upon a piece of raw +beef, and the crimson turned purple. + +"My God!" said Kirkland, faintly, and bit his lips. + +The flogging proceeded in silence for ten strikes, and then Kirkland +gave a screech like a wounded horse. + +"Oh!...Captain Burgess!...Dawes!...Mr. Troke!...Oh, my God!... Oh! +oh!...Mercy!...Oh, Doctor!...Mr. North!...Oh! Oh! Oh!" + +"Ten!" cried Troke, impassively counting to the end of the first twenty. + +The lad's back, swollen into a lump, now presented the appearance of a +ripe peach which a wilful child had scored with a pin. Dawes, turning +away from his bloody handiwork, drew the cats through his fingers twice. +They were beginning to get clogged a little. + +"Go on," said Burgess, with a nod; and Troke cried "Wonn!" again. + +Roused by the morning sun streaming in upon him, Mr. North opened +his bloodshot eyes, rubbed his forehead with hands that trembled, and +suddenly awakening to a consciousness of his promised errand, rolled +off the bed and rose to his feet. He saw the empty brandy bottle on +his wooden dressing-table, and remembered what had passed. With shaking +hands he dashed water over his aching head, and smoothed his garments. +The debauch of the previous night had left the usual effects behind it. +His brain seemed on fire, his hands were hot and dry, his tongue clove +to the roof of his mouth. He shuddered as he viewed his pale face and +red eyes in the little looking-glass, and hastily tried the door. He had +retained sufficient sense in his madness to lock it, and his condition +had been unobserved. Stealing into the sitting-room, he saw that the +clock pointed to half-past six. The flogging was to have taken place +at half-past five. Unless accident had favoured him he was already too +late. Fevered with remorse and anxiety, he hurried past the room where +Meekin yet slumbered, and made his way to the prison. As he entered the +yard, Troke called "Ten!" Kirkland had just got his fiftieth lash. + +"Stop!" cried North. "Captain Burgess, I call upon you to stop." + +"You're rather late, Mr. North," retorted Burgess. "The punishment is +nearly over." "Wonn!" cried Troke again; and North stood by, biting his +nails and grinding his teeth, during six more lashes. + +Kirkland ceased to yell now, and merely moaned. His back was like a +bloody sponge, while in the interval between lashes the swollen flesh +twitched like that of a new-killed bullock. Suddenly, Macklewain saw his +head droop on his shoulder. "Throw him off! Throw him off!" he cried, +and Troke hurried to loosen the thongs. + +"Fling some water over him!" said Burgess; "he's shamming." + +A bucket of water made Kirkland open his eyes. "I thought so," said +Burgess. "Tie him up again." + +"No. Not if you are Christians!" cried North. + +He met with an ally where he least expected one. Rufus Dawes flung down +the dripping cat. "I'll flog no more," said he. + +"What?" roared Burgess, furious at this gross insolence. + +"I'll flog no more. Get someone else to do your blood work for you. I +won't." + +"Tie him up!" cried Burgess, foaming. "Tie him up. Here, constable, +fetch a man here with a fresh cat. I'll give you that beggar's fifty, +and fifty more on the top of 'em; and he shall look on while his back +cools." + +Rufus Dawes, with a glance at North, pulled off his shirt without a +word, and stretched himself at the triangles. His back was not white +and smooth, like Kirkland's had been, but hard and seamed. He had been +flogged before. Troke appeared with Gabbett--grinning. Gabbett liked +flogging. It was his boast that he could flog a man to death on a place +no bigger than the palm of his hand. He could use his left hand equally +with his right, and if he got hold of a "favourite", would "cross the +cuts". + +Rufus Dawes planted his feet firmly on the ground, took fierce grasp on +the staves, and drew in his breath. Macklewain spread the garments of +the two men upon the ground, and, placing Kirkland upon them, turned to +watch this new phase in the morning's amusement. He grumbled a little +below his breath, for he wanted his breakfast, and when the Commandant +once began to flog there was no telling where he would stop. Rufus Dawes +took five-and-twenty lashes without a murmur, and then Gabbett "crossed +the cuts". This went on up to fifty lashes, and North felt himself +stricken with admiration at the courage of the man. "If it had not been +for that cursed brandy," thought he, with bitterness of self-reproach, +"I might have saved all this." At the hundredth lash, the giant paused, +expecting the order to throw off, but Burgess was determined to "break +the man's spirit". + +"I'll make you speak, you dog, if I cut your heart out!" he cried. "Go +on, prisoner." + +For twenty lashes more Dawes was mute, and then the agony forced from +his labouring breast a hideous cry. But it was not a cry for mercy, as +that of Kirkland's had been. Having found his tongue, the wretched man +gave vent to his boiling passion in a torrent of curses. He shrieked +imprecation upon Burgess, Troke, and North. He cursed all soldiers +for tyrants, all parsons for hypocrites. He blasphemed his God and his +Saviour. With a frightful outpouring of obscenity and blasphemy, he +called on the earth to gape and swallow his persecutors, for Heaven to +open and rain fire upon them, for hell to yawn and engulf them quick. +It was as though each blow of the cat forced out of him a fresh burst of +beast-like rage. He seemed to have abandoned his humanity. He foamed, +he raved, he tugged at his bonds until the strong staves shook again; he +writhed himself round upon the triangles and spat impotently at Burgess, +who jeered at his torments. North, with his hands to his ears, crouched +against the corner of the wall, palsied with horror. It seemed to him +that the passions of hell raged around him. He would fain have fled, but +a horrible fascination held him back. + +In the midst of this--when the cat was hissing its loudest--Burgess +laughing his hardest, and the wretch on the triangles filling the air +with his cries, North saw Kirkland look at him with what he thought a +smile. Was it a smile? He leapt forward, and uttered a cry of dismay so +loud that all turned. + +"Hullo!" says Troke, running to the heap of clothes, "the young 'un's +slipped his wind!" + +Kirkland was dead. + +"Throw him off!" says Burgess, aghast at the unfortunate accident; +and Gabbett reluctantly untied the thongs that bound Rufus Dawes. +Two constables were alongside him in an instant, for sometimes newly +tortured men grew desperate. This one, however, was silent with the +last lash; only in taking his shirt from under the body of the boy, he +muttered, "Dead!" and in his tone there seemed to be a touch of +envy. Then, flinging his shirt over his bleeding shoulders, he walked +out--defiant to the last. + +"Game, ain't he?" said one constable to the other, as they pushed him, +not ungently, into an empty cell, there to wait for the hospital guard. +The body of Kirkland was taken away in silence, and Burgess turned +rather pale when he saw North's threatening face. + +"It isn't my fault, Mr. North," he said. "I didn't know that the lad was +chicken-hearted." But North turned away in disgust, and Macklewain and +Burgess pursued their homeward route together. + +"Strange that he should drop like that," said the Commandant. + +"Yes, unless he had any internal disease," said the surgeon. + +"Disease of the heart, for instance," said Burgess. + +"I'll post-mortem him and see." + +"Come in and have a nip, Macklewain. I feel quite qualmish," said +Burgess. And the two went into the house amid respectful salutes from +either side. Mr. North, in agony of mind at what he considered the +consequence of his neglect, slowly, and with head bowed down, as one +bent on a painful errand, went to see the prisoner who had survived. He +found him kneeling on the ground, prostrated. "Rufus Dawes." + +At the low tone Rufus Dawes looked up, and, seeing who it was, waved him +off. + +"Don't speak to me," he said, with an imprecation that made North's +flesh creep. "I've told you what I think of you--a hypocrite, who stands +by while a man is cut to pieces, and then comes and whines religion to +him." + +North stood in the centre of the cell, with his arms hanging down, and +his head bent. + +"You are right," he said, in a low tone. "I must seem to you a +hypocrite. I a servant of Christ? A besotted beast rather! I am not come +to whine religion to you. I am come to--to ask your pardon. I might have +saved you from punishment--saved that poor boy from death. I wanted to +save him, God knows! But I have a vice; I am a drunkard. I yielded to +my temptation, and--I was too late. I come to you as one sinful man to +another, to ask you to forgive me." And North suddenly flung himself +down beside the convict, and, catching his blood-bespotted hands in his +own, cried, "Forgive me, brother!" + +Rufus Dawes, too much astonished to speak, bent his black eyes upon the +man who crouched at his feet, and a ray of divine pity penetrated his +gloomy soul. He seemed to catch a glimpse of misery more profound than +his own, and his stubborn heart felt human sympathy with this erring +brother. "Then in this hell there is yet a man," said he; and a +hand-grasp passed between these two unhappy beings. North arose, and, +with averted face, passed quickly from the cell. Rufus Dawes looked at +his hand which his strange visitor had taken, and something glittered +there. It was a tear. He broke down at the sight of it, and when the +guard came to fetch the tameless convict, they found him on his knees in +a corner, sobbing like a child. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. KICKING AGAINST THE PRICKS. + + + +The morning after this, the Rev. Mr. North departed in the schooner +for Hobart Town. Between the officious chaplain and the Commandant the +events of the previous day had fixed a great gulf. Burgess knew that +North meant to report the death of Kirkland, and guessed that he would +not be backward in relating the story to such persons in Hobart Town +as would most readily repeat it. "Blank awkward the fellow's dying," +he confessed to himself. "If he hadn't died, nobody would have bothered +about him." A sinister truth. North, on the other hand, comforted +himself with the belief that the fact of the convict's death under the +lash would cause indignation and subsequent inquiry. "The truth must +come out if they only ask," thought he. Self-deceiving North! Four +years a Government chaplain, and not yet attained to a knowledge of a +Government's method of "asking" about such matters! Kirkland's mangled +flesh would have fed the worms before the ink on the last "minute" from +deliberating Authority was dry. + +Burgess, however, touched with selfish regrets, determined to baulk the +parson at the outset. He would send down an official "return" of the +unfortunate occurrence by the same vessel that carried his enemy, and +thus get the ear of the Office. Meekin, walking on the evening of the +flogging past the wooden shed where the body lay, saw Troke bearing +buckets filled with dark-coloured water, and heard a great splashing and +sluicing going on inside the hut. "What is the matter?" he asked. + +"Doctor's bin post-morticing the prisoner what was flogged this morning, +sir," said Troke, "and we're cleanin' up." + +Meekin sickened, and walked on. He had heard that unhappy Kirkland +possessed unknown disease of the heart, and had unhappily died before +receiving his allotted punishment. His duty was to comfort Kirkland's +soul; he had nothing to do with Kirkland's slovenly unhandsome body, +and so he went for a walk on the pier, that the breeze might blow his +momentary sickness away from him. On the pier he saw North talking to +Father Flaherty, the Roman Catholic chaplain. Meekin had been taught to +look upon a priest as a shepherd might look upon a wolf, and passed with +a distant bow. The pair were apparently talking on the occurrence of +the morning, for he heard Father Flaherty say, with a shrug of his round +shoulders, "He woas not one of moi people, Mr. North, and the Govermint +would not suffer me to interfere with matters relating to Prhotestint +prisoners." "The wretched creature was a Protestant," thought Meekin. +"At least then his immortal soul was not endangered by belief in the +damnable heresies of the Church of Rome." So he passed on, giving +good-humoured Denis Flaherty, the son of the butter-merchant of Kildrum, +a wide berth and sea-room, lest he should pounce down upon him unawares, +and with Jesuitical argument and silken softness of speech, convert +him by force to his own state of error--as was the well-known custom of +those intellectual gladiators, the Priests of the Catholic Faith. North, +on his side, left Flaherty with regret. He had spent many a pleasant +hour with him, and knew him for a narrow-minded, conscientious, yet +laughter-loving creature, whose God was neither his belly nor his +breviary, but sometimes in one place and sometimes in the other, +according to the hour of the day, and the fasts appointed for due +mortification of the flesh. "A man who would do Christian work in a +jog-trot parish, or where men lived too easily to sin harshly, but +utterly unfit to cope with Satan, as the British Government had +transported him," was North's sadly satirical reflection upon Father +Flaherty, as Port Arthur faded into indistinct beauty behind the +swift-sailing schooner. "God help those poor villains, for neither +parson nor priest can." + +He was right. North, the drunkard and self-tormented, had a power for +good, of which Meekin and the other knew nothing. Not merely were the +men incompetent and self-indulgent, but they understood nothing of +that frightful capacity for agony which is deep in the soul of +every evil-doer. They might strike the rock as they chose with +sharpest-pointed machine-made pick of warranted Gospel manufacture, +stamped with the approval of eminent divines of all ages, but the water +of repentance and remorse would not gush for them. They possessed not +the frail rod which alone was powerful to charm. They had no sympathy, +no knowledge, no experience. He who would touch the hearts of men must +have had his own heart seared. The missionaries of mankind have ever +been great sinners before they earned the divine right to heal and +bless. Their weakness was made their strength, and out of their own +agony of repentance came the knowledge which made them masters and +saviours of their kind. It was the agony of the Garden and the Cross +that gave to the world's Preacher His kingdom in the hearts of men. The +crown of divinity is a crown of thorns. + +North, on his arrival, went straight to the house of Major Vickers. "I +have a complaint to make, sir," he said. "I wish to lodge it formally +with you. A prisoner has been flogged to death at Port Arthur. I saw it +done." + +Vickers bent his brow. "A serious accusation, Mr. North. I must, of +course, receive it with respect, coming from you, but I trust that you +have fully considered the circumstances of the case. I always understood +Captain Burgess was a most humane man." + +North shook his head. He would not accuse Burgess. He would let the +events speak for themselves. "I only ask for an inquiry," said he. + +"Yes, my dear sir, I know. Very proper indeed on your part, if you think +any injustice has been done; but have you considered the expense, the +delay, the immense trouble and dissatisfaction all this will give?" + +"No trouble, no expense, no dissatisfaction, should stand in the way of +humanity and justice," cried North. + +"Of course not. But will justice be done? Are you sure you can prove +your case? Mind, I admit nothing against Captain Burgess, whom I have +always considered a most worthy and zealous officer; but, supposing your +charge to be true, can you prove it?" + +"Yes. If the witnesses speak the truth." + +"Who are they?" "Myself, Dr. Macklewain, the constable, and two +prisoners, one of whom was flogged himself. He will speak the truth, I +believe. The other man I have not much faith in." + +"Very well; then there is only a prisoner and Dr. Macklewain; for if +there has been foul play the convict-constable will not accuse the +authorities. Moreover, the doctor does not agree with you." + +"No?" cried North, amazed. + +"No. You see, then, my dear sir, how necessary it is not to be hasty in +matters of this kind. I really think--pardon me for my plainness--that +your goodness of heart has misled you. Captain Burgess sends a report +of the case. He says the man was sentenced to a hundred lashes for gross +insolence and disobedience of orders, that the doctor was present during +the punishment, and that the man was thrown off by his directions after +he had received fifty-six lashes. That, after a short interval, he was +found to be dead, and that the doctor made a post-mortem examination and +found disease of the heart." + +North started. "A post-mortem? I never knew there had been one held." + +"Here is the medical certificate," said Vickers, holding it out, +"accompanied by the copies of the evidence of the constable and a letter +from the Commandant." + +Poor North took the papers and read them slowly. They were apparently +straightforward enough. Aneurism of the ascending aorta was given as the +cause of death; and the doctor frankly admitted that had he known the +deceased to be suffering from that complaint he would not have permitted +him to receive more than twenty-five lashes. "I think Macklewain is +an honest man," said North, doubtfully. "He would not dare to return +a false certificate. Yet the circumstances of the case--the horrible +condition of the prisoners--the frightful story of that boy--" + +"I cannot enter into these questions, Mr. North. My position here is to +administer the law to the best of my ability, not to question it." + +North bowed his head to the reproof. In some sort of justly unjust way, +he felt that he deserved it. "I can say no more, sir. I am afraid I +am helpless in this matter--as I have been in others. I see that the +evidence is against me; but it is my duty to carry my efforts as far +as I can, and I will do so." Vickers bowed stiffly and wished him good +morning. Authority, however well-meaning in private life, has in its +official capacity a natural dislike to those dissatisfied persons who +persist in pushing inquiries to extremities. + +North, going out with saddened spirits, met in the passage a beautiful +young girl. It was Sylvia, coming to visit her father. He lifted his hat +and looked after her. He guessed that she was the daughter of the man he +had left--the wife of the Captain Frere concerning whom he had heard so +much. North was a man whose morbidly excited brain was prone to strange +fancies; and it seemed to him that beneath the clear blue eyes that +flashed upon him for a moment, lay a hint of future sadness, in which, +in some strange way, he himself was to bear part. He stared after her +figure until it disappeared; and long after the dainty presence of the +young bride--trimly booted, tight-waisted, and neatly-gloved--had faded, +with all its sunshine of gaiety and health, from out of his mental +vision, he still saw those blue eyes and that cloud of golden hair. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. CAPTAIN AND MRS. FRERE. + + + +Sylvia had become the wife of Maurice Frere. The wedding created +excitement in the convict settlement, for Maurice Frere, though +oppressed by the secret shame at open matrimony which affects men of his +character, could not in decency--seeing how "good a thing for him" was +this wealthy alliance--demand unceremonious nuptials. So, after the +fashion of the town--there being no "continent" or "Scotland" adjacent +as a hiding place for bridal blushes--the alliance was entered into with +due pomp of ball and supper; bride and bridegroom departing through the +golden afternoon to the nearest of Major Vickers's stations. Thence it +had been arranged they should return after a fortnight, and take ship +for Sydney. + +Major Vickers, affectionate though he was to the man whom he believed +to be the saviour of his child, had no notion of allowing him to live +on Sylvia's fortune. He had settled his daughter's portion--ten thousand +pounds--upon herself and children, and had informed Frere that he +expected him to live upon an income of his own earning. After many +consultations between the pair, it had been arranged that a civil +appointment in Sydney would best suit the bridegroom, who was to sell +out of the service. This notion was Frere's own. He never cared for +military duty, and had, moreover, private debts to no inconsiderable +amount. By selling his commission he would be enabled at once to pay +these debts, and render himself eligible for any well-paid post under +the Colonial Government that the interest of his father-in-law, and his +own reputation as a convict disciplinarian, might procure. Vickers would +fain have kept his daughter with him, but he unselfishly acquiesced in +the scheme, admitting that Frere's plea as to the comforts she would +derive from the society to be found in Sydney was a valid one. + +"You can come over and see us when we get settled, papa," said Sylvia, +with a young matron's pride of place, "and we can come and see you. +Hobart Town is very pretty, but I want to see the world." + +"You should go to London, Poppet," said Maurice, "that's the place. +Isn't it, sir?" + +"Oh, London!" cries Sylvia, clapping her hands. "And Westminster Abbey, +and the Tower, and St. James's Palace, and Hyde Park, and Fleet-street! +'Sir,' said Dr. Johnson, 'let us take a walk down Fleet-street.' Do you +remember, in Mr. Croker's book, Maurice? No, you don't I know, because +you only looked at the pictures, and then read Pierce Egan's account of +the Topping Fight between Bob Gaynor and Ned Neal, or some such person." + +"Little girls should be seen and not heard," said Maurice, between a +laugh and a blush. "You have no business to read my books." + +"Why not?" she asked, with a gaiety which already seemed a little +strained; "husband and wife should have no secrets from each other, +sir. Besides, I want you to read my books. I am going to read Shelley to +you." + +"Don't, my dear," said Maurice simply. "I can't understand him." + +This little scene took place at the dinner-table of Frere's cottage, in +New Town, to which Major Vickers had been invited, in order that future +plans might be discussed. + +"I don't want to go to Port Arthur," said the bride, later in the +evening. "Maurice, there can be no necessity to go there." + +"Well," said Maurice. "I want to have a look at the place. I ought to be +familiar with all phases of convict discipline, you know." + +"There is likely to be a report ordered upon the death of a prisoner," +said Vickers. "The chaplain, a fussy but well-meaning person, has been +memorializing about it. You may as well do it as anybody else, Maurice." + +"Ay. And save the expenses of the trip," said Maurice. + +"But it is so melancholy," cried Sylvia. + +"The most delightful place in the island, my dear. I was there for a few +days once, and I really was charmed." + +It was remarkable--so Vickers thought--how each of these newly-mated +ones had caught something of the other's manner of speech. Sylvia was +less choice in her mode of utterance; Frere more so. He caught himself +wondering which of the two methods both would finally adopt. + +"But those dogs, and sharks, and things. Oh, Maurice, haven't we had +enough of convicts?" + +"Enough! Why, I'm going to make my living out of 'em," said Maurice, +with his most natural manner. + +Sylvia sighed. + +"Play something, darling," said her father; and so the girl, sitting +down to the piano, trilled and warbled in her pure young voice, until +the Port Arthur question floated itself away upon waves of melody, +and was heard of no more for that time. But upon pursuing the subject, +Sylvia found her husband firm. He wanted to go, and he would go. Having +once assured himself that it was advantageous to him to do a certain +thing, the native obstinacy of the animal urged him to do it despite all +opposition from others, and Sylvia, having had her first "cry" over the +question of the visit, gave up the point. This was the first difference +of their short married life, and she hastened to condone it. In the +sunshine of Love and Marriage--for Maurice at first really loved her; +and love, curbing the worst part of him, brought to him, as it brings +to all of us, that gentleness and abnegation of self which is the only +token and assurance of a love aught but animal--Sylvia's fears and +doubts melted away, as the mists melt in the beams of morning. A young +girl, with passionate fancy, with honest and noble aspiration, but with +the dark shadow of her early mental sickness brooding upon her childlike +nature, Marriage made her a woman, by developing in her a woman's trust +and pride in the man to whom she had voluntarily given herself. Yet +by-and-by out of this sentiment arose a new and strange source of +anxiety. Having accepted her position as a wife, and put away from her +all doubts as to her own capacity for loving the man to whom she had +allied herself, she began to be haunted by a dread lest he might do +something which would lessen the affection she bore him. On one or two +occasions she had been forced to confess that her husband was more of +an egotist than she cared to think. He demanded of her no great +sacrifices--had he done so she would have found, in making them, +the pleasure that women of her nature always find in such +self-mortification--but he now and then intruded on her that disregard +for the feeling of others which was part of his character. He was fond +of her--almost too passionately fond, for her staider liking--but he was +unused to thwart his own will in anything, least of all in those seeming +trifles, for the consideration of which true selfishness bethinks +itself. Did she want to read when he wanted to walk, he good-humouredly +put aside her book, with an assumption that a walk with him must, of +necessity, be the most pleasing thing in the world. Did she want to +walk when he wanted to rest, he laughingly set up his laziness as an +all-sufficient plea for her remaining within doors. He was at no pains +to conceal his weariness when she read her favourite books to him. If +he felt sleepy when she sang or played, he slept without apology. If +she talked about a subject in which he took no interest, he turned the +conversation remorselessly. He would not have wittingly offended her, +but it seemed to him natural to yawn when he was weary, to sleep when +he was fatigued, and to talk only about those subjects which interested +him. Had anybody told him that he was selfish, he would have been +astonished. Thus it came about that Sylvia one day discovered that she +led two lives--one in the body, and one in the spirit--and that with +her spiritual existence her husband had no share. This discovery alarmed +her, but then she smiled at it. "As if Maurice could be expected to take +interest in all my silly fancies," said she; and, despite a harassing +thought that these same fancies were not foolish, but were the best and +brightest portion of her, she succeeded in overcoming her uneasiness. +"A man's thoughts are different from a woman's," she said; "he has his +business and his worldly cares, of which a woman knows nothing. I must +comfort him, and not worry him with my follies." + +As for Maurice, he grew sometimes rather troubled in his mind. He could +not understand his wife. Her nature was an enigma to him; her mind was +a puzzle which would not be pieced together with the rectangular +correctness of ordinary life. He had known her from a child, had loved +her from a child, and had committed a mean and cruel crime to obtain +her; but having got her, he was no nearer to the mystery of her than +before. She was all his own, he thought. Her golden hair was for his +fingers, her lips were for his caress, her eyes looked love upon him +alone. Yet there were times when her lips were cold to his kisses, and +her eyes looked disdainfully upon his coarser passion. He would catch +her musing when he spoke to her, much as she would catch him sleeping +when she read to him--but she awoke with a start and a blush at her +forgetfulness, which he never did. He was not a man to brood over these +things; and, after some reflective pipes and ineffectual rubbings of his +head, he "gave it up". How was it possible, indeed, for him to solve the +mental enigma when the woman herself was to him a physical riddle? It +was extraordinary that the child he had seen growing up by his side day +by day should be a young woman with little secrets, now to be revealed +to him for the first time. He found that she had a mole on her neck, and +remembered that he had noticed it when she was a child. Then it was a +thing of no moment, now it was a marvellous discovery. He was in daily +wonderment at the treasure he had obtained. He marvelled at her feminine +devices of dress and adornment. Her dainty garments seemed to him +perfumed with the odour of sanctity. + +The fact was that the patron of Sarah Purfoy had not met with many +virtuous women, and had but just discovered what a dainty morsel Modesty +was. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. IN THE HOSPITAL. + + + +The hospital of Port Arthur was not a cheerful place, but to the +tortured and unnerved Rufus Dawes it seemed a paradise. There at +least--despite the roughness and contempt with which his gaolers +ministered to him--he felt that he was considered. There at least he was +free from the enforced companionship of the men whom he loathed, and to +whose level he felt, with mental agony unspeakable, that he was daily +sinking. Throughout his long term of degradation he had, as yet, aided +by the memory of his sacrifice and his love, preserved something of his +self-respect, but he felt that he could not preserve it long. Little by +little he had come to regard himself as one out of the pale of love and +mercy, as one tormented of fortune, plunged into a deep into which the +eye of Heaven did not penetrate. Since his capture in the garden of +Hobart Town, he had given loose rein to his rage and his despair. "I +am forgotten or despised; I have no name in the world; what matter if +I become like one of these?" It was under the influence of this feeling +that he had picked up the cat at the command of Captain Burgess. As the +unhappy Kirkland had said, "As well you as another"; and truly, what was +he that he should cherish sentiments of honour or humanity? But he had +miscalculated his own capacity for evil. As he flogged, he blushed; and +when he flung down the cat and stripped his own back for punishment, he +felt a fierce joy in the thought that his baseness would be atoned for +in his own blood. Even when, unnerved and faint from the hideous ordeal, +he flung himself upon his knees in the cell, he regretted only the +impotent ravings that the torture had forced from him. He could have +bitten out his tongue for his blasphemous utterings--not because they +were blasphemous, but because their utterance, by revealing his agony, +gave their triumph to his tormentors. When North found him, he was in +the very depth of this abasement, and he repulsed his comforter--not so +much because he had seen him flogged, as because he had heard him cry. +The self-reliance and force of will which had hitherto sustained him +through his self-imposed trial had failed him--he felt--at the moment +when he needed it most; and the man who had with unflinched front faced +the gallows, the desert, and the sea, confessed his debased humanity +beneath the physical torture of the lash. He had been flogged before, +and had wept in secret at his degradation, but he now for the first +time comprehended how terrible that degradation might be made, for he +realized how the agony of the wretched body can force the soul to +quit its last poor refuge of assumed indifference, and confess itself +conquered. + +Not many months before, one of the companions of the chain, suffering +under Burgess's tender mercies, had killed his mate when at work +with him, and, carrying the body on his back to the nearest gang, had +surrendered himself--going to his death thanking God he had at last +found a way of escape from his miseries, which no one would envy +him--save his comrades. The heart of Dawes had been filled with horror +at a deed so bloody, and he had, with others, commented on the cowardice +of the man that would thus shirk the responsibility of that state of +life in which it had pleased man and the devil to place him. Now he +understood how and why the crime had been committed, and felt only pity. +Lying awake with back that burned beneath its lotioned rags, when lights +were low, in the breathful silence of the hospital, he registered in his +heart a terrible oath that he would die ere he would again be made such +hideous sport for his enemies. In this frame of mind, with such shreds +of honour and worth as had formerly clung to him blown away in the +whirlwind of his passion, he bethought him of the strange man who had +deigned to clasp his hand and call him "brother". He had wept no unmanly +tears at this sudden flow of tenderness in one whom he had thought as +callous as the rest. He had been touched with wondrous sympathy at the +confession of weakness made to him, in a moment when his own weakness +had overcome him to his shame. Soothed by the brief rest that his +fortnight of hospital seclusion had afforded him, he had begun, in a +languid and speculative way, to turn his thoughts to religion. He had +read of martyrs who had borne agonies unspeakable, upheld by their +confidence in Heaven and God. In his old wild youth he had scoffed at +prayers and priests; in the hate to his kind that had grown upon him +with his later years he had despised a creed that told men to love one +another. "God is love, my brethren," said the chaplain on Sundays, and +all the week the thongs of the overseer cracked, and the cat hissed and +swung. Of what practical value was a piety that preached but did not +practise? It was admirable for the "religious instructor" to tell a +prisoner that he must not give way to evil passions, but must bear his +punishment with meekness. It was only right that he should advise him to +"put his trust in God". But as a hardened prisoner, convicted of getting +drunk in an unlicensed house of entertainment, had said, "God's terrible +far from Port Arthur." + +Rufus Dawes had smiled at the spectacle of priests admonishing men, who +knew what he knew and had seen what he had seen, for the trivialities of +lying and stealing. He had believed all priests impostors or fools, +all religion a mockery and a lie. But now, finding how utterly his own +strength had failed him when tried by the rude test of physical pain, he +began to think that this Religion which was talked of so largely was +not a mere bundle of legend and formulae, but must have in it something +vital and sustaining. Broken in spirit and weakened in body, with +faith in his own will shaken, he longed for something to lean upon, and +turned--as all men turn when in such case--to the Unknown. Had now there +been at hand some Christian priest, some Christian-spirited man even, no +matter of what faith, to pour into the ears of this poor wretch words of +comfort and grace; to rend away from him the garment of sullenness and +despair in which he had wrapped himself; to drag from him a confession +of his unworthiness, his obstinacy, and his hasty judgment, and to cheer +his fainting soul with promise of immortality and justice, he might have +been saved from his after fate; but there was no such man. He asked +for the chaplain. North was fighting the Convict Department, seeking +vengeance for Kirkland, and (victim of "clerks with the cold spurt of +the pen") was pushed hither and thither, referred here, snubbed there, +bowed out in another place. Rufus Dawes, half ashamed of himself for his +request, waited a long morning, and then saw, respectfully ushered into +his cell as his soul's physician--Meekin. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. THE CONSOLATIONS OF RELIGION. + + + +"Well, my good man," said Meekin, soothingly, "so you wanted to see me." + +"I asked for the chaplain," said Rufus Dawes, his anger with himself +growing apace. "I am the chaplain," returned Meekin, with dignity, as +who should say--"none of your brandy-drinking, pea-jacketed Norths, but +a Respectable chaplain who is the friend of a Bishop!" + +"I thought that Mr. North was--" + +"Mr. North has left, sir," said Meekin, dryly, "but I will hear what +you have to say. There is no occasion to go, constable; wait outside the +door." + +Rufus Dawes shifted himself on the wooden bench, and resting his +scarcely-healed back against the wall, smiled bitterly. "Don't be +afraid, sir; I am not going to harm you," he said. "I only wanted to +talk a little." + +"Do you read your Bible, Dawes?" asked Meekin, by way of reply. "It +would be better to read your Bible than to talk, I think. You must +humble yourself in prayer, Dawes." + +"I have read it," said Dawes, still lying back and watching him. + +"But is your mind softened by its teachings? Do you realize the Infinite +Mercy of God, Who has compassion, Dawes, upon the greatest sinners?" The +convict made a move of impatience. The old, sickening, barren cant of +piety was to be recommenced then. He came asking for bread, and they +gave him the usual stone. + +"Do you believe that there is a God, Mr. Meekin?" + +"Abandoned sinner! Do you insult a clergyman by such a question?" + +"Because I think sometimes that if there is, He must often be +dissatisfied at the way things are done here," said Dawes, half to +himself. + +"I can listen to no mutinous observations, prisoner," said Meekin. "Do +not add blasphemy to your other crimes. I fear that all conversation +with you, in your present frame of mind, would be worse than useless. I +will mark a few passages in your Bible, that seem to me appropriate to +your condition, and beg you to commit them to memory. Hailes, the door, +if you please." + +So, with a bow, the "consoler" departed. + +Rufus Dawes felt his heart grow sick. North had gone, then. The only man +who had seemed to have a heart in his bosom had gone. The only man +who had dared to clasp his horny and blood-stained hand, and call him +"brother", had gone. Turning his head, he saw through the window--wide +open and unbarred, for Nature, at Port Arthur, had no need of bars--the +lovely bay, smooth as glass, glittering in the afternoon sun, the long +quay, spotted with groups of parti-coloured chain-gangs, and heard, +mingling with the soft murmur of the waves, and the gentle rustling of +the trees, the never-ceasing clashing of irons, and the eternal click +of hammer. Was he to be for ever buried in this whitened sepulchre, shut +out from the face of Heaven and mankind! + +The appearance of Hailes broke his reverie. "Here's a book for you," +said he, with a grin. "Parson sent it." + +Rufus Dawes took the Bible, and, placing it on his knees, turned to the +places indicated by slips of paper, embracing some twenty marked texts. + +"Parson says he'll come and hear you to-morrer, and you're to keep the +book clean." + +"Keep the book clean!" and "hear him!" Did Meekin think that he was a +charity school boy? The utter incapacity of the chaplain to understand +his wants was so sublime that it was nearly ridiculous enough to make +him laugh. He turned his eyes downwards to the texts. Good Meekin, in +the fullness of his stupidity, had selected the fiercest denunciations +of bard and priest. The most notable of the Psalmist's curses upon his +enemies, the most furious of Isaiah's ravings anent the forgetfulness +of the national worship, the most terrible thunderings of apostle and +evangelist against idolatry and unbelief, were grouped together and +presented to Dawes to soothe him. All the material horrors of Meekin's +faith--stripped, by force of dissociation from the context, of all +poetic feeling and local colouring--were launched at the suffering +sinner by Meekin's ignorant hand. The miserable man, seeking for +consolation and peace, turned over the leaves of the Bible only to find +himself threatened with "the pains of Hell", "the never-dying worm", +"the unquenchable fire", "the bubbling brimstone", the "bottomless pit", +from out of which the "smoke of his torment" should ascend for ever and +ever. Before his eyes was held no image of a tender Saviour (with hands +soft to soothe, and eyes brimming with ineffable pity) dying crucified +that he and other malefactors might have hope, by thinking on such +marvellous humanity. The worthy Pharisee who was sent to him to teach +him how mankind is to be redeemed with Love, preached only that harsh +Law whose barbarous power died with the gentle Nazarene on Calvary. + +Repelled by this unlooked-for ending to his hopes, he let the book fall +to the ground. "Is there, then, nothing but torment for me in this world +or the next?" he groaned, shuddering. Presently his eyes sought his +right hand, resting upon it as though it were not his own, or had some +secret virtue which made it different from the other. "He would not +have done this? He would not have thrust upon me these savage judgments, +these dreadful threats of Hell and Death. He called me 'Brother'!" And +filled with a strange wild pity for himself, and yearning love towards +the man who befriended him, he fell to nursing the hand on which North's +tears had fallen, moaning and rocking himself to and fro. + +Meekin, in the morning, found his pupil more sullen than ever. + +"Have you learned these texts, my man?" said he, cheerfully, willing not +to be angered with his uncouth and unpromising convert. + +Rufus Dawes pointed with his foot to the Bible, which still lay on the +floor as he had left it the night before. "No!" + +"No! Why not?" + +"I would learn no such words as those. I would rather forget them." + +"Forget them! My good man, I--" + +Rufus Dawes sprang up in sudden wrath, and pointing to his cell door +with a gesture that--chained and degraded as he was--had something of +dignity in it, cried, "What do you know about the feelings of such as +I? Take your book and yourself away. When I asked for a priest, I had no +thought of you. Begone!" + +Meekin, despite the halo of sanctity which he felt should surround him, +found his gentility melt all of a sudden. Adventitious distinctions had +disappeared for the instant. The pair had become simply man and man, +and the sleek priest-master quailing before the outraged manhood of the +convict-penitent, picked up his Bible and backed out. + +"That man Dawes is very insolent," said the insulted chaplain to +Burgess. "He was brutal to me to-day--quite brutal." + +"Was he?" said Burgess. "Had too long a spell, I expect. I'll send him +back to work to-morrow." + +"It would be well," said Meekin, "if he had some employment." + + + + +CHAPTER XX. "A NATURAL PENITENTIARY." + + + +"The "employment" at Port Arthur consisted chiefly of agriculture, +ship-building, and tanning. Dawes, who was in the chain-gang, was put to +chain-gang labour; that is to say, bringing down logs from the forest, +or "lumbering" timber on the wharf. This work was not light. An +ingenious calculator had discovered that the pressure of the log upon +the shoulder was wont to average 125 lbs. Members of the chain-gang were +dressed in yellow, and--by way of encouraging the others--had the word +"Felon" stamped upon conspicuous parts of their raiment. + +This was the sort of life Rufus Dawes led. In the summer-time he rose +at half-past five in the morning, and worked until six in the evening, +getting three-quarters of an hour for breakfast, and one hour for +dinner. Once a week he had a clean shirt, and once a fortnight clean +socks. If he felt sick, he was permitted to "report his case to the +medical officer". If he wanted to write a letter he could ask permission +of the Commandant, and send the letter, open, through that Almighty +Officer, who could stop it if he thought necessary. If he felt himself +aggrieved by any order, he was "to obey it instantly, but might complain +afterwards, if he thought fit, to the Commandant. In making any +complaint against an officer or constable it was strictly ordered that +a prisoner "must be most respectful in his manner and language, when +speaking of or to such officer or constable". He was held responsible +only for the safety of his chains, and for the rest was at the mercy of +his gaoler. These gaolers--owning right of search, entry into cells at +all hours, and other droits of seigneury--were responsible only to the +Commandant, who was responsible only to the Governor, that is to say, +to nobody but God and his own conscience. The jurisdiction of the +Commandant included the whole of Tasman's Peninsula, with the islands +and waters within three miles thereof; and save the making of certain +returns to head-quarters, his power was unlimited. + +A word as to the position and appearance of this place of punishment. +Tasman's Peninsula is, as we have said before, in the form of an earring +with a double drop. The lower drop is the larger, and is ornamented, +so to speak, with bays. At its southern extremity is a deep indentation +called Maingon Bay, bounded east and west by the organ-pipe rocks of +Cape Raoul, and the giant form of Cape Pillar. From Maingon Bay an arm +of the ocean cleaves the rocky walls in a northerly direction. On the +western coast of this sea-arm was the settlement; in front of it was a +little island where the dead were buried, called The Island of the +Dead. Ere the in-coming convict passed the purple beauty of this convict +Golgotha, his eyes were attracted by a point of grey rock covered with +white buildings, and swarming with life. This was Point Puer, the +place of confinement for boys from eight to twenty years of age. It +was astonishing--many honest folks averred--how ungrateful were these +juvenile convicts for the goods the Government had provided for them. +From the extremity of Long Bay, as the extension of the sea-arm was +named, a convict-made tramroad ran due north, through the nearly +impenetrable thicket to Norfolk Bay. In the mouth of Norfolk Bay was +Woody Island. This was used as a signal station, and an armed boat's +crew was stationed there. To the north of Woody Island lay One-tree +Point--the southernmost projection of the drop of the earring; and the +sea that ran between narrowed to the eastward until it struck on the +sandy bar of Eaglehawk Neck. Eaglehawk Neck was the link that connected +the two drops of the earring. It was a strip of sand four hundred and +fifty yards across. On its eastern side the blue waters of Pirates' Bay, +that is to say, of the Southern Ocean, poured their unchecked force. The +isthmus emerged from a wild and terrible coast-line, into whose bowels +the ravenous sea had bored strange caverns, resonant with perpetual +roar of tortured billows. At one spot in this wilderness the ocean had +penetrated the wall of rock for two hundred feet, and in stormy weather +the salt spray rose through a perpendicular shaft more than five hundred +feet deep. This place was called the Devil's Blow-hole. The upper drop +of the earring was named Forrestier's Peninsula, and was joined to the +mainland by another isthmus called East Bay Neck. Forrestier's +Peninsula was an almost impenetrable thicket, growing to the brink of a +perpendicular cliff of basalt. + +Eaglehawk Neck was the door to the prison, and it was kept bolted. On +the narrow strip of land was built a guard-house, where soldiers from +the barrack on the mainland relieved each other night and day; and on +stages, set out in the water in either side, watch-dogs were chained. +The station officer was charged "to pay special attention to the feeding +and care" of these useful beasts, being ordered "to report to the +Commandant whenever any one of them became useless". It may be added +that the bay was not innocent of sharks. Westward from Eaglehawk Neck +and Woody Island lay the dreaded Coal Mines. Sixty of the "marked men" +were stationed here under a strong guard. At the Coal Mines was the +northernmost of that ingenious series of semaphores which rendered +escape almost impossible. The wild and mountainous character of the +peninsula offered peculiar advantages to the signalmen. On the summit +of the hill which overlooked the guard-towers of the settlement was a +gigantic gum-tree stump, upon the top of which was placed a semaphore. +This semaphore communicated with the two wings of the prison--Eaglehawk +Neck and the Coal Mines--by sending a line of signals right across the +peninsula. Thus, the settlement communicated with Mount Arthur, Mount +Arthur with One-tree Hill, One-tree Hill with Mount Communication, and +Mount Communication with the Coal Mines. On the other side, the signals +would run thus--the settlement to Signal Hill, Signal Hill to Woody +Island, Woody Island to Eaglehawk. Did a prisoner escape from the Coal +Mines, the guard at Eaglehawk Neck could be aroused, and the whole +island informed of the "bolt" in less than twenty minutes. With these +advantages of nature and art, the prison was held to be the most secure +in the world. Colonel Arthur reported to the Home Government that +the spot which bore his name was a "natural penitentiary". The worthy +disciplinarian probably took as a personal compliment the polite +forethought of the Almighty in thus considerately providing for the +carrying out of the celebrated "Regulations for Convict Discipline". + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. A VISIT OF INSPECTION. + + + +One afternoon ever-active semaphores transmitted a piece of intelligence +which set the peninsula agog. Captain Frere, having arrived from +head-quarters, with orders to hold an inquiry into the death of +Kirkland, was not unlikely to make a progress through the stations, +and it behoved the keepers of the Natural Penitentiary to produce +their Penitents in good case. Burgess was in high spirits at finding so +congenial a soul selected for the task of reporting upon him. + +"It's only a nominal thing, old man," Frere said to his former comrade, +when they met. "That parson has made meddling, and they want to close +his mouth." + +"I am glad to have the opportunity of showing you and Mrs. Frere the +place," returned Burgess. "I must try and make your stay as pleasant +as I can, though I'm afraid that Mrs. Frere will not find much to amuse +her." + +"Frankly, Captain Burgess," said Sylvia, "I would rather have gone +straight to Sydney. My husband, however, was obliged to come, and of +course I accompanied him." + +"You will not have much society," said Meekin, who was of the welcoming +party. "Mrs. Datchett, the wife of one of our stipendiaries, is the only +lady here, and I hope to have the pleasure of making you acquainted with +her this evening at the Commandant's. Mr. McNab, whom you know, is in +command at the Neck, and cannot leave, or you would have seen him." + +"I have planned a little party," said Burgess, "but I fear that it will +not be so successful as I could wish." + +"You wretched old bachelor," said Frere; "you should get married, like +me." + +"Ah!" said Burgess, with a bow, "that would be difficult." + +Sylvia was compelled to smile at the compliment, made in the presence of +some twenty prisoners, who were carrying the various trunks and packages +up the hill, and she remarked that the said prisoners grinned at the +Commandant's clumsy courtesy. "I don't like Captain Burgess, Maurice," +she said, in the interval before dinner. "I dare say he did flog that +poor fellow to death. He looks as if he could do it." + +"Nonsense!" said Maurice, pettishly; "he's a good fellow enough. +Besides, I've seen the doctor's certificate. It's a trumped-up story. I +can't understand your absurd sympathy with prisoners." + +"Don't they sometimes deserve sympathy?" + +"No, certainly not--a set of lying scoundrels. You are always whining +over them, Sylvia. I don't like it, and I've told you before about it." + +Sylvia said nothing. Maurice was often guilty of these small +brutalities, and she had learnt that the best way to meet them was +by silence. Unfortunately, silence did not mean indifference, for the +reproof was unjust, and nothing stings a woman's fine sense like an +injustice. Burgess had prepared a feast, and the "Society" of Port +Arthur was present. Father Flaherty, Meekin, Doctor Macklewain, and Mr. +and Mrs. Datchett had been invited, and the dining-room was resplendent +with glass and flowers. + +"I've a fellow who was a professional gardener," said Burgess to Sylvia +during the dinner, "and I make use of his talents." + +"We have a professional artist also," said Macklewain, with a sort of +pride. "That picture of the 'Prisoner of Chillon' yonder was painted by +him. A very meritorious production, is it not?" + +"I've got the place full of curiosities," said Burgess; "quite a +collection. I'll show them to you to-morrow. Those napkin rings were +made by a prisoner." + +"Ah!" cried Frere, taking up the daintily-carved bone, "very neat!" + +"That is some of Rex's handiwork," said Meekin. "He is very clever at +these trifles. He made me a paper-cutter that was really a work of art." + +"We will go down to the Neck to-morrow or next day, Mrs. Frere," said +Burgess, "and you shall see the Blow-hole. It is a curious place." + +"Is it far?" asked Sylvia. + +"Oh no! We shall go in the train." + +"The train!" + +"Yes--don't look so astonished. You'll see it to-morrow. Oh, you Hobart +Town ladies don't know what we can do here." + +"What about this Kirkland business?" Frere asked. "I suppose I can have +half an hour with you in the morning, and take the depositions?" + +"Any time you like, my dear fellow," said Burgess. "It's all the same to +me." + +"I don't want to make more fuss than I can help," Frere said +apologetically--the dinner had been good--"but I must send these people +up a 'full, true and particular', don't you know." + +"Of course," cried Burgess, with friendly nonchalance. "That's all +right. I want Mrs. Frere to see Point Puer." + +"Where the boys are?" asked Sylvia. + +"Exactly. Nearly three hundred of 'em. We'll go down to-morrow, and you +shall be my witness, Mrs. Frere, as to the way they are treated." + +"Indeed," said Sylvia, protesting, "I would rather not. I--I don't +take the interest in these things that I ought, perhaps. They are very +dreadful to me." + +"Nonsense!" said Frere, with a scowl. "We'll come, Burgess, of course." +The next two days were devoted to sight-seeing. Sylvia was taken through +the hospital and the workshops, shown the semaphores, and shut up by +Maurice in a "dark cell". Her husband and Burgess seemed to treat the +prison like a tame animal, whom they could handle at their leisure, and +whose natural ferocity was kept in check by their superior intelligence. +This bringing of a young and pretty woman into immediate contact with +bolts and bars had about it an incongruity which pleased them. Maurice +penetrated everywhere, questioned the prisoners, jested with the +gaolers, even, in the munificence of his heart, bestowed tobacco on the +sick. + +With such graceful rattlings of dry bones, they got by and by to Point +Puer, where a luncheon had been provided. + +An unlucky accident had occurred at Point Puer that morning, however, +and the place was in a suppressed ferment. A refractory little thief +named Peter Brown, aged twelve years, had jumped off the high rock and +drowned himself in full view of the constables. These "jumpings off" had +become rather frequent lately, and Burgess was enraged at one happening +on this particular day. If he could by any possibility have brought the +corpse of poor little Peter Brown to life again, he would have soundly +whipped it for its impertinence. + +"It is most unfortunate," he said to Frere, as they stood in the cell +where the little body was laid, "that it should have happened to-day." + +"Oh," says Frere, frowning down upon the young face that seemed to smile +up at him. "It can't be helped. I know those young devils. They'd do it +out of spite. What sort of a character had he?" + +"Very bad--Johnson, the book." + +Johnson bringing it, the two saw Peter Brown's iniquities set down +in the neatest of running hand, and the record of his punishments +ornamented in quite an artistic way with flourishes of red ink + +"20th November, disorderly conduct, 12 lashes. 24th November, insolence +to hospital attendant, diet reduced. 4th December, stealing cap from +another prisoner, 12 lashes. 15th December, absenting himself at roll +call, two days' cells. 23rd December, insolence and insubordination, two +days' cells. 8th January, insolence and insubordination, 12 lashes. +20th January, insolence and insubordination, 12 lashes. 22nd February, +insolence and insubordination, 12 lashes and one week's solitary. 6th +March, insolence and insubordination, 20 lashes." + +"That was the last?" asked Frere. + +"Yes, sir," says Johnson. + +"And then he--hum--did it?" + +"Just so, sir. That was the way of it." + +Just so! The magnificent system starved and tortured a child of twelve +until he killed himself. That was the way of it. + +After luncheon the party made a progress. Everything was most admirable. +There was a long schoolroom, where such men as Meekin taught how Christ +loved little children; and behind the schoolroom were the cells and the +constables and the little yard where they gave their "twenty lashes". +Sylvia shuddered at the array of faces. From the stolid nineteen years +old booby of the Kentish hop-fields, to the wizened, shrewd, ten years +old Bohemian of the London streets, all degrees and grades of juvenile +vice grinned, in untamable wickedness, or snuffed in affected piety. +"Suffer little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not, for of +such is the Kingdom of Heaven," said, or is reported to have said, the +Founder of our Established Religion. Of such it seemed that a large +number of Honourable Gentlemen, together with Her Majesty's faithful +commons in Parliament assembled, had done their best to create a Kingdom +of Hell. + +After the farce had been played again, and the children had stood up +and sat down, and sung a hymn, and told how many twice five were, and +repeated their belief in "One God the Father Almighty, maker of Heaven +and Earth", the party reviewed the workshops, and saw the church, and +went everywhere but into the room where the body of Peter Brown, aged +twelve, lay starkly on its wooden bench, staring at the gaol roof which +was between it and Heaven. + +Just outside this room, Sylvia met with a little adventure. Meekin had +stopped behind, and Burgess, being suddenly summoned for some official +duty, Frere had gone with him, leaving his wife to rest on a bench that, +placed at the summit of the cliff, overlooked the sea. While resting +thus, she became aware of another presence, and, turning her head, +beheld a small boy, with his cap in one hand and a hammer in the other. +The appearance of the little creature, clad in a uniform of grey cloth +that was too large for him, and holding in his withered little hand a +hammer that was too heavy for him, had something pathetic about it. + +"What is it, you mite?" asked Sylvia. + +"We thought you might have seen him, mum," said the little figure, +opening its blue eyes with wonder at the kindness of the tone. "Him! +Whom?" + +"Cranky Brown, mum," returned the child; "him as did it this morning. Me +and Billy knowed him, mum; he was a mate of ours, and we wanted to know +if he looked happy." + +"What do you mean, child?" said she, with a strange terror at her heart; +and then, filled with pity at the aspect of the little being, she drew +him to her, with sudden womanly instinct, and kissed him. He looked up +at her with joyful surprise. "Oh!" he said. + +Sylvia kissed him again. + +"Does nobody ever kiss you, poor little man?" said she. + +"Mother used to," was the reply, "but she's at home. Oh, mum," with a +sudden crimsoning of the little face, "may I fetch Billy?" + +And taking courage from the bright young face, he gravely marched to an +angle of the rock, and brought out another little creature, with another +grey uniform and another hammer. + +"This is Billy, mum," he said. "Billy never had no mother. Kiss Billy." + +The young wife felt the tears rush to her eyes. "You two poor babies!" +she cried. And then, forgetting that she was a lady, dressed in silk +and lace, she fell on her knees in the dust, and, folding the friendless +pair in her arms, wept over them. + +"What is the matter, Sylvia?" said Frere, when he came up. "You've been +crying." + +"Nothing, Maurice; at least, I will tell you by and by." + +When they were alone that evening, she told him of the two little boys, +and he laughed. "Artful little humbugs," he said, and supported his +argument by so many illustrations of the precocious wickedness of +juvenile felons, that his wife was half convinced against her will. + + + * * * * * + + +Unfortunately, when Sylvia went away, Tommy and Billy put into execution +a plan which they had carried in their poor little heads for some weeks. + +"I can do it now," said Tommy. "I feel strong." + +"Will it hurt much, Tommy?" said Billy, who was not so courageous. + +"Not so much as a whipping." + +"I'm afraid! Oh, Tom, it's so deep! Don't leave me, Tom!" + +The bigger boy took his little handkerchief from his neck, and with it +bound his own left hand to his companion's right. + +"Now I can't leave you." + +"What was it the lady that kissed us said, Tommy?" + +"Lord, have pity on them two fatherless children!" repeated Tommy. +"Let's say it together." + +And so the two babies knelt on the brink of the cliff, and, raising the +bound hands together, looked up at the sky, and ungrammatically said, +"Lord have pity on we two fatherless children!" And then they kissed +each other, and "did it". + + + * * * * * + + +The intelligence, transmitted by the ever-active semaphore, reached the +Commandant in the midst of dinner, and in his agitation he blurted it +out. + +"These are the two poor things I saw in the morning," cried Sylvia. "Oh, +Maurice, these two poor babies driven to suicide!" + +"Condemning their young souls to everlasting fire," said Meekin, +piously. + +"Mr. Meekin! How can you talk like that? Poor little creatures! Oh, +it's horrible! Maurice, take me away." And she burst into a passion of +weeping. "I can't help it, ma'am," says Burgess, rudely, ashamed. "It +ain't my fault." + +"She's nervous," says Frere, leading her away. "You must excuse her. +Come and lie down, dearest." + +"I will not stay here longer," said she. "Let us go to-morrow." + +"We can't," said Frere. + +"Oh, yes, we can. I insist. Maurice, if you love me, take me away." + +"Well," said Maurice, moved by her evident grief, "I'll try." + +He spoke to Burgess. "Burgess, this matter has unsettled my wife, so +that she wants to leave at once. I must visit the Neck, you know. How +can we do it?" + +"Well," says Burgess, "if the wind only holds, the brig could go +round to Pirates' Bay and pick you up. You'll only be a night at the +barracks." + +"I think that would be best," said Frere. "We'll start to-morrow, +please, and if you'll give me a pen and ink I'll be obliged." + +"I hope you are satisfied," said Burgess. + +"Oh yes, quite," said Frere. "I must recommend more careful supervision +at Point Puer, though. It will never do to have these young blackguards +slipping through our fingers in this way." + +So a neatly written statement of the occurrence was appended to the +ledgers in which the names of William Tomkins and Thomas Grove were +entered. Macklewain held an inquest, and nobody troubled about them any +more. Why should they? The prisons of London were full of such Tommys +and Billys. + + + * * * * * + + + +Sylvia passed through the rest of her journey in a dream of terror. The +incident of the children had shaken her nerves, and she longed to be +away from the place and its associations. Even Eaglehawk Neck with its +curious dog stages and its "natural pavement", did not interest her. +McNab's blandishments were wearisome. She shuddered as she gazed +into the boiling abyss of the Blow-hole, and shook with fear as the +Commandant's "train" rattled over the dangerous tramway that wound +across the precipice to Long Bay. The "train" was composed of a number +of low wagons pushed and dragged up the steep inclines by convicts, who +drew themselves up in the wagons when the trucks dashed down the slope, +and acted as drags. Sylvia felt degraded at being thus drawn by human +beings, and trembled when the lash cracked, and the convicts answered to +the sting--like cattle. Moreover, there was among the foremost of these +beasts of burden a face that had dimly haunted her girlhood, and +only lately vanished from her dreams. This face looked on her--she +thought--with bitterest loathing and scorn, and she felt relieved when +at the midday halt its owner was ordered to fall out from the rest, and +was with four others re-chained for the homeward journey. Frere, struck +with the appearance of the five, said, "By Jove, Poppet, there are our +old friends Rex and Dawes, and the others. They won't let 'em come all +the way, because they are such a desperate lot, they might make a rush +for it." Sylvia comprehended now the face was the face of Dawes; and +as she looked after him, she saw him suddenly raise his hands above his +head with a motion that terrified her. She felt for an instant a great +shock of pitiful recollection. Staring at the group, she strove to +recall when and how Rufus Dawes, the wretch from whose clutches her +husband had saved her, had ever merited her pity, but her clouded memory +could not complete the picture, and as the wagons swept round a curve, +and the group disappeared, she awoke from her reverie with a sigh. + +"Maurice," she whispered, "how is it that the sight of that man always +makes me sad?" + +Her husband frowned, and then, caressing her, bade her forget the man +and the place and her fears. "I was wrong to have insisted on your +coming," he said. They stood on the deck of the Sydney-bound vessel the +next morning, and watched the "Natural Penitentiary" grow dim in the +distance. "You were not strong enough." + + + * * * * * + + +"Dawes," said John Rex, "you love that girl! Now that you've seen her +another man's wife, and have been harnessed like a beast to drag him +along the road, while he held her in his arms!--now that you've seen and +suffered that, perhaps you'll join us." + +Rufus Dawes made a movement of agonized impatience. + +"You'd better. You'll never get out of this place any other way. Come, +be a man; join us!" + +"No!" + +"It is your only chance. Why refuse it? Do you want to live here all +your life?" + +"I want no sympathy from you or any other. I will not join you." + +Rex shrugged his shoulders and walked away. "If you think to get any +good out of that 'inquiry', you are mightily mistaken," said he, as he +went. "Frere has put a stopper upon that, you'll find." He spoke truly. +Nothing more was heard of it, only that, some six months afterwards, +Mr. North, when at Parramatta, received an official letter (in which the +expenditure of wax and printing and paper was as large as it could be +made) which informed him that the "Comptroller-General of the Convict +Department had decided that further inquiry concerning the death of the +prisoner named in the margin was unnecessary", and that some gentleman +with an utterly illegible signature "had the honour to be his most +obedient servant". + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. GATHERING IN THE THREADS. + + + +Maurice found his favourable expectations of Sydney fully realized. His +notable escape from death at Macquarie Harbour, his alliance with the +daughter of so respected a colonist as Major Vickers, and his reputation +as a convict disciplinarian rendered him a man of note. He received a +vacant magistracy, and became even more noted for hardness of heart and +artfulness of prison knowledge than before. The convict population spoke +of him as "that ---- Frere," and registered vows of vengeance against +him, which he laughed--in his bluffness--to scorn. + +One anecdote concerning the method by which he shepherded his flock will +suffice to show his character and his value. It was his custom to visit +the prison-yard at Hyde Park Barracks twice a week. Visitors to convicts +were, of course, armed, and the two pistol-butts that peeped from +Frere's waistcoat attracted many a longing eye. How easy would it be for +some fellow to pluck one forth and shatter the smiling, hateful face of +the noted disciplinarian! Frere, however, brave to rashness, never would +bestow his weapons more safely, but lounged through the yard with his +hands in the pockets of his shooting-coat, and the deadly butts ready to +the hand of anyone bold enough to take them. + +One day a man named Kavanagh, a captured absconder, who had openly sworn +in the dock the death of the magistrate, walked quickly up to him as he +was passing through the yard, and snatched a pistol from his belt. The +yard caught its breath, and the attendant warder, hearing the click of +the lock, instinctively turned his head away, so that he might not be +blinded by the flash. But Kavanagh did not fire. At the instant when +his hand was on the pistol, he looked up and met the magnetic glance of +Frere's imperious eyes. An effort, and the spell would have been broken. +A twitch of the finger, and his enemy would have fallen dead. There was +an instant when that twitch of the finger could have been given, but +Kavanagh let that instant pass. The dauntless eye fascinated him. He +played with the pistol nervously, while all remained stupefied. Frere +stood, without withdrawing his hands from the pockets into which they +were plunged. + +"That's a fine pistol, Jack," he said at last. + +Kavanagh, down whose white face the sweat was pouring, burst into a +hideous laugh of relieved terror, and thrust the weapon, cocked as it +was, back again into the magistrate's belt. + +Frere slowly drew one hand from his pocket, took the cocked pistol and +levelled it at his recent assailant. "That's the best chance you'll ever +get, Jack," said he. + +Kavanagh fell on his knees. "For God's sake, Captain Frere!" Frere +looked down on the trembling wretch, and then uncocked the pistol, with +a laugh of ferocious contempt. "Get up, you dog," he said. "It takes a +better man than you to best me. Bring him up in the morning, Hawkins, +and we'll give him five-and-twenty." + +As he went out--so great is the admiration for Power--the poor devils in +the yard cheered him. + +One of the first things that this useful officer did upon his arrival +in Sydney was to inquire for Sarah Purfoy. To his astonishment, he +discovered that she was the proprietor of large export warehouses in +Pitt-street, owned a neat cottage on one of the points of land which +jutted into the bay, and was reputed to possess a banking account of no +inconsiderable magnitude. He in vain applied his brains to solve this +mystery. His cast-off mistress had not been rich when she left Van +Diemen's Land--at least, so she had assured him, and appearances bore +out her assurance. How had she accumulated this sudden wealth? Above +all, why had she thus invested it? He made inquiries at the banks, but +was snubbed for his pains. Sydney banks in those days did some queer +business. Mrs. Purfoy had come to them "fully accredited," said the +manager with a smile. + +"But where did she get the money?" asked the magistrate. "I am +suspicious of these sudden fortunes. The woman was a notorious character +in Hobart Town, and when she left hadn't a penny." + +"My dear Captain Frere," said the acute banker--his father had been one +of the builders of the "Rum Hospital"--"it is not the custom of our bank +to make inquiries into the previous history of its customers. The bills +were good, you may depend, or we should not have honoured them. Good +morning!" + +"The bills!" Frere saw but one explanation. Sarah had received the +proceeds of some of Rex's rogueries. Rex's letter to his father and +the mention of the sum of money "in the old house in Blue Anchor Yard" +flashed across his memory. Perhaps Sarah had got the money from the +receiver and appropriated it. But why invest it in an oil and tallow +warehouse? He had always been suspicious of the woman, because he had +never understood her, and his suspicions redoubled. Convinced that there +was some plot hatching, he determined to use all the advantages that his +position gave him to discover the secret and bring it to light. The name +of the man to whom Rex's letters had been addressed was "Blicks". +He would find out if any of the convicts under his care had heard of +Blicks. Prosecuting his inquiries in the proper direction, he soon +obtained a reply. Blicks was a London receiver of stolen goods, known to +at least a dozen of the black sheep of the Sydney fold. He was reputed +to be enormously wealthy, had often been tried, but never convicted. +Frere was thus not much nearer enlightenment than before, and +an incident occurred a few months afterwards which increased his +bewilderment He had not been long established in his magistracy, when +Blunt came to claim payment for the voyage of Sarah Purfoy. "There's +that schooner going begging, one may say, sir," said Blunt, when the +office door was shut. + +"What schooner?" + +"The Franklin." + +Now the Franklin was a vessel of three hundred and twenty tons which +plied between Norfolk Island and Sydney, as the Osprey had plied in the +old days between Macquarie Harbour and Hobart Town. "I am afraid that is +rather stiff, Blunt," said Frere. "That's one of the best billets going, +you know. I doubt if I have enough interest to get it for you. Besides," +he added, eyeing the sailor critically, "you are getting oldish for that +sort of thing, ain't you?" + +Phineas Blunt stretched his arms wide, and opened his mouth, full of +sound white teeth. "I am good for twenty years more yet, sir," he said. +"My father was trading to the Indies at seventy-five years of age. I'm +hearty enough, thank God; for, barring a drop of rum now and then, I've +no vices to speak of. However, I ain't in a hurry, Captain, for a month +or so; only I thought I'd jog your memory a bit, d ye see." + +"Oh, you're not in a hurry; where are you going then?" + +"Well," said Blunt, shifting on his seat, uneasy under Frere's +convict-disciplined eye, "I've got a job on hand." + +"Glad of it, I'm sure. What sort of a job?" + +"A job of whaling," said Blunt, more uneasy than before. + +"Oh, that's it, is it? Your old line of business. And who employs you +now?" There was no suspicion in the tone, and had Blunt chosen to evade +the question, he might have done so without difficulty, but he replied +as one who had anticipated such questioning, and had been advised how to +answer it. + +"Mrs. Purfoy." + +"What!" cried Frere, scarcely able to believe his ears. + +"She's got a couple of ships now, Captain, and she made me skipper of +one of 'em. We look for beshdellamare [beche-de-la-mer], and take a turn +at harpooning sometimes." + +Frere stared at Blunt, who stared at the window. There was--so the +instinct of the magistrate told him--some strange project afoot. Yet +that common sense which so often misleads us, urged that it was quite +natural Sarah should employ whaling vessels to increase her trade. +Granted that there was nothing wrong about her obtaining the business, +there was nothing strange about her owning a couple of whaling +vessels. There were people in Sydney, of no better origin, who owned +half-a-dozen. "Oh," said he. "And when do you start?" + +"I'm expecting to get the word every day," returned Blunt, apparently +relieved, "and I thought I'd just come and see you first, in case of +anything falling in." Frere played with a pen-knife on the table in +silence for a while, allowing it to fall through his fingers with a +series of sharp clicks, and then he said, "Where does she get the money +from?" + +"Blest if I know!" said Blunt, in unaffected simplicity. "That's beyond +me. She says she saved it. But that's all my eye, you know." + +"You don't know anything about it, then?" cried Frere, suddenly fierce. + +"No, not I." + +"Because, if there's any game on, she'd better take care," he cried, +relapsing, in his excitement, into the convict vernacular. "She knows +me. Tell her that I've got my eyes on her. Let her remember her bargain. +If she runs any rigs on me, let her take care." In his suspicious wrath +he so savagely and unwarily struck downwards with the open pen-knife +that it shut upon his fingers, and cut him to the bone. + +"I'll tell her," said Blunt, wiping his brow. "I'm sure she wouldn't +go to sell you. But I'll look in when I come back, sir." When he got +outside he drew a long breath. "By the Lord Harry, but it's a ticklish +game to play," he said to himself, with a lively recollection of the +dreaded Frere's vehemence; "and there's only one woman in the world I'd +be fool enough to play it for." + +Maurice Frere, oppressed with suspicions, ordered his horse that +afternoon, and rode down to see the cottage which the owner of "Purfoy +Stores" had purchased. He found it a low white building, situated four +miles from the city, at the extreme end of a tongue of land which ran +into the deep waters of the harbour. A garden carefully cultivated, +stood between the roadway and the house, and in this garden he saw a man +digging. + +"Does Mrs. Purfoy live here?" he asked, pushing open one of the iron +gates. + +The man replied in the affirmative, staring at the visitor with some +suspicion. + +"Is she at home?" + +"No." + +"You are sure?" + +"If you don't believe me, ask at the house," was the reply, given in the +uncourteous tone of a free man. + +Frere pushed his horse through the gate, and walked up the broad and +well-kept carriage drive. A man-servant in livery, answering his ring, +told him that Mrs. Purfoy had gone to town, and then shut the door in +his face. Frere, more astonished than ever at these outward and visible +signs of independence, paused, indignant, feeling half inclined to enter +despite opposition. As he looked through the break of the trees, he saw +the masts of a brig lying at anchor off the extremity of the point on +which the house was built, and understood that the cottage commanded +communication by water as well as by land. Could there be a special +motive in choosing such a situation, or was it mere chance? He was +uneasy, but strove to dismiss his alarm. + +Sarah had kept faith with him so far. She had entered upon a new and +more reputable life, and why should he seek to imagine evil where +perhaps no evil was? Blunt was evidently honest. Women like Sarah +Purfoy often emerged into a condition of comparative riches and domestic +virtue. It was likely that, after all, some wealthy merchant was +the real owner of the house and garden, pleasure yacht, and tallow +warehouse, and that he had no cause for fear. + +The experienced convict disciplinarian did not rate the ability of John +Rex high enough. + +From the instant the convict had heard his sentence of life banishment, +he had determined upon escaping, and had brought all the powers of his +acute and unscrupulous intellect to the consideration of the best method +of achieving his purpose. His first care was to procure money. This he +thought to do by writing to Blick, but when informed by Meekin of the +fate of his letter, he adopted the--to him--less pleasant alternative of +procuring it through Sarah Purfoy. + +It was peculiar to the man's hard and ungrateful nature that, despite +the attachment of the woman who had followed him to his place of +durance, and had made it the object of her life to set him free, he had +cherished for her no affection. It was her beauty that had attracted +him, when, as Mr. Lionel Crofton, he swaggered in the night-society +of London. Her talents and her devotion were secondary +considerations--useful to him as attributes of a creature he owned, but +not to be thought of when his fancy wearied of its choice. During the +twelve years which had passed since his rashness had delivered him into +the hands of the law at the house of Green, the coiner, he had been +oppressed with no regrets for her fate. He had, indeed, seen and +suffered so much that the old life had been put away from him. When, on +his return, he heard that Sarah Purfoy was still in Hobart Town, he was +glad, for he knew that he had an ally who would do her utmost to help +him--she had shown that on board the Malabar. But he was also sorry, for +he remembered that the price she would demand for her services was his +affection, and that had cooled long ago. However, he would make use of +her. There might be a way to discard her if she proved troublesome. + +His pretended piety had accomplished the end he had assumed it for. +Despite Frere's exposure of his cryptograph, he had won the confidence +of Meekin; and into that worthy creature's ear he poured a strange and +sad story. He was the son, he said, of a clergyman of the Church of +England, whose real name, such was his reverence for the cloth, should +never pass his lips. He was transported for a forgery which he did not +commit. Sarah Purfoy was his wife--his erring, lost and yet loved +wife. She, an innocent and trusting girl, had determined--strong in the +remembrance of that promise she had made at the altar--to follow her +husband to his place of doom, and had hired herself as lady's-maid to +Mrs. Vickers. Alas! fever prostrated that husband on a bed of sickness, +and Maurice Frere, the profligate and the villain, had taken advantage +of the wife's unprotected state to ruin her! Rex darkly hinted how +the seducer made his power over the sick and helpless husband a weapon +against the virtue of the wife and so terrified poor Meekin that, had it +not "happened so long ago", he would have thought it necessary to look +with some disfavour upon the boisterous son-in-law of Major Vickers. + +"I bear him no ill-will, sir," said Rex. "I did at first. There was a +time when I could have killed him, but when I had him in my power, I--as +you know--forbore to strike. No, sir, I could not commit murder!" + +"Very proper," says Meekin, "very proper indeed." "God will punish him +in His own way, and His own time," continued Rex. "My great sorrow is +for the poor woman. She is in Sydney, I have heard, living respectably, +sir; and my heart bleeds for her." Here Rex heaved a sigh that would +have made his fortune on the boards. + +"My poor fellow," said Meekin. "Do you know where she is?" + +"I do, sir." + +"You might write to her." + +John Rex appeared to hesitate, to struggle with himself, and finally to +take a deep resolve. "No, Mr. Meekin, I will not write." + +"Why not?" + +"You know the orders, sir--the Commandant reads all the letters sent. +Could I write to my poor Sarah what other eyes were to read?" and he +watched the parson slyly. + +"N--no, you could not," said Meekin, at last. + +"It is true, sir," said Rex, letting his head sink on his breast. The +next day, Meekin, blushing with the consciousness that what he was about +to do was wrong, said to his penitent, "If you will promise to write +nothing that the Commandant might not see, Rex, I will send your letter +to your wife." + +"Heaven bless you, sir,". said Rex, and took two days to compose an +epistle which should tell Sarah Purfoy how to act. The letter was +a model of composition in one way. It stated everything clearly and +succinctly. Not a detail that could assist was omitted--not a line that +could embarrass was suffered to remain. John Rex's scheme of six months' +deliberation was set down in the clearest possible manner. He brought +his letter unsealed to Meekin. Meekin looked at it with an interest that +was half suspicion. "Have I your word that there is nothing in this that +might not be read by the Commandant?" + +John Rex was a bold man, but at the sight of the deadly thing fluttering +open in the clergyman's hand, his knees knocked together. Strong in his +knowledge of human nature, however, he pursued his desperate plan. +"Read it, sir," he said turning away his face reproachfully. "You are a +gentleman. I can trust you." + +"No, Rex," said Meekin, walking loftily into the pitfall; "I do not read +private letters." It was sealed, and John Rex felt as if somebody had +withdrawn a match from a powder barrel. + +In a month Mr. Meekin received a letter, beautifully written, from +"Sarah Rex", stating briefly that she had heard of his goodness, that +the enclosed letter was for her husband, and that if it was against the +rules to give it him, she begged it might be returned to her unread. Of +course Meekin gave it to Rex, who next morning handed to Meekin a most +touching pious production, begging him to read it. Meekin did so, and +any suspicions he may have had were at once disarmed. He was ignorant of +the fact that the pious letter contained a private one intended for John +Rex only, which letter John Rex thought so highly of, that, having read +it twice through most attentively, he ate it. + +The plan of escape was after all a simple one. Sarah Purfoy was to +obtain from Blicks the moneys he held in trust, and to embark the sum +thus obtained in any business which would suffer her to keep a vessel +hovering round the southern coast of Van Diemen's Land without exciting +suspicion. The escape was to be made in the winter months, if possible, +in June or July. The watchful vessel was to be commanded by some +trustworthy person, who was to frequently land on the south-eastern +side, and keep a look-out for any extraordinary appearance along the +coast. Rex himself must be left to run the gauntlet of the dogs and +guards unaided. "This seems a desperate scheme," wrote Rex, "but it +is not so wild as it looks. I have thought over a dozen others, and +rejected them all. This is the only way. Consider it well. I have my own +plan for escape, which is easy if rescue be at hand. All depends upon +placing a trustworthy man in charge of the vessel. You ought to know +a dozen such. I will wait eighteen months to give you time to make all +arrangements." The eighteen months had now nearly passed over, and +the time for the desperate attempt drew near. Faithful to his cruel +philosophy, John Rex had provided scape-goats, who, by their vicarious +agonies, should assist him to his salvation. + +He had discovered that of the twenty men in his gang eight had already +determined on an effort for freedom. The names of these eight were +Gabbett, Vetch, Bodenham, Cornelius, Greenhill, Sanders, called the +"Moocher", Cox, and Travers. The leading spirits were Vetch and Gabbett, +who, with profound reverence, requested the "Dandy" to join. John Rex, +ever suspicious, and feeling repelled by the giant's strange eagerness, +at first refused, but by degrees allowed himself to appear to be +drawn into the scheme. He would urge these men to their fate, and take +advantage of the excitement attendant on their absence to effect his +own escape. "While all the island is looking for these eight boobies, I +shall have a good chance to slip away unmissed." He wished, however, to +have a companion. Some strong man, who, if pressed hard, would turn +and keep the pursuers at bay, would be useful without doubt; and this +comrade-victim he sought in Rufus Dawes. + +Beginning, as we have seen, from a purely selfish motive, to urge his +fellow-prisoner to abscond with him, John Rex gradually found himself +attracted into something like friendliness by the sternness with which +his overtures were repelled. Always a keen student of human nature, +the scoundrel saw beneath the roughness with which it had pleased the +unfortunate man to shroud his agony, how faithful a friend and how +ardent and undaunted a spirit was concealed. There was, moreover, a +mystery about Rufus Dawes which Rex, the reader of hearts, longed to +fathom. + +"Have you no friends whom you would wish to see?" he asked, one evening, +when Rufus Dawes had proved more than usually deaf to his arguments. + +"No," said Dawes gloomily. "My friends are all dead to me." + +"What, all?" asked the other. "Most men have some one whom they wish to +see." + +Rufus Dawes laughed a slow, heavy laugh. "I am better here." + +"Then are you content to live this dog's life?" + +"Enough, enough," said Dawes. "I am resolved." + +"Pooh! Pluck up a spirit," cried Rex. "It can't fail. I've been thinking +of it for eighteen months, and it can't fail." + +"Who are going?" asked the other, his eyes fixed on the ground. John Rex +enumerated the eight, and Dawes raised his head. "I won't go. I have +had two trials at it; I don't want another. I would advise you not to +attempt it either." + +"Why not?" + +"Gabbett bolted twice before," said Rufus Dawes, shuddering at the +remembrance of the ghastly object he had seen in the sunlit glen at +Hell's Gates. "Others went with him, but each time he returned alone." + +"What do you mean?" asked Rex, struck by the tone of his companion. + +"What became of the others?" + +"Died, I suppose," said the Dandy, with a forced laugh. + +"Yes; but how? They were all without food. How came the surviving +monster to live six weeks?" + +John Rex grew a shade paler, and did not reply. He recollected the +sanguinary legend that pertained to Gabbett's rescue. But he did not +intend to make the journey in his company, so, after all, he had no +cause for fear. "Come with me then," he said, at length. "We will try +our luck together." + +"No. I have resolved. I stay here." + +"And leave your innocence unproved." + +"How can I prove it?" cried Rufus Dawes, roughly impatient. "There are +crimes committed which are never brought to light, and this is one of +them." + +"Well," said Rex, rising, as if weary of the discussion, "have it your +own way, then. You know best. The private detective game is hard work. +I, myself, have gone on a wild-goose chase before now. There's a mystery +about a certain ship-builder's son which took me four months to unravel, +and then I lost the thread." + +"A ship-builder's son! Who was he?" + +John Rex paused in wonderment at the eager interest with which the +question was put, and then hastened to take advantage of this new +opening for conversation. "A queer story. A well-known character in my +time--Sir Richard Devine. A miserly old curmudgeon, with a scapegrace +son." + +Rufus Dawes bit his lips to avoid showing his emotion. This was the +second time that the name of his dead father had been spoken in his +hearing. "I think I remember something of him," he said, with a voice +that sounded strangely calm in his own ears. + +"A curious story," said Rex, plunging into past memories. "Amongst other +matters, I dabbled a little in the Private Inquiry line of business, and +the old man came to me. He had a son who had gone abroad--a wild young +dog, by all accounts--and he wanted particulars of him." + +"Did you get them?" + +"To a certain extent. I hunted him through Paris into Brussels, from +Brussels to Antwerp, from Antwerp back to Paris. I lost him there. +A miserable end to a long and expensive search. I got nothing but +a portmanteau with a lot of letters from his mother. I sent the +particulars to the ship-builder, and by all accounts the news killed +him, for he died not long after." + +"And the son?" + +"Came to the queerest end of all. The old man had left him his +fortune--a large one, I believe--but he'd left Europe, it seems, for +India, and was lost in the Hydaspes. Frere was his cousin." + +"Ah!" + +"By Gad, it annoys me when I think of it," continued Rex, feeling, +by force of memory, once more the adventurer of fashion. "With the +resources I had, too. Oh, a miserable failure! The days and nights I've +spent walking about looking for Richard Devine, and never catching +a glimpse of him. The old man gave me his son's portrait, with full +particulars of his early life, and I suppose I carried that ivory +gimcrack in my breast for nearly three months, pulling it out to refresh +my memory every half-hour. By Gad, if the young gentleman was +anything like his picture, I could have sworn to him if I'd met him in +Timbuctoo." + +"Do you think you'd know him again?" asked Rufus Dawes in a low voice, +turning away his head. + +There may have been something in the attitude in which the speaker had +put himself that awakened memory, or perhaps the subdued eagerness of +the tone, contrasting so strangely with the comparative inconsequence of +the theme, that caused John Rex's brain to perform one of those feats +of automatic synthesis at which we afterwards wonder. The profligate +son--the likeness to the portrait--the mystery of Dawes's life! These +were the links of a galvanic chain. He closed the circuit, and a vivid +flash revealed to him--THE MAN. + +Warder Troke, coming up, put his hand on Rex's shoulder. "Dawes," he +said, "you're wanted at the yard"; and then, seeing his mistake, added +with a grin, "Curse you two; you're so much alike one can't tell t'other +from which." + +Rufus Dawes walked off moodily; but John Rex's evil face turned pale, +and a strange hope made his heart leap. "Gad, Troke's right; we are +alike. I'll not press him to escape any more." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. RUNNING THE GAUNTLET. + + + +The Pretty Mary--as ugly and evil-smelling a tub as ever pitched under +a southerly burster--had been lying on and off Cape Surville for nearly +three weeks. Captain Blunt was getting wearied. He made strenuous +efforts to find the oyster-beds of which he was ostensibly in search, +but no success attended his efforts. In vain did he take boat and pull +into every cove and nook between the Hippolyte Reef and Schouten's +Island. In vain did he run the Pretty Mary as near to the rugged cliffs +as he dared to take her, and make perpetual expeditions to the shore. In +vain did he--in his eagerness for the interests of Mrs. Purfoy--clamber +up the rocks, and spend hours in solitary soundings in Blackman's Bay. +He never found an oyster. "If I don't find something in three or four +days more," said he to his mate, "I shall go back again. It's too +dangerous cruising here." + + + * * * * * + + +On the same evening that Captain Blunt made this resolution, the +watchman at Signal Hill saw the arms of the semaphore at the settlement +make three motions, thus: + +The semaphore was furnished with three revolving arms, fixed one above +the other. The upper one denoted units, and had six motions, indicating +ONE to SIX. The middle one denoted tens, TEN to SIXTY. The lower one +marked hundreds, from ONE HUNDRED to SIX HUNDRED. + +The lower and upper arms whirled out. That meant THREE HUNDRED AND SIX. +A ball ran up to the top of the post. That meant ONE THOUSAND. + +Number 1306, or, being interpreted, "PRISONERS ABSCONDED". + +"By George, Harry," said Jones, the signalman, "there's a bolt!" + +The semaphore signalled again: "Number 1411". + +"WITH ARMS!" Jones said, translating as he read. "Come here, Harry! +here's a go!" + +But Harry did not reply, and, looking down, the watchman saw a dark +figure suddenly fill the doorway. The boasted semaphore had failed this +time, at all events. The "bolters" had arrived as soon as the signal! + +The man sprang at his carbine, but the intruder had already possessed +himself of it. "It's no use making a fuss, Jones! There are eight of us. +Oblige me by attending to your signals." + +Jones knew the voice. It was that of John Rex. "Reply, can't you?" said +Rex coolly. "Captain Burgess is in a hurry." The arms of the semaphore +at the settlement were, in fact, gesticulating with comical vehemence. + +Jones took the strings in his hands, and, with his signal-book open +before him, was about to acknowledge the message, when Rex stopped him. +"Send this message," he said. "NOT SEEN! SIGNAL SENT TO EAGLEHAWK!" + +Jones paused irresolutely. He was himself a convict, and dreaded the +inevitable cat that he knew would follow this false message. "If they +finds me out--" he said. Rex cocked the carbine with so decided a +meaning in his black eyes that Jones--who could be brave enough on +occasions--banished his hesitation at once, and began to signal eagerly. +There came up a clinking of metal, and a murmur from below. "What's +keepin' yer, Dandy?" + +"All right. Get those irons off, and then we'll talk, boys. I'm putting +salt on old Burgess's tail." The rough jest was received with a roar, +and Jones, looking momentarily down from his window on the staging, saw, +in the waning light, a group of men freeing themselves from their irons +with a hammer taken from the guard-house; while two, already freed, were +casting buckets of water on the beacon wood-pile. The sentry was lying +bound at a little distance. + +"Now," said the leader of this surprise party, "signal to Woody Island." +Jones perforce obeyed. "Say, 'AN ESCAPE AT THE MINES! WATCH ONE-TREE +POINT! SEND ON TO EAGLEHAWK!' Quick now!" + +Jones--comprehending at once the force of this manoeuvre, which would +have the effect of distracting attention from the Neck--executed the +order with a grin. "You're a knowing one, Dandy Jack," said he. + +John Rex acknowledged the compliment by uncocking the carbine. "Hold +out your hands!--Jemmy Vetch!" "Ay, ay," replied the Crow, from beneath. +"Come up and tie our friend Jones. Gabbett, have you got the axes?" +"There's only one," said Gabbett, with an oath. "Then bring that, and +any tucker you can lay your hands on. Have you tied him? On we go then." +And in the space of five minutes from the time when unsuspecting Harry +had been silently clutched by two forms, who rushed upon him out of the +shadows of the huts, the Signal Hill Station was deserted. + +At the settlement Burgess was foaming. Nine men to seize the Long +Bay boat, and get half an hour's start of the alarm signal, was an +unprecedented achievement! What could Warder Troke have been about! +Warder Troke, however, found eight hours afterwards, disarmed, gagged, +and bound in the scrub, had been guilty of no negligence. How could +he tell that, at a certain signal from Dandy Jack, the nine men he had +taken to Stewart's Bay would "rush" him; and, before he could draw a +pistol, truss him like a chicken? The worst of the gang, Rufus Dawes, +had volunteered for the hated duties of pile-driving, and Troke had felt +himself secure. How could he possibly guess that there was a plot, in +which Rufus Dawes, of all men, had refused to join? + +Constables, mounted and on foot, were despatched to scour the bush round +the settlement. Burgess, confident from the reply of the Signal Hill +semaphore, that the alarm had been given at Eaglehawk Isthmus, promised +himself the re-capture of the gang before many hours; and, giving +orders to keep the communications going, retired to dinner. His convict +servants had barely removed the soup when the result of John Rex's +ingenuity became manifest. + +The semaphore at Signal Hill had stopped working. + +"Perhaps the fools can't see," said Burgess. "Fire the beacon--and +saddle my horse." The beacon was fired. All right at Mount Arthur, Mount +Communication, and the Coal Mines. To the westward the line was clear. +But at Signal Hill was no answering light. Burgess stamped with rage. +"Get me my boat's crew ready; and tell the Mines to signal to Woody +Island." As he stood on the jetty, a breathless messenger brought +the reply. "A BOAT'S CREW GONE TO ONE-TREE POINT! FIVE MEN SENT FROM +EAGLEHAWK IN OBEDIENCE TO ORDERS!" Burgess understood it at once. The +fellows had decoyed the Eaglehawk guard. "Give way, men!" And the boat, +shooting into the darkness, made for Long Bay. "I won't be far behind +'em," said the Commandant, "at any rate." + + + +Between Eaglehawk and Signal Hill were, for the absconders, other +dangers. Along the indented coast of Port Bunche were four constables' +stations. These stations--mere huts within signalling distance of each +other--fringed the shore, and to avoid them it would be necessary to +make a circuit into the scrub. Unwilling as he was to lose time, John +Rex saw that to attempt to run the gauntlet of these four stations would +be destruction. The safety of the party depended upon the reaching of +the Neck while the guard was weakened by the absence of some of the men +along the southern shore, and before the alarm could be given from +the eastern arm of the peninsula. With this view, he ranged his men in +single file; and, quitting the road near Norfolk Bay, made straight for +the Neck. The night had set in with a high westerly wind, and threatened +rain. It was pitch dark; and the fugitives were guided only by the dull +roar of the sea as it beat upon Descent Beach. Had it not been for +the accident of a westerly gale, they would not have had even so much +assistance. + +The Crow walked first, as guide, carrying a musket taken from Harry. +Then came Gabbett, with an axe; followed by the other six, sharing +between them such provisions as they had obtained at Signal Hill. John +Rex, with the carbine, and Troke's pistols, walked last. It had been +agreed that if attacked they were to run each one his own way. In their +desperate case, disunion was strength. At intervals, on their left, +gleamed the lights of the constables' stations, and as they stumbled +onward they heard plainer and more plainly the hoarse murmur of the sea, +beyond which was liberty or death. + +After nearly two hours of painful progress, Jemmy Vetch stopped, and +whispered them to approach. They were on a sandy rise. To the left was a +black object--a constable's hut; to the right was a dim white line--the +ocean; in front was a row of lamps, and between every two lamps leapt +and ran a dusky, indistinct body. Jemmy Vetch pointed with his lean +forefinger. + +"The dogs!" + +Instinctively they crouched down, lest even at that distance the two +sentries, so plainly visible in the red light of the guard-house fire, +should see them. + +"Well, bo's," said Gabbett, "what's to be done now?" + +As he spoke, a long low howl broke from one of the chained hounds, and +the whole kennel burst into hideous outcry. John Rex, who perhaps was +the bravest of the party, shuddered. "They have smelt us," he said. "We +must go on." + +Gabbett spat in his palm, and took firmer hold of the axe-handle. + +"Right you are," he said. "I'll leave my mark on some of them before +this night's out!" + +On the opposite shore lights began to move, and the fugitives could hear +the hurrying tramp of feet. + +"Make for the right-hand side of the jetty," said Rex in a fierce +whisper. "I think I see a boat there. It is our only chance now. We can +never break through the station. Are we ready? Now! All together!" + +Gabbett was fast outstripping the others by some three feet of distance. +There were eleven dogs, two of whom were placed on stages set out in the +water, and they were so chained that their muzzles nearly touched. The +giant leapt into the line, and with a blow of his axe split the skull of +the beast on his right hand. This action unluckily took him within reach +of the other dog, which seized him by the thigh. + +"Fire!" cried McNab from the other side of the lamps. + +The giant uttered a cry of rage and pain, and fell with the dog +under him. It was, however, the dog who had pulled him down, and the +musket-ball intended for him struck Travers in the jaw. The unhappy +villain fell--like Virgil's Dares--"spitting blood, teeth, and curses." + +Gabbett clutched the mastiff's throat with iron hand, and forced him +to loose his hold; then, bellowing with fury, seized his axe and sprang +forward, mangled as he was, upon the nearest soldier. Jemmy Vetch had +been beforehand with him. Uttering a low snarl of hate, he fired, and +shot the sentry through the breast. The others rushed through the now +broken cordon, and made headlong for the boat. + +"Fools!" cried Rex behind them. "You have wasted a shot! LOOK TO YOUR +LEFT!" + +Burgess, hurried down the tramroad by his men, had tarried at Signal +Hill only long enough to loose the surprised guard from their bonds, and +taking the Woody Island boat was pulling with a fresh crew to the Neck. +The reinforcement was not ten yards from the jetty. + +The Crow saw the danger, and, flinging himself into the water, +desperately seized McNab's boat. + +"In with you for your lives!" he cried. Another volley from the guard +spattered the water around the fugitives, but in the darkness the +ill-aimed bullets fell harmless. Gabbett swung himself over the sheets, +and seized an oar. + +"Cox, Bodenham, Greenhill! Now, push her off! Jump, Tom, jump!" and as +Burgess leapt to land, Cornelius was dragged over the stern, and the +whale-boat floated into deep water. + +McNab, seeing this, ran down to the water-side to aid the Commandant. + +"Lift her over the Bar, men!" he shouted. "With a will--So!" And, raised +in twelve strong arms, the pursuing craft slid across the isthmus. + +"We've five minutes' start," said Vetch coolly, as he saw the Commandant +take his place in the stern sheets. "Pull away, my jolly boys, and we'll +best 'em yet." + +The soldiers on the Neck fired again almost at random, but the blaze of +their pieces only served to show the Commandant's boat a hundred yards +astern of that of the mutineers, which had already gained the deep water +of Pirates' Bay. + +Then, for the first time, the six prisoners became aware that John Rex +was not among them. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. IN THE NIGHT. + + + +John Rex had put into execution the first part of his scheme. + +At the moment when, seeing Burgess's boat near the sand-spit, he +had uttered the warning cry heard by Vetch, he turned back into the +darkness, and made for the water's edge at a point some distance from +the Neck. His desperate hope was that, the attention of the guard being +concentrated on the escaping boat, he might, favoured by the darkness +and the confusion--swim to the peninsula. It was not a very marvellous +feat to accomplish, and he had confidence in his own powers. Once +safe on the peninsula, his plans were formed. But, owing to the strong +westerly wind, which caused an incoming tide upon the isthmus, it was +necessary for him to attain some point sufficiently far to the southward +to enable him, on taking the water, to be assisted, not impeded, by +the current. With this view, he hurried over the sandy hummocks at +the entrance to the Neck, and ran backwards towards the sea. In a few +strides he had gained the hard and sandy shore, and, pausing to listen, +heard behind him the sound of footsteps. He was pursued. The footsteps +stopped, and then a voice cried-- + +"Surrender!" + +It was McNab, who, seeing Rex's retreat, had daringly followed him. John +Rex drew from his breast Troke's pistol and waited. + +"Surrender!" cried the voice again, and the footsteps advanced two +paces. + +At the instant that Rex raised the weapon to fire, a vivid flash of +lightning showed him, on his right hand, on the ghastly and pallid +ocean, two boats, the hindermost one apparently within a few yards of +him. The men looked like corpses. In the distance rose Cape Surville, +and beneath Cape Surville was the hungry sea. The scene vanished in an +instant--swallowed up almost before he had realized it. But the shock +it gave him made him miss his aim, and, flinging away the pistol with a +curse, he turned down the path and fled. McNab followed. + +The path had been made by frequent passage from the station, and Rex +found it tolerably easy running. He had acquired--like most men who live +much in the dark--that cat-like perception of obstacles which is due +rather to increased sensitiveness of touch than increased acuteness +of vision. His feet accommodated themselves to the inequalities of the +ground; his hands instinctively outstretched themselves towards the +overhanging boughs; his head ducked of its own accord to any obtrusive +sapling which bent to obstruct his progress. His pursuer was not so +fortunate. Twice did John Rex laugh mentally, at a crash and scramble +that told of a fall, and once--in a valley where trickled a little +stream that he had cleared almost without an effort--he heard a splash +that made him laugh outright. The track now began to go uphill, and Rex +redoubled his efforts, trusting to his superior muscular energy to +shake off his pursuer. He breasted the rise, and paused to listen. The +crashing of branches behind him had ceased, and it seemed that he was +alone. + +He had gained the summit of the cliff. The lights of the Neck were +invisible. Below him lay the sea. Out of the black emptiness came puffs +of sharp salt wind. The tops of the rollers that broke below were +blown off and whirled away into the night--white patches, swallowed up +immediately in the increasing darkness. From the north side of the bay +was borne the hoarse roar of the breakers as they dashed against the +perpendicular cliffs which guarded Forrestier's Peninsula. At his +feet arose a frightful shrieking and whistling, broken at intervals by +reports like claps of thunder. Where was he? Exhausted and breathless, +he sank down into the rough scrub and listened. All at once, on the +track over which he had passed, he heard a sound that made him bound to +his feet in deadly fear--the bay of a dog! + +He thrust his hand to his breast for the remaining pistol, and uttered a +cry of alarm. He had dropped it. He felt round about him in the darkness +for some stick or stone that might serve as a weapon. In vain. His +fingers clutched nothing but prickly scrub and coarse grass. The sweat +ran down his face. With staring eyeballs, and bristling hair, he stared +into the darkness, as if he would dissipate it by the very intensity of +his gaze. The noise was repeated, and, piercing through the roar of wind +and water, above and below him, seemed to be close at hand. He heard a +man's voice cheering the dog in accents that the gale blew away from +him before he could recognize them. It was probable that some of the +soldiers had been sent to the assistance of McNab. Capture, then, +was certain. In his agony, the wretched man almost promised himself +repentance, should he escape this peril. The dog, crashing through the +underwood, gave one short, sharp howl, and then ran mute. + +The darkness had increased the gale. The wind, ravaging the hollow +heaven, had spread between the lightnings and the sea an impenetrable +curtain of black cloud. It seemed possible to seize upon this curtain +and draw its edge yet closer, so dense was it. The white and raging +waters were blotted out, and even the lightning seemed unable to +penetrate that intense blackness. A large, warm drop of rain fell upon +Rex's outstretched hand, and far overhead rumbled a wrathful peal of +thunder. The shrieking which he had heard a few moments ago had ceased, +but every now and then dull but immense shocks, as of some mighty bird +flapping the cliff with monstrous wings, reverberated around him, and +shook the ground where he stood. He looked towards the ocean, and a +tall misty Form--white against the all-pervading blackness--beckoned +and bowed to him. He saw it distinctly for an instant, and then, with +an awful shriek, as of wrathful despair, it sank and vanished. Maddened +with a terror he could not define, the hunted man turned to meet the +material peril that was so close at hand. + +With a ferocious gasp, the dog flung himself upon him. John Rex was +borne backwards, but, in his desperation, he clutched the beast by the +throat and belly, and, exerting all his strength, flung him off. The +brute uttered one howl, and seemed to lie where he had fallen; while +above his carcase again hovered that white and vaporous column. It was +strange that McNab and the soldier did not follow up the advantage they +had gained. Courage--perhaps he should defeat them yet! He had been +lucky to dispose of the dog so easily. With a fierce thrill of renewed +hope, he ran forward; when at his feet, in his face, arose that misty +Form, breathing chill warning, as though to wave him back. The terror at +his heels drove him on. A few steps more, and he should gain the summit +of the cliff. He could feel the sea roaring in front of him in the +gloom. The column disappeared; and in a lull of wind, uprose from the +place where it had been such a hideous medley of shrieks, laughter, and +exultant wrath, that John Rex paused in horror. Too late. The ground +gave way--it seemed--beneath his feet. He was falling--clutching, in +vain, at rocks, shrubs, and grass. The cloud-curtain lifted, and by +the lightning that leaped and played about the ocean, John Rex found an +explanation of his terrors, more terrible than they themselves had been. +The track he had followed led to that portion of the cliff in which the +sea had excavated the tunnel-spout known as the Devil's Blow-hole. + +Clinging to a tree that, growing half-way down the precipice, had +arrested his course, he stared into the abyss. Before him--already high +above his head--was a gigantic arch of cliff. Through this arch he saw, +at an immense distance below him, the raging and pallid ocean. Beneath +him was an abyss splintered with black rocks, turbid and raucous with +tortured water. Suddenly the bottom of this abyss seemed to advance to +meet him; or, rather, the black throat of the chasm belched a volume of +leaping, curling water, which mounted to drown him. Was it fancy that +showed him, on the surface of the rising column, the mangled carcase of +the dog? + +The chasm into which John Rex had fallen was shaped like a huge funnel +set up on its narrow end. The sides of this funnel were rugged rock, and +in the banks of earth lodged here and there upon projections, a scrubby +vegetation grew. The scanty growth paused abruptly half-way down the +gulf, and the rock below was perpetually damp from the upthrown +spray. Accident--had the convict been a Meekin, we might term it +Providence--had lodged him on the lowest of these banks of earth. In +calm weather he would have been out of danger, but the lightning flash +revealed to his terror-sharpened sense a black patch of dripping rock on +the side of the chasm some ten feet above his head. It was evident that +upon the next rising of the water-spout the place where he stood would +be covered with water. + +The roaring column mounted with hideous swiftness. Rex felt it rush at +him and swing him upward. With both arms round the tree, he clutched the +sleeves of his jacket with either hand. Perhaps if he could maintain his +hold he might outlive the shock of that suffocating torrent. He felt +his feet rudely seized, as though by the hand of a giant, and plucked +upwards. Water gurgled in his ears. His arms seemed about to be torn +from their sockets. Had the strain lasted another instant, he must have +loosed his hold; but, with a wild hoarse shriek, as though it was some +sea-monster baffled of its prey, the column sank, and left him gasping, +bleeding, half-drowned, but alive. It was impossible that he could +survive another shock, and in his agony he unclasped his stiffened +fingers, determined to resign himself to his fate. At that instant, +however, he saw on the wall of rock that hollowed on his right hand, a +red and lurid light, in the midst of which fantastically bobbed hither +and thither the gigantic shadow of a man. He cast his eyes upwards and +saw, slowly descending into the gulf, a blazing bush tied to a rope. +McNab was taking advantage of the pause in the spouting to examine the +sides of the Blow-hole. + +A despairing hope seized John Rex. In another instant the light would +reveal his figure, clinging like a limpet to the rock, to those above. +He must be detected in any case; but if they could lower the rope +sufficiently, he might clutch it and be saved. His dread of the horrible +death that was beneath him overcame his resolution to avoid recapture. +The long-drawn agony of the retreating water as it was sucked back +again into the throat of the chasm had ceased, and he knew that the next +tremendous pulsation of the sea below would hurl the spuming destruction +up upon him. The gigantic torch slowly descended, and he had already +drawn in his breath for a shout which should make itself heard above the +roar of the wind and water, when a strange appearance on the face of the +cliff made him pause. About six feet from him--glowing like molten gold +in the gusty glow of the burning tree--a round sleek stream of water +slipped from the rock into the darkness, like a serpent from its hole. +Above this stream a dark spot defied the torchlight, and John Rex felt +his heart leap with one last desperate hope as he comprehended that +close to him was one of those tortuous drives which the worm-like action +of the sea bores in such caverns as that in which he found himself. The +drive, opened first to the light of the day by the natural convulsion +which had raised the mountain itself above ocean level, probably +extended into the bowels of the cliff. The stream ceased to let itself +out of the crevice; it was then likely that the rising column of water +did not penetrate far into this wonderful hiding-place. + +Endowed with a wisdom, which in one placed in less desperate position +would have been madness, John Rex shouted to his pursuers. "The rope! +the rope!" The words, projected against the sides of the enormous +funnel, were pitched high above the blast, and, reduplicated by a +thousand echoes, reached the ears of those above. + +"He's alive!" cried McNab, peering into the abyss. "I see him. Look!" + +The soldier whipped the end of the bullock-hide lariat round the tree to +which he held, and began to oscillate it, so that the blazing bush might +reach the ledge on which the daring convict sustained himself. The groan +which preceded the fierce belching forth of the torrent was cast up to +them from below. + +"God be gude to the puir felly!" said the pious young Scotchman, +catching his breath. + +A white spume was visible at the bottom of the gulf, and the groan +changed into a rapidly increasing bellow. John Rex, eyeing the blazing +pendulum, that with longer and longer swing momentarily neared him, +looked up to the black heaven for the last time with a muttered prayer. +The bush--the flame fanned by the motion--flung a crimson glow upon his +frowning features which, as he caught the rope, had a sneer of triumph +on them. "Slack out! slack out!" he cried; and then, drawing the burning +bush towards him, attempted to stamp out the fire with his feet. + +The soldier set his body against the tree trunk, and gripped the rope +hard, turning his head away from the fiery pit below him. "Hold tight, +your honour," he muttered to McNab. "She's coming!" + +The bellow changed into a roar, the roar into a shriek, and with a gust +of wind and spray, the seething sea leapt up out of the gulf. John Rex, +unable to extinguish the flame, twisted his arm about the rope, and the +instant before the surface of the rising water made a momentary floor to +the mouth of the cavern, he spurned the cliff desperately with his feet, +and flung himself across the chasm. He had already clutched the rock, +and thrust himself forward, when the tremendous volume of water struck +him. McNab and the soldier felt the sudden pluck of the rope and saw the +light swing across the abyss. Then the fury of the waterspout burst with +a triumphant scream, the tension ceased, the light was blotted out, and +when the column sank, there dangled at the end of the lariat nothing +but the drenched and blackened skeleton of the she-oak bough. Amid a +terrific peal of thunder, the long pent-up rain descended, and a sudden +ghastly rending asunder of the clouds showed far below them the heaving +ocean, high above them the jagged and glistening rocks, and at their +feet the black and murderous abyss of the Blowhole--empty. + +They pulled up the useless rope in silence; and another dead tree +lighted and lowered showed them nothing. + +"God rest his puir soul," said McNab, shuddering. "He's out o' our han's +now." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. THE FLIGHT. + + +Gabbett, guided by the Crow, had determined to beach the captured boat +on the southern point of Cape Surville. It will be seen by those who +have followed the description of the topography of Colonel Arthur's +Penitentiary, that nothing but the desperate nature of the attempt could +have justified so desperate a measure. The perpendicular cliffs seemed +to render such an attempt certain destruction; but Vetch, who had been +employed in building the pier at the Neck, knew that on the southern +point of the promontory was a strip of beach, upon which the company +might, by good fortune, land in safety. With something of the decision +of his leader, Rex, the Crow determined at once that in their desperate +plight this was the only measure, and setting his teeth as he seized +the oar that served as a rudder, he put the boat's head straight for the +huge rock that formed the northern horn of Pirates' Bay. + +Save for the faint phosphorescent radiance of the foaming waves, the +darkness was intense, and Burgess for some minutes pulled almost at +random in pursuit. The same tremendous flash of lightning which had +saved the life of McNab, by causing Rex to miss his aim, showed to the +Commandant the whale-boat balanced on the summit of an enormous +wave, and apparently about to be flung against the wall of rock +which--magnified in the flash--seemed frightfully near to them. The +next instant Burgess himself--his boat lifted by the swiftly advancing +billow--saw a wild waste of raging seas scooped into abysmal troughs, +in which the bulk of a leviathan might wallow. At the bottom of one +of these valleys of water lay the mutineers' boat, looking, with its +outspread oars, like some six-legged insect floating in a pool of ink. +The great cliff, whose every scar and crag was as distinct as though +its huge bulk was but a yard distant, seemed to shoot out from its base +towards the struggling insect, a broad, flat straw, that was a strip of +dry land. The next instant the rushing water, carrying the six-legged +atom with it, creamed up over this strip of beach; the giant crag, amid +the thunder-crash which followed upon the lightning, appeared to stoop +down over the ocean, and as it stooped, the billow rolled onwards, +the boat glided down into the depths, and the whole phantasmagoria was +swallowed up in the tumultuous darkness of the tempest. + +Burgess--his hair bristling with terror--shouted to put the boat about, +but he might with as much reason have shouted at an avalanche. The wind +blew his voice away, and emptied it violently into the air. A snarling +billow jerked the oar from his hand. Despite the desperate efforts of +the soldiers, the boat was whirled up the mountain of water like a +leaf on a water-spout, and a second flash of lightning showed them +what seemed a group of dolls struggling in the surf, and a walnut-shell +bottom upwards was driven by the recoil of the waves towards them. For +an instant all thought that they must share the fate which had overtaken +the unlucky convicts; but Burgess succeeded in trimming the boat, and, +awed by the peril he had so narrowly escaped, gave the order to return. +As the men set the boat's head to the welcome line of lights that marked +the Neck, a black spot balanced upon a black line was swept under their +stern and carried out to sea. As it passed them, this black spot emitted +a cry, and they knew that it was one of the shattered boat's crew +clinging to an oar. + +"He was the only one of 'em alive," said Burgess, bandaging his sprained +wrist two hours afterwards at the Neck, "and he's food for the fishes by +this time!" + + + +He was mistaken, however. Fate had in reserve for the crew of villains +a less merciful death than that of drowning. Aided by the lightning, +and that wonderful "good luck" which urges villainy to its destruction, +Vetch beached the boat, and the party, bruised and bleeding, reached the +upper portion of the shore in safety. Of all this number only Cox was +lost. He was pulling stroke-oar, and, being something of a laggard, +stood in the way of the Crow, who, seeing the importance of haste in +preserving his own skin, plucked the man backwards by the collar, and +passed over his sprawling body to the shore. Cox, grasping at anything +to save himself, clutched an oar, and the next moment found himself +borne out with the overturned whale-boat by the under-tow. He was +drifted past his only hope of rescue--the guard-boat--with a velocity +that forbade all attempts at rescue, and almost before the poor +scoundrel had time to realize his condition, he was in the best possible +way of escaping the hanging that his comrades had so often humorously +prophesied for him. Being a strong and vigorous villain, however, he +clung tenaciously to his oar, and even unbuckling his leather belt, +passed it round the slip of wood that was his salvation, girding himself +to it as firmly as he was able. In this condition, plus a swoon from +exhaustion, he was descried by the helmsman of the Pretty Mary, a few +miles from Cape Surville, at daylight next morning. Blunt, with a wild +hope that this waif and stray might be the lover of Sarah Purfoy, dead, +lowered a boat and picked him up. Nearly bisected by the belt, gorged +with salt water, frozen with cold, and having two ribs broken, the +victim of Vetch's murderous quickness retained sufficient life to +survive Blunt's remedies for nearly two hours. During that time he +stated that his name was Cox, that he had escaped from Port Arthur with +eight others, that John Rex was the leader of the expedition, that the +others were all drowned, and that he believed John Rex had been retaken. +Having placed Blunt in possession of these particulars, he further said +that it pricked him to breathe, cursed Jemmy Vetch, the settlement, and +the sea, and so impenitently died. Blunt smoked three pipes, and then +altered the course of the Pretty Mary two points to the eastward, +and ran for the coast. It was possible that the man for whom he was +searching had not been retaken, and was even now awaiting his arrival. +It was clearly his duty--hearing of the planned escape having been +actually attempted--not to give up the expedition while hope remained. + +"I'll take one more look along," said he to himself. + +The Pretty Mary, hugging the coast as closely as she dared, crawled in +the thin breeze all day, and saw nothing. It would be madness to land at +Cape Surville, for the whole station would be on the alert; so Blunt, as +night was falling, stood off a little across the mouth of Pirates' Bay. +He was walking the deck, groaning at the folly of the expedition, when +a strange appearance on the southern horn of the bay made him come to a +sudden halt. There was a furnace blazing in the bowels of the mountain! +Blunt rubbed his eyes and stared. He looked at the man at the helm. "Do +you see anything yonder, Jem?" + +Jem--a Sydney man, who had never been round that coast before--briefly +remarked, "Lighthouse." + +Blunt stumped into the cabin and got out his charts. No lighthouse was +laid down there, only a mark like an anchor, and a note, "Remarkable +Hole at this Point." A remarkable hole indeed; a remarkable "lime kiln" +would have been more to the purpose! + +Blunt called up his mate, William Staples, a fellow whom Sarah Purfoy's +gold had bought body and soul. William Staples looked at the waxing and +waning glow for a while, and then said, in tones trembling with greed, +"It's a fire. Lie to, and lower away the jolly-boat. Old man, that's our +bird for a thousand pounds!" + +The Pretty Mary shortened sail, and Blunt and Staples got into the +jolly-boat. + +"Goin' a-hoysterin', sir?" said one of the crew, with a grin, as Blunt +threw a bundle into the stern-sheets. + +Staples thrust his tongue into his cheek. The object of the voyage was +now pretty well understood among the carefully picked crew. Blunt had +not chosen men who were likely to betray him, though, for that +matter, Rex had suggested a precaution which rendered betrayal almost +impossible. + +"What's in the bundle, old man?" asked Will Staples, after they had got +clear of the ship. + +"Clothes," returned Blunt. "We can't bring him off, if it is him, in his +canaries. He puts on these duds, d'ye see, sinks Her Majesty's livery, +and comes aboard, a 'shipwrecked mariner'." + +"That's well thought of. Whose notion's that? The Madam's, I'll be +bound." + +"Ay." + +"She's a knowing one." + +And the sinister laughter of the pair floated across the violet water. + +"Go easy, man," said Blunt, as they neared the shore. "They're all awake +at Eaglehawk; and if those cursed dogs give tongue there'll be a boat +out in a twinkling. It's lucky the wind's off shore." + +Staples lay on his oar and listened. The night was moonless, and the +ship had already disappeared from view. They were approaching the +promontory from the south-east, and this isthmus of the guarded Neck was +hidden by the outlying cliff. In the south-western angle of this cliff, +about midway between the summit and the sea, was an arch, which vomited +a red and flickering light, that faintly shone upon the sea in the track +of the boat. The light was lambent and uncertain, now sinking almost +into insignificance, and now leaping up with a fierceness that caused a +deep glow to throb in the very heart of the mountain. Sometimes a black +figure would pass across this gigantic furnace-mouth, stooping and +rising, as though feeding the fire. One might have imagined that a door +in Vulcan's Smithy had been left inadvertently open, and that the old +hero was forging arms for a demigod. + +Blunt turned pale. "It's no mortal," he whispered. "Let's go back." + +"And what will Madam say?" returned dare-devil Will Staples who would +have plunged into Mount Erebus had he been paid for it. Thus appealed to +in the name of his ruling passion, Blunt turned his head, and the boat +sped onward. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. THE WORK OF THE SEA. + + + +The lift of the water-spout had saved John Rex's life. At the moment +when it struck him he was on his hands and knees at the entrance of the +cavern. The wave, gushing upwards, at the same time expanded, laterally, +and this lateral force drove the convict into the mouth of the +subterranean passage. The passage trended downwards, and for some +seconds he was rolled over and over, the rush of water wedging him at +length into a crevice between two enormous stones, which overhung a +still more formidable abyss. Fortunately for the preservation of his +hard-fought-for life, this very fury of incoming water prevented him +from being washed out again with the recoil of the wave. He could hear +the water dashing with frightful echoes far down into the depths beyond +him, but it was evident that the two stones against which he had been +thrust acted as breakwaters to the torrent poured in from the outside, +and repelled the main body of the stream in the fashion he had observed +from his position on the ledge. In a few seconds the cavern was empty. + +Painfully extricating himself, and feeling as yet doubtful of his +safety, John Rex essayed to climb the twin-blocks that barred the +unknown depths below him. The first movement he made caused him to +shriek aloud. His left arm--with which he clung to the rope--hung +powerless. Ground against the ragged entrance, it was momentarily +paralysed. For an instant the unfortunate wretch sank despairingly on +the wet and rugged floor of the cave; then a terrible gurgling beneath +his feet warned him of the approaching torrent, and, collecting all his +energies, he scrambled up the incline. Though nigh fainting with pain +and exhaustion, he pressed desperately higher and higher. He heard the +hideous shriek of the whirlpool which was beneath him grow louder +and louder. He saw the darkness grow darker as the rising water-spout +covered the mouth of the cave. He felt the salt spray sting his face, +and the wrathful tide lick the hand that hung over the shelf on which he +fell. But that was all. He was out of danger at last! And as the thought +blessed his senses, his eyes closed, and the wonderful courage and +strength which had sustained the villain so long exhaled in stupor. + +When he awoke the cavern was filled with the soft light of dawn. Raising +his eyes, he beheld, high above his head, a roof of rock, on which the +reflection of the sunbeams, playing upwards through a pool of water, +cast flickering colours. On his right hand was the mouth of the cave, on +his left a terrific abyss, at the bottom of which he could hear the +sea faintly lapping and washing. He raised himself and stretched his +stiffened limbs. Despite his injured shoulder, it was imperative that he +should bestir himself. He knew not if his escape had been noticed, or +if the cavern had another inlet, by which McNab, returning, might +penetrate. Moreover, he was wet and famished. To preserve the life which +he had torn from the sea, he must have fire and food. First he examined +the crevice by which he had entered. It was shaped like an irregular +triangle, hollowed at the base by the action of the water which in such +storms as that of the preceding night was forced into it by the rising +of the sea. John Rex dared not crawl too near the edge, lest he should +slide out of the damp and slippery orifice, and be dashed upon the +rocks at the bottom of the Blow-hole. Craning his neck, he could see, a +hundred feet below him, the sullenly frothing water, gurgling, spouting, +and creaming, in huge turbid eddies, occasionally leaping upwards as +though it longed for another storm to send it raging up to the man who +had escaped its fury. It was impossible to get down that way. He turned +back into the cavern, and began to explore in that direction. The +twin-rocks against which he had been hurled were, in fact, pillars which +supported the roof of the water-drive. Beyond them lay a great grey +shadow which was emptiness, faintly illumined by the sea-light cast up +through the bottom of the gulf. Midway across the grey shadow fell a +strange beam of dusky brilliance, which cast its flickering light upon a +wilderness of waving sea-weeds. Even in the desperate position in which +he found himself, there survived in the vagabond's nature sufficient +poetry to make him value the natural marvel upon which he had so +strangely stumbled. The immense promontory, which, viewed from the +outside, seemed as solid as a mountain, was in reality but a hollow +cone, reft and split into a thousand fissures by the unsuspected action +of the sea for centuries. The Blow-hole was but an insignificant cranny +compared with this enormous chasm. Descending with difficulty the steep +incline, he found himself on the brink of a gallery of rock, which, +jutting out over the pool, bore on its moist and weed-bearded edges +signs of frequent submersion. It must be low tide without the rock. +Clinging to the rough and root-like algae that fringed the ever-moist +walls, John Rex crept round the projection of the gallery, and passed at +once from dimness to daylight. There was a broad loop-hole in the side +of the honey-combed and wave-perforated cliff. The cloudless heaven +expanded above him; a fresh breeze kissed his cheek and, sixty feet +below him, the sea wrinkled all its lazy length, sparkling in myriad +wavelets beneath the bright beams of morning. Not a sign of the recent +tempest marred the exquisite harmony of the picture. Not a sign of human +life gave evidence of the grim neighbourhood of the prison. From the +recess out of which he peered nothing was visible but a sky of turquoise +smiling upon a sea of sapphire. + +The placidity of Nature was, however, to the hunted convict a new source +of alarm. It was a reason why the Blow-hole and its neighbourhood should +be thoroughly searched. He guessed that the favourable weather would be +an additional inducement to McNab and Burgess to satisfy themselves +as to the fate of their late prisoner. He turned from the opening, and +prepared to descend still farther into the rock pathway. The sunshine +had revived and cheered him, and a sort of instinct told him that the +cliff, so honey-combed above, could not be without some gully or chink +at its base, which at low tide would give upon the rocky shore. It grew +darker as he descended, and twice he almost turned back in dread of the +gulfs on either side of him. It seemed to him, also, that the gullet of +weed-clad rock through which he was crawling doubled upon itself, +and led only into the bowels of the mountain. Gnawed by hunger, and +conscious that in a few hours at most the rising tide would fill the +subterranean passage and cut off his retreat, he pushed desperately +onwards. He had descended some ninety feet, and had lost, in the devious +windings of his downward path, all but the reflection of the light from +the gallery, when he was rewarded by a glimpse of sunshine striking +upwards. He parted two enormous masses of seaweed, whose bubble-headed +fronds hung curtainwise across his path, and found himself in the very +middle of the narrow cleft of rock through which the sea was driven to +the Blow-hole. + +At an immense distance above him was the arch of cliff. Beyond that +arch appeared a segment of the ragged edge of the circular opening, +down which he had fallen. He looked in vain for the funnel-mouth whose +friendly shelter had received him. It was now indistinguishable. At his +feet was a long rift in the solid rock, so narrow that he could almost +have leapt across it. This rift was the channel of a swift black current +which ran from the sea for fifty yards under an arch eight feet high, +until it broke upon the jagged rocks that lay blistering in the sunshine +at the bottom of the circular opening in the upper cliff. A shudder +shook the limbs of the adventurous convict. He comprehended that at +high tide the place where he stood was under water, and that the narrow +cavern became a subaqueous pipe of solid rock forty feet long, through +which were spouted the league-long rollers of the Southern Sea. + +The narrow strip of rock at the base of the cliff was as flat as +a table. Here and there were enormous hollows like pans, which the +retreating tide had left full of clear, still water. The crannies of +the rock were inhabited by small white crabs, and John Rex found to his +delight that there was on this little shelf abundance of mussels, +which, though lean and acrid, were sufficiently grateful to his famished +stomach. Attached to the flat surfaces of the numerous stones, moreover, +were coarse limpets. These, however, John Rex found too salt to be +palatable, and was compelled to reject them. A larger variety, however, +having a succulent body as thick as a man's thumb, contained in long +razor-shaped shells, were in some degree free from this objection, and +he soon collected the materials for a meal. Having eaten and sunned +himself, he began to examine the enormous rock, to the base of which he +had so strangely penetrated. Rugged and worn, it raised its huge breast +against wind and wave, secure upon a broad pedestal, which probably +extended as far beneath the sea as the massive column itself rose above +it. Rising thus, with its shaggy drapery of seaweed clinging about its +knees, it seemed to be a motionless but sentient being--some monster of +the deep, a Titan of the ocean condemned ever to front in silence the +fury of that illimitable and rarely-travelled sea. Yet--silent and +motionless as he was--the hoary ancient gave hint of the mysteries of +his revenge. Standing upon the broad and sea-girt platform where surely +no human foot but his had ever stood in life, the convict saw, many feet +above him, pitched into a cavity of the huge sun-blistered boulders, an +object which his sailor eye told him at once was part of the top hamper +of some large ship. Crusted with shells, and its ruin so overrun with +the ivy of the ocean that its ropes could barely be distinguished from +the weeds with which they were encumbered, this relic of human labour +attested the triumph of nature over human ingenuity. Perforated below by +the relentless sea, exposed above to the full fury of the tempest; set +in solitary defiance to the waves, that rolling from the ice-volcano of +the Southern Pole, hurled their gathered might unchecked upon its iron +front, the great rock drew from its lonely warfare the materials of its +own silent vengeance. Clasped in iron arms, it held its prey, snatched +from the jaws of the all-devouring sea. One might imagine that, when the +doomed ship, with her crew of shrieking souls, had splintered and gone +down, the deaf, blind giant had clutched this fragment, upheaved from +the seething waters, with a thrill of savage and terrible joy. + +John Rex, gazing up at this memento of a forgotten agony, felt a +sensation of the most vulgar pleasure. "There's wood for my fire!" +thought he; and mounting to the spot, he essayed to fling down the +splinters of timber upon the platform. Long exposed to the sun, and +flung high above the water-mark of recent storms, the timber had dried +to the condition of touchwood, and would burn fiercely. It was precisely +what he required. Strange accident that had for years stored, upon a +desolate rock, this fragment of a vanished and long-forgotten vessel, +that it might aid at last to warm the limbs of a villain escaping from +justice! + +Striking the disintegrated mass with his iron-shod heel, John Rex broke +off convenient portions; and making a bag of his shirt by tying the +sleeves and neck, he was speedily staggering into the cavern with a +supply of fuel. He made two trips, flinging down the wood on the floor +of the gallery that overlooked the sea, and was returning for a third, +when his quick ear caught the dip of oars. He had barely time to lift +the seaweed curtain that veiled the entrance to the chasm, when the +Eaglehawk boat rounded the promontory. Burgess was in the stern-sheets, +and seemed to be making signals to someone on the top of the cliff. Rex, +grinning behind his veil, divined the manoeuvre. McNab and his party +were to search above, while the Commandant examined the gulf below. +The boat headed direct for the passage, and for an instant John Rex's +undaunted soul shivered at the thought that, perhaps, after all, his +pursuers might be aware of the existence of the cavern. Yet that was +unlikely. He kept his ground, and the boat passed within a foot of +him, gliding silently into the gulf. He observed that Burgess's usually +florid face was pale, and that his left sleeve was cut open, showing a +bandage on the arm. There had been some fighting, then, and it was not +unlikely that all his fellow-desperadoes had been captured! He chuckled +at his own ingenuity and good sense. The boat, emerging from the +archway, entered the pool of the Blow-hole, and, held with the full +strength of the party, remained stationary. John Rex watched Burgess +scan the rocks and eddies, saw him signal to McNab, and then, with much +relief, beheld the boat's head brought round to the sea-board. + +He was so intent upon watching this dangerous and difficult operation +that he was oblivious of an extraordinary change which had taken place +in the interior of the cavern. The water which, an hour ago, had left +exposed a long reef of black hummock-rocks, was now spread in one +foam-flecked sheet over the ragged bottom of the rude staircase by which +he had descended. The tide had turned, and the sea, apparently sucked in +through some deeper tunnel in the portion of the cliff which was below +water, was being forced into the vault with a rapidity which bid fair to +shortly submerge the mouth of the cave. The convict's feet were already +wetted by the incoming waves, and as he turned for one last look at the +boat he saw a green billow heave up against the entrance to the chasm, +and, almost blotting out the daylight, roll majestically through the +arch. It was high time for Burgess to take his departure if he did not +wish his whale-boat to be cracked like a nut against the roof of the +tunnel. Alive to his danger, the Commandant abandoned the search after +his late prisoner's corpse, and he hastened to gain the open sea. The +boat, carried backwards and upwards on the bosom of a monstrous wave, +narrowly escaped destruction, and John Rex, climbing to the gallery, saw +with much satisfaction the broad back of his out-witted gaoler disappear +round the sheltering promontory. The last efforts of his pursuers +had failed, and in another hour the only accessible entrance to the +convict's retreat was hidden under three feet of furious seawater. + +His gaolers were convinced of his death, and would search for him no +more. So far, so good. Now for the last desperate venture--the escape +from the wonderful cavern which was at once his shelter and his prison. +Piling his wood together, and succeeding after many efforts, by the +aid of a flint and the ring which yet clung to his ankle, in lighting +a fire, and warming his chilled limbs in its cheering blaze, he set +himself to meditate upon his course of action. He was safe for the +present, and the supply of food that the rock afforded was amply +sufficient to sustain life in him for many days, but it was impossible +that he could remain for many days concealed. He had no fresh water, and +though, by reason of the soaking he had received, he had hitherto +felt little inconvenience from this cause, the salt and acrid mussels +speedily induced a raging thirst, which he could not alleviate. It was +imperative that within forty-eight hours at farthest he should be on his +way to the peninsula. He remembered the little stream into which--in his +flight of the previous night--he had so nearly fallen, and hoped to be +able, under cover of the darkness, to steal round the reef and reach it +unobserved. His desperate scheme was then to commence. He had to run +the gauntlet of the dogs and guards, gain the peninsula, and await the +rescuing vessel. He confessed to himself that the chances were terribly +against him. If Gabbett and the others had been recaptured--as he +devoutly trusted--the coast would be comparatively clear; but if they +had escaped, he knew Burgess too well to think that he would give up the +chase while hope of re-taking the absconders remained to him. If indeed +all fell out as he had wished, he had still to sustain life until Blunt +found him--if haply Blunt had not returned, wearied with useless and +dangerous waiting. + +As night came on, and the firelight showed strange shadows waving from +the corners of the enormous vault, while the dismal abysses beneath him +murmured and muttered with uncouth and ghastly utterance, there +fell upon the lonely man the terror of Solitude. Was this marvellous +hiding-place that he had discovered to be his sepulchre? Was he--a +monster amongst his fellow-men--to die some monstrous death, entombed +in this mysterious and terrible cavern of the sea? He had tried to +drive away these gloomy thoughts by sketching out for himself a plan of +action--but in vain. In vain he strove to picture in its completeness +that--as yet vague--design by which he promised himself to wrest from +the vanished son of the wealthy ship-builder his name and heritage. +His mind, filled with forebodings of shadowy horror, could not give +the subject the calm consideration which it needed. In the midst of his +schemes for the baffling of the jealous love of the woman who was to +save him, and the getting to England, in shipwrecked and foreign guise, +as the long-lost heir to the fortune of Sir Richard Devine, there arose +ghastly and awesome shapes of death and horror, with whose terrible +unsubstantiality he must grapple in the lonely recesses of that dismal +cavern. He heaped fresh wood upon his fire, that the bright light might +drive out the gruesome things that lurked above, below, and around him. +He became afraid to look behind him, lest some shapeless mass of mid-sea +birth--some voracious polype, with far-reaching arms and jellied mouth +ever open to devour--might slide up over the edge of the dripping caves +below, and fasten upon him in the darkness. His imagination--always +sufficiently vivid, and spurred to an unnatural effect by the exciting +scenes of the previous night--painted each patch of shadow, clinging +bat-like to the humid wall, as some globular sea-spider ready to drop +upon him with its viscid and clay-cold body, and drain out his chilled +blood, enfolding him in rough and hairy arms. Each splash in the water +beneath him, each sigh of the multitudinous and melancholy sea, seemed +to prelude the laborious advent of some mis-shapen and ungainly +abortion of the ooze. All the sensations induced by lapping water +and regurgitating waves took material shape and surrounded him. All +creatures that could be engendered by slime and salt crept forth into +the firelight to stare at him. Red dabs and splashes that were living +beings, having a strange phosphoric light of their own, glowed upon the +floor. The livid encrustations of a hundred years of humidity slipped +from off the walls and painfully heaved their mushroom surfaces to the +blaze. The red glow of the unwonted fire, crimsoning the wet sides +of the cavern, seemed to attract countless blisterous and transparent +shapelessnesses, which elongated themselves towards him. Bloodless and +bladdery things ran hither and thither noiselessly. Strange carapaces +crawled from out of the rocks. All the horrible unseen life of the ocean +seemed to be rising up and surrounding him. He retreated to the brink of +the gulf, and the glare of the upheld brand fell upon a rounded hummock, +whose coronal of silky weed out-floating in the water looked like the +head of a drowned man. He rushed to the entrance of the gallery, and his +shadow, thrown into the opening, took the shape of an avenging phantom, +with arms upraised to warn him back. The naturalist, the explorer, +or the shipwrecked seaman would have found nothing frightful in this +exhibition of the harmless life of the Australian ocean. But the +convict's guilty conscience, long suppressed and derided, asserted +itself in this hour when it was alone with Nature and Night. The bitter +intellectual power which had so long supported him succumbed beneath +imagination--the unconscious religion of the soul. If ever he was nigh +repentance it was then. Phantoms of his past crimes gibbered at him, and +covering his eyes with his hands, he fell shuddering upon his knees. +The brand, loosening from his grasp, dropped into the gulf, and was +extinguished with a hissing noise. As if the sound had called up some +spirit that lurked below, a whisper ran through the cavern. + +"John Rex!" The hair on the convict's flesh stood up, and he cowered to +the earth. + +"John Rex?" + +It was a human voice! Whether of friend or enemy he did not pause to +think. His terror over-mastered all other considerations. + +"Here! here!" he cried, and sprang to the opening of the vault. + +Arrived at the foot of the cliff, Blunt and Staples found themselves in +almost complete darkness, for the light of the mysterious fire, which +had hitherto guided them, had necessarily disappeared. Calm as was +the night, and still as was the ocean, the sea yet ran with silent but +dangerous strength through the channel which led to the Blow-hole; and +Blunt, instinctively feeling the boat drawn towards some unknown peril, +held off the shelf of rocks out of reach of the current. A sudden flash +of fire, as from a flourished brand, burst out above them, and floating +downwards through the darkness, in erratic circles, came an atom of +burning wood. Surely no one but a hunted man would lurk in such a savage +retreat. + +Blunt, in desperate anxiety, determined to risk all upon one venture. +"John Rex!" he shouted up through his rounded hands. The light flashed +again at the eye-hole of the mountain, and on the point above them +appeared a wild figure, holding in its hands a burning log, whose +fierce glow illumined a face so contorted by deadly fear and agony of +expectation that it was scarce human. + +"Here! here!" + +"The poor devil seems half-crazy," said Will Staples, under his breath; +and then aloud, "We're FRIENDS!" A few moments sufficed to explain +matters. The terrors which had oppressed John Rex disappeared in human +presence, and the villain's coolness returned. Kneeling on the rock +platform, he held parley. + +"It is impossible for me to come down now," he said. "The tide covers +the only way out of the cavern." + +"Can't you dive through it?" said Will Staples. + +"No, nor you neither," said Rex, shuddering at the thought of trusting +himself to that horrible whirlpool. + +"What's to be done? You can't come down that wall." "Wait until +morning," returned Rex coolly. "It will be dead low tide at seven +o'clock. You must send a boat at six, or there-abouts. It will be low +enough for me to get out, I dare say, by that time." + +"But the Guard?" + +"Won't come here, my man. They've got their work to do in watching the +Neck and exploring after my mates. They won't come here. Besides, I'm +dead." + +"Dead!" + +"Thought to be so, which is as well--better for me, perhaps. If they +don't see your ship, or your boat, you're safe enough." + +"I don't like to risk it," said Blunt. "It's Life if we're caught." + +"It's Death if I'm caught!" returned the other, with a sinister laugh. +"But there's no danger if you are cautious. No one looks for rats in a +terrier's kennel, and there's not a station along the beach from here +to Cape Pillar. Take your vessel out of eye-shot of the Neck, bring the +boat up Descent Beach, and the thing's done." + +"Well," says Blunt, "I'll try it." + +"You wouldn't like to stop here till morning? It is rather lonely," +suggested Rex, absolutely making a jest of his late terrors. + +Will Staples laughed. "You're a bold boy!" said he. "We'll come at +daybreak." + +"Have you got the clothes as I directed?" + +"Yes." + +"Then good night. I'll put my fire out, in case somebody else might see +it, who wouldn't be as kind as you are." + +"Good night." + +"Not a word for the Madam," said Staples, when they reached the vessel. + +"Not a word, the ungrateful dog," asserted Blunt, adding, with some +heat, "That's the way with women. They'll go through fire and water for +a man that doesn't care a snap of his fingers for 'em; but for any poor +fellow who risks his neck to pleasure 'em they've nothing but sneers! I +wish I'd never meddled in the business." + +"There are no fools like old fools," thought Will Staples, looking back +through the darkness at the place where the fire had been, but he did +not utter his thoughts aloud. + +At eight o'clock the next morning the Pretty Mary stood out to sea with +every stitch of canvas set, alow and aloft. The skipper's fishing had +come to an end. He had caught a shipwrecked seaman, who had been brought +on board at daylight, and was then at breakfast in the cabin. The crew +winked at each other when the haggard mariner, attired in garments that +seemed remarkably well preserved, mounted the side. But they, none of +them, were in a position to controvert the skipper's statement. + +"Where are we bound for?" asked John Rex, smoking Staples's pipe in +lingering puffs of delight. "I'm entirely in your hands, Blunt." + +"My orders are to cruise about the whaling grounds until I meet my +consort," returned Blunt sullenly, "and put you aboard her. She'll take +you back to Sydney. I'm victualled for a twelve-months' trip." + +"Right!" cried Rex, clapping his preserver on the back. "I'm bound to +get to Sydney somehow; but, as the Philistines are abroad, I may as well +tarry in Jericho till my beard be grown. Don't stare at my Scriptural +quotation, Mr. Staples," he added, inspirited by creature comforts, and +secure amid his purchased friends. "I assure you that I've had the very +best religious instruction. Indeed, it is chiefly owing to my worthy +spiritual pastor and master that I am enabled to smoke this very +villainous tobacco of yours at the present moment!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH. + + + +It was not until they had scrambled up the beach to safety that +the absconders became fully aware of the loss of another of their +companions. As they stood on the break of the beach, wringing the water +from their clothes, Gabbett's small eye, counting their number, missed +the stroke oar. + +"Where's Cox?" + +"The fool fell overboard," said Jemmy Vetch shortly. "He never had +as much sense in that skull of his as would keep it sound on his +shoulders." + +Gabbett scowled. "That's three of us gone," he said, in the tones of a +man suffering some personal injury. + +They summed up their means of defence against attack. Sanders and +Greenhill had knives. Gabbett still retained the axe in his belt. Vetch +had dropped his musket at the Neck, and Bodenham and Cornelius were +unarmed. + +"Let's have a look at the tucker," said Vetch. + +There was but one bag of provisions. It contained a piece of salt pork, +two loaves, and some uncooked potatoes. Signal Hill station was not rich +in edibles. + +"That ain't much," said the Crow, with rueful face. "Is it, Gabbett?" + +"It must do, any way," returned the giant carelessly. + +The inspection over, the six proceeded up the shore, and encamped under +the lee of a rock. Bodenham was for lighting a fire, but Vetch, who, +by tacit consent, had been chosen leader of the expedition, forbade it, +saying that the light might betray them. "They'll think we're drowned, +and won't pursue us," he said. So all that night the miserable wretches +crouched fireless together. + +Morning breaks clear and bright, and--free for the first time in ten +years--they comprehend that their terrible journey has begun. "Where are +we to go? How are we to live?" asked Bodenham, scanning the barren +bush that stretches to the barren sea. "Gabbett, you've been out +before--how's it done?" + +"We'll make the shepherds' huts, and live on their tucker till we get +a change o' clothes," said Gabbett evading the main question. "We can +follow the coast-line." + +"Steady, lads," said prudent Vetch; "we must sneak round yon sandhills, +and so creep into the scrub. If they've a good glass at the Neck, they +can see us." + +"It does seem close," said Bodenham; "I could pitch a stone on to the +guard-house. Good-bye, you Bloody Spot!" he adds, with sudden rage, +shaking his fist vindictively at the Penitentiary; "I don't want to see +you no more till the Day o' Judgment." + +Vetch divides the provisions, and they travel all that day until dark +night. The scrub is prickly and dense. Their clothes are torn, their +hands and feet bleeding. Already they feel out-wearied. No one pursuing, +they light a fire, and sleep. The second day they come to a sandy spit +that runs out into the sea, and find that they have got too far to the +eastward, and must follow the shore line to East Bay Neck. Back through +the scrub they drag their heavy feet. That night they eat the last +crumb of the loaf. The third day at high noon--after some toilsome +walking--they reach a big hill, now called Collins' Mount, and see the +upper link of the earring, the isthmus of East Bay Neck, at their feet. +A few rocks are on their right hand, and blue in the lovely distance +lies hated Maria Island. "We must keep well to the eastward," said +Greenhill, "or we shall fall in with the settlers and get taken." So, +passing the isthmus, they strike into the bush along the shore, and +tightening their belts over their gnawing bellies, camp under some +low-lying hills. + +The fourth day is notable for the indisposition of Bodenham, who is a +bad walker, and, falling behind, delays the party by frequent cooees. +Gabbett threatens him with a worse fate than sore feet if he lingers. +Luckily, that evening Greenhill espies a hut, but, not trusting to the +friendship of the occupant, they wait until he quits it in the morning, +and then send Vetch to forage. Vetch, secretly congratulating himself on +having by his counsel prevented violence, returns bending under half a +bag of flour. "You'd better carry the flour," said he to Gabbett, "and +give me the axe." Gabbett eyes him for a while, as if struck by his puny +form, but finally gives the axe to his mate Sanders. That day they creep +along cautiously between the sea and the hills, camping at a creek. +Vetch, after much search, finds a handful of berries, and adds them to +the main stock. Half of this handful is eaten at once, the other half +reserved for "to-morrow". The next day they come to an arm of the sea, +and as they struggle northward, Maria Island disappears, and with it all +danger from telescopes. That evening they reach the camping ground by +twos and threes; and each wonders between the paroxysms of hunger if +his face is as haggard, and his eyes as bloodshot, as those of his +neighbour. + +On the seventh day, Bodenham says his feet are so bad he can't walk, +and Greenhill, with a greedy look at the berries, bids him stay behind. +Being in a very weak condition, he takes his companion at his word, and +drops off about noon the next day. Gabbett, discovering this defection, +however, goes back, and in an hour or so appears, driving the wretched +creature before him with blows, as a sheep is driven to the shambles. +Greenhill remonstrates at another mouth being thus forced upon the +party, but the giant silences him with a hideous glance. Jemmy Vetch +remembers that Greenhill accompanied Gabbett once before, and feels +uncomfortable. He gives hint of his suspicions to Sanders, but Sanders +only laughs. It is horribly evident that there is an understanding among +the three. + +The ninth sun of their freedom, rising upon sandy and barren hillocks, +bristling thick with cruel scrub, sees the six famine-stricken wretches +cursing their God, and yet afraid to die. All around is the fruitless, +shadeless, shelterless bush. Above, the pitiless heaven. In the +distance, the remorseless sea. Something terrible must happen. That grey +wilderness, arched by grey heaven stooping to grey sea, is a fitting +keeper of hideous secrets. Vetch suggests that Oyster Bay cannot be far +to the eastward--the line of ocean is deceitfully close--and though such +a proceeding will take them out of their course, they resolve to make +for it. After hobbling five miles, they seem no nearer than before, +and, nigh dead with fatigue and starvation, sink despairingly upon the +ground. Vetch thinks Gabbett's eyes have a wolfish glare in them, and +instinctively draws off from him. Said Greenhill, in the course of a +dismal conversation, "I am so weak that I could eat a piece of a man." + +On the tenth day Bodenham refuses to stir, and the others, being scarce +able to drag along their limbs, sit on the ground about him. Greenhill, +eyeing the prostrate man, said slowly, "I have seen the same done +before, boys, and it tasted like pork." + +Vetch, hearing his savage comrade give utterance to a thought all had +secretly cherished, speaks out, crying, "It would be murder to do it, +and then, perhaps we couldn't eat it." + +"Oh," said Gabbett, with a grin, "I'll warrant you that, but you must +all have a hand in it." + +Gabbett, Sanders and Greenhill then go aside, and presently Sanders, +coming to the Crow, said, "He consented to act as flogger. He deserves +it." + +"So did Gabbett, for that matter," shudders Vetch. + +"Ay, but Bodenham's feet are sore," said Sanders, "and 'tis a pity to +leave him." + +Having no fire, they make a little breakwind; and Vetch, half-dozing +behind this at about three in the morning, hears someone cry out +"Christ!" and awakes, sweating ice. + +No one but Gabbett and Greenhill would eat that night. That savage pair, +however, make a fire, fling ghastly fragments on the embers, and eat the +broil before it is right warm. In the morning the frightful carcase is +divided. That day's march takes place in silence, and at midday halt +Cornelius volunteers to carry the billy, affecting great restoration +from the food. Vetch gives it to him, and in half an hour afterwards +Cornelius is missing. Gabbett and Greenhill pursue him in vain, and +return with curses. "He'll die like a dog," said Greenhill, "alone in +the bush." Jemmy Vetch, with his intellect acute as ever, thinks that +Cornelius may prefer such a death, but says nothing. + +The twelfth morning dawns wet and misty, but Vetch, seeing the provision +running short, strives to be cheerful, telling stories of men who have +escaped greater peril. Vetch feels with dismay that he is the weakest +of the party, but has some sort of ludicro-horrible consolation in +remembering that he is also the leanest. They come to a creek that +afternoon, and look, until nightfall, in vain for a crossing-place. The +next day Gabbett and Vetch swim across, and Vetch directs Gabbett to cut +a long sapling, which, being stretched across the water, is seized by +Greenhill and the Moocher, who are dragged over. + +"What would you do without me?" said the Crow with a ghastly grin. + +They cannot kindle a fire, for Greenhill, who carries the tinder, has +allowed it to get wet. The giant swings his axe in savage anger at +enforced cold, and Vetch takes an opportunity to remark privately to him +what a big man Greenhill is. + +On the fourteenth day they can scarcely crawl, and their limbs pain +them. Greenhill, who is the weakest, sees Gabbett and the Moocher go +aside to consult, and crawling to the Crow, whimpers: "For God's sake, +Jemmy, don't let 'em murder me!" + +"I can't help you," says Vetch, looking about in terror. "Think of poor +Tom Bodenham." + +"But he was no murderer. If they kill me, I shall go to hell with Tom's +blood on my soul." He writhes on the ground in sickening terror, and +Gabbett arriving, bids Vetch bring wood for the fire. Vetch, going, sees +Greenhill clinging to wolfish Gabbett's knees, and Sanders calls after +him, "You will hear it presently, Jem." + +The nervous Crow puts his hand to his ears, but is conscious of a dull +crash and a groan. When he comes back, Gabbett is putting on the dead +man's shoes, which are better than his own. + +"We'll stop here a day or so and rest," said he, "now we've got +provisions." + +Two more days pass, and the three, eyeing each other suspiciously, +resume their march. The third day--the sixteenth of their awful +journey--such portions of the carcase as they have with them prove unfit +to eat. They look into each other's famine-sharpened faces, and wonder +"who's next?" + +"We must all die together," said Sanders quickly, "before anything else +must happen." + +Vetch marks the terror concealed in the words, and when the dreaded +giant is out of earshot, says, "For God's sake, let's go on alone, +Alick. You see what sort of a cove that Gabbett is--he'd kill his father +before he'd fast one day." + +They made for the bush, but the giant turned and strode towards them. +Vetch skipped nimbly on one side, but Gabbett struck the Moocher on the +forehead with the axe. "Help! Jem, help!" cried the victim, cut, but not +fatally, and in the strength of his desperation tore the axe from the +monster who bore it, and flung it to Vetch. "Keep it, Jemmy," he cried; +"let's have no more murder done!" + +They fare again through the horrible bush until nightfall, when Vetch, +in a strange voice, called the giant to him. + +"He must die." + +"Either you or he," laughs Gabbett. "Give me the axe." + +"No, no," said the Crow, his thin, malignant face distorted by a +horrible resolution. "I'll keep the axe. Stand back! You shall hold him, +and I'll do the job." + +Sanders, seeing them approach, knew his end was come, and submitted, +crying, "Give me half an hour to pray for myself." They consent, and the +bewildered wretch knelt down and folded his hands like a child. His +big, stupid face worked with emotion. His great cracked lips moved +in desperate agony. He wagged his head from side to side, in pitiful +confusion of his brutalized senses. "I can't think o' the words, Jem!" + +"Pah," snarled the cripple, swinging the axe, "we can't starve here all +night." + +Four days had passed, and the two survivors of this awful journey sat +watching each other. The gaunt giant, his eyes gleaming with hate +and hunger, sat sentinel over the dwarf. The dwarf, chuckling at his +superior sagacity, clutched the fatal axe. For two days they had not +spoken to each other. For two days each had promised himself that on the +next his companion must sleep--and die. Vetch comprehended the devilish +scheme of the monster who had entrapped five of his fellow-beings to aid +him by their deaths to his own safety, and held aloof. Gabbett watched +to snatch the weapon from his companion, and make the odds even once and +for ever. In the day-time they travelled on, seeking each a pretext to +creep behind the other. In the night-time when they feigned slumber, +each stealthily raising a head caught the wakeful glance of his +companion. Vetch felt his strength deserting him, and his brain +overpowered by fatigue. Surely the giant, muttering, gesticulating, and +slavering at the mouth, was on the road to madness. Would the monster +find opportunity to rush at him, and, braving the blood-stained axe, +kill him by main force? or would he sleep, and be himself a victim? +Unhappy Vetch! It is the terrible privilege of insanity to be sleepless. + +On the fifth day, Vetch, creeping behind a tree, takes off his belt, and +makes a noose. He will hang himself. He gets one end of the belt over +a bough, and then his cowardice bids him pause. Gabbett approaches; +he tries to evade him, and steal away into the bush. In vain. The +insatiable giant, ravenous with famine, and sustained by madness, is not +to be shaken off. Vetch tries to run, but his legs bend under him. The +axe that has tried to drink so much blood feels heavy as lead. He will +fling it away. No--he dares not. Night falls again. He must rest, or go +mad. His limbs are powerless. His eyelids are glued together. He sleeps +as he stands. This horrible thing must be a dream. He is at Port Arthur, +or will wake on his pallet in the penny lodging-house he slept at when a +boy. Is that the Deputy come to wake him to the torment of living? It is +not time--surely not time yet. He sleeps--and the giant, grinning with +ferocious joy, approaches on clumsy tiptoe and seizes the coveted axe. + +On the north coast of Van Diemen's Land is a place called St Helen's +Point, and a certain skipper, being in want of fresh water; landing +there with a boat's crew, found on the banks of the creek a gaunt and +blood-stained man, clad in tattered yellow, who carried on his back an +axe and a bundle. When the sailors came within sight of him, he made +signs to them to approach, and, opening his bundle with much ceremony, +offered them some of its contents. Filled with horror at what the maniac +displayed, they seized and bound him. At Hobart Town he was recognized +as the only survivor of the nine desperadoes who had escaped from +Colonel Arthur's "Natural Penitentiary". + + + +END OF BOOK THE THIRD + + + + + + +BOOK IV.--NORFOLK ISLAND. 1846. + + + + +CHAPTER I. EXTRACTED FROM THE DIARY OF THE REV. JAMES NORTH. + + + +Bathurst, February 11th, 1846. + +In turning over the pages of my journal, to note the good fortune that +has just happened to me, I am struck by the utter desolation of my life +for the last seven years. + +Can it be possible that I, James North, the college-hero, the poet, the +prizeman, the Heaven knows what else, have been content to live on at +this dreary spot--an animal, eating and drinking, for tomorrow I die? +Yet it has been so. My world, that world of which I once dreamt so much, +has been--here. My fame--which was to reach the ends of the earth--has +penetrated to the neighbouring stations. I am considered a "good +preacher" by my sheep-feeding friends. It is kind of them. + +Yet, on the eve of leaving it, I confess that this solitary life has not +been without its charms. I have had my books and my thoughts--though +at times the latter were but grim companions. I have striven with my +familiar sin, and have not always been worsted. Melancholy reflection. +"Not always!" "But yet" is as a gaoler to bring forth some monstrous +malefactor. I vowed, however, that I would not cheat myself in this +diary of mine, and I will not. No evasions, no glossings over of my own +sins. This journal is my confessor, and I bare my heart to it. + +It is curious the pleasure I feel in setting down here in black and +white these agonies and secret cravings of which I dare not speak. It is +for the same reason, I suppose, that murderers make confession to +dogs and cats, that people with something "on their mind" are given to +thinking aloud, that the queen of Midas must needs whisper to the sedges +the secret of her husband's infirmity. Outwardly I am a man of God, +pious and grave and softly spoken. Inwardly--what? The mean, cowardly, +weak sinner that this book knows me...Imp! I could tear you in +pieces!...One of these days I will. In the meantime, I will keep you +under lock and key, and you shall hug my secrets close. No, old friend, +with whom I have communed so long, forgive me, forgive me. You are to me +instead of wife or priest. + +I tell to your cold blue pages--how much was it I bought you for in +Parramatta, rascal?--these stories, longings, remorses, which I would +fain tell to human ear could I find a human being as discreet as thou. +It has been said that a man dare not write all his thoughts and deeds; +the words would blister the paper. Yet your sheets are smooth enough, +you fat rogue! Our neighbours of Rome know human nature. A man must +confess. One reads of wretches who have carried secrets in their bosoms +for years, and blurted them forth at last. I, shut up here without +companionship, without sympathy, without letters, cannot lock up my +soul, and feed on my own thoughts. They will out, and so I whisper them +to thee. + +What art thou, thou tremendous power Who dost inhabit us without our +leave, And art, within ourselves, another self, A master self that loves +to domineer? + +What? Conscience? That is a word to frighten children. The conscience of +each man is of his own making. My friend the shark-toothed cannibal whom +Staples brought in his whaler to Sydney would have found his conscience +reproach him sorely did he refuse to partake of the feasts made sacred +by the customs of his ancestors. A spark of divinity? The divinity that, +according to received doctrine; sits apart, enthroned amid sweet music, +and leaves poor humanity to earn its condemnation as it may? I'll have +none of that--though I preach it. One must soothe the vulgar senses +of the people. Priesthood has its "pious frauds". The Master spoke in +parables. Wit? The wit that sees how ill-balanced are our actions and +our aspirations? The devilish wit born of our own brain, that sneers at +us for our own failings? Perhaps madness? More likely, for there are few +men who are not mad one hour of the waking twelve. If differing from +the judgment of the majority of mankind in regard to familiar things be +madness, I suppose I am mad--or too wise. The speculation draws near to +hair-splitting. James North, recall your early recklessness, your ruin, +and your redemption; bring your mind back to earth. Circumstances have +made you what you are, and will shape your destiny for you without your +interference. That's comfortably settled! + +Now supposing--to take another canter on my night-mare--that man is +the slave of circumstances (a doctrine which I am inclined to believe, +though unwilling to confess); what circumstance can have brought about +the sudden awakening of the powers that be to James North's fitness for +duty? + + +HOBART TOWN, Jan. 12th. + +"DEAR NORTH,--I have much pleasure in informing you that you can be +appointed Protestant chaplain at Norfolk Island, if you like. It seems +that they did not get on well with the last man, and when my advice was +asked, I at once recommended you for the office. The pay is small, but +you have a house and so on. It is certainly better than Bathurst, and +indeed is considered rather a prize in the clerical lottery. + +"There is to be an investigation into affairs down there. Poor old +Pratt--who went down, as you know, at the earnest solicitation of the +Government--seems to have become absurdly lenient with the prisoners, +and it is reported that the island is in a frightful state. Sir Eardley +is looking out for some disciplinarian to take the place in hand. + +"In the meantime, the chaplaincy is vacant, and I thought of you." + + +I must consider this seeming good fortune further. + +February 19th.--I accept. There is work to be done among those unhappy +men that may be my purgation. The authorities shall hear me yet--though +inquiry was stifled at Port Arthur. By the way, a Pharaoh had arisen +who knows not Joseph. It is evident that the meddlesome parson, who +complained of men being flogged to death, is forgotten, as the men are! +How many ghosts must haunt the dismal loneliness of that prison shore! +Poor Burgess is gone the way of all flesh. I wonder if his spirit +revisits the scenes of its violences? I have written "poor" Burgess. + +It is strange how we pity a man gone out of this life. Enmity is +extinguished when one can but remember injuries. If a man had injured +me, the fact of his living at all would be sufficient grounds for me to +hate him; if I had injured him, I should hate him still more. Is that +the reason I hate myself at times--my greatest enemy, and one whom I +have injured beyond forgiveness? There are offences against one's own +nature that are not to be forgiven. Isn't it Tacitus who says "the +hatred of those most nearly related is most inveterate"? But--I am +taking flight again. + +February 27th, 11.30 p.m.--Nine Creeks Station. I do like to be accurate +in names, dates, etc. Accuracy is a virtue. To exercise it, then. +Station ninety miles from Bathurst. I should say about 4,000 head of +cattle. Luxury without refinement. Plenty to eat, drink, and read. +Hostess's name--Carr. She is a well-preserved creature, about +thirty-four years of age, and a clever woman--not in a poetical sense, +but in the widest worldly acceptation of the term. At the same time, I +should be sorry to be her husband. Women have no business with a brain +like hers--that is, if they wish to be women and not sexual monsters. +Mrs. Carr is not a lady, though she might have been one. I don't think +she is a good woman either. It is possible, indeed, that she has known +the factory before now. There is a mystery about her, for I was informed +that she was a Mrs. Purfoy, the widow of a whaling captain, and had +married one of her assigned servants, who had deserted her five years +ago, as soon as he obtained his freedom. A word or two at dinner set me +thinking. She had received some English papers, and, accounting for her +pre-occupied manner, grimly said, "I think I have news of my husband." +I should not like to be in Carr's shoes if she has news of him! I don't +think she would suffer indignity calmly. After all, what business is it +of mine? I was beguiled into taking more wine at dinner than I needed. +Confessor, do you hear me? But I will not allow myself to be carried +away. You grin, you fat Familiar! So may I, but I shall be eaten with +remorse tomorrow. + +March 3rd.--A place called Jerrilang, where I have a head and heartache. +"One that hath let go himself from the hold and stay of reason, and lies +open to the mercy of all temptations." + +March 20th.--Sydney. At Captain Frere's.--Seventeen days since I have +opened you, beloved and detested companion of mine. I have more than +half a mind to never open you again! To read you is to recall to myself +all I would most willingly forget; yet not to read you would be to +forget all that which I should for my sins remember. + +The last week has made a new man of me. I am no longer morose, +despairing, and bitter, but genial, and on good terms with fortune. It +is strange that accident should have induced me to stay a week under the +same roof with that vision of brightness which has haunted me so long. +A meeting in the street, an introduction, an invitation--the thing is +done. + +The circumstances which form our fortunes are certainly curious things. +I had thought never again to meet the bright young face to which I +felt so strange an attraction--and lo! here it is smiling on me daily. +Captain Frere should be a happy man. Yet there is a skeleton in this +house also. That young wife, by nature so lovable and so mirthful, ought +not to have the sadness on her face that twice to-day has clouded it. +He seems a passionate and boorish creature, this wonderful convict +disciplinarian. His convicts--poor devils--are doubtless disciplined +enough. Charming little Sylvia, with your quaint wit and weird beauty, +he is not good enough for you--and yet it was a love match. + +March 21st.--I have read family prayers every night since I have been +here--my black coat and white tie gave me the natural pre-eminence in +such matters--and I feel guilty every time I read. I wonder what the +little lady of the devotional eyes would say if she knew that I am a +miserable hypocrite, preaching that which I do not practise, exhorting +others to believe those marvels which I do not believe? I am a coward +not to throw off the saintly mask, and appear as a Freethinker. Yet, am +I a coward? I urge upon myself that it is for the glory of God I hold +my peace. The scandal of a priest turned infidel would do more harm +than the reign of reason would do good. Imagine this trustful woman for +instance--she would suffer anguish at the thoughts of such a sin, though +another were the sinner. "If anyone offend one of these little ones it +were better for him that a millstone be hanged about his neck and +that he be cast into the sea." Yet truth is truth, and should be +spoken--should it not, malignant monitor, who remindest me how often I +fail to speak it? Surely among all his army of black-coats our worthy +Bishop must have some men like me, who cannot bring their reason to +believe in things contrary to the experience of mankind and the laws of +nature. + +March 22nd.--This unromantic Captain Frere had had some romantic +incidents in his life, and he is fond of dilating upon them. It seems +that in early life he expected to have been left a large fortune by an +uncle who had quarrelled with his heir. But the uncle dies on the day +fixed for the altering of the will, the son disappears, and is thought +to be drowned. The widow, however, steadfastly refuses to believe in +any report of the young man's death, and having a life-interest in the +property, holds it against all comers. My poor host in consequence comes +out here on his pay, and, three years ago, just as he is hoping that the +death of his aunt may give him opportunity to enforce a claim as next +of kin to some portion of the property, the long-lost son returns, +is recognized by his mother and the trustees, and installed in due +heirship! The other romantic story is connected with Frere's marriage. +He told me after dinner to-night how his wife had been wrecked when a +child, and how he had saved her life, and defended her from the rude +hands of an escaped convict--one of the monsters our monstrous system +breeds. "That was how we fell in love," said he, tossing off his wine +complacently. + +"An auspicious opportunity," said I. To which he nodded. He is not +overburdened with brains, I fancy. Let me see if I can set down some +account of this lovely place and its people. + +A long low white house, surrounded by a blooming garden. Wide windows +opening on a lawn. The ever glorious, ever changing sea beneath. It is +evening. I am talking with Mrs. Frere, of theories of social reform, +of picture galleries, of sunsets, and new books. There comes a sound +of wheels on the gravel. It is the magistrate returned from his +convict-discipline. We hear him come briskly up the steps, but we go on +talking. (I fancy there was a time when the lady would have run to +meet him.) He enters, coldly kisses his wife, and disturbs at once the +current of our thoughts. "It has been hot to-day. What, still no letter +from head-quarters, Mr. North! I saw Mrs. Golightly in town, Sylvia, and +she asked for you. There is to be a ball at Government House. We must +go." Then he departs, and is heard in the distance indistinctly cursing +because the water is not hot enough, or because Dawkins, his convict +servant, has not brushed his trousers sufficiently. We resume our chat, +but he returns all hungry, and bluff, and whisker-brushed. "Dinner. +Ha-ha! I'm ready for it. North, take Mrs. Frere." By and by it is, +"North, some sherry? Sylvia, the soup is spoilt again. Did you go out +to-day? No?" His eyebrows contract here, and I know he says inwardly, +"Reading some trashy novel, I suppose." However, he grins, and +obligingly relates how the police have captured Cockatoo Bill, the noted +bushranger. + +After dinner the disciplinarian and I converse--of dogs and horses, +gamecocks, convicts, and moving accidents by flood and field. I remember +old college feats, and strive to keep pace with him in the relation of +athletics. What hypocrites we are!--for all the time I am longing to +get to the drawing-room, and finish my criticism of the new poet, Mr. +Tennyson, to Mrs. Frere. Frere does not read Tennyson--nor anybody else. +Adjourned to the drawing-room, we chat--Mrs. Frere and I--until supper. +(He eats supper.) She is a charming companion, and when I talk my +best--I can talk, you must admit, O Familiar--her face lightens up +with an interest I rarely see upon it at other times. I feel cooled and +soothed by this companionship. The quiet refinement of this house, after +bullocks and Bathurst, is like the shadow of a great rock in a weary +land. + +Mrs. Frere is about five-and-twenty. She is rather beneath the middle +height, with a slight, girlish figure. This girlish appearance is +enhanced by the fact that she has bright fair hair and blue eyes. Upon +conversation with her, however, one sees that her face has lost much of +the delicate plumpness which it probably owned in youth. She has had one +child, born only to die. Her cheeks are thin, and her eyes have a tinge +of sadness, which speak of physical pain or mental grief. This thinness +of face makes the eyes appear larger and the brow broader than they +really are. Her hands are white and painfully thin. They must have been +plump and pretty once. Her lips are red with perpetual fever. + +Captain Frere seems to have absorbed all his wife's vitality. (Who +quotes the story of Lucius Claudius Hermippus, who lived to a great age +by being constantly breathed on by young girls? I suppose Burton--who +quotes everything.) In proportion as she has lost her vigour and youth, +he has gained strength and heartiness. Though he is at least forty years +of age, he does not look more than thirty. His face is ruddy, his eyes +bright, his voice firm and ringing. He must be a man of considerable +strength and--I should say--of more than ordinary animal courage and +animal appetite. There is not a nerve in his body which does not twang +like a piano wire. In appearance, he is tall, broad, and bluff, with +red whiskers and reddish hair slightly touched with grey. His manner +is loud, coarse, and imperious; his talk of dogs, horses, and convicts. +What a strangely-mated pair! + +March 30th.--A letter from Van Diemen's Land. "There is a row in the +pantry," said Frere, with his accustomed slang. It seems that the +Comptroller-General of Convicts has appointed a Mr. Pounce to go down +and make a report on the state of Norfolk Island. I am to go down +with him, and shall receive instructions to that effect from the +Comptroller-General. I have informed Frere of this, and he has written +to Pounce to come and stay on his way down. There has been nothing but +convict discipline talked since. Frere is great upon this point, and +wearies me with his explanations of convict tricks and wickedness. He +is celebrated for his knowledge of such matters. Detestable wisdom! His +servants hate him, but they obey him without a murmur. I have observed +that habitual criminals--like all savage beasts--cower before the +man who has once mastered them. I should not be surprised if the Van +Diemen's Land Government selected Frere as their "disciplinarian". I +hope they won't and yet I hope they will. + +April 4th.--Nothing worth recording until to-day. Eating, drinking, and +sleeping. Despite my forty-seven years, I begin to feel almost like the +James North who fought the bargee and took the gold medal. What a drink +water is! The fons Bandusiae splendidior vitreo was better than all the +Massic, Master Horace! I doubt if your celebrated liquor, bottled when +Manlius was consul, could compare with it. + +But to my notable facts. I have found out to-night two things which +surprise me. One is that the convict who attempted the life of Mrs. +Frere is none other than the unhappy man whom my fatal weakness caused +to be flogged at Port Arthur, and whose face comes before me to reproach +me even now. The other that Mrs. Carr is an old acquaintance of Frere's. +The latter piece of information I obtained in a curious way. One night, +while Mrs. Frere was not there, we were talking of clever women. I +broached my theory, that strong intellect in women went far to destroy +their womanly nature. + +"Desire in man," said I, "should be Volition in women: Reason, +Intuition; Reverence, Devotion; Passion, Love. The woman should strike +a lower key-note, but a sharper sound. Man has vigour of reason, +woman quickness of feeling. The woman who possesses masculine force of +intellect is abnormal." He did not half comprehend me, I could see, but +he agreed with the broad view of the case. "I only knew one woman who +was really 'strong-minded', as they call it," he said, "and she was a +regular bad one." + +"It does not follow that she should be bad," said I. "This one was, +though--stock, lock, and barrel. But as sharp as a needle, sir, and as +immovable as a rock. A fine woman, too." I saw by the expression of the +man's face that he owned ugly memories, and pressed him further. "She's +up country somewhere," he said. "Married her assigned servant, I was +told, a fellow named Carr. I haven't seen her for years, and don't know +what she may be like now, but in the days when I knew her she was just +what you describe." (Let it be noted that I had described nothing.) "She +came out in the ship with me as maid to my wife's mother." + +It was on the tip of my tongue to say that I had met her, but I don't +know what induced me to be silent. There are passages in the lives of +men of Captain Frere's complexion, which don't bear descanting on. +I expect there have been in this case, for he changed the subject +abruptly, as his wife came in. Is it possible that these two +creatures--the notable disciplinarian and the wife of the assigned +servant--could have been more than friends in youth? Quite possible. +He is the sort of man for gross amours. (A pretty way I am abusing my +host!) And the supple woman with the dark eyes would have been just the +creature to enthral him. Perhaps some such story as this may account in +part for Mrs. Frere's sad looks. Why do I speculate on such things? +I seem to do violence to myself and to insult her by writing such +suspicions. If I was a Flagellant now, I would don hairshirt and up +flail. "For this sort cometh not out but by prayer and fasting." + +April 7th.--Mr. Pounce has arrived--full of the importance of his +mission. He walks with the air of a minister of state on the eve of a +vacant garter, hoping, wondering, fearing, and dignified even in his +dubitancy. I am as flippant as a school-girl concerning this fatuous +official, and yet--Heaven knows--I feel deeply enough the importance of +the task he has before him. One relieves one's brain by these whirlings +of one's mental limbs. I remember that a prisoner at Hobart Town, +twice condemned and twice reprieved, jumped and shouted with frenzied +vehemence when he heard his sentence of death was finally pronounced. He +told me, if he had not so shouted, he believed he would have gone mad. + +April 10th.--We had a state dinner last night. The conversation was +about nothing in the world but convicts. I never saw Mrs. Frere to less +advantage. Silent, distraite, and sad. She told me after dinner that +she disliked the very name of "convict" from early associations. "I have +lived among them all my life," she said, "but that does not make it the +better for me. I have terrible fancies at times, Mr. North, that seem +half-memories. I dread to be brought in contact with prisoners again. I +am sure that some evil awaits me at their hands." + +I laughed, of course, but it would not do. She holds to her own opinion, +and looks at me with horror in her eyes. This terror in her face is +perplexing. + +"You are nervous," I said. "You want rest." + +"I am nervous," she replied, with that candour of voice and manner I +have before remarked in her, "and I have presentiments of evil." + +We sat silent for a while, and then she suddenly turned her large +eyes on me, and said calmly, "Mr. North, what death shall I die?" The +question was an echo of my own thoughts--I have some foolish (?) fancies +as to physiognomy--and it made me start. What death, indeed? What sort +of death would one meet with widely-opened eyes, parted lips, and +brows bent as though to rally fast-flying courage? Not a peaceful death +surely. I brought my black coat to my aid. "My dear lady, you must not +think of such things. Death is but a sleep, you know. Why anticipate a +nightmare?" + +She sighed, slowly awaking as though from some momentary trance. +Checking herself on the verge of tears, she rallied, turned the +conversation, and finding an excuse for going to the piano, dashed into +a waltz. This unnatural gaiety ended, I fancy, in an hysterical fit. I +heard her husband afterwards recommending sal volatile. He is the +sort of man who would recommend sal volatile to the Pythoness if she +consulted him. + +April 26th.--All has been arranged, and we start to-morrow. Mr. Pounce +is in a condition of painful dignity. He seems afraid to move lest +motion should thaw his official ice. Having found out that I am the +"chaplain", he has refrained from familiarity. My self-love is wounded, +but my patience relieved. Query: Would not the majority of mankind +rather be bored by people in authority than not noticed by them? James +North declines to answer for his part. I have made my farewells to my +friends, and on looking back on the pleasant hours I have spent, felt +saddened. It is not likely that I shall have many such pleasant hours. +I feel like a vagabond who, having been allowed to sit by a cheerful +fireside for a while, is turned out into the wet and windy streets, and +finds them colder than ever. What were the lines I wrote in her album? + + +"As some poor tavern-haunter drenched in wine With staggering footsteps +through the streets returning, Seeing through blinding rain a beacon +shine From household lamp in happy window burning,-- + +"Pauses an instant at the reddened pane To gaze on that sweet scene of +love and duty, Then turns into the wild wet night again, Lest his sad +presence mar its homely beauty." + + +Yes, those were the lines. With more of truth in them than she expected; +and yet what business have I sentimentalizing. My socius thinks "what a +puling fool this North is!" + +So, that's over! Now for Norfolk Island and my purgation. + + + + +CHAPTER II. THE LOST HEIR. + + + +The lost son of Sir Richard Devine had returned to England, and made +claim to his name and fortune. In other words, John Rex had successfully +carried out the scheme by which he had usurped the rights of his old +convict-comrade. + +Smoking his cigar in his bachelor lodgings, or pausing in a calculation +concerning a race, John Rex often wondered at the strange ease with +which he had carried out so monstrous and seemingly difficult an +imposture. After he was landed in Sydney, by the vessel which Sarah +Purfoy had sent to save him, he found himself a slave to a bondage +scarcely less galling than that from which he had escaped--the bondage +of enforced companionship with an unloved woman. The opportune death of +one of her assigned servants enabled Sarah Purfoy to instal the escaped +convict in his room. In the strange state of society which prevailed +of necessity in New South Wales at that period, it was not unusual for +assigned servants to marry among the free settlers, and when it was +heard that Mrs. Purfoy, the widow of a whaling captain, had married John +Carr, her storekeeper, transported for embezzlement, and with two years +of his sentence yet to run, no one expressed surprise. Indeed, when the +year after, John Carr blossomed into an "expiree", master of a fine wife +and a fine fortune, there were many about him who would have made his +existence in Australia pleasant enough. But John Rex had no notion of +remaining longer than he could help, and ceaselessly sought means of +escape from this second prison-house. For a long time his search was +unsuccessful. Much as she loved the scoundrel, Sarah Purfoy did not +scruple to tell him that she had bought him and regarded him as her +property. He knew that if he made any attempt to escape from his +marriage-bonds, the woman who had risked so much to save him would +not hesitate to deliver him over to the authorities, and state how the +opportune death of John Carr had enabled her to give name and employment +to John Rex, the absconder. He had thought once that the fact of her +being his wife would prevent her from giving evidence against him, and +that he could thus defy her. But she reminded him that a word to Blunt +would be all sufficient. + +"I know you don't care for me now, John," she said, with grim +complacency; "but your life is in my hands, and if you desert me I will +bring you to the gallows." + +In vain, in his secret eagerness to be rid of her, he raged and chafed. +He was tied hand and foot. She held his money, and her shrewd wit had +more than doubled it. She was all-powerful, and he could but wait until +her death or some lucky accident should rid him of her, and leave him +free to follow out the scheme he had matured. "Once rid of her," he +thought, in his solitary rides over the station of which he was the +nominal owner, "the rest is easy. I shall return to England with a +plausible story of shipwreck, and shall doubtless be received with open +arms by the dear mother from whom I have been so long parted. Richard +Devine shall have his own again." + +To be rid of her was not so easy. Twice he tried to escape from his +thraldom, and was twice brought back. "I have bought you, John," his +partner had laughed, "and you don't get away from me. Surely you can be +content with these comforts. You were content with less once. I am not +so ugly and repulsive, am I?" + +"I am home-sick," John Carr retorted. "Let us go to England, Sarah." + +She tapped her strong white fingers sharply on the table. "Go to +England? No, no. That is what you would like to do. You would be master +there. You would take my money, and leave me to starve. I know you, +Jack. We stop here, dear. Here, where I can hand you over to the first +trooper as an escaped convict if you are not kind to me." + +"She-devil!" + +"Oh, I don't mind your abuse. Abuse me if you like, Jack. Beat me if you +will, but don't leave me, or it will be worse for you." + +"You are a strange woman!" he cried, in sudden petulant admiration. + +"To love such a villain? I don't know that. I love you because you are a +villain. A better man would be wearisome to such as I am." + +"I wish to Heaven I'd never left Port Arthur. Better there than this +dog's life." + +"Go back, then. You have only to say the word!" And so they would +wrangle, she glorying in her power over the man who had so long +triumphed over her, and he consoling himself with the hope that the day +was not far distant which should bring him at once freedom and fortune. +One day the chance came to him. His wife was ill, and the ungrateful +scoundrel stole five hundred pounds, and taking two horses reached +Sydney, and obtained passage in a vessel bound for Rio. + +Having escaped thraldom, John Rex proceeded to play for the great stake +of his life with the utmost caution. He went to the Continent, and lived +for weeks together in the towns where Richard Devine might possibly have +resided, familiarizing himself with streets, making the acquaintance +of old inhabitants, drawing into his own hands all loose ends of +information which could help to knit the meshes of his net the closer. +Such loose ends were not numerous; the prodigal had been too poor, too +insignificant, to leave strong memories behind him. Yet Rex knew well +by what strange accidents the deceit of an assumed identity is often +penetrated. Some old comrade or companion of the lost heir might +suddenly appear with keen questions as to trifles which could cut his +flimsy web to shreds, as easily as the sword of Saladin divided the +floating silk. He could not afford to ignore the most insignificant +circumstances. With consummate skill, piece by piece he built up the +story which was to deceive the poor mother, and to make him possessor of +one of the largest private fortunes in England. + +This was the tale he hit upon. He had been saved from the burning +Hydaspes by a vessel bound for Rio. Ignorant of the death of Sir +Richard, and prompted by the pride which was known to be a leading +feature of his character, he had determined not to return until fortune +should have bestowed upon him wealth at least equal to the inheritance +from which he had been ousted. In Spanish America he had striven to +accumulate that wealth in vain. As vequero, traveller, speculator, +sailor, he had toiled for fourteen years, and had failed. Worn out and +penitent, he had returned home to find a corner of English earth in +which to lay his weary bones. The tale was plausible enough, and in the +telling of it he was armed at all points. There was little fear that +the navigator of the captured Osprey, the man who had lived in Chile and +"cut out" cattle on the Carrum Plains, would prove lacking in knowledge +of riding, seamanship, or Spanish customs. Moreover, he had determined +upon a course of action which showed his knowledge of human nature. + +The will under which Richard Devine inherited was dated in 1807, and had +been made when the testator was in the first hopeful glow of paternity. +By its terms Lady Devine was to receive a life interest of three +thousand a year in her husband's property--which was placed in the +hands of two trustees--until her eldest son died or attained the age +of twenty-five years. When either of these events should occur, the +property was to be realized, Lady Devine receiving a sum of a hundred +thousand pounds, which, invested in Consols for her benefit, would, +according to Sir Richard's prudent calculation exactly compensate for +her loss of interest, the remainder going absolutely to the son, if +living, to his children or next of kin if dead. The trustees appointed +were Lady Devine's father, Colonel Wotton Wade, and Mr. Silas Quaid, +of the firm of Purkiss and Quaid Thavies Inn, Sir Richard's solicitors. +Colonel Wade, before his death had appointed his son, Mr. Francis Wade, +to act in his stead. When Mr. Quaid died, the firm of Purkiss and Quaid +(represented in the Quaid branch of it by a smart London-bred nephew) +declined further responsibility; and, with the consent of Lady Devine, +Francis Wade continued alone in his trust. Sir Richard's sister and her +husband, Anthony Frere, of Bristol, were long ago dead, and, as we know, +their representative, Maurice Frere, content at last in the lot that +fortune had sent him, had given up all thought of meddling with his +uncle's business. John Rex, therefore, in the person of the returned +Richard, had but two persons to satisfy, his putative uncle, Mr. Francis +Wade, and his putative mother, Lady Devine. + +This he found to be the easiest task possible. Francis Wade was an +invalid virtuoso, who detested business, and whose ambition was to be +known as man of taste. The possessor of a small independent income, he +had resided at North End ever since his father's death, and had made the +place a miniature Strawberry Hill. When, at his sister's urgent wish, he +assumed the sole responsibility of the estate, he put all the floating +capital into 3 per cents., and was content to see the interest +accumulate. Lady Devine had never recovered the shock of the +circumstances attending Sir Richard's death and, clinging to the belief +in her son's existence, regarded herself as the mere guardian of his +interests, to be displaced at any moment by his sudden return. The +retired pair lived thus together, and spent in charity and bric-a-brac +about a fourth of their mutual income. By both of them the return of +the wanderer was hailed with delight. To Lady Devine it meant the +realization of a lifelong hope, become part of her nature. To Francis +Wade it meant relief from a responsibility which his simplicity always +secretly loathed, the responsibility of looking after another person's +money. + +"I shall not think of interfering with the arrangements which you have +made, my dear uncle," said Mr. John Rex, on the first night of his +reception. "It would be most ungrateful of me to do so. My wants are +very few, and can easily be supplied. I will see your lawyers some day, +and settle it." + +"See them at once, Richard; see them at once. I am no man of business, +you know, but I think you will find all right." + +Richard, however, put off the visit from day to day. He desired to +have as little to do with lawyers as possible. He had resolved upon +his course of action. He would get money from his mother for immediate +needs, and when that mother died he would assert his rights. "My rough +life has unfitted me for drawing-rooms, dear mother," he said. "Do not +let there be a display about my return. Give me a corner to smoke my +pipe, and I am happy." Lady Devine, with a loving tender pity, for which +John Rex could not altogether account, consented, and "Mr. Richard" soon +came to be regarded as a martyr to circumstances, a man conscious of his +own imperfections, and one whose imperfections were therefore lightly +dwelt upon. So the returned prodigal had his own suite of rooms, his own +servants, his own bank account, drank, smoked, and was merry. For five +or six months he thought himself in Paradise. Then he began to find his +life insufferably weary. The burden of hypocrisy is very heavy to bear, +and Rex was compelled perpetually to bear it. His mother demanded all +his time. She hung upon his lips; she made him repeat fifty times the +story of his wanderings. She was never tired of kissing him, of weeping +over him, and of thanking him for the "sacrifice" he had made for her. + +"We promised never to speak of it more, Richard," the poor lady said one +day, "but if my lifelong love can make atonement for the wrong I have +done you--" + +"Hush, dearest mother," said John Rex, who did not in the least +comprehend what it was all about. "Let us say no more." + +Lady Devine wept quietly for a while, and then went away, leaving the +man who pretended to be her son much bewildered and a little frightened. +There was a secret which he had not fathomed between Lady Devine and her +son. The mother did not again refer to it, and, gaining courage as the +days went on, Rex grew bold enough to forget his fears. In the first +stages of his deception he had been timid and cautious. Then the +soothing influence of comfort, respect, and security came upon him, +and almost refined him. He began to feel as he had felt when Mr. Lionel +Crofton was alive. The sensation of being ministered to by a loving +woman, who kissed him night and morning, calling him "son"--of being +regarded with admiration by rustics, with envy by respectable folk--of +being deferred to in all things--was novel and pleasing. They were so +good to him that he felt at times inclined to confess all, and leave his +case in the hands of the folk he had injured. Yet--he thought--such a +course would be absurd. It would result in no benefit to anyone, simply +in misery to himself. The true Richard Devine was buried fathoms deep +in the greedy ocean of convict-discipline, and the waves of innumerable +punishments washed over him. John Rex flattered himself that he had +usurped the name of one who was in fact no living man, and that, unless +one should rise from the dead, Richard Devine could never return to +accuse him. So flattering himself, he gradually became bolder, and by +slow degrees suffered his true nature to appear. He was violent to the +servants, cruel to dogs and horses, often wantonly coarse in speech, +and brutally regardless of the feelings of others. Governed, like most +women, solely by her feelings, Lady Devine had at first been prodigal +of her affection to the man she believed to be her injured son. But his +rash acts of selfishness, his habits of grossness and self-indulgence, +gradually disgusted her. For some time she--poor woman--fought against +this feeling, endeavouring to overcome her instincts of distaste, and +arguing with herself that to permit a detestation of her unfortunate son +to arise in her heart was almost criminal; but she was at length forced +to succumb. + +For the first year Mr. Richard conducted himself with great propriety, +but as his circle of acquaintance and his confidence in himself +increased, he now and then forgot the part he was playing. One day Mr. +Richard went to pass the day with a sporting friend, only too proud to +see at his table so wealthy and wonderful a man. Mr. Richard drank a +good deal more than was good for him, and returned home in a condition +of disgusting drunkenness. I say disgusting, because some folks have the +art of getting drunk after a humorous fashion, that robs intoxication of +half its grossness. For John Rex to be drunk was to be himself--coarse +and cruel. Francis Wade was away, and Lady Devine had retired for +the night, when the dog-cart brought home "Mr. Richard". The virtuous +butler-porter, who opened the door, received a blow in the chest and +a demand for "Brandy!" The groom was cursed, and ordered to instant +oblivion. Mr. Richard stumbled into the dining-room--veiled in dim light +as a dining-room which was "sitting up" for its master ought to be--and +ordered "more candles!" The candles were brought, after some delay, and +Mr. Richard amused himself by spilling their meltings upon the carpet. +"Let's have 'luminashon!" he cried; and climbing with muddy boots upon +the costly chairs, scraping with his feet the polished table, attempted +to fix the wax in the silver sconces, with which the antiquarian tastes +of Mr. Francis Wade had adorned the room. + +"You'll break the table, sir," said the servant. + +"Damn the table!" said Rex. "Buy 'nother table. What's table t'you?" +"Oh, certainly, sir," replied the man. + +"Oh, c'ert'nly! Why c'ert'nly? What do you know about it?" + +"Oh, certainly not, sir," replied the man. + +"If I had--stockwhip here--I'd make you--hic--skip! Whar's brandy?" + +"Here, Mr. Richard." + +"Have some! Good brandy! Send for servantsh and have dance. D'you dance, +Tomkins?" + +"No, Mr. Richard." + +"Then you shall dance now, Tomkins. You'll dance upon nothing one day, +Tomkins! Here! Halloo! Mary! Susan! Janet! William! Hey! Halloo!" And he +began to shout and blaspheme. + +"Don't you think it's time for bed, Mr. Richard?" one of the men +ventured to suggest. + +"No!" roared the ex-convict, emphatically, "I don't! I've gone to bed at +daylight far too long. We'll have 'luminashon! I'm master here. Master +everything. Richard 'Vine's my name. Isn't it, Tomkins, you villain?" + +"Oh-h-h! Yes, Mr. Richard." + +"Course it is, and make you know it too! I'm no painter-picture, +crockery chap. I'm genelman! Genelman seen the world! Knows what's +what. There ain't much I ain't fly to. Wait till the old woman's dead, +Tomkins, and you shall see!" More swearing, and awful threats of +what the inebriate would do when he was in possession. "Bring up +some brandy!" Crash goes the bottle in the fire-place. "Light up the +droring-rooms; we'll have dance! I'm drunk! What's that? If you'd gone +through what I have, you'd be glad to be drunk. I look a fool"--this +to his image in another glass. "I ain't though, or I wouldn't be +here. Curse you, you grinning idiot"--crash goes his fist through the +mirror--"don't grin at me. Play up there! Where's old woman? Fetch her +out and let's dance!" + +"Lady Devine has gone to bed, Mr. Richard," cried Tomkins, aghast, +attempting to bar the passage to the upper regions. + +"Then let's have her out o' bed," cried John Rex, plunging to the door. + +Tomkins, attempting to restrain him, is instantly hurled into a cabinet +of rare china, and the drunken brute essays the stairs. The other +servants seize him. He curses and fights like a demon. Doors bang open, +lights gleam, maids hover, horrified, asking if it's "fire?" and begging +for it to be "put out". The whole house is in an uproar, in the midst +of which Lady Devine appears, and looks down upon the scene. Rex catches +sight of her; and bursts into blasphemy. She withdraws, strangely +terrified; and the animal, torn, bloody, and blasphemous, is at last +got into his own apartments, the groom, whose face had been seriously +damaged in the encounter, bestowing a hearty kick on the prostrate +carcase at parting. + +The next morning Lady Devine declined to see her son, though he sent a +special apology to her. + +"I am afraid I was a little overcome by wine last night," said he to +Tomkins. "Well, you was, sir," said Tomkins. + +"A very little wine makes me quite ill, Tomkins. Did I do anything very +violent?" + +"You was rather obstropolous, Mr. Richard." + +"Here's a sovereign for you, Tomkins. Did I say anything?" + +"You cussed a good deal, Mr. Richard. Most gents do when they've +bin--hum--dining out, Mr. Richard." + +"What a fool I am," thought John Rex, as he dressed. "I shall spoil +everything if I don't take care." He was right. He was going the right +way to spoil everything. However, for this bout he made amends--money +soothed the servants' hall, and apologies and time won Lady Devine's +forgiveness. + +"I cannot yet conform to English habits, my dear mother," said Rex, "and +feel at times out of place in your quiet home. I think that--if you can +spare me a little money--I should like to travel." + +Lady Devine--with a sense of relief for which she blamed +herself--assented, and supplied with letters of credit, John Rex went to +Paris. + +Fairly started in the world of dissipation and excess, he began to grow +reckless. When a young man, he had been singularly free from the vice of +drunkenness; turning his sobriety--as he did all his virtues--to vicious +account; but he had learnt to drink deep in the loneliness of the bush. +Master of a large sum of money, he had intended to spend it as he would +have spent it in his younger days. He had forgotten that since his death +and burial the world had not grown younger. It was possible that Mr. +Lionel Crofton might have discovered some of the old set of fools +and knaves with whom he had once mixed. Many of them were alive and +flourishing. Mr. Lemoine, for instance, was respectably married in his +native island of Jersey, and had already threatened to disinherit a +nephew who showed a tendency to dissipation. + +But Mr. Lemoine would not care to recognize Mr. Lionel Crofton, the +gambler and rake, in his proper person, and it was not expedient that +his acquaintance should be made in the person of Richard Devine, lest +by some unlucky chance he should recognize the cheat. Thus poor Lionel +Crofton was compelled to lie still in his grave, and Mr. Richard Devine, +trusting to a big beard and more burly figure to keep his secret, was +compelled to begin his friendship with Mr. Lionel's whilom friends all +over again. In Paris and London there were plenty of people ready to +become hail-fellow-well-met with any gentleman possessing money. Mr. +Richard Devine's history was whispered in many a boudoir and club-room. +The history, however, was not always told in the same way. It was +generally known that Lady Devine had a son, who, being supposed to be +dead, had suddenly returned, to the confusion of his family. But the +manner of his return was told in many ways. + +In the first place, Mr. Francis Wade, well-known though he was, did +not move in that brilliant circle which had lately received his nephew. +There are in England many men of fortune, as large as that left by the +old ship-builder, who are positively unknown in that little world which +is supposed to contain all the men worth knowing. Francis Wade was a +man of mark in his own coterie. Among artists, bric-a-brac sellers, +antiquarians, and men of letters he was known as a patron and man +of taste. His bankers and his lawyers knew him to be of independent +fortune, but as he neither mixed in politics, "went into society", +betted, or speculated in merchandise, there were several large sections +of the community who had never heard his name. Many respectable +money-lenders would have required "further information" before they +would discount his bills; and "clubmen" in general--save, perhaps, +those ancient quidnuncs who know everybody, from Adam downwards--had but +little acquaintance with him. The advent of Mr. Richard Devine--a coarse +person of unlimited means--had therefore chief influence upon that +sinister circle of male and female rogues who form the "half-world". +They began to inquire concerning his antecedents, and, failing +satisfactory information, to invent lies concerning him. It was +generally believed that he was a black sheep, a man whose family kept +him out of the way, but who was, in a pecuniary sense, "good" for a +considerable sum. + +Thus taken upon trust, Mr. Richard Devine mixed in the very best of +bad society, and had no lack of agreeable friends to help him to spend +money. So admirably did he spend it, that Francis Wade became at last +alarmed at the frequent drafts, and urged his nephew to bring his +affairs to a final settlement. Richard Devine--in Paris, Hamburg, or +London, or elsewhere--could never be got to attack business, and Mr. +Francis Wade grew more and more anxious. The poor gentleman +positively became ill through the anxiety consequent upon his nephew's +dissipations. "I wish, my dear Richard, that you would let me know what +to do," he wrote. "I wish, my dear uncle, that you would do what you +think best," was his nephew's reply. + +"Will you let Purkiss and Quaid look into the business?" said the +badgered Francis. + +"I hate lawyers," said Richard. "Do what you think right." + +Mr. Wade began to repent of his too easy taking of matters in the +beginning. Not that he had a suspicion of Rex, but that he had +remembered that Dick was always a loose fish. The even current of the +dilettante's life became disturbed. He grew pale and hollow-eyed. His +digestion was impaired. He ceased to take the interest in china which +the importance of that article demanded. In a word, he grew despondent +as to his fitness for his mission in life. Lady Ellinor saw a change in +her brother. He became morose, peevish, excitable. She went privately +to the family doctor, who shrugged his shoulders. "There is no danger," +said he, "if he is kept quiet; keep him quiet, and he will live for +years; but his father died of heart disease, you know." Lady Ellinor, +upon this, wrote a long letter to Mr. Richard, who was at Paris, +repeated the doctor's opinions, and begged him to come over at once. +Mr. Richard replied that some horse-racing matter of great importance +occupied his attention, but that he would be at his rooms in Clarges +Street (he had long ago established a town house) on the 14th, and would +"go into matters". "I have lost a good deal of money lately, my dear +mother," said Mr. Richard, "and the present will be a good opportunity +to make a final settlement." The fact was that John Rex, now three years +in undisturbed possession, considered that the moment had arrived for +the execution of his grand coup--the carrying off at one swoop of the +whole of the fortune he had gambled for. + + + + +CHAPTER III. EXTRACTED FROM THE DIARY OF THE REV. JAMES NORTH. + + + +May 12th--landed to-day at Norfolk Island, and have been introduced to +my new abode, situated some eleven hundred miles from Sydney. A solitary +rock in the tropical ocean, the island seems, indeed, a fit place +of banishment. It is about seven miles long and four broad. The most +remarkable natural object is, of course, the Norfolk Island pine, which +rears its stately head a hundred feet above the surrounding forest. The +appearance of the place is very wild and beautiful, bringing to my +mind the description of the romantic islands of the Pacific, which old +geographers dwell upon so fondly. Lemon, lime, and guava trees abound, +also oranges, grapes, figs, bananas, peaches, pomegranates, and +pine-apples. The climate just now is hot and muggy. The approach to +Kingstown--as the barracks and huts are called--is properly difficult. +A long low reef--probably originally a portion of the barren rocks +of Nepean and Philip Islands, which rise east and west of the +settlement--fronts the bay and obstructs the entrance of vessels. We +were landed in boats through an opening in this reef, and our vessel +stands on and off within signalling distance. The surf washes almost +against the walls of the military roadway that leads to the barracks. +The social aspect of the place fills me with horror. There seems neither +discipline nor order. On our way to the Commandant's house we passed a +low dilapidated building where men were grinding maize, and at the sight +of us they commenced whistling, hooting, and shouting, using the most +disgusting language. Three warders were near, but no attempt was made to +check this unseemly exhibition. + + + +May 14th.--I sit down to write with as much reluctance as though I were +about to relate my experience of a journey through a sewer. + +First to the prisoners' barracks, which stand on an area of about three +acres, surrounded by a lofty wall. A road runs between this wall and +the sea. The barracks are three storeys high, and hold seven hundred and +ninety men (let me remark here that there are more than two thousand men +on the island). There are twenty-two wards in this place. Each ward runs +the depth of the building, viz., eighteen feet, and in consequence is +simply a funnel for hot or cold air to blow through. When the ward is +filled, the men's heads lie under the windows. The largest ward contains +a hundred men, the smallest fifteen. They sleep in hammocks, slung close +to each other as on board ship, in two lines, with a passage down +the centre. There is a wardsman to each ward. He is selected by the +prisoners, and is generally a man of the worst character. He is supposed +to keep order, but of course he never attempts to do so; indeed, as he +is locked up in the ward every night from six o'clock in the evening +until sunrise, without light, it is possible that he might get +maltreated did he make himself obnoxious. + +The barracks look upon the Barrack Square, which is filled with lounging +prisoners. The windows of the hospital-ward also look upon Barrack +Square, and the prisoners are in constant communication with the +patients. The hospital is a low stone building, capable of containing +about twenty men, and faces the beach. I placed my hands on the wall, +and found it damp. An ulcerous prisoner said the dampness was owing to +the heavy surf constantly rolling so close beneath the building. There +are two gaols, the old and the new. The old gaol stands near the sea, +close to the landing-place. Outside it, at the door, is the Gallows. I +touched it as I passed in. This engine is the first thing which greets +the eyes of a newly-arrived prisoner. The new gaol is barely completed, +is of pentagonal shape, and has eighteen radiating cells of a pattern +approved by some wiseacre in England, who thinks that to prevent a man +from seeing his fellowmen is not the way to drive him mad. In the old +gaol are twenty-four prisoners, all heavily ironed, awaiting trial by +the visiting Commission, from Hobart Town. Some of these poor ruffians, +having committed their offences just after the last sitting of the +Commission, have already been in gaol upwards of eleven months! + +At six o'clock we saw the men mustered. I read prayers before the +muster, and was surprised to find that some of the prisoners attended, +while some strolled about the yard, whistling, singing, and joking. +The muster is a farce. The prisoners are not mustered outside and +then marched to their wards, but they rush into the barracks +indiscriminately, and place themselves dressed or undressed in their +hammocks. A convict sub-overseer then calls out the names, and somebody +replies. If an answer is returned to each name, all is considered right. +The lights are taken away, and save for a few minutes at eight o'clock, +when the good-conduct men are let in, the ruffians are left to their +own devices until morning. Knowing what I know of the customs of the +convicts, my heart sickens when I in imagination put myself in the place +of a newly-transported man, plunged from six at night until daybreak +into that foetid den of worse than wild beasts. + + + +May 15th.--There is a place enclosed between high walls adjoining the +convict barracks, called the Lumber Yard. This is where the prisoners +mess. It is roofed on two sides, and contains tables and benches. Six +hundred men can mess here perhaps, but as seven hundred are always +driven into it, it follows that the weakest men are compelled to sit on +the ground. A more disorderly sight than this yard at meal times I +never beheld. The cook-houses are adjoining it, and the men bake their +meal-bread there. Outside the cook-house door the firewood is piled, +and fires are made in all directions on the ground, round which sit +the prisoners, frying their rations of fresh pork, baking their hominy +cakes, chatting, and even smoking. + +The Lumber Yard is a sort of Alsatia, to which the hunted prisoner +retires. I don't think the boldest constable on the island would venture +into that place to pick out a man from the seven hundred. If he did go +in I don't think he would come out again alive. + + + +May 16th.--A sub-overseer, a man named Hankey, has been talking to me. +He says that there are some forty of the oldest and worst prisoners who +form what he calls the "Ring", and that the members of this "Ring" are +bound by oath to support each other, and to avenge the punishment of any +of their number. In proof of his assertions he instanced two cases +of English prisoners who had refused to join in some crime, and had +informed the Commandant of the proceedings of the Ring. They were found +in the morning strangled in their hammocks. An inquiry was held, but not +a man out of the ninety in the ward would speak a word. I dread the task +that is before me. How can I attempt to preach piety and morality to +these men? How can I attempt even to save the less villainous? + + + +May 17th.--Visited the wards to-day, and returned in despair. The +condition of things is worse than I expected. It is not to be written. +The newly-arrived English prisoners--and some of their histories +are most touching--are insulted by the language and demeanour of the +hardened miscreants who are the refuse of Port Arthur and Cockatoo +Island. The vilest crimes are perpetrated as jests. These are creatures +who openly defy authority, whose language and conduct is such as was +never before seen or heard out of Bedlam. There are men who are known +to have murdered their companions, and who boast of it. With these the +English farm labourer, the riotous and ignorant mechanic, the victim +of perjury or mistake, are indiscriminately herded. With them are mixed +Chinamen from Hong Kong, the Aborigines of New Holland, West Indian +blacks, Greeks, Caffres, and Malays, soldiers for desertion, idiots, +madmen, pig-stealers, and pick-pockets. The dreadful place seems set +apart for all that is hideous and vile in our common nature. In its +recklessness, its insubordination, its filth, and its despair, it +realizes to my mind the popular notion of Hell. + + + +May 21st.--Entered to-day officially upon my duties as Religious +Instructor at the Settlement. + +An occurrence took place this morning which shows the dangerous +condition of the Ring. I accompanied Mr. Pounce to the Lumber Yard, +and, on our entry, we observed a man in the crowd round the cook-house +deliberately smoking. The Chief Constable of the Island--my old friend +Troke, of Port Arthur--seeing that this exhibition attracted Pounce's +notice, pointed out the man to an assistant. The assistant, Jacob +Gimblett, advanced and desired the prisoner to surrender the pipe. The +man plunged his hands into his pockets, and, with a gesture of the most +profound contempt, walked away to that part of the mess-shed where the +"Ring" congregate. + +"Take the scoundrel to gaol!" cried Troke. + +No one moved, but the man at the gate that leads through the carpenter's +shop into the barracks, called to us to come out, saying that the +prisoners would never suffer the man to be taken. Pounce, however, with +more determination than I gave him credit for, kept his ground, and +insisted that so flagrant a breach of discipline should not be suffered +to pass unnoticed. Thus urged, Mr. Troke pushed through the crowd, and +made for the spot whither the man had withdrawn himself. + +The yard was buzzing like a disturbed hive, and I momentarily expected +that a rush would be made upon us. In a few moments the prisoner +appeared, attended by, rather than in the custody of, the Chief +Constable of the island. He advanced to the unlucky assistant constable, +who was standing close to me, and asked, "What have you ordered me to +gaol for?" The man made some reply, advising him to go quietly, when the +convict raised his fist and deliberately felled the man to the ground. +"You had better retire, gentlemen," said Troke. "I see them getting out +their knives." + +We made for the gate, and the crowd closed in like a sea upon the two +constables. I fully expected murder, but in a few moments Troke and +Gimblett appeared, borne along by a mass of men, dusty, but unharmed, +and having the convict between them. He sulkily raised a hand as he +passed me, either to rectify the position of his straw hat, or to offer +a tardy apology. A more wanton, unprovoked, and flagrant outrage than +that of which this man was guilty I never witnessed. It is customary for +"the old dogs", as the experienced convicts are called, to use the +most opprobrious language to their officers, and to this a deaf ear +is usually turned, but I never before saw a man wantonly strike a +constable. I fancy that the act was done out of bravado. Troke informed +me that the man's name is Rufus Dawes, and that he is the leader of the +Ring, and considered the worst man on the island; that to secure him he +(Troke) was obliged to use the language of expostulation; and that, but +for the presence of an officer accredited by his Excellency, he dared +not have acted as he had done. + +This is the same man, then, whom I injured at Port Arthur. Seven years +of "discipline" don't seem to have done him much good. His sentence is +"life"--a lifetime in this place! Troke says that he was the terror +of Port Arthur, and that they sent him here when a "weeding" of the +prisoners was made. He has been here four years. Poor wretch! + + + +May 24th.--After prayers, I saw Dawes. He was confined in the Old Gaol, +and seven others were in the cell with him. He came out at my request, +and stood leaning against the door-post. He was much changed from the +man I remember. Seven years ago he was a stalwart, upright, handsome +man. He has become a beetle-browed, sullen, slouching ruffian. His hair +is grey, though he cannot be more than forty years of age, and his +frame has lost that just proportion of parts which once made him +almost graceful. His face has also grown like other convict faces--how +hideously alike they all are!--and, save for his black eyes and a +peculiar trick he had of compressing his lips, I should not have +recognized him. How habitual sin and misery suffice to brutalize "the +human face divine"! I said but little, for the other prisoners were +listening, eager, as it appeared to me, to witness my discomfiture. +It is evident that Rufus Dawes had been accustomed to meet the +ministrations of my predecessors with insolence. I spoke to him for +a few minutes, only saying how foolish it was to rebel against an +authority superior in strength to himself. He did not answer, and the +only emotion he evinced during the interview was when I reminded him +that we had met before. He shrugged one shoulder, as if in pain or +anger, and seemed about to speak, but, casting his eyes upon the group +in the cell, relapsed into silence again. I must get speech with him +alone. One can do nothing with a man if seven other devils worse than +himself are locked up with him. + +I sent for Hankey, and asked him about cells. He says that the gaol is +crowded to suffocation. "Solitary confinement" is a mere name. There are +six men, each sentenced to solitary confinement, in a cell together. The +cell is called the "nunnery". It is small, and the six men were naked to +the waist when I entered, the perspiration pouring in streams off their +naked bodies! It is disgusting to write of such things. + + + +June 26th.--Pounce has departed in the Lady Franklin for Hobart Town, +and it is rumoured that we are to have a new Commandant. The Lady +Franklin is commanded by an old man named Blunt, a protege of Frere's, +and a fellow to whom I have taken one of my inexplicable and unreasoning +dislikes. + +Saw Rufus Dawes this morning. He continues sullen and morose. His papers +are very bad. He is perpetually up for punishment. I am informed that +he and a man named Eastwood, nicknamed "Jacky Jacky", glory in being the +leaders of the Ring, and that they openly avow themselves weary of life. +Can it be that the unmerited flogging which the poor creature got at +Port Arthur has aided, with other sufferings, to bring him to this +horrible state of mind? It is quite possible. Oh, James North, remember +your own crime, and pray Heaven to let you redeem one soul at least, to +plead for your own at the Judgment Seat. + + + +June 30th.--I took a holiday this afternoon, and walked in the direction +of Mount Pitt. The island lay at my feet like--as sings Mrs. Frere's +favourite poet--"a summer isle of Eden lying in dark purple sphere of +sea". Sophocles has the same idea in the Philoctetes, but I can't +quote it. Note: I measured a pine twenty-three feet in circumference. +I followed a little brook that runs from the hills, and winds through +thick undergrowths of creeper and blossom, until it reaches a lovely +valley surrounded by lofty trees, whose branches, linked together by the +luxurious grape-vine, form an arching bower of verdure. Here stands the +ruin of an old hut, formerly inhabited by the early settlers; lemons, +figs, and guavas are thick; while amid the shrub and cane a large +convolvulus is entwined, and stars the green with its purple and crimson +flowers. I sat down here, and had a smoke. It seems that the former +occupant of my rooms at the settlement read French; for in searching +for a book to bring with me--I never walk without a book--I found and +pocketed a volume of Balzac. It proved to be a portion of the Vie Privee +series, and I stumbled upon a story called La Fausse Maitresse. +With calm belief in the Paris of his imagination--where Marcas was a +politician, Nucingen a banker, Gobseck a money-lender, and Vautrin a +candidate for some such place as this--Balzac introduces me to a Pole by +name Paz, who, loving the wife of his friend, devotes himself to watch +over her happiness and her husband's interest. The husband gambles and +is profligate. Paz informs the wife that the leanness which hazard +and debauchery have caused to the domestic exchequer is due to his +extravagance, the husband having lent him money. She does not believe, +and Paz feigns an intrigue with a circus-rider in order to lull all +suspicions. She says to her adored spouse, "Get rid of this extravagant +friend! Away with him! He is a profligate, a gambler! A drunkard!" +Paz finally departs, and when he has gone, the lady finds out the poor +Pole's worth. The story does not end satisfactorily. Balzac was too +great a master of his art for that. In real life the curtain never falls +on a comfortably-finished drama. The play goes on eternally. + +I have been thinking of the story all evening. A man who loves his +friend's wife, and devotes his energies to increase her happiness by +concealing from her her husband's follies! Surely none but Balzac +would have hit upon such a notion. "A man who loves his friend's +wife."--Asmodeus, I write no more! I have ceased to converse with thee +for so long that I blush to confess all that I have in my heart.--I will +not confess it, so that shall suffice. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. EXTRACTED FROM THE DIARY OF THE REV. JAMES NORTH. + + + +August 24th.--There has been but one entry in my journal since the 30th +June, that which records the advent of our new Commandant, who, as I +expected, is Captain Maurice Frere. + +So great have been the changes which have taken place that I +scarcely know how to record them. Captain Frere has realized my worst +anticipations. He is brutal, vindictive, and domineering. His knowledge +of prisons and prisoners gives him an advantage over Burgess, otherwise +he much resembles that murderous animal. He has but one thought--to keep +the prisoners in subjection. So long as the island is quiet, he cares +not whether the men live or die. "I was sent down here to keep order," +said he to me, a few days after his arrival, "and by God, sir, I'll do +it!" + +He has done it, I must admit; but at a cost of a legacy of hatred to +himself that he may some day regret to have earned. He has organized +three parties of police. One patrols the fields, one is on guard at +stores and public buildings, and the third is employed as a detective +force. There are two hundred soldiers on the island. And the officer +in charge, Captain McNab, has been induced by Frere to increase their +duties in many ways. The cords of discipline are suddenly drawn tight. +For the disorder which prevailed when I landed, Frere has substituted a +sudden and excessive rigour. Any officer found giving the smallest +piece of tobacco to a prisoner is liable to removal from the island..The +tobacco which grows wild has been rooted up and destroyed lest the men +should obtain a leaf of it. The privilege of having a pannikin of hot +water when the gangs came in from field labour in the evening has been +withdrawn. The shepherds, hut-keepers, and all other prisoners, whether +at the stations of Longridge or the Cascades (where the English convicts +are stationed) are forbidden to keep a parrot or any other bird. The +plaiting of straw hats during the prisoners' leisure hours is also +prohibited. At the settlement where the "old hands" are located railed +boundaries have been erected, beyond which no prisoner must pass unless +to work. Two days ago Job Dodd, a negro, let his jacket fall over the +boundary rails, crossed them to recover it, and was severely flogged. +The floggings are hideously frequent. On flogging mornings I have seen +the ground where the men stood at the triangles saturated with blood, as +if a bucket of blood had been spilled on it, covering a space three feet +in diameter, and running out in various directions, in little streams +two or three feet long. At the same time, let me say, with that strict +justice I force myself to mete out to those whom I dislike, that the +island is in a condition of abject submission. There is not much chance +of mutiny. The men go to their work without a murmur, and slink to their +dormitories like whipped hounds to kennel. The gaols and solitary (!) +cells are crowded with prisoners, and each day sees fresh sentences for +fresh crimes. It is crime here to do anything but live. + +The method by which Captain Frere has brought about this repose of +desolation is characteristic of him. He sets every man as a spy upon +his neighbour, awes the more daring into obedience by the display of +a ruffianism more outrageous than their own, and, raising the worst +scoundrels in the place to office, compels them to find "cases" +for punishment. Perfidy is rewarded. It has been made part of a +convict-policeman's duty to search a fellow-prisoner anywhere and at +any time. This searching is often conducted in a wantonly rough and +disgusting manner; and if resistance be offered, the man resisting can +be knocked down by a blow from the searcher's bludgeon. Inquisitorial +vigilance and indiscriminating harshness prevail everywhere, and the +lives of hundreds of prisoners are reduced to a continual agony of +terror and self-loathing. + +"It is impossible, Captain Frere," said I one day, during the initiation +of this system, "to think that these villains whom you have made +constables will do their duty." + +He replied, "They must do their duty. If they are indulgent to the +prisoners, they know I shall flog 'em. If they do what I tell 'em, +they'll make themselves so hated that they'd have their own father up to +the triangles to save themselves being sent back to the ranks." + +"You treat them then like slave-keepers of a wild beast den. They must +flog the animals to avoid being flogged themselves." + +"Ay," said he, with his coarse laugh, "and having once flogged 'em, +they'd do anything rather than be put in the cage, don't you see!" + +It is horrible to think of this sort of logic being used by a man who +has a wife, and friends and enemies. It is the logic that the Keeper +of the Tormented would use, I should think. I am sick unto death of the +place. It makes me an unbeliever in the social charities. It takes out +of penal science anything it may possess of nobility or worth. It is +cruel, debasing, inhuman. + + + +August 26th.--Saw Rufus Dawes again to-day. His usual bearing +is ostentatiously rough and brutal. He has sunk to a depth of +self-abasement in which he takes a delight in his degradation. This +condition is one familiar to me. + +He is working in the chain-gang to which Hankey was made sub-overseer. +Blind Mooney, an ophthalmic prisoner, who was removed from the gang +to hospital, told me that there was a plot to murder Hankey, but that +Dawes, to whom he had shown some kindness, had prevented it. I saw +Hankey and told him of this, asking him if he had been aware of the +plot. He said "No," falling into a great tremble. "Major Pratt promised +me a removal," said he. "I expected it would come to this." I asked him +why Dawes defended him; and after some trouble he told me, exacting from +me a promise that I would not acquaint the Commandant. It seems that one +morning last week, Hankey had gone up to Captain Frere's house with +a return from Troke, and coming back through the garden had plucked a +flower. Dawes had asked him for this flower, offering two days' rations +for it. Hankey, who is not a bad-hearted man, gave him the sprig. "There +were tears in his eyes as he took it," said he. + +There must be some way to get at this man's heart, bad as he seems to +be. + + + +August 28th.--Hankey was murdered yesterday. He applied to be removed +from the gaol-gang, but Frere refused. "I never let my men 'funk'," he +said. "If they've threatened to murder you, I'll keep you there another +month in spite of 'em." + +Someone who overheard this reported it to the gang, and they set upon +the unfortunate gaoler yesterday, and beat his brains out with their +shovels. Troke says that the wretch who was foremost cried, "There's for +you; and if your master don't take care, he'll get served the same one +of these days!" The gang were employed at building a reef in the sea, +and were working up to their armpits in water. Hankey fell into the +surf, and never moved after the first blow. I saw the gang, and Dawes +said-- + +"It was Frere's fault; he should have let the man go!" + +"I am surprised you did not interfere," said I. "I did all I could," was +the man's answer. "What's a life more or less, here?" + +This occurrence has spread consternation among the overseers, and they +have addressed a "round robin" to the Commandant, praying to be relieved +from their positions. + +The way Frere has dealt with this petition is characteristic of him, and +fills me at once with admiration and disgust. He came down with it in +his hand to the gaol-gang, walked into the yard, shut the gate, and +said, "I've just got this from my overseers. They say they're afraid +you'll murder them as you murdered Hankey. Now, if you want to murder, +murder me. Here I am. Step out, one of you." All this, said in a tone +of the most galling contempt, did not move them. I saw a dozen pairs +of eyes flash hatred, but the bull-dog courage of the man overawed them +here, as, I am told, it had done in Sydney. It would have been easy to +kill him then and there, and his death, I am told, is sworn among them; +but no one raised a finger. The only man who moved was Rufus Dawes, and +he checked himself instantly. Frere, with a recklessness of which I did +not think him capable, stepped up to this terror of the prison, and ran +his hands lightly down his sides, as is the custom with constables when +"searching" a man. Dawes--who is of a fierce temper--turned crimson +at this and, I thought, would have struck him, but he did not. Frere +then--still unarmed and alone--proceeded to the man, saying, "Do you +think of bolting again, Dawes? Have you made any more boats?" + +"You Devil!" said the chained man, in a voice pregnant with such weight +of unborn murder, that the gang winced. "You'll find me one," said +Frere, with a laugh; and, turning to me, continued, in the same jesting +tone, "There's a penitent for you, Mr. North--try your hand on him." + +I was speechless at his audacity, and must have shown my disgust in +my face, for he coloured slightly, and as we were leaving the yard, he +endeavoured to excuse himself, by saying that it was no use preaching to +stones, and such doubly-dyed villains as this Dawes were past hope. "I +know the ruffian of old," said he. "He came out in the ship from England +with me, and tried to raise a mutiny on board. He was the man who nearly +murdered my wife. He has never been out of irons--except then and +when he escaped--for the last eighteen years; and as he's three life +sentences, he's like to die in 'em." + +A monstrous wretch and criminal, evidently, and yet I feel a strange +sympathy with this outcast. + + + + +CHAPTER V. MR. RICHARD DEVINE SURPRISED. + + + +The town house of Mr. Richard Devine was in Clarges Street. Not that the +very modest mansion there situated was the only establishment of which +Richard Devine was master. Mr. John Rex had expensive tastes. He neither +shot nor hunted, so he had no capital invested in Scotch moors or +Leicestershire hunting-boxes. But his stables were the wonder of London, +he owned almost a racing village near Doncaster, kept a yacht at Cowes, +and, in addition to a house in Paris, paid the rent of a villa at +Brompton. He belonged to several clubs of the faster sort, and might +have lived like a prince at any one of them had he been so minded; but +a constant and haunting fear of discovery--which three years of +unquestioned ease and unbridled riot had not dispelled--led him to +prefer the privacy of his own house, where he could choose his own +society. The house in Clarges Street was decorated in conformity with +the tastes of its owner. The pictures were pictures of horses, the books +were records of races, or novels purporting to describe sporting life. +Mr. Francis Wade, waiting, on the morning of the 20th April, for the +coming of his nephew, sighed as he thought of the cultured quiet of +North End House. + +Mr. Richard appeared in his dressing-gown. Three years of good living +and hard drinking had deprived his figure of its athletic beauty. He +was past forty years of age, and the sudden cessation from severe bodily +toil to which in his active life as a convict and squatter he had been +accustomed, had increased Rex's natural proneness to fat, and instead +of being portly he had become gross. His cheeks were inflamed with the +frequent application of hot and rebellious liquors to his blood. His +hands were swollen, and not so steady as of yore. His whiskers were +streaked with unhealthy grey. His eyes, bright and black as ever, lurked +in a thicket of crow's feet. He had become prematurely bald--a sure +sign of mental or bodily excess. He spoke with assumed heartiness, in a +boisterous tone of affected ease. + +"Ha, ha! My dear uncle, sit down. Delighted to see you. Have you +breakfasted?--of course you have. I was up rather late last night. Quite +sure you won't have anything. A glass of wine? No--then sit down and +tell me all the news of Hampstead." + +"Thank you, Richard," said the old gentleman, a little stiffly, "but +I want some serious talk with you. What do you intend to do with the +property? This indecision worries me. Either relieve me of my trust, or +be guided by my advice." + +"Well, the fact is," said Richard, with a very ugly look on his face, +"the fact is--and you may as well know it at once--I am much pushed for +money." + +"Pushed for money!" cried Mr. Wade, in horror. "Why, Purkiss said the +property was worth twenty thousand a year." + +"So it might have been--five years ago--but my horse-racing, and +betting, and other amusements, concerning which you need not too +curiously inquire, have reduced its value considerably." + +He spoke recklessly and roughly. It was evident that success had but +developed his ruffianism. His "dandyism" was only comparative. The +impulse of poverty and scheming which led him to affect the "gentleman" +having been removed, the natural brutality of his nature showed itself +quite freely. Mr. Francis Wade took a pinch of snuff with a sharp motion +of distaste. "I do not want to hear of your debaucheries," he said; "our +name has been sufficiently disgraced in my hearing." + +"What is got over the devil's back goes under his belly," replied Mr. +Richard, coarsely. "My old father got his money by dirtier ways than +these in which I spend it. As villainous an old scoundrel and skinflint +as ever poisoned a seaman, I'll go bail." + +Mr. Francis rose. "You need not revile your father, Richard--he left you +all." + +"Ay, but by pure accident. He didn't mean it. If he hadn't died in the +nick of time, that unhung murderous villain, Maurice Frere, would have +come in for it. By the way," he added, with a change of tone, "do you +ever hear anything of Maurice?" + +"I have not heard for some years," said Mr. Wade. "He is something in +the Convict Department at Sydney, I think." "Is he?" said Mr. Richard, +with a shiver. "Hope he'll stop there. Well, but about business. The +fact is, that--that I am thinking of selling everything." + +"Selling everything!" + +"Yes. 'Pon my soul I am. The Hampstead place and all." + +"Sell North End House!" cried poor Mr. Wade, in bewilderment. "You'd +sell it? Why, the carvings by Grinling Gibbons are the finest in +England." + +"I can't help that," laughed Mr. Richard, ringing the bell. "I want +cash, and cash I must have.--Breakfast, Smithers.--I'm going to travel." + +Francis Wade was breathless with astonishment. Educated and reared as he +had been, he would as soon have thought of proposing to sell St. Paul's +Cathedral as to sell the casket which held his treasures of art--his +coins, his coffee-cups, his pictures, and his "proofs before letters". + +"Surely, Richard, you are not in earnest?" he gasped. + +"I am, indeed." + +"But--but who will buy it?" + +"Plenty of people. I shall cut it up into building allotments. Besides, +they are talking of a suburban line, with a terminus at St. John's +Wood, which will cut the garden in half. You are quite sure you've +breakfasted? Then pardon me." + +"Richard, you are jesting with me! You will never let them do such a +thing!" + +"I'm thinking of a trip to America," said Mr. Richard, cracking an +egg. "I am sick of Europe. After all, what is the good of a man like +me pretending to belong to 'an old family', with 'a seat' and all that +humbug? Money is the thing now, my dear uncle. Hard cash! That's the +ticket for soup, you may depend." + +"Then what do you propose doing, sir?" + +"To buy my mother's life interest as provided, realize upon the +property, and travel," said Mr. Richard, helping himself to potted +grouse. + +"You amaze me, Richard. You confound me. Of course you can +do as you please. But so sudden a determination. The old +house--vases--coins--pictures--scattered--I really--Well, it is your +property, of course--and--and--I wish you a very good morning!" + +"I mean to do as I please," soliloquized Rex, as he resumed his +breakfast. "Let him sell his rubbish by auction, and go and live abroad, +in Germany or Jerusalem if he likes, the farther the better for me. I'll +sell the property and make myself scarce. A trip to America will benefit +my health." + +A knock at the door made him start. + +"Come in! Curse it, how nervous I'm getting. What's that? Letters? Give +them to me; and why the devil don't you put the brandy on the table, +Smithers?" + +He drank some of the spirit greedily, and then began to open his +correspondence. + +"Cussed brute," said Mr. Smithers, outside the door. "He couldn't use +wuss langwidge if he was a dook, dam 'im!--Yessir," he added, suddenly, +as a roar from his master recalled him. + +"When did this come?" asked Mr. Richard, holding out a letter more than +usually disfigured with stampings. + +"Lars night, sir. It's bin to 'Amstead, sir, and come down directed with +the h'others." The angry glare of the black eyes induced him to add, "I +'ope there's nothink wrong, sir." + +"Nothing, you infernal ass and idiot," burst out Mr. Richard, white with +rage, "except that I should have had this instantly. Can't you see it's +marked urgent? Can you read? Can you spell? There, that will do. No +lies. Get out!" + +Left to himself again, Mr. Richard walked hurriedly up and down the +chamber, wiped his forehead, drank a tumbler of brandy, and finally sat +down and re-read the letter. It was short, but terribly to the purpose. + + + +"THE GEORGE HOTEL, PLYMOUTH," 17th April, 1846. + +"MY DEAR JACK,-- + +"I have found you out, you see. Never mind how just at present. I know +all about your proceedings, and unless Mr. Richard Devine receives his +"wife" with due propriety, he'll find himself in the custody of the +police. Telegraph, dear, to Mrs. Richard Devine, at above address. + +"Yours as ever, Jack, + +"SARAH. + +"To Richard Devine, Esq., "North End House, "Hampstead." + + + +The blow was unexpected and severe. It was hard, in the very high tide +and flush of assured success, to be thus plucked back into the old +bondage. Despite the affectionate tone of the letter, he knew the woman +with whom he had to deal. For some furious minutes he sat motionless, +gazing at the letter. He did not speak--men seldom do under such +circumstances--but his thoughts ran in this fashion: "Here is this +cursed woman again! Just as I was congratulating myself on my freedom. +How did she discover me? Small use asking that. What shall I do? I can +do nothing. It is absurd to run away, for I shall be caught. Besides, +I've no money. My account at Mastermann's is overdrawn two thousand +pounds. If I bolt at all, I must bolt at once--within twenty-four hours. +Rich as I am, I don't suppose I could raise more than five thousand +pounds in that time. These things take a day or two, say forty-eight +hours. In forty-eight hours I could raise twenty thousand pounds, but +forty-eight hours is too long. Curse the woman! I know her! How in the +fiend's name did she discover me? It's a bad job. However, she's not +inclined to be gratuitiously disagreeable. How lucky I never married +again! I had better make terms and trust to fortune. After all, she's +been a good friend to me.--Poor Sally!--I might have rotted on that +infernal Eaglehawk Neck if it hadn't been for her. She is not a bad +sort. Handsome woman, too. I may make it up with her. I shall have to +sell off and go away after all.--It might be worse.--I dare say the +property's worth three hundred thousand pounds. Not bad for a start in +America. And I may get rid of her yet. Yes. I must give in.--Oh, curse +her!--[ringing the bell]--Smithers!" [Smithers appears.] "A telegraph +form and a cab! Stay. Pack me a dressing-bag. I shall be away for a day +or so. [Sotto voce]--I'd better see her myself.--[ Aloud]--Bring me a +Bradshaw! [Sotto voce]--Damn the woman." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. IN WHICH THE CHAPLAIN IS TAKEN ILL. + + +Though the house of the Commandant of Norfolk Island was comfortable and +well furnished, and though, of necessity, all that was most hideous in +the "discipline" of the place was hidden, the loathing with which Sylvia +had approached the last and most dreaded abiding place of the elaborate +convict system, under which it had been her misfortune to live, had not +decreased. The sights and sounds of pain and punishment surrounded her. +She could not look out of her windows without a shudder. She dreaded +each evening when her husband returned, lest he should blurt out some +new atrocity. She feared to ask him in the morning whither he was +going, lest he should thrill her with the announcement of some fresh +punishment. + +"I wish, Maurice, we had never come here," said she, piteously, when he +recounted to her the scene of the gaol-gang. "These unhappy men will do +you some frightful injury one of these days." + +"Stuff!" said her husband. "They've not the courage. I'd take the best +man among them, and dare him to touch me." + +"I cannot think how you like to witness so much misery and villainy. It +is horrible to think of." + +"Our tastes differ, my dear.--Jenkins! Confound you! Jenkins, I say." +The convict-servant entered. "Where is the charge-book? I've told you +always to have it ready for me. Why don't you do as you are told? You +idle, lazy scoundrel! I suppose you were yarning in the cookhouse, or--" + +"If you please, sir." + +"Don't answer me, sir. Give me the book." Taking it and running his +finger down the leaves, he commented on the list of offences to which he +would be called upon in the morning to mete out judgment. + +"Meer-a-seek, having a pipe--the rascally Hindoo scoundrel!--Benjamin +Pellett, having fat in his possession. Miles Byrne, not walking fast +enough.--We must enliven Mr. Byrne. Thomas Twist, having a pipe and +striking a light. W. Barnes, not in place at muster; says he was +'washing himself'--I'll wash him! John Richards, missing muster and +insolence. John Gateby, insolence and insubordination. James Hopkins, +insolence and foul language. Rufus Dawes, gross insolence, refusing to +work.--Ah! we must look after you. You are a parson's man now, are you? +I'll break your spirit, my man, or I'll--Sylvia!" + +"Yes." + +"Your friend Dawes is doing credit to his bringing up." + +"What do you mean?" + +"That infernal villain and reprobate, Dawes. He is fitting himself +faster for--" She interrupted him. "Maurice, I wish you would not use +such language. You know I dislike it." She spoke coldly and sadly, +as one who knows that remonstrance is vain, and is yet constrained to +remonstrate. + +"Oh, dear! My Lady Proper! can't bear to hear her husband swear. How +refined we're getting!" + +"There, I did not mean to annoy you," said she, wearily. "Don't let us +quarrel, for goodness' sake." + +He went away noisily, and she sat looking at the carpet wearily. A noise +roused her. She looked up and saw North. Her face beamed instantly. "Ah! +Mr. North, I did not expect you. What brings you here? You'll stay to +dinner, of course." (She rang the bell without waiting for a reply.) +"Mr. North dines here; place a chair for him. And have you brought me +the book? I have been looking for it." + +"Here it is," said North, producing a volume of 'Monte Cristo'. She +seized the book with avidity, and, after running her eyes over the +pages, turned inquiringly to the fly-leaf. + +"It belongs to my predecessor," said North, as though in answer to her +thought. "He seems to have been a great reader of French. I have found +many French novels of his." + +"I thought clergymen never read French novels," said Sylvia, with a +smile. + +"There are French novels and French novels," said North. "Stupid people +confound the good with the bad. I remember a worthy friend of mine in +Sydney who soundly abused me for reading 'Rabelais', and when I asked +him if he had read it, he said that he would sooner cut his hand off +than open it. Admirable judge of its merits!" + +"But is this really good? Papa told me it was rubbish." + +"It is a romance, but, in my opinion, a very fine one. The notion of +the sailor being taught in prison by the priest, and sent back into the +world an accomplished gentleman, to work out his vengeance, is superb." + +"No, now--you are telling me," laughed she; and then, with feminine +perversity, "Go on, what is the story?" + +"Only that of an unjustly imprisoned man, who, escaping by a marvel, +and becoming rich--as Dr. Johnson says, 'beyond the dreams of +avarice'--devotes his life and fortune to revenge himself." + +"And does he?" + +"He does, upon all his enemies save one." + +"And he--?" "She--was the wife of his greatest enemy, and Dantes spared +her because he loved her." + +Sylvia turned away her head. "It seems interesting enough," said she, +coldly. + +There was an awkward silence for a moment, which each seemed afraid to +break. North bit his lips, as though regretting what he had said. Mrs. +Frere beat her foot on the floor, and at length, raising her eyes, and +meeting those of the clergyman fixed upon her face, rose hurriedly, and +went to meet her returning husband. + +"Come to dinner, of course!" said Frere, who, though he disliked the +clergyman, yet was glad of anybody who would help him to pass a cheerful +evening. + +"I came to bring Mrs. Frere a book." + +"Ah! She reads too many books; she's always reading books. It is not a +good thing to be always poring over print, is it, North? You have some +influence with her; tell her so. Come, I am hungry." + +He spoke with that affectation of jollity with which husbands of his +calibre veil their bad temper. + +Sylvia had her defensive armour on in a twinkling. "Of course, you two +men will be against me. When did two men ever disagree upon the subject +of wifely duties? However, I shall read in spite of you. Do you know, +Mr. North, that when I married I made a special agreement with Captain +Frere that I was not to be asked to sew on buttons for him?" + +"Indeed!" said North, not understanding this change of humour. + +"And she never has from that hour," said Frere, recovering his suavity +at the sight of food. "I never have a shirt fit to put on. Upon my word, +there are a dozen in the drawer now." + +North perused his plate uncomfortably. A saying of omniscient Balzac +occurred to him. "Le grand ecueil est le ridicule," and his mind began +to sound all sorts of philosophical depths, not of the most clerical +character. + +After dinner Maurice launched out into his usual topic--convict +discipline. It was pleasant for him to get a listener; for his wife, +cold and unsympathetic, tacitly declined to enter into his schemes for +the subduing of the refractory villains. "You insisted on coming here," +she would say. "I did not wish to come. I don't like to talk of these +things. Let us talk of something else." When she adopted this method +of procedure, he had no alternative but to submit, for he was afraid of +her, after a fashion. In this ill-assorted match he was only apparently +the master. He was a physical tyrant. For him, a creature had but to be +weak to be an object of contempt; and his gross nature triumphed over +the finer one of his wife. Love had long since died out of their life. +The young, impulsive, delicate girl, who had given herself to him seven +years before, had been changed into a weary, suffering woman. The wife +is what her husband makes her, and his rude animalism had made her +the nervous invalid she was. Instead of love, he had awakened in her a +distaste which at times amounted to disgust. We have neither the skill +nor the boldness of that profound philosopher whose autopsy of the human +heart awoke North's contemplation, and we will not presume to set forth +in bare English the story of this marriage of the Minotaur. Let it +suffice to say that Sylvia liked her husband least when he loved her +most. In this repulsion lay her power over him. When the animal and +spiritual natures cross each other, the nobler triumphs in fact if not +in appearance. Maurice Frere, though his wife obeyed him, knew that he +was inferior to her, and was afraid of the statue he had created. She +was ice, but it was the artificial ice that chemists make in the midst +of a furnace. Her coldness was at once her strength and her weakness. +When she chilled him, she commanded him. + +Unwitting of the thoughts that possessed his guest, Frere chatted +amicably. North said little, but drank a good deal. The wine, however, +rendered him silent, instead of talkative. He drank that he might forget +unpleasant memories, and drank without accomplishing his object. When +the pair proceeded to the room where Mrs. Frere awaited them, Frere was +boisterously good-humoured, North silently misanthropic. + +"Sing something, Sylvia!" said Frere, with the ease of possession, as +one who should say to a living musical-box, "Play something." + +"Oh, Mr. North doesn't care for music, and I'm not inclined to sing. +Singing seems out of place here." + +"Nonsense," said Frere. "Why should it be more out of place here than +anywhere else?" + +"Mrs. Frere means that mirth is in a manner unsuited to these melancholy +surroundings," said North, out of his keener sense. + +"Melancholy surroundings!" cried Frere, staring in turn at the piano, +the ottomans, and the looking-glass. "Well, the house isn't as good as +the one in Sydney, but it's comfortable enough." + +"You don't understand me, Maurice," said Sylvia. "This place is very +gloomy to me. The thought of the unhappy men who are ironed and chained +all about us makes me miserable." + +"What stuff!" said Frere, now thoroughly roused. "The ruffians deserve +all they get and more. Why should you make yourself wretched about +them?" + +"Poor men! How do we know the strength of their temptation, the +bitterness of their repentance?" + +"Evil-doers earn their punishment," says North, in a hard voice, and +taking up a book suddenly. "They must learn to bear it. No repentance +can undo their sin." + +"But surely there is mercy for the worst of evil-doers," urged Sylvia, +gently. + +North seemed disinclined or unable to reply, and nodded only. + +"Mercy!" cried Frere. "I am not here to be merciful; I am here to keep +these scoundrels in order, and by the Lord that made me, I'll do it!" + +"Maurice, do not talk like that. Think how slight an accident might +have made any one of us like one of these men. What is the matter, Mr. +North?" + +Mr. North has suddenly turned pale. + +"Nothing," returned the clergyman, gasping--"a sudden faintness!" The +windows were thrown open, and the chaplain gradually recovered, as he +did in Burgess's parlour, at Port Arthur, seven years ago. "I am liable +to these attacks. A touch of heart disease, I think. I shall have to +rest for a day or so." "Ah, take a spell," said Frere; "you overwork +yourself." + +North, sitting, gasping and pale, smiles in a ghastly manner. "I--I +will. If I do not appear for a week, Mrs. Frere, you will know the +reason." + +"A week! Surely it will not last so long as that!" exclaims Sylvia. + +The ambiguous "it" appears to annoy him, for he flushes painfully, +replying, "Sometimes longer. It is, a--um--uncertain," in a confused and +shame-faced manner, and is luckily relieved by the entry of Jenkins. + +"A message from Mr. Troke, sir." + +"Troke! What's the matter now?" + +"Dawes, sir, 's been violent and assaulted Mr. Troke. Mr. Troke +said you'd left orders to be told at onst of the insubordination of +prisoners." + +"Quite right. Where is he?" "In the cells, I think, sir. They had a hard +fight to get him there, I am told, your honour." + +"Had they? Give my compliments to Mr. Troke, and tell him that I shall +have the pleasure of breaking Mr. Dawes's spirit to-morrow morning at +nine sharp." + +"Maurice," said Sylvia, who had been listening to the conversation in +undisguised alarm, "do me a favour? Do not torment this man." + +"What makes you take a fancy to him?" asks her husband, with sudden +unnecessary fierceness. + +"Because his is one of the names which have been from my childhood +synonymous with suffering and torture, because whatever wrong he may +have done, his life-long punishment must have in some degree atoned for +it." + +She spoke with an eager pity in her face that transfigured it. North, +devouring her with his glance, saw tears in her eyes. "Does this look as +if he had made atonement?" said Frere coarsely, slapping the letter. + +"He is a bad man, I know, but--" she passed her hand over her forehead +with the old troubled gesture--"he cannot have been always bad. I think +I have heard some good of him somewhere." + +"Nonsense," said Frere, rising decisively. "Your fancies mislead you. +Let me hear you no more. The man is rebellious, and must be lashed back +again to his duty. Come, North, we'll have a nip before you start." + +"Mr. North, will not you plead for me?" suddenly cried poor Sylvia, her +self-possession overthrown. "You have a heart to pity these suffering +creatures." + +But North, who seemed to have suddenly recalled his soul from some place +where it had been wandering, draws himself aside, and with dry lips +makes shift to say, "I cannot interfere with your husband, madam," and +goes out almost rudely. + +"You've made old North quite ill," said Frere, when he by-and-by +returns, hoping by bluff ignoring of roughness on his own part to avoid +reproach from his wife. "He drank half a bottle of brandy to steady +his nerves before he went home, and swung out of the house like one +possessed." + +But Sylvia, occupied with her own thoughts, did not reply. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. BREAKING A MAN'S SPIRIT. + + + +The insubordination of which Rufus Dawes had been guilty was, in +this instance, insignificant. It was the custom of the newly-fledged +constables of Captain Frere to enter the wards at night, armed with +cutlasses, tramping about, and making a great noise. Mindful of the +report of Pounce, they pulled the men roughly from their hammocks, +examined their persons for concealed tobacco, and compelled them to open +their mouths to see if any was inside. The men in Dawes's gang--to which +Mr. Troke had an especial objection--were often searched more than once +in a night, searched going to work, searched at meals, searched going +to prayers, searched coming out, and this in the roughest manner. Their +sleep broken, and what little self-respect they might yet presume to +retain harried out of them, the objects of this incessant persecution +were ready to turn upon and kill their tormentors. + +The great aim of Troke was to catch Dawes tripping, but the leader of +the "Ring" was far too wary. In vain had Troke, eager to sustain his +reputation for sharpness, burst in upon the convict at all times and +seasons. He had found nothing. In vain had he laid traps for him; in +vain had he "planted" figs of tobacco, and attached long threads to +them, waited in a bush hard by, until the pluck at the end of his line +should give token that the fish had bitten. The experienced "old hand" +was too acute for him. Filled with disgust and ambition, he determined +upon an ingenious little trick. He was certain that Dawes possessed +tobacco; the thing was to find it upon him. Now, Rufus Dawes, holding +aloof, as was his custom, from the majority of his companions, had made +one friend--if so mindless and battered an old wreck could be called a +friend--Blind Mooney. Perhaps this oddly-assorted friendship was brought +about by two causes--one, that Mooney was the only man on the island who +knew more of the horrors of convictism than the leader of the Ring; the +other, that Mooney was blind, and, to a moody, sullen man, subject +to violent fits of passion and a constant suspicion of all his +fellow-creatures, a blind companion was more congenial than a sharp-eyed +one. + +Mooney was one of the "First Fleeters". He had arrived in Sydney +fifty-seven years before, in the year 1789, and when he was transported +he was fourteen years old. He had been through the whole round of +servitude, had worked as a bondsman, had married, and been "up country", +had been again sentenced, and was a sort of dismal patriarch of Norfolk +Island, having been there at its former settlement. He had no friends. +His wife was long since dead, and he stated, without contradiction, +that his master, having taken a fancy to her, had despatched the +uncomplaisant husband to imprisonment. Such cases were not uncommon. + +One of the many ways in which Rufus Dawes had obtained the affection +of the old blind man was a gift of such fragments of tobacco as he had +himself from time to time secured. Troke knew this; and on the evening +in question hit upon an excellent plan. Admitting himself noiselessly +into the boat-shed, where the gang slept, he crept close to the sleeping +Dawes, and counterfeiting Mooney's mumbling utterance asked for "some +tobacco". Rufus Dawes was but half awake, and on repeating his request, +Troke felt something put into his hand. He grasped Dawes's arm, and +struck a light. He had got his man this time. Dawes had conveyed to his +fancied friend a piece of tobacco almost as big as the top joint of his +little finger. One can understand the feelings of a man entrapped by +such base means. Rufus Dawes no sooner saw the hated face of Warder +Troke peering over his hammock, then he sprang out, and exerting to the +utmost his powerful muscles, knocked Mr. Troke fairly off his legs into +the arms of the in-coming constables. A desperate struggle took place, +at the end of which the convict, overpowered by numbers, was borne +senseless to the cells, gagged, and chained to the ring-bolt on the bare +flags. While in this condition he was savagely beaten by five or six +constables. + +To this maimed and manacled rebel was the Commandant ushered by Troke +the next morning. + +"Ha! ha! my man," said the Commandant. "Here you are again, you see. How +do you like this sort of thing?" + +Dawes, glaring, makes no answer. + +"You shall have fifty lashes, my man," said Frere. "We'll see how you +feel then!" The fifty were duly administered, and the Commandant called +the next day. The rebel was still mute. + +"Give him fifty more, Mr. Troke. We'll see what he's made of." + +One hundred and twenty lashes were inflicted in the course of the +morning, but still the sullen convict refused to speak. He was then +treated to fourteen days' solitary confinement in one of the new cells. +On being brought out and confronted with his tormentor, he merely +laughed. For this he was sent back for another fourteen days; and still +remaining obdurate, was flogged again, and got fourteen days more. +Had the chaplain then visited him, he might have found him open to +consolation, but the chaplain--so it was stated--was sick. When brought +out at the conclusion of his third confinement, he was found to be in so +exhausted a condition that the doctor ordered him to hospital. As soon +as he was sufficiently recovered, Frere visited him, and finding his +"spirit" not yet "broken", ordered that he should be put to grind maize. +Dawes declined to work. So they chained his hand to one arm of the +grindstone and placed another prisoner at the other arm. As the second +prisoner turned, the hand of Dawes of course revolved. + +"You're not such a pebble as folks seemed to think," grinned Frere, +pointing to the turning wheel. + +Upon which the indomitable poor devil straightened his sorely-tried +muscles, and prevented the wheel from turning at all. Frere gave him +fifty more lashes, and sent him the next day to grind cayenne pepper. +This was a punishment more dreaded by the convicts than any other. +The pungent dust filled their eyes and lungs, causing them the most +excruciating torments. For a man with a raw back the work was one +continued agony. In four days Rufus Dawes, emaciated, blistered, +blinded, broke down. + +"For God's sake, Captain Frere, kill me at once!" he said. + +"No fear," said the other, rejoiced at this proof of his power. "You've +given in; that's all I wanted. Troke, take him off to the hospital." + +When he was in hospital, North visited him. + +"I would have come to see you before," said the clergyman, "but I have +been very ill." + +In truth he looked so. He had had a fever, it seemed, and they had +shaved his beard, and cropped his hair. Dawes could see that the +haggard, wasted man had passed through some agony almost as great as his +own. The next day Frere visited him, complimented him on his courage, +and offered to make him a constable. Dawes turned his scarred back to +his torturer, and resolutely declined to answer. + +"I am afraid you have made an enemy of the Commandant," said North, the +next day. "Why not accept his offer?" + +Dawes cast on him a glance of quiet scorn. "And betray my mates? I'm not +one of that sort." + +The clergyman spoke to him of hope, of release, of repentance, and +redemption. The prisoner laughed. "Who's to redeem me?" he said, +expressing his thoughts in phraseology that to ordinary folks might seem +blasphemous. "It would take a Christ to die again to save such as I." + +North spoke to him of immortality. "There is another life," said he. "Do +not risk your chance of happiness in it. You have a future to live for, +man." + +"I hope not," said the victim of the "system". "I want to rest--to rest, +and never to be disturbed again." + +His "spirit" was broken enough by this time. Yet he had resolution +enough to refuse Frere's repeated offers. "I'll never 'jump' it," he +said to North, "if they cut me in half first." + +North pityingly implored the stubborn mind to have mercy on the +lacerated body, but without effect. His own wayward heart gave him the +key to read the cipher of this man's life. "A noble nature ruined," said +he to himself. "What is the secret of his history?" + +Dawes, on his part, seeing how different from other black coats was this +priest--at once so ardent and so gloomy, so stern and so tender--began +to speculate on the cause of his monitor's sunken cheeks, fiery eyes, +and pre-occupied manner, to wonder what grief inspired those agonized +prayers, those eloquent and daring supplications, which were daily +poured out over his rude bed. So between these two--the priest and the +sinner--was a sort of sympathetic bond. + +One day this bond was drawn so close as to tug at both their +heart-strings. The chaplain had a flower in his coat. Dawes eyed it with +hungry looks, and, as the clergyman was about to quit the room, said, +"Mr. North, will you give me that rosebud?" North paused irresolutely, +and finally, as if after a struggle with himself, took it carefully from +his button-hole, and placed it in the prisoner's brown, scarred hand. In +another instant Dawes, believing himself alone, pressed the gift to +his lips. North returned abruptly, and the eyes of the pair met. Dawes +flushed crimson, but North turned white as death. Neither spoke, but +each was drawn close to the other, since both had kissed the rosebud +plucked by Sylvia's fingers. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. EXTRACTED FROM THE DIARY OF THE REV. JAMES NORTH. + + + +October 21st.--I am safe for another six months if I am careful, for my +last bout lasted longer than I expected. I suppose one of these days I +shall have a paroxysm that will kill me. I shall not regret it. + +I wonder if this familiar of mine--I begin to detest the +expression--will accuse me of endeavouring to make a case for myself +if I say that I believe my madness to be a disease? I do believe it. +I honestly can no more help getting drunk than a lunatic can help +screaming and gibbering. It would be different with me, perhaps, were +I a contented man, happily married, with children about me, and family +cares to distract me. But as I am--a lonely, gloomy being, debarred from +love, devoured by spleen, and tortured with repressed desires--I become +a living torment to myself. I think of happier men, with fair wives +and clinging children, of men who are loved and who love, of Frere for +instance--and a hideous wild beast seems to stir within me, a monster, +whose cravings cannot be satisfied, can only be drowned in stupefying +brandy. + +Penitent and shattered, I vow to lead a new life; to forswear spirits, +to drink nothing but water. Indeed, the sight and smell of brandy make +me ill. All goes well for some weeks, when I grow nervous, discontented, +moody. I smoke, and am soothed. But moderation is not to be thought of; +little by little I increase the dose of tobacco. Five pipes a day become +six or seven. Then I count up to ten and twelve, then drop to three or +four, then mount to eleven at a leap; then lose count altogether. Much +smoking excites the brain. I feel clear, bright, gay. My tongue is +parched in the morning, however, and I use liquor to literally "moisten +my clay". I drink wine or beer in moderation, and all goes well. My +limbs regain their suppleness, my hands their coolness, my brain its +placidity. I begin to feel that I have a will. I am confident, calm, +and hopeful. To this condition succeeds one of the most frightful +melancholy. I remain plunged, for an hour together, in a stupor of +despair. The earth, air, sea, all appear barren, colourless. Life is a +burden. I long to sleep, and sleeping struggle to awake, because of the +awful dreams which flap about me in the darkness. At night I cry, "Would +to God it were morning!" In the morning, "Would to God it were evening!" +I loathe myself, and all around me. I am nerveless, passionless, bowed +down with a burden like the burden of Saul. I know well what will +restore me to life and ease--restore me, but to cast me back again into +a deeper fit of despair. I drink. One glass--my blood is warmed, my +heart leaps, my hand no longer shakes. Three glasses--I rise with hope +in my soul, the evil spirit flies from me. I continue--pleasing images +flock to my brain, the fields break into flower, the birds into song, +the sea gleams sapphire, the warm heaven laughs. Great God! what man +could withstand a temptation like this? + +By an effort, I shake off the desire to drink deeper, and fix my +thoughts on my duties, on my books, on the wretched prisoners. I succeed +perhaps for a time; but my blood, heated by the wine which is at once my +poison and my life, boils in my veins. I drink again, and dream. I feel +all the animal within me stirring. In the day my thoughts wander to all +monstrous imaginings. The most familiar objects suggest to me loathsome +thoughts. Obscene and filthy images surround me. My nature seems +changed. By day I feel myself a wolf in sheep's clothing; a man +possessed by a devil, who is ready at any moment to break out and tear +him to pieces. At night I become a satyr. While in this torment I at +once hate and fear myself. One fair face is ever before me, gleaming +through my hot dreams like a flying moon in the sultry midnight of a +tropic storm. I dare not trust myself in the presence of those whom +I love and respect, lest my wild thoughts should find vent in wilder +words. I lose my humanity. I am a beast. Out of this depth there is but +one way of escape. Downwards. I must drench the monster I have awakened +until he sleeps again. I drink and become oblivious. In these last +paroxysms there is nothing for me but brandy. I shut myself up alone and +pour down my gullet huge draughts of spirit. It mounts to my brain. I am +a man again! and as I regain my manhood, I topple over--dead drunk. + +But the awakening! Let me not paint it. The delirium, the fever, the +self-loathing, the prostration, the despair. I view in the looking-glass +a haggard face, with red eyes. I look down upon shaking hands, flaccid +muscles, and shrunken limbs. I speculate if I shall ever be one of those +grotesque and melancholy beings, with bleared eyes and running noses, +swollen bellies and shrunken legs! Ugh!--it is too likely. + + + +October 22nd.--Have spent the day with Mrs. Frere. She is evidently +eager to leave the place--as eager as I am. Frere rejoices in his +murderous power, and laughs at her expostulations. I suppose men get +tired of their wives. In my present frame of mind I am at a loss to +understand how a man could refuse a wife anything. + +I do not think she can possibly care for him. I am not a selfish +sentimentalist, as are the majority of seducers. I would take no woman +away from a husband for mere liking. Yet I think there are cases in +which a man who loved would be justified in making a woman happy at the +risk of his own--soul, I suppose. + +Making her happy! Ay, that's the point. Would she be happy? There are +few men who can endure to be "cut", slighted, pointed at, and women +suffer more than men in these regards. I, a grizzled man of forty, am +not such an arrant ass as to suppose that a year of guilty delirium +can compensate to a gently-nurtured woman for the loss of that social +dignity which constitutes her best happiness. I am not such an idiot as +to forget that there may come a time when the woman I love may cease to +love me, and having no tie of self-respect, social position, or family +duty, to bind her, may inflict upon her seducer that agony which he has +taught her to inflict upon her husband. Apart from the question of the +sin of breaking the seventh commandment, I doubt if the worst husband +and the most unhappy home are not better, in this social condition +of ours, than the most devoted lover. A strange subject this for a +clergyman to speculate upon! If this diary should ever fall into the +hands of a real God-fearing, honest booby, who never was tempted to sin +by finding that at middle-age he loved the wife of another, how he would +condemn me! And rightly, of course. + + + +November 4th.--In one of the turnkey's rooms in the new gaol is to be +seen an article of harness, which at first creates surprise to the mind +of the beholder, who considers what animal of the brute creation exists +of so diminutive a size as to admit of its use. On inquiry, it will be +found to be a bridle, perfect in head-band, throat-lash, etc., for a +human being. There is attached to this bridle a round piece of cross +wood, of almost four inches in length, and one and a half in diameter. +This again, is secured to a broad strap of leather to cross the mouth. +In the wood there is a small hole, and, when used, the wood is inserted +in the mouth, the small hole being the only breathing space. This being +secured with the various straps and buckles, a more complete bridle +could not be well imagined. + +I was in the gaol last evening at eight o'clock. I had been to see Rufus +Dawes, and returning, paused for a moment to speak to Hailey. Gimblett, +who robbed Mr. Vane of two hundred pounds, was present, he was at +that time a turnkey, holding a third-class pass, and in receipt of +two shillings per diem. Everything was quite still. I could not help +remarking how quiet the gaol was, when Gimblett said, "There's someone +speaking. I know who that is." And forthwith took from its pegs one of +the bridles just described, and a pair of handcuffs. + +I followed him to one of the cells, which he opened, and therein was +a man lying on his straw mat, undressed, and to all appearance fast +asleep. Gimblett ordered him to get up and dress himself. He did so, +and came into the yard, where Gimblett inserted the iron-wood gag in his +mouth. The sound produced by his breathing through it (which appeared +to be done with great difficulty) resembled a low, indistinct whistle. +Gimblett led him to the lamp-post in the yard, and I saw that the victim +of his wanton tyranny was the poor blind wretch Mooney. Gimblett placed +him with his back against the lamp-post, and his arms being taken round, +were secured by handcuffs round the post. I was told that the old man +was to remain in this condition for three hours. I went at once to the +Commandant. He invited me into his drawing-room--an invitation which +I had the good sense to refuse--but refused to listen to any plea for +mercy. "The old impostor is always making his blindness an excuse for +disobedience," said he.--And this is her husband. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. THE LONGEST STRAW. + + + +Rufus Dawes hearing, when "on the chain" the next day, of the wanton +torture of his friend, uttered no threat of vengeance, but groaned only. +"I am not so strong as I was," said he, as if in apology for his lack of +spirit. "They have unnerved me." And he looked sadly down at his gaunt +frame and trembling hands. + +"I can't stand it no longer," said Mooney, grimly. "I've spoken to +Bland, and he's of my mind. You know what we resolved to do. Let's do +it." + +Rufus Dawes stared at the sightless orbs turned inquiringly to his own. +The fingers of his hand, thrust into his bosom, felt a token which lay +there. A shudder thrilled him. "No, no. Not now," he said. + +"You're not afeard, man?" asked Mooney, stretching out his hand in the +direction of the voice. "You're not going to shirk?" The other avoided +the touch, and shrank away, still staring. "You ain't going to back out +after you swored it, Dawes? You're not that sort. Dawes, speak, man!" + +"Is Bland willing?" asked Dawes, looking round, as if to seek some +method of escape from the glare of those unspeculative eyes. + +"Ay, and ready. They flogged him again yesterday." + +"Leave it till to-morrow," said Dawes, at length. + +"No; let's have it over," urged the old man, with a strange eagerness. +"I'm tired o' this." + +Rufus Dawes cast a wistful glance towards the wall behind which lay the +house of the Commandant. "Leave it till to-morrow," he repeated, with +his hand still in his breast. + +They had been so occupied in their conversation that neither had +observed the approach of their common enemy. "What are you hiding +there?" cried Frere, seizing Dawes by the wrist. "More tobacco, you +dog?" The hand of the convict, thus suddenly plucked from his bosom, +opened involuntarily, and a withered rose fell to the earth. Frere at +once, indignant and astonished, picked it up. "Hallo! What the devil's +this? You've not been robbing my garden for a nosegay, Jack?" The +Commandant was wont to call all convicts "Jack" in his moments of +facetiousness. It was a little humorous way he had. + +Rufus Dawes uttered one dismal cry, and then stood trembling and cowed. +His companions, hearing the exclamation of rage and grief that burst +from him, looked to see him snatch back the flower or perform some act +of violence. Perhaps such was his intention, but he did not execute +it. One would have thought that there was some charm about this rose so +strangely cherished, for he stood gazing at it, as it twirled between +Captain Frere's strong fingers, as though it fascinated him. "You're a +pretty man to want a rose for your buttonhole! Are you going out with +your sweetheart next Sunday, Mr. Dawes?" The gang laughed. "How did you +get this?" Dawes was silent. "You'd better tell me." No answer. "Troke, +let us see if we can't find Mr. Dawes's tongue. Pull off your shirt, my +man. I expect that's the way to your heart--eh, boys?" + +At this elegant allusion to the lash, the gang laughed again, and looked +at each other astonished. It seemed possible that the leader of the +"Ring" was going to turn milksop. Such, indeed, appeared to be the +case, for Dawes, trembling and pale, cried, "Don't flog me again, sir! +I picked it up in the yard. It fell out of your coat one day." Frere +smiled with an inward satisfaction at the result of his spirit-breaking. +The explanation was probably the correct one. He was in the habit of +wearing flowers in his coat and it was impossible that the convict +should have obtained one by any other means. Had it been a fig of +tobacco now, the astute Commandant knew plenty of men who would have +brought it into the prison. But who would risk a flogging for so useless +a thing as a flower? "You'd better not pick up any more, Jack," he said. +"We don't grow flowers for your amusement." And contemptuously flinging +the rose over the wall, he strode away. + +The gang, left to itself for a moment, bestowed their attention upon +Dawes. Large tears were silently rolling down his face, and he stood +staring at the wall as one in a dream. The gang curled their lips. One +fellow, more charitable than the rest, tapped his forehead and +winked. "He's going cranky," said this good-natured man, who could not +understand what a sane prisoner had to do with flowers. Dawes recovered +himself, and the contemptuous glances of his companions seemed to bring +back the colour to his cheeks. + +"We'll do it to-night," whispered he to Mooney, and Mooney smiled with +pleasure. + +Since the "tobacco trick", Mooney and Dawes had been placed in the new +prison, together with a man named Bland, who had already twice failed +to kill himself. When old Mooney, fresh from the torture of the +gag-and-bridle, lamented his hard case, Bland proposed that the three +should put in practice a scheme in which two at least must succeed. The +scheme was a desperate one, and attempted only in the last extremity. +It was the custom of the Ring, however, to swear each of its members +to carry out to the best of his ability this last invention of the +convict-disciplined mind should two other members crave his assistance. + +The scheme--like all great ideas--was simplicity itself. + +That evening, when the cell-door was securely locked, and the absence +of a visiting gaoler might be counted upon for an hour at least, Bland +produced a straw, and held it out to his companions. Dawes took it, and +tearing it into unequal lengths, handed the fragments to Mooney. + +"The longest is the one," said the blind man. "Come on, boys, and dip in +the lucky-bag!" + +It was evident that lots were to be drawn to determine to whom fortune +would grant freedom. The men drew in silence, and then Bland and +Dawes looked at each other. The prize had been left in the bag. +Mooney--fortunate old fellow--retained the longest straw. Bland's hand +shook as he compared notes with his companion. There was a moment's +pause, during which the blank eyeballs of the blind man fiercely +searched the gloom, as if in that awful moment they could penetrate it. + +"I hold the shortest," said Dawes to Bland. "'Tis you that must do it." + +"I'm glad of that," said Mooney. + +Bland, seemingly terrified at the danger which fate had decreed that +he should run, tore the fatal lot into fragments with an oath, and +sat gnawing his knuckles in excess of abject terror. Mooney stretched +himself out upon his plank-bed. "Come on, mate," he said. Bland extended +a shaking hand, and caught Rufus Dawes by the sleeve. + +"You have more nerve than I. You do it." + +"No, no," said Dawes, almost as pale as his companion. "I've run my +chance fairly. 'Twas your own proposal." The coward who, confident in +his own luck, would seem to have fallen into the pit he had dug for +others, sat rocking himself to and fro, holding his head in his hands. + +"By Heaven, I can't do it," he whispered, lifting a white, wet face. + +"What are you waiting for?" said fortunate Mooney. "Come on, I'm ready." + +"I--I--thought you might like to--to--pray a bit," said Bland. + +The notion seemed to sober the senses of the old man, exalted too +fiercely by his good fortune. + +"Ay!" he said. "Pray! A good thought!" and he knelt down; and +shutting his blind eyes--'twas as though he was dazzled by some strong +light--unseen by his comrades, moved his lips silently. The silence was +at last broken by the footsteps of the warder in the corridor. Bland +hailed it as a reprieve from whatever act of daring he dreaded. "We must +wait until he goes," he whispered eagerly. "He might look in." + +Dawes nodded, and Mooney, whose quick ear apprised him very exactly of +the position of the approaching gaoler, rose from his knees radiant. The +sour face of Gimblett appeared at the trap cell-door. + +"All right?" he asked, somewhat--so the three thought--less sourly than +usual. + +"All right," was the reply, and Mooney added, "Good-night, Mr. +Gimblett." + +"I wonder what is making the old man so cheerful," thought Gimblett, as +he got into the next corridor. + +The sound of his echoing footsteps had scarcely died away, when upon the +ears of the two less fortunate casters of lots fell the dull sound of +rending woollen. The lucky man was tearing a strip from his blanket. "I +think this will do," said he, pulling it between his hands to test its +strength. "I am an old man." It was possible that he debated concerning +the descent of some abyss into which the strip of blanket was to lower +him. "Here, Bland, catch hold. Where are ye?--don't be faint-hearted, +man. It won't take ye long." + +It was quite dark now in the cell, but as Bland advanced his face was +like a white mask floating upon the darkness, it was so ghastly pale. +Dawes pressed his lucky comrade's hand, and withdrew to the farthest +corner. Bland and Mooney were for a few moments occupied with the +rope--doubtless preparing for escape by means of it. The silence +was broken only by the convulsive jangling of Bland's irons--he was +shuddering violently. At last Mooney spoke again, in strangely soft and +subdued tones. + +"Dawes, lad, do you think there is a Heaven?" + +"I know there is a Hell," said Dawes, without turning his face. + +"Ay, and a Heaven, lad. I think I shall go there. You will, old chap, +for you've been good to me--God bless you, you've been very good to me." + + + * * * * * + + +When Troke came in the morning he saw what had occurred at a glance, and +hastened to remove the corpse of the strangled Mooney. + +"We drew lots," said Rufus Dawes, pointing to Bland, who crouched in the +corner farthest from his victim, "and it fell upon him to do it. I'm the +witness." + +"They'll hang you for all that," said Troke. + +"I hope so," said Rufus Dawes. + + + +The scheme of escape hit upon by the convict intellect was simply this. +Three men being together, lots were drawn to determine whom should be +murdered. The drawer of the longest straw was the "lucky" man. He was +killed. The drawer of the next longest straw was the murderer. He was +hanged. The unlucky one was the witness. He had, of course, an excellent +chance of being hung also, but his doom was not so certain, and he +therefore looked upon himself as unfortunate. + + + + +CHAPTER X. A MEETING. + + + +John Rex found the "George" disagreeably prepared for his august +arrival. Obsequious waiters took his dressing-bag and overcoat, the +landlord himself welcomed him at the door. Two naval gentlemen came +out of the coffee-room to stare at him. "Have you any more luggage, +Mr. Devine?" asked the landlord, as he flung open the door of the best +drawing-room. It was awkwardly evident that his wife had no notion of +suffering him to hide his borrowed light under a bushel. + +A supper-table laid for two people gleamed bright from the cheeriest +corner. A fire crackled beneath the marble mantelshelf. The latest +evening paper lay upon a chair; and, brushing it carelessly with her +costly dress, the woman he had so basely deserted came smiling to meet +him. + +"Well, Mr. Richard Devine," said she, "you did not expect to see me +again, did you?" + +Although, on his journey down, he had composed an elaborate speech +wherewith to greet her, this unnatural civility dumbfounded him. "Sarah! +I never meant to--" + +"Hush, my dear Richard--it must be Richard now, I suppose. This is not +the time for explanations. Besides, the waiter might hear you. Let us +have some supper; you must be hungry, I am sure." He advanced to the +table mechanically. "But how fat you are!" she continued. "Too good +living, I suppose. You were not so fat at Port Ar---Oh, I forgot, my +dear! Come and sit down. That's right. I have told them all that I am +your wife, for whom you have sent. They regard me with some interest and +respect in consequence. Don't spoil their good opinion of me." + +He was about to utter an imprecation, but she stopped him by a glance. +"No bad language, John, or I shall ring for a constable. Let us +understand one another, my dear. You may be a very great man to other +people, but to me you are merely my runaway husband--an escaped convict. +If you don't eat your supper civilly, I shall send for the police." + +"Sarah!" he burst out, "I never meant to desert you. Upon my word. It is +all a mistake. Let me explain." + +"There is no need for explanations yet, Jack--I mean Richard. Have your +supper. Ah! I know what you want." + +She poured out half a tumbler of brandy, and gave it to him. He took the +glass from her hand, drank the contents, and then, as though warmed by +the spirit, laughed. "What a woman you are, Sarah. I have been a great +brute, I confess." + +"You have been an ungrateful villain," said she, with sudden passion, "a +hardened, selfish villain." + +"But, Sarah--" + +"Don't touch me!" "'Pon my word, you are a fine creature, and I was a +fool to leave you." The compliment seemed to soothe her, for her tone +changed somewhat. "It was a wicked, cruel act, Jack. You whom I saved +from death--whom I nursed--whom I enriched. It was the act of a coward." + +"I admit it. It was." "You admit it. Have you no shame then? Have you no +pity for me for what I have suffered all these years?" + +"I don't suppose you cared much." + +"Don't you? You never thought about me at all. I have cared this much, +John Rex--bah! the door is shut close enough--that I have spent a +fortune in hunting you down; and now I have found you, I will make you +suffer in your turn." + +He laughed again, but uneasily. "How did you discover me?" + +With a readiness which showed that she had already prepared an answer to +the question, she unlocked a writing-case, which was on the side table, +and took from it a newspaper. "By one of those strange accidents which +are the ruin of men like you. Among the papers sent to the overseer from +his English friends was this one." + +She held out an illustrated journal--a Sunday organ of sporting +opinion--and pointed to a portrait engraved on the centre page. It +represented a broad-shouldered, bearded man, dressed in the fashion +affected by turfites and lovers of horse-flesh, standing beside a +pedestal on which were piled a variety of racing cups and trophies. John +Rex read underneath this work of art the name, + +MR. RICHARD DEVINE, THE LEVIATHAN OF THE TURF. + +"And you recognized me?" + +"The portrait was sufficiently like you to induce me to make inquiries, +and when I found that Mr. Richard Devine had suddenly returned from a +mysterious absence of fourteen years, I set to work in earnest. I have +spent a deal of money, Jack, but I've got you!" + +"You have been clever in finding me out; I give you credit for that." + +"There is not a single act of your life, John Rex, that I do not know," +she continued, with heat. "I have traced you from the day you stole out +of my house until now. I know your continental trips, your journeyings +here and there in search of a lost clue. I pieced together the puzzle, +as you have done, and I know that, by some foul fortune, you have stolen +the secret of a dead man to ruin an innocent and virtuous family." + +"Hullo! hullo!" said John Rex. "Since when have you learnt to talk of +virtue?" + +"It is well to taunt, but you have got to the end of your tether now, +Jack. I have communicated with the woman whose son's fortune you have +stolen. I expect to hear from Lady Devine in a day or so." + +"Well--and when you hear?" + +"I shall give back the fortune at the price of her silence!" + +"Ho! ho! Will you?" + +"Yes; and if my husband does not come back and live with me quietly, I +shall call the police." + +John Rex sprang up. "Who will believe you, idiot?" he cried. "I'll have +you sent to gaol as an impostor." + +"You forget, my dear," she returned, playing coquettishly with her +rings, and glancing sideways as she spoke, "that you have already +acknowledged me as your wife before the landlord and the servants. It +is too late for that sort of thing. Oh, my dear Jack, you think you are +very clever, but I am as clever as you." + +Smothering a curse, he sat down beside her. "Listen, Sarah. What is the +use of fighting like a couple of children. I am rich--" + +"So am I." "Well, so much the better. We will join our riches together. +I admit that I was a fool and a cur to leave you; but I played for a +great stake. The name of Richard Devine was worth nearly half a million +in money. It is mine. I won it. Share it with me! Sarah, you and I +defied the world years ago. Don't let us quarrel now. I was ungrateful. +Forget it. We know by this time that we are not either of us angels. +We started in life together--do you remember, Sally, when I met you +first?--determined to make money. We have succeeded. Why then set to +work to destroy each other? You are handsomer than ever, I have not lost +my wits. Is there any need for you to tell the world that I am a runaway +convict, and that you are--well, no, of course there is no need. Kiss +and be friends, Sarah. I would have escaped you if I could, I admit. You +have found me out. I accept the position. You claim me as your husband. +You say you are Mrs. Richard Devine. Very well, I admit it. You have all +your life wanted to be a great lady. Now is your chance!" Much as she +had cause to hate him, well as she knew his treacherous and ungrateful +character, little as she had reason to trust him, her strange and +distempered affection for the scoundrel came upon her again with +gathering strength. As she sat beside him, listening to the familiar +tones of the voice she had learned to love, greedily drinking in the +promise of a future fidelity which she was well aware was made but to +be broken, her memory recalled the past days of trust and happiness, +and her woman's fancy once more invested the selfish villain she had +reclaimed with those attributes which had enchained her wilful and +wayward affections. The unselfish devotion which had marked her conduct +to the swindler and convict was, indeed, her one redeeming virtue; and +perhaps she felt dimly--poor woman--that it were better for her to cling +to that, if she lost all the world beside. Her wish for vengeance melted +under the influence of these thoughts. The bitterness of despised +love, the shame and anger of desertion, ingratitude, and betrayal, all +vanished. The tears of a sweet forgiveness trembled in her eyes, the +unreasoning love of her sex--faithful to nought but love, and faithful +to love in death--shook in her voice. She took his coward hand and +kissed it, pardoning all his baseness with the sole reproach, "Oh, John, +John, you might have trusted me after all?" + +John Rex had conquered, and he smiled as he embraced her. "I wish I +had," said he; "it would have saved me many regrets; but never mind. Sit +down; now we will have supper." + +"Your preference has one drawback, Sarah," he said, when the meal was +concluded, and the two sat down to consider their immediate course of +action, "it doubles the chance of detection." + +"How so?" + +"People have accepted me without inquiry, but I am afraid not without +dislike. Mr. Francis Wade, my uncle, never liked me; and I fear I have +not played my cards well with Lady Devine. When they find I have a +mysterious wife their dislike will become suspicion. Is it likely that I +should have been married all these years and not have informed them?" + +"Very unlikely," returned Sarah calmly, "and that is just the reason why +you have not been married all these years. Really," she added, with +a laugh, "the male intellect is very dull. You have already told ten +thousand lies about this affair, and yet you don't see your way to tell +one more." + +"What do you mean?" + +"Why, my dear Richard, you surely cannot have forgotten that you married +me last year on the Continent? By the way, it was last year that you +were there, was it not? I am the daughter of a poor clergyman of the +Church of England; name--anything you please--and you met me--where +shall we say? Baden, Aix, Brussels? Cross the Alps, if you like, dear, +and say Rome." John Rex put his hand to his head. "Of course--I am +stupid," said he. "I have not been well lately. Too much brandy, I +suppose." + +"Well, we will alter all that," she returned with a laugh, which her +anxious glance at him belied. "You are going to be domestic now, Jack--I +mean Dick." + +"Go on," said he impatiently. "What then?" + +"Then, having settled these little preliminaries, you take me up to +London and introduce me to your relatives and friends." + +He started. "A bold game." + +"Bold! Nonsense! The only safe one. People don't, as a rule, suspect +unless one is mysterious. You must do it; I have arranged for your doing +it. The waiters here all know me as your wife. There is not the least +danger--unless, indeed, you are married already?" she added, with a +quick and angry suspicion. + +"You need not be alarmed. I was not such a fool as to marry another +woman while you were alive--had I even seen one I would have cared to +marry. But what of Lady Devine? You say you have told her." + +"I have told her to communicate with Mrs. Carr, Post Office, Torquay, +in order to hear something to her advantage. If you had been rebellious, +John, the 'something' would have been a letter from me telling her who +you really are. Now you have proved obedient, the 'something' will be +a begging letter of a sort which she has already received hundreds, and +which in all probability she will not even answer. What do you think of +that, Mr. Richard Devine?" + +"You deserve success, Sarah," said the old schemer, in genuine +admiration. "By Jove, this is something like the old days, when we were +Mr. and Mrs. Crofton." + +"Or Mr. and Mrs. Skinner, eh, John?" she said, with as much tenderness +in her voice as though she had been a virtuous matron recalling her +honeymoon. "That was an unlucky name, wasn't it, dear? You should have +taken my advice there." And immersed in recollection of their past +rogueries, the worthy pair pensively smiled. Rex was the first to awake +from that pleasant reverie. + +"I will be guided by you, then," he said. "What next?" + +"Next--for, as you say, my presence doubles the danger--we will contrive +to withdraw quietly from England. The introduction to your mother over, +and Mr. Francis disposed of, we will go to Hampstead, and live there for +a while. During that time you must turn into cash as much property as +you dare. We will then go abroad for the 'season'--and stop there. After +a year or so on the Continent you can write to our agent to sell more +property; and, finally, when we are regarded as permanent absentees--and +three or four years will bring that about--we will get rid of +everything, and slip over to America. Then you can endow a charity +if you like, or build a church to the memory of the man you have +displaced." + +John Rex burst into a laugh. "An excellent plan. I like the idea of the +charity--the Devine Hospital, eh?" + +"By the way, how did you find out the particulars of this man's life. He +was burned in the Hydaspes, wasn't he?" + +"No," said Rex, with an air of pride. "He was transported in the Malabar +under the name of Rufus Dawes. You remember him. It is a long story. The +particulars weren't numerous, and if the old lady had been half sharp +she would have bowled me out. But the fact was she wanted to find the +fellow alive, and was willing to take a good deal on trust. I'll tell +you all about it another time. I think I'll go to bed now; I'm tired, +and my head aches as though it would split." + +"Then it is decided that you follow my directions?" + +"Yes." + +She rose and placed her hand on the bell. "What are you going to do?" he +said uneasily. + +"I am going to do nothing. You are going to telegraph to your servants +to have the house in London prepared for your wife, who will return with +you the day after to-morrow." + +John Rex stayed her hand with a sudden angry gesture. "This is all +devilish fine," he said, "but suppose it fails?" + +"That is your affair, John. You need not go on with this business at +all, unless you like. I had rather you didn't." + +"What the deuce am I to do, then?" + +"I am not as rich as you are, but, with my station and so on, I am worth +seven thousand a year. Come back to Australia with me, and let these +poor people enjoy their own again. Ah, John, it is the best thing to do, +believe me. We can afford to be honest now." + +"A fine scheme!" cried he. "Give up half a million of money, and go back +to Australia! You must be mad!" + +"Then telegraph." + +"But, my dear--" + +"Hush, here's the waiter." + +As he wrote, John Rex felt gloomily that, though he had succeeded in +recalling her affection, that affection was as imperious as of yore. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. EXTRACTED FROM THE DIARY OF THE REV. JAMES NORTH. + + + +December 7th.--I have made up my mind to leave this place, to bury +myself again in the bush, I suppose, and await extinction. I try to +think that the reason for this determination is the frightful condition +of misery existing among the prisoners; that because I am daily +horrified and sickened by scenes of torture and infamy, I decide to go +away; that, feeling myself powerless to save others, I wish to spare +myself. But in this journal, in which I bind myself to write nothing +but truth, I am forced to confess that these are not the reasons. I will +write the reason plainly: "I covet my neighbour's wife." It does not +look well thus written. It looks hideous. In my own breast I find +numberless excuses for my passion. I said to myself, "My neighbour does +not love his wife, and her unloved life is misery. She is forced to live +in the frightful seclusion of this accursed island, and she is dying for +want of companionship. She feels that I understand and appreciate her, +that I could love her as she deserves, that I could render her happy. I +feel that I have met the only woman who has power to touch my heart, to +hold me back from the ruin into which I am about to plunge, to make +me useful to my fellows--a man, and not a drunkard." Whispering these +conclusions to myself, I am urged to brave public opinion, and make two +lives happy. I say to myself, or rather my desires say to me--"What +sin is there in this? Adultery? No; for a marriage without love is +the coarsest of all adulteries. What tie binds a man and woman +together--that formula of license pronounced by the priest, which the +law has recognized as a 'legal bond'? Surely not this only, for +marriage is but a partnership--a contract of mutual fidelity--and in +all contracts the violation of the terms of the agreement by one of the +contracting persons absolves the other. Mrs. Frere is then absolved, by +her husband's act. I cannot but think so. But is she willing to risk the +shame of divorce or legal offence? Perhaps. Is she fitted by temperament +to bear such a burden of contumely as must needs fall upon her? Will +she not feel disgust at the man who entrapped her into shame? Do not the +comforts which surround her compensate for the lack of affections?" And +so the torturing catechism continues, until I am driven mad with doubt, +love, and despair. + +Of course I am wrong; of course I outrage my character as a priest; of +course I endanger--according to the creed I teach--my soul and hers. But +priests, unluckily, have hearts and passions as well as other men. Thank +God, as yet, I have never expressed my madness in words. What a fate is +mine! When I am in her presence I am in torment; when I am absent from +her my imagination pictures her surrounded by a thousand graces that are +not hers, but belong to all the women of my dreams--to Helen, to Juliet, +to Rosalind. Fools that we are of our own senses! When I think of her I +blush; when I hear her name my heart leaps, and I grow pale. Love! What +is the love of two pure souls, scarce conscious of the Paradise into +which they have fallen, to this maddening delirium? I can understand the +poison of Circe's cup; it is the sweet-torment of a forbidden love like +mine! Away gross materialism, in which I have so long schooled myself! +I, who laughed at passion as the outcome of temperament and easy +living--I, who thought in my intellect, to sound all the depths and +shoals of human feeling--I, who analysed my own soul--scoffed at my own +yearnings for an immortality--am forced to deify the senseless power of +my creed, and believe in God, that I may pray to Him. I know now why men +reject the cold impersonality that reason tells us rules the world--it +is because they love. To die, and be no more; to die, and rendered into +dust, be blown about the earth; to die and leave our love defenceless +and forlorn, till the bright soul that smiled to ours is smothered in +the earth that made it! No! To love is life eternal. God, I believe in +Thee! Aid me! Pity me! Sinful wretch that I am, to have denied Thee! See +me on my knees before Thee! Pity me, or let me die! + +December 9th.--I have been visiting the two condemned prisoners, Dawes +and Bland, and praying with them. O Lord, let me save one soul that may +plead with Thee for mine! Let me draw one being alive out of this pit! I +weep--I weary Thee with my prayers, O Lord! Look down upon me. Grant me +a sign. Thou didst it in old times to men who were not more fervent +in their supplications than am I. So says Thy Book. Thy Book which I +believe--which I believe. Grant me a sign--one little sign, O Lord!--I +will not see her. I have sworn it. Thou knowest my grief--my agony--my +despair. Thou knowest why I love her. Thou knowest how I strive to make +her hate me. Is that not a sacrifice? I am so lonely--a lonely man, with +but one creature that he loves--yet, what is mortal love to Thee? Cruel +and implacable, Thou sittest in the heavens men have built for Thee, and +scornest them! Will not all the burnings and slaughters of the saints +appease Thee? Art Thou not sated with blood and tears, O God of +vengeance, of wrath, and of despair! Kind Christ, pity me. Thou +wilt--for Thou wast human! Blessed Saviour, at whose feet knelt the +Magdalen! Divinity, who, most divine in Thy despair, called on Thy cruel +God to save Thee--by the memory of that moment when Thou didst deem +Thyself forsaken--forsake not me! Sweet Christ, have mercy on Thy sinful +servant. + +I can write no more. I will pray to Thee with my lips. I will shriek my +supplications to Thee. I will call upon Thee so loud that all the world +shall hear me, and wonder at Thy silence--unjust and unmerciful God! + +December 14th.--What blasphemies are these which I have uttered in my +despair? Horrible madness that has left me prostrate, to what heights of +frenzy didst thou not drive my soul! Like him of old time, who wandered +among the tombs, shrieking and tearing himself, I have been possessed +by a devil. For a week I have been unconscious of aught save torture. +I have gone about my daily duties as one who in his dreams repeats the +accustomed action of the day, and knows it not. Men have looked at me +strangely. They look at me strangely now. Can it be that my disease of +drunkenness has become the disease of insanity? Am I mad, or do I but +verge on madness? O Lord, whom in my agonies I have confessed, leave me +my intellect--let me not become a drivelling spectacle for the curious +to point at or to pity! At least, in mercy, spare me a little. Let not +my punishment overtake me here. Let her memories of me be clouded with +a sense of my rudeness or my brutality; let me for ever seem to her +the ungrateful ruffian I strive to show myself--but let her not behold +me--that! + + + + +CHAPTER XII. THE STRANGE BEHAVIOUR OF Mr. NORTH. + + + +On or about the 8th of December, Mrs. Frere noticed a sudden and +unaccountable change in the manner of the chaplain. He came to her one +afternoon, and, after talking for some time, in a vague and unconnected +manner, about the miseries of the prison and the wretched condition of +some of the prisoners, began to question her abruptly concerning Rufus +Dawes. + +"I do not wish to think of him," said she, with a shudder. "I have the +strangest, the most horrible dreams about him. He is a bad man. He tried +to murder me when a child, and had it not been for my husband, he would +have done so. I have only seen him once since then--at Hobart Town, when +he was taken." "He sometimes speaks to me of you," said North, eyeing +her. "He asked me once to give him a rose plucked in your garden." + +Sylvia turned pale. "And you gave it him?" + +"Yes, I gave it him. Why not?" + +"It was valueless, of course, but still--to a convict?" + +"You are not angry?" + +"Oh, no! Why should I be angry?" she laughed constrainedly. "It was a +strange fancy for the man to have, that's all." + +"I suppose you would not give me another rose, if I asked you." + +"Why not?" said she, turning away uneasily. "You? You are a gentleman." + +"Not I--you don't know me." + +"What do you mean?" + +"I mean that it would be better for you if you had never seen me." + +"Mr. North!" Terrified at the wild gleam in his eyes, she had risen +hastily. "You are talking very strangely." + +"Oh, don't be alarmed, madam. I am not drunk!"--he pronounced the word +with a fierce energy. "I had better leave you. Indeed, I think the less +we see of each other the better." + +Deeply wounded and astonished at this extraordinary outburst, Sylvia +allowed him to stride away without a word. She saw him pass through the +garden and slam the little gate, but she did not see the agony on his +face, or the passionate gesture with which--when out of eyeshot--he +lamented the voluntary abasement of himself before her. She thought +over his conduct with growing fear. It was not possible that he was +intoxicated--such a vice was the last one of which she could have +believed him guilty. It was more probable that some effects of the +fever, which had recently confined him to his house, yet lingered. +So she thought; and, thinking, was alarmed to realize of how much +importance the well-being of this man was to her. + +The next day he met her, and, bowing, passed swiftly. This pained her. +Could she have offended him by some unlucky word? She made Maurice ask +him to dinner, and, to her astonishment, he pleaded illness as an excuse +for not coming. Her pride was hurt, and she sent him back his books and +music. A curiosity that was unworthy of her compelled her to ask the +servant who carried the parcel what the clergyman had said. "He said +nothing--only laughed." Laughed! In scorn of her foolishness! His +conduct was ungentlemanly and intemperate. She would forget, as speedily +as possible, that such a being had ever existed. This resolution taken, +she was unusually patient with her husband. + +So a week passed, and Mr. North did not return. Unluckily for the poor +wretch, the very self-sacrifice he had made brought about the precise +condition of things which he was desirous to avoid. It is possible that, +had the acquaintance between them continued on the same staid footing, +it would have followed the lot of most acquaintanceships of the +kind--other circumstances and other scenes might have wiped out the +memory of all but common civilities between them, and Sylvia might never +have discovered that she had for the chaplain any other feeling but +that of esteem. But the very fact of the sudden wrenching away of her +soul-companion, showed her how barren was the solitary life to which +she had been fated. Her husband, she had long ago admitted, with bitter +self-communings, was utterly unsuited to her. She could find in +his society no enjoyment, and for the sympathy which she needed was +compelled to turn elsewhere. She understood that his love for her had +burnt itself out--she confessed, with intensity of self-degradation, +that his apparent affection had been born of sensuality, and had +perished in the fires it had itself kindled. Many women have, unhappily, +made some such discovery as this, but for most women there is some +distracting occupation. Had it been Sylvia's fate to live in the midst +of fashion and society, she would have found relief in the conversation +of the witty, or the homage of the distinguished. Had fortune cast her +lot in a city, Mrs. Frere might have become one of those charming women +who collect around their supper-tables whatever of male intellect is +obtainable, and who find the husband admirably useful to open his own +champagne bottles. The celebrated women who have stepped out of +their domestic circles to enchant or astonish the world, have almost +invariably been cursed with unhappy homes. But poor Sylvia was not +destined to this fortune. Cast back upon herself, she found no surcease +of pain in her own imaginings, and meeting with a man sufficiently her +elder to encourage her to talk, and sufficiently clever to induce her +to seek his society and his advice, she learnt, for the first time, to +forget her own griefs; for the first time she suffered her nature +to expand under the sun of a congenial influence. This sun, suddenly +withdrawn, her soul, grown accustomed to the warmth and light, shivered +at the gloom, and she looked about her in dismay at the dull and barren +prospect of life which lay before her. In a word, she found that the +society of North had become so far necessary to her that to be deprived +of it was a grief--notwithstanding that her husband remained to console +her. + +After a week of such reflections, the barrenness of life grew +insupportable to her, and one day she came to Maurice and begged to be +sent back to Hobart Town. "I cannot live in this horrible island," +she said. "I am getting ill. Let me go to my father for a few months, +Maurice." Maurice consented. His wife was looking ill, and Major Vickers +was an old man--a rich old man--who loved his only daughter. It was not +undesirable that Mrs. Frere should visit her father; indeed, so little +sympathy was there between the pair that, the first astonishment over, +Maurice felt rather glad to get rid of her for a while. "You can go back +in the Lady Franklin if you like, my dear," he said. "I expect her every +day." At this decision--much to his surprise--she kissed him with more +show of affection than she had manifested since the death of her child. + +The news of the approaching departure became known, but still North did +not make his appearance. Had it not been a step beneath the dignity of +a woman, Mrs. Frere would have gone herself and asked him the meaning of +his unaccountable rudeness, but there was just sufficient morbidity in +the sympathy she had for him to restrain her from an act which a young +girl--though not more innocent--would have dared without hesitation. +Calling one day upon the wife of the surgeon, however, she met the +chaplain face to face, and with the consummate art of acting which +most women possess, rallied him upon his absence from her house. The +behaviour of the poor devil, thus stabbed to the heart, was curious. He +forgot gentlemanly behaviour and the respect due to a woman, flung one +despairingly angry glance at her and abruptly retired. Sylvia flushed +crimson, and endeavoured to excuse North on account of his recent +illness. The surgeon's wife looked askance, and turned the conversation. +The next time Sylvia bowed to this lady, she got a chilling salute in +return that made her blood boil. "I wonder how I have offended Mrs. +Field?" she asked Maurice. "She almost cut me to-day." "Oh, the old +cat!" returned Maurice. "What does it matter if she did?" However, a few +days afterwards, it seemed that it did matter, for Maurice called upon +Field and conversed seriously with him. The issue of the conversation +being reported to Mrs. Frere, the lady wept indignant tears of wounded +pride and shame. It appeared that North had watched her out of the +house, returned, and related--in a "stumbling, hesitating way", Mrs. +Field said--how he disliked Mrs. Frere, how he did not want to visit +her, and how flighty and reprehensible such conduct was in a married +woman of her rank and station. This act of baseness--or profound +nobleness--achieved its purpose. Sylvia noticed the unhappy priest no +more. Between the Commandant and the chaplain now arose a coolness, and +Frere set himself, by various petty tyrannies, to disgust North, and +compel him to a resignation of his office. The convict-gaolers speedily +marked the difference in the treatment of the chaplain, and their +demeanour changed. For respect was substituted insolence; for alacrity, +sullenness; for prompt obedience, impertinent intrusion. The men whom +North favoured were selected as special subjects for harshness, and for +a prisoner to be seen talking to the clergyman was sufficient to ensure +for him a series of tyrannies. The result of this was that North saw the +souls he laboured to save slipping back into the gulf; beheld the men he +had half won to love him meet him with averted faces; discovered that +to show interest in a prisoner was to injure him, not to serve him. The +unhappy man grew thinner and paler under this ingenious torment. He had +deprived himself of that love which, guilty though it might be, was, +nevertheless, the only true love he had known; and he found that, having +won this victory, he had gained the hatred of all living creatures with +whom he came in contact. The authority of the Commandant was so supreme +that men lived but by the breath of his nostrils. To offend him was to +perish and the man whom the Commandant hated must be hated also by all +those who wished to exist in peace. There was but one being who was not +to be turned from his allegiance--the convict murderer, Rufus Dawes, who +awaited death. For many days he had remained mute, broken down beneath +his weight of sorrow or of sullenness; but North, bereft of other love +and sympathy, strove with that fighting soul, if haply he might win +it back to peace. It seemed to the fancy of the priest--a fancy +distempered, perhaps, by excess, or superhumanly exalted by mental +agony--that this convict, over whom he had wept, was given to him as a +hostage for his own salvation. "I must save him or perish," he said. "I +must save him, though I redeem him with my own blood." + +Frere, unable to comprehend the reason of the calmness with which the +doomed felon met his taunts and torments, thought that he was shamming +piety to gain some indulgence of meat and drink, and redoubled his +severity. He ordered Dawes to be taken out to work just before the hour +at which the chaplain was accustomed to visit him. He pretended that +the man was "dangerous", and directed a gaoler to be present at all +interviews, "lest the chaplain might be murdered". He issued an order +that all civil officers should obey the challenges of convicts acting as +watchmen; and North, coming to pray with his penitent, would be stopped +ten times by grinning felons, who, putting their faces within a foot +of his, would roar out, "Who goes there?" and burst out laughing at the +reply. Under pretence of watching more carefully over the property of +the chaplain, he directed that any convict, acting as constable, might +at any time "search everywhere and anywhere" for property supposed to be +in the possession of a prisoner. The chaplain's servant was a prisoner, +of course; and North's drawers were ransacked twice in one week by +Troke. North met these impertinences with unruffled brow, and Frere +could in no way account for his obstinacy, until the arrival of the Lady +Franklin explained the chaplain's apparent coolness. He had sent in his +resignation two months before, and the saintly Meekin had been appointed +in his stead. Frere, unable to attack the clergyman, and indignant at +the manner in which he had been defeated, revenged himself upon Rufus +Dawes. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. MR. NORTH SPEAKS. + + + +The method and manner of Frere's revenge became a subject of whispered +conversation on the island. It was reported that North had been +forbidden to visit the convict, but that he had refused to accept the +prohibition, and by a threat of what he would do when the returning +vessel had landed him in Hobart Town, had compelled the Commandant to +withdraw his order. The Commandant, however, speedily discovered in +Rufus Dawes signs of insubordination, and set to work again to reduce +still further the "spirit" he had so ingeniously "broken". The unhappy +convict was deprived of food, was kept awake at nights, was put to the +hardest labour, was loaded with the heaviest irons. Troke, with devilish +malice, suggested that, if the tortured wretch would decline to see the +chaplain, some amelioration of his condition might be effected; but his +suggestions were in vain. Fully believing that his death was certain, +Dawes clung to North as the saviour of his agonized soul, and rejected +all such insidious overtures. Enraged at this obstinacy, Frere sentenced +his victim to the "spread eagle" and the "stretcher". + +Now the rumour of the obduracy of this undaunted convict who had been +recalled to her by the clergyman at their strange interview, had reached +Sylvia's ears. She had heard gloomy hints of the punishments inflicted +on him by her husband's order, and as--constantly revolving in her +mind was that last conversation with the chaplain--she wondered at the +prisoner's strange fancy for a flower, her brain began to thrill with +those undefined and dreadful memories which had haunted her childhood. +What was the link between her and this murderous villain? How came it +that she felt at times so strange a sympathy for his fate, and that +he--who had attempted her life--cherished so tender a remembrance of her +as to beg for a flower which her hand had touched? + +She questioned her husband concerning the convict's misdoings, but with +the petulant brutality which he invariably displayed when the name +of Rufus Dawes intruded itself into their conversation, Maurice Frere +harshly refused to satisfy her. This but raised her curiosity higher. +She reflected how bitter he had always seemed against this man--she +remembered how, in the garden at Hobart Town, the hunted wretch had +caught her dress with words of assured confidence--she recollected +the fragment of cloth he passionately flung from him, and which her +affianced lover had contemptuously tossed into the stream. The name +of "Dawes", detested as it had become to her, bore yet some strange +association of comfort and hope. What secret lurked behind the twilight +that had fallen upon her childish memories? Deprived of the advice +of North--to whom, a few weeks back, she would have confided her +misgivings--she resolved upon a project that, for her, was most +distasteful. She would herself visit the gaol and judge how far the +rumours of her husband's cruelty were worthy of credit. + +One sultry afternoon, when the Commandant had gone on a visit of +inspection, Troke, lounging at the door of the New Prison, beheld, with +surprise, the figure of the Commandant's lady. + +"What is it, mam?" he asked, scarcely able to believe his eyes. + +"I want to see the prisoner Dawes." + +Troke's jaw fell. + +"See Dawes?" he repeated. + +"Yes. Where is he?" + +Troke was preparing a lie. The imperious voice, and the clear, steady +gaze, confused him. + + "He's here." + +"Let me see him." + +"He's--he's under punishment, mam." + +"What do you mean? Are they flogging him?" + +"No; but he's dangerous, mam. The Commandant--" + +"Do you mean to open the door or not, Mr. Troke?" + +Troke grew more confused. It was evident that he was most unwilling to +open the door. "The Commandant has given strict orders--" + +"Do you wish me to complain to the Commandant?" cries Sylvia, with a +touch of her old spirit, and jumped hastily at the conclusion that +the gaolers were, perhaps, torturing the convict for their own +entertainment. "Open the door at once!--at once!" + +Thus commanded, Troke, with a hasty growl of its "being no affair of +his, and he hoped Mrs. Frere would tell the captain how it happened" +flung open the door of a cell on the right hand of the doorway. It was +so dark that, at first, Sylvia could distinguish nothing but the outline +of a framework, with something stretched upon it that resembled a human +body. Her first thought was that the man was dead, but this was not +so--he groaned. Her eyes, accustoming themselves to the gloom, began to +see what the "punishment" was. Upon the floor was placed an iron frame +about six feet long, and two and a half feet wide, with round iron bars, +placed transversely, about twelve inches apart. The man she came to +seek was bound in a horizontal position upon this frame, with his neck +projecting over the end of it. If he allowed his head to hang, the blood +rushed to his brain, and suffocated him, while the effort to keep it +raised strained every muscle to agony pitch. His face was purple, and he +foamed at the mouth. Sylvia uttered a cry. "This is no punishment; it's +murder! Who ordered this?" + +"The Commandant," said Troke sullenly. + +"I don't believe it. Loose him!" + +"I daren't mam," said Troke. + +"Loose him, I say! Hailey!--you, sir, there!" The noise had brought +several warders to the spot. "Do you hear me? Do you know who I am? +Loose him, I say!" In her eagerness and compassion she was on her knees +by the side of the infernal machine, plucking at the ropes with her +delicate fingers. "Wretches, you have cut his flesh! He is dying! Help! +You have killed him!" The prisoner, in fact, seeing this angel of mercy +stooping over him, and hearing close to him the tones of a voice that +for seven years he had heard but in his dreams, had fainted. Troke and +Hailey, alarmed by her vehemence, dragged the stretcher out into the +light, and hastily cut the lashings. Dawes rolled off like a log, and +his head fell against Mrs. Frere. Troke roughly pulled him aside, and +called for water. Sylvia, trembling with sympathy and pale with passion, +turned upon the crew. "How long has he been like this?" + +"An hour," said Troke. + +"A lie!" said a stern voice at the door. "He has been there nine hours!" + +"Wretches!" cried Sylvia, "you shall hear more of this. Oh, oh! I am +sick!"--she felt for the wall--"I--I--" North watched her with agony on +his face, but did not move. "I faint. I--"--she uttered a despairing cry +that was not without a touch of anger. "Mr. North! do you not see? Oh! +Take me home--take me home!" and she would have fallen across the body +of the tortured prisoner had not North caught her in his arms. + +Rufus Dawes, awaking from his stupor, saw, in the midst of a sunbeam +which penetrated a window in the corridor, the woman who came to +save his body supported by the priest who came to save his soul; and +staggering to his knees, he stretched out his hands with a hoarse cry. +Perhaps something in the action brought back to the dimmed remembrance +of the Commandant's wife the image of a similar figure stretching forth +its hands to a frightened child in the mysterious far-off time. She +started, and pushing back her hair, bent a wistful, terrified gaze upon +the face of the kneeling man, as though she would fain read there an +explanation of the shadowy memory which haunted her. It is possible that +she would have spoken, but North--thinking the excitement had produced +one of those hysterical crises which were common to her--gently drew +her, still gazing, back towards the gate. The convict's arms fell, +and an undefinable presentiment of evil chilled him as he beheld +the priest--emotion pallid in his cheeks--slowly draw the fair young +creature from out the sunlight into the grim shadow of the heavy +archway. For an instant the gloom swallowed them, and it seemed to Dawes +that the strange wild man of God had in that instant become a man of +Evil--blighting the brightness and the beauty of the innocence that +clung to him. For an instant--and then they passed out of the prison +archway into the free air of heaven--and the sunlight glowed golden on +their faces. + +"You are ill," said North. "You will faint. Why do you look so wildly?" + +"What is it?" she whispered, more in answer to her own thoughts than +to his question--"what is it that links me to that man? What deed--what +terror--what memory? I tremble with crowding thoughts, that die ere they +can whisper to me. Oh, that prison!" + +"Look up; we are in the sunshine." + +She passed her hand across her brow, sighing heavily, as one awaking +from a disturbed slumber--shuddered, and withdrew her arm from his. +North interpreted the action correctly, and the blood rushed to his +face. "Pardon me, you cannot walk alone; you will fall. I will leave you +at the gate." + +In truth she would have fallen had he not again assisted her. She +turned upon him eyes whose reproachful sorrow had almost forced him to +a confession, but he bowed his head and held silence. They reached the +house, and he placed her tenderly in a chair. "Now you are safe, madam, +I will leave you." + +She burst into tears. "Why do you treat me thus, Mr. North? What have I +done to make you hate me?" + +"Hate you!" said North, with trembling lips. "Oh, no, I do not--do not +hate you. I am rude in my speech, abrupt in my manner. You must forget +it, and--and me." A horse's feet crashed upon the gravel, and an instant +after Maurice Frere burst into the room. Returning from the Cascades, he +had met Troke, and learned the release of the prisoner. Furious at this +usurpation of authority by his wife, his self-esteem wounded by the +thought that she had witnessed his mean revenge upon the man he had so +infamously wronged, and his natural brutality enhanced by brandy, he had +made for the house at full gallop, determined to assert his authority. +Blind with rage, he saw no one but his wife. "What the devil's this +I hear? You have been meddling in my business! You release prisoners! +You--" + +"Captain Frere!" said North, stepping forward to assert the restraining +presence of a stranger. Frere started, astonished at the intrusion of +the chaplain. Here was another outrage of his dignity, another insult to +his supreme authority. In its passion, his gross mind leapt to the worst +conclusion. "You here, too! What do you want here--with my wife! This is +your quarrel, is it?" His eyes glanced wrathfully from one to the other; +and he strode towards North. "You infernal hypocritical lying scoundrel, +if it wasn't for your black coat, I'd--" + +"Maurice!" cried Sylvia, in an agony of shame and terror, striving +to place a restraining hand upon his arm. He turned upon her with so +fiercely infamous a curse that North, pale with righteous rage, seemed +prompted to strike the burly ruffian to the earth. For a moment, the +two men faced each other, and then Frere, muttering threats of vengeance +against each and all--convicts, gaolers, wife, and priest--flung the +suppliant woman violently from him, and rushed from the room. She fell +heavily against the wall, and as the chaplain raised her, he heard the +hoof-strokes of the departing horse. + +"Oh," cried Sylvia, covering her face with trembling hands, "let me +leave this place!" + +North, enfolding her in his arms, strove to soothe her with incoherent +words of comfort. Dizzy with the blow she had received, she clung to him +sobbing. Twice he tried to tear himself away, but had he loosed his hold +she would have fallen. He could not hold her--bruised, suffering, and +in tears--thus against his heart, and keep silence. In a torrent of +agonized eloquence the story of his love burst from his lips. "Why +should you be thus tortured?" he cried. "Heaven never willed you to +be mated to that boor--you, whose life should be all sunshine. Leave +him--leave him. He has cast you off. We have both suffered. Let us leave +this dreadful place--this isthmus between earth and hell! I will give +you happiness." + +"I am going," she said faintly. "I have already arranged to go." + +North trembled. "It was not of my seeking. Fate has willed it. We go +together!" + +They looked at each other--she felt the fever of his blood, she read his +passion in his eyes, she comprehended the "hatred" he had affected for +her, and, deadly pale, drew back the cold hand he held. + +"Go!" she murmured. "If you love me, leave me--leave me! Do not see me +or speak to me again--" her silence added the words she could not utter, +"till then." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. GETTING READY FOR SEA. + + + +Maurice Frere's passion had spent itself in that last act of violence. +He did not return to the prison, as he promised himself, but turned into +the road that led to the Cascades. He repented him of his suspicions. +There was nothing strange in the presence of the chaplain. Sylvia had +always liked the man, and an apology for his conduct had doubtless +removed her anger. To make a mountain out of a molehill was the act of +an idiot. It was natural that she should release Dawes--women were so +tender-hearted. A few well-chosen, calmly-uttered platitudes anent the +necessity for the treatment that, to those unaccustomed to the desperate +wickedness of convicts, must appear harsh, would have served his turn +far better than bluster and abuse. Moreover, North was to sail in +the Lady Franklin, and might put in execution his threats of official +complaint, unless he was carefully dealt with. To put Dawes again to the +torture would be to show to Troke and his friends that the "Commandant's +wife" had acted without the "Commandant's authority", and that must not +be shown. He would now return and patch up a peace. His wife would sail +in the same vessel with North, and he would in a few days be left alone +on the island to pursue his "discipline" unchecked. With this intent +he returned to the prison, and gravely informed poor Troke that he was +astonished at his barbarity. "Mrs. Frere, who most luckily had appointed +to meet me this evening at the prison, tells me that the poor devil +Dawes had been on the stretcher since seven o'clock this morning." + +"You ordered it fust thing, yer honour," said Troke. + +"Yes, you fool, but I didn't order you to keep the man there for nine +hours, did I? Why, you scoundrel, you might have killed him!" Troke +scratched his head in bewilderment. "Take his irons off, and put him +in a separate cell in the old gaol. If a man is a murderer, that is no +reason you should take the law into your own hands, is it? You'd better +take care, Mr. Troke." On the way back he met the chaplain, who, seeing +him, made for a by-path in curious haste. "Halloo!" roared Frere. "Hi! +Mr. North!" Mr. North paused, and the Commandant made at him abruptly. +"Look here, sir, I was rude to you just now--devilish rude. Most +ungentlemanly of me. I must apologize." North bowed, without speaking, +and tried to pass. + +"You must excuse my violence," Frere went on. "I'm bad-tempered, and I +didn't like my wife interfering. Women, don't you know, don't see these +things--don't understand these scoundrels." North again bowed. "Why, +d--n it, how savage you look! Quite ghastly, bigod! I must have said +most outrageous things. Forget and forgive, you know. Come home and have +some dinner." + +"I cannot enter your house again, sir," said North, in tones more +agitated than the occasion would seem to warrant. + +Frere shrugged his great shoulders with a clumsy affectation of good +humour, and held out his hand. "Well, shake hands, parson. You'll have +to take care of Mrs. Frere on the voyage, and we may as well make up our +differences before you start. Shake hands." + +"Let me pass, sir!" cried North, with heightened colour; and ignoring +the proffered hand, strode savagely on. + +"You've a d--d fine temper for a parson," said Frere to himself. +"However, if you won't, you won't. Hang me if I'll ask you again." +Nor, when he reached home, did he fare better in his efforts at +reconciliation with his wife. Sylvia met him with the icy front of a +woman whose pride has been wounded too deeply for tears. + +"Say no more about it," she said. "I am going to my father. If you want +to explain your conduct, explain it to him." + +"Come, Sylvia," he urged; "I was a brute, I know. Forgive me." + +"It is useless to ask me," she said; "I cannot. I have forgiven you so +much during the last seven years." + +He attempted to embrace her, but she withdrew herself loathingly from +his arms. He swore a great oath at her, and, too obstinate to argue +farther, sulked. Blunt, coming in about some ship matters, the pair +drank rum. Sylvia went to her room and occupied herself with some minor +details of clothes-packing (it is wonderful how women find relief from +thoughts in household care), while North, poor fool, seeing from his +window the light in hers, sat staring at it, alternately cursing and +praying. In the meantime, the unconscious cause of all of this--Rufus +Dawes--sat in his new cell, wondering at the chance which had procured +him comfort, and blessing the fair hands that had brought it to him. He +doubted not but that Sylvia had interceded with his tormentor, and by +gentle pleading brought him ease. "God bless her," he murmured. "I +have wronged her all these years. She did not know that I suffered." He +waited anxiously for North to visit him, that he might have his belief +confirmed. "I will get him to thank her for me," he thought. But North +did not come for two whole days. No one came but his gaolers; and, +gazing from his prison window upon the sea that almost washed its walls, +he saw the schooner at anchor, mocking him with a liberty he could +not achieve. On the third day, however, North came. His manner was +constrained and abrupt. His eyes wandered uneasily, and he seemed +burdened with thoughts which he dared not utter. + +"I want you to thank her for me, Mr. North," said Dawes. + +"Thank whom?" + +"Mrs. Frere." + +The unhappy priest shuddered at hearing the name. + +"I do not think you owe any thanks to her. Your irons were removed by +the Commandant's order." + +"But by her persuasion. I feel sure of it. Ah, I was wrong to think she +had forgotten me. Ask her for her forgiveness." + +"Forgiveness!" said North, recalling the scene in the prison. "What have +you done to need her forgiveness?" + +"I doubted her," said Rufus Dawes. "I thought her ungrateful and +treacherous. I thought she delivered me again into the bondage from +whence I had escaped. I thought she had betrayed me--betrayed me to the +villain whose base life I saved for her sweet sake." + +"What do you mean?" asked North. "You never spoke to me of this." + +"No, I had vowed to bury the knowledge of it in my own breast--it was +too bitter to speak." + + "Saved his life!" + +"Ay, and hers! I made the boat that carried her to freedom. I held her +in my arms, and took the bread from my own lips to feed her!" + +"She cannot know this," said North in an undertone. + +"She has forgotten it, perhaps, for she was but a child. But you will +remind her, will you not? You will do me justice in her eyes before I +die? You will get her forgiveness for me?" + +North could not explain why such an interview as the convict desired was +impossible, and so he promised. + +"She is going away in the schooner," said he, concealing the fact of his +own departure. "I will see her before she goes, and tell her." + +"God bless you, sir," said poor Dawes. "Now pray with me"; and the +wretched priest mechanically repeated one of the formulae his Church +prescribes. + +The next day he told his penitent that Mrs. Frere had forgiven him. This +was a lie. He had not seen her; but what should a lie be to him now? +Lies were needful in the tortuous path he had undertaken to tread. +Yet the deceit he was forced to practise cost him many a pang. He had +succumbed to his passion, and to win the love for which he yearned had +voluntarily abandoned truth and honour; but standing thus alone with +his sin, he despised and hated himself. To deaden remorse and drown +reflection, he had recourse to brandy, and though the fierce excitement +of his hopes and fears steeled him against the stupefying action of the +liquor, he was rendered by it incapable of calm reflection. In certain +nervous conditions our mere physical powers are proof against the +action of alcohol, and though ten times more drunk than the toper, who, +incoherently stammering, reels into the gutter, we can walk erect +and talk with fluency. Indeed, in this artificial exaltation of the +sensibilities, men often display a brilliant wit, and an acuteness of +comprehension, calculated to delight their friends, and terrify their +physicians. North had reached this condition of brain-drunkenness. In +plain terms, he was trembling on the verge of madness. + +The days passed swiftly, and Blunt's preparations for sea were +completed. There were two stern cabins in the schooner, one of which +was appropriated to Mrs. Frere, while the other was set apart for North. +Maurice had not attempted to renew his overtures of friendship, and the +chaplain had not spoken. Mindful of Sylvia's last words, he had resolved +not to meet her until fairly embarked upon the voyage which he intended +should link their fortunes together. On the morning of the 19th +December, Blunt declared himself ready to set sail, and in the afternoon +the two passengers came on board. + +Rufus Dawes, gazing from his window upon the schooner that lay outside +the reef, thought nothing of the fact that, after the Commandant's boat +had taken away the Commandant's wife another boat should put off with +the chaplain. It was quite natural that Mr. North should desire to bid +his friends farewell, and through the hot, still afternoon he watched +for the returning boat, hoping that the chaplain would bring him some +message from the woman whom he was never to see more on earth. The hours +wore on, however, and no breath of wind ruffled the surface of the sea. +The day was exceedingly close and sultry, heavy dun clouds hung on the +horizon, and it seemed probable that unless a thunder-storm should clear +the air before night, the calm would continue. Blunt, however, with a +true sailor's obstinacy in regard to weather, swore there would be a +breeze, and held to his purpose of sailing. The hot afternoon passed +away in a sultry sunset, and it was not until the shades of evening had +begun to fall that Rufus Dawes distinguished a boat detach itself from +the sides of the schooner, and glide through the oily water to the +jetty. The chaplain was returning, and in a few hours perhaps would +be with him, to bring him the message of comfort for which his soul +thirsted. He stretched out his unshackled limbs, and throwing himself +upon his stretcher, fell to recalling the past--his boat-building, the +news of his fortune, his love, and his self-sacrifice. + +North, however, was not returning to bring to the prisoner a message of +comfort, but he was returning on purpose to see him, nevertheless. The +unhappy man, torn by remorse and passion, had resolved upon a course +of action which seemed to him a penance for his crime of deceit. He +determined to confess to Dawes that the message he had brought was +wholly fictitious, that he himself loved the wife of the Commandant, +and that with her he was about to leave the island for ever. "I am no +hypocrite," he thought, in his exaltation. "If I choose to sin, I will +sin boldly; and this poor wretch, who looks up to me as an angel, shall +know me for my true self." + +The notion of thus destroying his own fame in the eyes of the man whom +he had taught to love him, was pleasant to his diseased imagination. It +was the natural outcome of the morbid condition of mind into which he +had drifted, and he provided for the complete execution of his scheme +with cunning born of the mischief working in his brain. It was desirable +that the fatal stroke should be dealt at the last possible instant; that +he should suddenly unveil his own infamy, and then depart, never to be +seen again. To this end he had invented an excuse for returning to the +shore at the latest possible moment. He had purposely left in his room +a dressing-bag--the sort of article one is likely to forget in the hurry +of departure from one's house, and so certain to remember when the time +comes to finally prepare for settling in another. He had ingeniously +extracted from Blunt the fact that "he didn't expect a wind before dark, +but wanted all ship-shape and aboard", and then, just as darkness fell, +discovered that it was imperative for him to go ashore. Blunt cursed, +but, if the chaplain insisted upon going, there was no help for it. + +"There'll be a breeze in less than two hours," said he. "You've plenty +of time, but if you're not back before the first puff, I'll sail without +you, as sure as you're born." North assured him of his punctuality. +"Don't wait for me, Captain, if I'm not here," said he with the +lightness of tone which men use to mask anxiety. "I'd take him at his +word, Blunt," said the Commandant, who was affably waiting to take final +farewell of his wife. "Give way there, men," he shouted to the crew, +"and wait at the jetty. If Mr. North misses his ship through your +laziness, you'll pay for it." So the boat set off, North laughing +uproariously at the thought of being late. Frere observed with some +astonishment that the chaplain wrapped himself in a boat cloak that lay +in the stern sheets. "Does the fellow want to smother himself in a night +like this!" was his remark. The truth was that, though his hands and +head were burning, North's teeth chattered with cold. Perhaps this was +the reason why, when landed and out of eyeshot of the crew, he produced +a pocket-flask of rum and eagerly drank. The spirit gave him courage for +the ordeal to which he had condemned himself; and with steadied step, +he reached the door of the old prison. To his surprise, Gimblett refused +him admission! + +"But I have come direct from the Commandant," said North. + +"Got any order, sir?" + +"Order! No." + +"I can't let you in, your reverence," said Gimblett. + +"I want to see the prisoner Dawes. I have a special message for him. I +have come ashore on purpose." + +"I am very sorry, sir--" + +"The ship will sail in two hours, man, and I shall miss her," said +North, indignant at being frustrated in his design. "Let me pass." + +"Upon my honour, sir, I daren't," said Gimblett, who was not without his +good points. "You know what authority is, sir." + +North was in despair, but a bright thought struck him--a thought that, +in his soberer moments, would never have entered his head--he would buy +admission. He produced the rum flask from beneath the sheltering cloak. +"Come, don't talk nonsense to me, Gimblett. You don't suppose I would +come here without authority. Here, take a pull at this, and let me +through." Gimblett's features relaxed into a smile. "Well, sir, I +suppose it's all right, if you say so," said he. And clutching the rum +bottle with one hand, he opened the door of Dawes's cell with the other. + +North entered, and as the door closed behind him, the prisoner, who had +been lying apparently asleep upon his bed, leapt up, and made as though +to catch him by the throat. + + + +Rufus Dawes had dreamt a dream. Alone, amid the gathering glooms, +his fancy had recalled the past, and had peopled it with memories. He +thought that he was once more upon the barren strand where he had first +met with the sweet child he loved. He lived again his life of usefulness +and honour. He saw himself working at the boat, embarking, and putting +out to sea. The fair head of the innocent girl was again pillowed on his +breast; her young lips again murmured words of affection in his greedy +ear. Frere was beside him, watching him, as he had watched before. Once +again the grey sea spread around him, barren of succour. Once again, +in the wild, wet morning, he beheld the American brig bearing down upon +them, and saw the bearded faces of the astonished crew. He saw Frere +take the child in his arms and mount upon the deck; he heard the shout +of delight that went up, and pressed again the welcoming hands which +greeted the rescued castaways. The deck was crowded. All the folk he had +ever known were there. He saw the white hair and stern features of +Sir Richard Devine, and beside him stood, wringing her thin hands, his +weeping mother. Then Frere strode forward, and after him John Rex, +the convict, who, roughly elbowing through the crowd of prisoners and +gaolers, would have reached the spot where stood Sir Richard Devine, but +that the corpse of the murdered Lord Bellasis arose and thrust him back. +How the hammers clattered in the shipbuilder's yard! Was it a coffin +they were making? Not for Sylvia--surely not for her! The air grows +heavy, lurid with flame, and black with smoke. The Hydaspes is on fire! +Sylvia clings to her husband. Base wretch, would you shake her off! Look +up; the midnight heaven is glittering with stars; above the smoke +the air breathes delicately! One step--another! Fix your eyes on +mine--so--to my heart! Alas! she turns; he catches at her dress. What! +It is a priest--a priest--who, smiling with infernal joy, would drag +her to the flaming gulf that yawns for him. The dreamer leaps at the +wretch's throat, and crying, "Villain, was it for this fate I saved +her?"--and awakes to find himself struggling with the monster of his +dream, the idol of his waking senses--"Mr. North." + + + +North, paralysed no less by the suddenness of the attack than by the +words with which it was accompanied, let fall his cloak, and stood +trembling before the prophetic accusation of the man whose curses he had +come to earn. + +"I was dreaming," said Rufus Dawes. "A terrible dream! But it has passed +now. The message--you have brought me a message, have you not? Why--what +ails you? You are pale--your knees tremble. Did my violence----?" + +North recovered himself with a great effort. "It is nothing. Let us +talk, for my time is short. You have thought me a good man--one blessed +of God, one consecrated to a holy service; a man honest, pure, and +truthful. I have returned to tell you the truth. I am none of these +things." Rufus Dawes sat staring, unable to comprehend this madness. +"I told you that the woman you loved--for you do love her--sent you a +message of forgiveness. I lied." + +"What!" + +"I never told her of your confession. I never mentioned your name to +her." + +"And she will go without knowing--Oh, Mr. North, what have you done?" + +"Wrecked my own soul!" cried North, wildly, stung by the reproachful +agony of the tone. "Do not cling to me. My task is done. You will hate +me now. That is my wish--I merit it. Let me go, I say. I shall be too +late." + +"Too late! For what?" He looked at the cloak--through the open window +came the voices of the men in the boat--the memory of the rose, of the +scene in the prison, flashed across him, and he understood it all. + +"Great Heaven, you go together!" + +"Let me go," repeated North, in a hoarse voice. + +Rufus Dawes stepped between him and the door. "No, madman, I will not +let you go, to do this great wrong, to kill this innocent young soul, +who--God help her--loves you!" North, confounded at this sudden reversal +of their position towards each other, crouched bewildered against the +wall. "I say you shall not go! You shall not destroy your own soul and +hers! You love her! So do I! and my love is mightier than yours, for it +shall save her!" + +"In God's name--" cried the unhappy priest, striving to stop his ears. + +"Ay, in God's name! In the name of that God whom in my torments I had +forgotten! In the name of that God whom you taught me to remember! That +God who sent you to save me from despair, gives me strength to save you +in my turn! Oh, Mr. North--my teacher--my friend--my brother--by the +sweet hope of mercy which you preached to me, be merciful to this erring +woman!" + +North lifted agonized eyes. "But I love her! Love her, do you hear? What +do you know of love?" + +"Love!" cried Rufus Dawes, his pale face radiant. "Love! Oh, it is you +who do not know it. Love is the sacrifice of self, the death of all +desire that is not for another's good. Love is Godlike! You love?--no, +no, your love is selfishness, and will end in shame! Listen, I will tell +you the history of such a love as yours." + +North, enthralled by the other's overmastering will, fell back +trembling. + +"I will tell you the secret of my life, the reason why I am here. Come +closer." + + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XV. THE DISCOVERY. + + + +The house in Clarges Street was duly placed at the disposal of Mrs. +Richard Devine, who was installed in it, to the profound astonishment +and disgust of Mr. Smithers and his fellow-servants. It now only +remained that the lady should be formally recognized by Lady Devine. The +rest of the ingenious programme would follow as a matter of course. John +Rex was well aware of the position which, in his assumed personality, he +occupied in society. He knew that by the world of servants, of waiters, +of those to whom servants and waiters could babble; of such turfites +and men-about-town as had reason to inquire concerning Mr. Richard's +domestic affairs--no opinion could be expressed, save that "Devine's +married somebody, I hear," with variations to the same effect. He knew +well that the really great world, the Society, whose scandal would have +been socially injurious, had long ceased to trouble itself with Mr. +Richard Devine's doings in any particular. If it had been reported that +the Leviathan of the Turf had married his washerwoman, Society would +only have intimated that "it was just what might have been expected +of him". To say the truth, however, Mr. Richard had rather hoped +that--disgusted at his brutality--Lady Devine would have nothing more +to do with him, and that the ordeal of presenting his wife would not +be necessary. Lady Devine, however, had resolved on a different line +of conduct. The intelligence concerning Mr. Richard Devine's threatened +proceedings seemed to nerve her to the confession of the dislike which +had been long growing in her mind; seemed even to aid the formation of +those doubts, the shadows of which had now and then cast themselves upon +her belief in the identity of the man who called himself her son. "His +conduct is brutal," said she to her brother. "I cannot understand it." + +"It is more than brutal; it is unnatural," returned Francis Wade, and +stole a look at her. "Moreover, he is married." + +"Married!" cried Lady Devine. + +"So he says," continued the other, producing the letter sent to him by +Rex at Sarah's dictation. "He writes to me stating that his wife, whom +he married last year abroad, has come to England, and wishes us to +receive her." + +"I will not receive her!" cried Lady Devine, rising and pacing down the +path. + +"But that would be a declaration of war," said poor Francis, twisting +an Italian onyx which adorned his irresolute hand. "I would not advise +that." + +Lady Devine stopped suddenly, with the gesture of one who has finally +made a difficult and long-considered resolution. "Richard shall not sell +this house," she said. + +"But, my dear Ellinor," cried her brother, in some alarm at this +unwonted decision, "I am afraid that you can't prevent him." + +"If he is the man he says he is, I can," returned she, with effort. + +Francis Wade gasped. "If he is the man! It is true--I have sometimes +thought--Oh, Ellinor, can it be that we have been deceived?" + +She came to him and leant upon him for support, as she had leant upon +her son in the garden where they now stood, nineteen years ago. "I do +not know, I am afraid to think. But between Richard and myself is a +secret--a shameful secret, Frank, known to no other living person. If +the man who threatens me does not know that secret, he is not my son. If +he does know it----" + +"Well, in Heaven's name, what then?" + +"He knows that he has neither part nor lot in the fortune of the man who +was my husband." + +"Ellinor, you terrify me. What does this mean?" + +"I will tell you if there be need to do so," said the unhappy lady. "But +I cannot now. I never meant to speak of it again, even to him. Consider +that it is hard to break a silence of nearly twenty years. Write to +this man, and tell him that before I receive his wife, I wish to see him +alone. No--do not let him come here until the truth be known. I will go +to him." + +It was with some trepidation that Mr. Richard, sitting with his wife on +the afternoon of the 3rd May, 1846, awaited the arrival of his mother. +He had been very nervous and unstrung for some days past, and the +prospect of the coming interview was, for some reason he could not +explain to himself, weighty with fears. "What does she want to come +alone for? And what can she have to say?" he asked himself. "She cannot +suspect anything after all these years, surely?" He endeavoured to +reason with himself, but in vain; the knock at the door which announced +the arrival of his pretended mother made his heart jump. + +"I feel deuced shaky, Sarah," he said. "Let's have a nip of something." + +"You've been nipping too much for the last five years, Dick." (She had +quite schooled her tongue to the new name.) "Your 'shakiness' is the +result of 'nipping', I'm afraid." + +"Oh, don't preach; I am not in the humour for it." + +"Help yourself, then. You are quite sure that you are ready with your +story?" + +The brandy revived him, and he rose with affected heartiness. "My dear +mother, allow me to present to you--" He paused, for there was that in +Lady Devine's face which confirmed his worst fears. + +"I wish to speak to you alone," she said, ignoring with steady eyes the +woman whom she had ostensibly come to see. + +John Rex hesitated, but Sarah saw the danger, and hastened to confront +it. "A wife should be a husband's best friend, madam. Your son married +me of his own free will, and even his mother can have nothing to say to +him which it is not my duty and privilege to hear. I am not a girl as +you can see, and I can bear whatever news you bring." + +Lady Devine bit her pale lips. She saw at once that the woman before her +was not gently-born, but she felt also that she was a woman of higher +mental calibre than herself. Prepared as she was for the worst, this +sudden and open declaration of hostilities frightened her, as Sarah had +calculated. She began to realize that if she was to prove equal to +the task she had set herself, she must not waste her strength in +skirmishing. Steadily refusing to look at Richard's wife, she addressed +herself to Richard. "My brother will be here in half an hour," she said, +as though the mention of his name would better her position in some way. +"But I begged him to allow me to come first in order that I might speak +to you privately." + +"Well," said John Rex, "we are in private. What have you to say?" + +"I want to tell you that I forbid you to carry out the plan you have for +breaking up Sir Richard's property." + +"Forbid me!" cried Rex, much relieved. "Why, I only want to do what my +father's will enables me to do." + +"Your father's will enables you to do nothing of the sort, and you know +it." She spoke as though rehearsing a series of set-speeches, and Sarah +watched her with growing alarm. + +"Oh, nonsense!" cries John Rex, in sheer amazement. "I have a lawyer's +opinion on it." + +"Do you remember what took place at Hampstead this day nineteen years +ago?" + +"At Hampstead!" said Rex, grown suddenly pale. "This day nineteen years +ago. No! What do you mean?" + +"Do you not remember?" she continued, leaning forward eagerly, and +speaking almost fiercely. "Do you not remember the reason why you +left the house where you were born, and which you now wish to sell to +strangers?" + +John Rex stood dumbfounded, the blood suffusing his temples. He knew +that among the secrets of the man whose inheritance he had stolen was +one which he had never gained--the secret of that sacrifice to which +Lady Devine had once referred--and he felt that this secret was to be +revealed to crush him now. + +Sarah, trembling also, but more with rage than terror, swept towards +Lady Devine. "Speak out!" she said, "if you have anything to say! Of +what do you accuse my husband?" + +"Of imposture!" cried Lady Devine, all her outraged maternity nerving +her to abash her enemy. "This man may be your husband, but he is not my +son!" + +Now that the worst was out, John Rex, choking with passion, felt all the +devil within him rebelling against defeat. "You are mad," he said. "You +have recognized me for three years, and now, because I want to claim +that which is my own, you invent this lie. Take care how you provoke me. +If I am not your son--you have recognized me as such. I stand upon the +law and upon my rights." + +Lady Devine turned swiftly, and with both hands to her bosom, confronted +him. + +"You shall have your rights! You shall have what the law allows you! +Oh, how blind I have been all these years. Persist in your infamous +imposture. Call yourself Richard Devine still, and I will tell the +world the shameful secret which my son died to hide. Be Richard Devine! +Richard Devine was a bastard, and the law allows him--nothing!" + +There was no doubting the truth of her words. It was impossible that +even a woman whose home had been desecrated, as hers had been, would +invent a lie so self-condemning. Yet John Rex forced himself to appear +to doubt, and his dry lips asked, "If then your husband was not the +father of your son, who was?" + +"My cousin, Armigell Esme Wade, Lord Bellasis," answered Lady Devine. + +John Rex gasped for breath. His hand, tugging at his neck-cloth, rent +away the linen that covered his choking throat. The whole horizon of +his past was lit up by a lightning flash which stunned him. His brain, +already enfeebled by excess, was unable to withstand this last shock. +He staggered, and but for the cabinet against which he leant, would +have fallen. The secret thoughts of his heart rose to his lips, and were +uttered unconsciously. "Lord Bellasis! He was my father also, and--I +killed him!" + +A dreadful silence fell, and then Lady Devine, stretching out her hands +towards the self-confessed murderer, with a sort of frightful respect, +said in a whisper, in which horror and supplication were strangely +mingled, "What did you do with my son? Did you kill him also?" + +But John Rex, wagging his head from side to side, like a beast in the +shambles that has received a mortal stroke, made no reply. Sarah Purfoy, +awed as she was by the dramatic force of the situation, nevertheless +remembered that Francis Wade might arrive at any moment, and saw her +last opportunity for safety. She advanced and touched the mother on the +shoulder. + +"Your son is alive!" + +"Where?" + +"Will you promise not to hinder us leaving this house if I tell you?" + +"Yes, yes." + +"Will you promise to keep the confession which you have heard secret, +until we have left England?" + +"I promise anything. In God's name, woman, if you have a woman's heart, +speak! Where is my son?" + +Sarah Purfoy rose over the enemy who had defeated her, and said in +level, deliberate accents, "They call him Rufus Dawes. He is a convict +at Norfolk Island, transported for life for the murder which you have +heard my husband confess to having committed--Ah!----" + +Lady Devine had fainted. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. FIFTEEN HOURS. + + + +Sarah flew to Rex. "Rouse yourself, John, for Heaven's sake. We have not +a moment." John Rex passed his hand over his forehead wearily. + +"I cannot think. I am broken down. I am ill. My brain seems dead." + +Nervously watching the prostrate figure on the floor, she hurried on +bonnet, cloak, and veil, and in a twinkling had him outside the house +and into a cab. + +"Thirty-nine, Lombard Street. Quick!" + +"You won't give me up?" said Rex, turning dull eyes upon her. + +"Give you up? No. But the police will be after us as soon as that woman +can speak, and her brother summon his lawyer. I know what her promise is +worth. We have only got about fifteen hours start." + +"I can't go far, Sarah," said he; "I am sleepy and stupid." + +She repressed the terrible fear that tugged at her heart, and strove to +rally him. + +"You've been drinking too much, John. Now sit still and be good, while I +go and get some money for you." + +She hurried into the bank, and her name secured her an interview with +the manager at once. + +"That's a rich woman," said one of the clerks to his friend. "A widow, +too! Chance for you, Tom," returned the other; and, presently, from out +the sacred presence came another clerk with a request for "a draft on +Sydney for three thousand, less premium", and bearing a cheque signed +"Sarah Carr" for L200, which he "took" in notes, and so returned again. + +From the bank she was taken to Green's Shipping Office. "I want a cabin +in the first ship for Sydney, please." + +The shipping-clerk looked at a board. "The Highflyer goes in twelve +days, madam, and there is one cabin vacant." + +"I want to go at once--to-morrow or next day." + +He smiled. "I am afraid that is impossible," said he. Just then one of +the partners came out of his private room with a telegram in his hand, +and beckoned the shipping-clerk. Sarah was about to depart for another +office, when the clerk came hastily back. + +"Just the thing for you, ma'am," said he. "We have got a telegram from +a gentleman who has a first cabin in the Dido, to say that his wife has +been taken ill, and he must give up his berth." + +"When does the Dido sail?" + +"To-morrow morning. She is at Plymouth, waiting for the mails. If you +go down to-night by the mail-train which leaves at 9.30, you will be in +plenty of time, and we will telegraph." + +"I will take the cabin. How much?" + +"One hundred and thirty pounds, madam," said he. + +She produced her notes. "Pray count it yourself. We have been delayed in +the same manner ourselves. My husband is a great invalid, but I was not +so fortunate as to get someone to refund us our passage-money." + +"What name did you say?" asked the clerk, counting. "Mr. and Mrs. Carr. +Thank you," and he handed her the slip of paper. + +"Thank you," said Sarah, with a bewitching smile, and swept down to +her cab again. John Rex was gnawing his nails in sullen apathy. She +displayed the passage-ticket. "You are saved. By the time Mr. Francis +Wade gets his wits together, and his sister recovers her speech, we +shall be past pursuit." + +"To Sydney!" cries Rex angrily, looking at the warrant. "Why there of +all places in God's earth?" + +Sarah surveyed him with an expression of contempt. "Because your scheme +has failed. Now this is mine. You have deserted me once; you will do so +again in any other country. You are a murderer, a villain, and a coward, +but you suit me. I save you, but I mean to keep you. I will bring you to +Australia, where the first trooper will arrest you at my bidding as an +escaped convict. If you don't like to come, stay behind. I don't care. +I am rich. I have done no wrong. The law cannot touch me--Do you agree? +Then tell the man to drive to Silver's in Cornhill for your outfit." + +Having housed him at last--all gloomy and despondent--in a quiet tavern +near the railway station, she tried to get some information as to this +last revealed crime. + +"How came you to kill Lord Bellasis?" she asked him quietly. + +"I had found out from my mother that I was his natural son, and one +day riding home from a pigeon match I told him so. He taunted me--and I +struck him. I did not mean to kill him, but he was an old man, and in my +passion I struck hard. As he fell, I thought I saw a horseman among the +trees, and I galloped off. My ill-luck began then, for the same night I +was arrested at the coiner's." + +"But I thought there was robbery," said she. + +"Not by me. But, for God's sake, talk no more about it. I am sick--my +brain is going round. I want to sleep." + +"Be careful, please! Lift him gently!" said Mrs. Carr, as the boat +ranged alongside the Dido, gaunt and grim, in the early dawn of a bleak +May morning. + +"What's the matter?" asked the officer of the watch, perceiving the +bustle in the boat. + +"Gentleman seems to have had a stroke," said a boatman. + +It was so. There was no fear that John Rex would escape again from the +woman he had deceived. The infernal genius of Sarah Purfoy had saved +her lover at last--but saved him only that she might nurse him till he +died--died ignorant even of her tenderness, a mere animal, lacking the +intellect he had in his selfish wickedness abused. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. THE REDEMPTION. + + + + * * * * * + +----"That is my story. Let it plead with you to turn you from your +purpose, and to save her. The punishment of sin falls not upon the +sinner only. A deed once done lives in its consequence for ever, and +this tragedy of shame and crime to which my felon's death is a fitting +end, is but the outcome of a selfish sin like yours!" + +It had grown dark in the prison, and as he ceased speaking, Rufus Dawes +felt a trembling hand seize his own. It was that of the chaplain. + +"Let me hold your hand!--Sir Richard Devine did not murder your father. +He was murdered by a horseman who, riding with him, struck him and +fled." + +"Merciful God! How do you know this?" + +"Because I saw the murder committed, because--don't let go my hand--I +robbed the body." + +"You!--" + +"In my youth I was a gambler. Lord Bellasis won money from me, and +to pay him I forged two bills of exchange. Unscrupulous and cruel, he +threatened to expose me if I did not give him double the sum. Forgery +was death in those days, and I strained every nerve to buy back the +proofs of my folly. I succeeded. I was to meet Lord Bellasis near his +own house at Hampstead on the night of which you speak, to pay the money +and receive the bills. When I saw him fall I galloped up, but instead +of pursuing his murderer I rifled his pocket-book of my forgeries. I was +afraid to give evidence at the trial, or I might have saved you.--Ah! +you have let go my hand!" + +"God forgive you!" said Rufus Dawes, and then was silent. + +"Speak!" cried North. "Speak, or you will make me mad. Reproach me! +Spurn me! Spit upon me! You cannot think worse of me than I do myself." +But the other, his head buried in his hands, did not answer, and with a +wild gesture North staggered out of the cell. + +Nearly an hour had passed since the chaplain had placed the rum flask in +his hand, and Gimblett observed, with semi-drunken astonishment, that it +was not yet empty. He had intended, in the first instance, to have taken +but one sup in payment of his courtesy--for Gimblett was conscious of +his own weakness in the matter of strong waters--but as he waited and +waited, the one sup became two, and two three, and at length more than +half the contents of the bottle had moistened his gullet, and maddened +him for more. Gimblett was in a quandary. If he didn't finish the flask, +he would be oppressed with an everlasting regret. If he did finish it he +would be drunk; and to be drunk on duty was the one unpardonable sin. He +looked across the darkness of the sea, to where the rising and falling +light marked the schooner. The Commandant was a long way off! A faint +breeze, which had--according to Blunt's prophecy--arisen with the night, +brought up to him the voices of the boat's crew from the jetty below +him. His friend Jack Mannix was coxswain of her. He would give Jack +a drink. Leaving the gate, he advanced unsteadily to the edge of the +embankment, and, putting his head over, called out to his friend. The +breeze, however, which was momentarily freshening, carried his voice +away; and Jack Mannix, hearing nothing, continued his conversation. +Gimblett was just drunk enough to be virtuously indignant at this +incivility, and seating himself on the edge of the bank, swallowed +the remainder of the rum at a draught. The effect upon his enforcedly +temperate stomach was very touching. He made one feeble attempt to get +upon his legs, cast a reproachful glance at the rum bottle, essayed +to drink out of its spirituous emptiness, and then, with a smile of +reckless contentment, cursed the island and all its contents, and fell +asleep. + + + +North, coming out of the prison, did not notice the absence of +the gaoler; indeed, he was not in a condition to notice anything. +Bare-headed, without his cloak, with staring eyes and clenched hands, he +rushed through the gates into the night as one who flies headlong from +some fearful vision. It seemed that, absorbed in his own thoughts, he +took no heed of his steps, for instead of taking the path which led to +the sea, he kept along the more familiar one that led to his own cottage +on the hill. "This man a convict!" he cried. "He is a hero--a martyr! +What a life! Love! Yes, that is love indeed! Oh, James North, how +base art thou in the eyes of God beside this despised outcast!" And so +muttering, tearing his grey hair, and beating his throbbing temples with +clenched hands, he reached his own room, and saw, by the light of the +new-born moon, the dressing-bag and candle standing on the table as he +had left them. They brought again to his mind the recollection of the +task that was before him. He lighted the candle, and, taking the bag in +his hand, cast one last look round the chamber which had witnessed his +futile struggles against that baser part of himself which had at last +triumphed. It was so. Fate had condemned him to sin, and he must now +fulfil the doom he might once have averted. Already he fancied he could +see the dim speck that was the schooner move slowly away from the prison +shore. He must not linger; they would be waiting for him at the jetty. +As he turned, the moonbeams--as yet unobscured by the rapidly gathering +clouds--flung a silver streak across the sea, and across that streak +North saw a boat pass. Was his distracted brain playing him false?--in +the stern sat, wrapped in a cloak, the figure of a man! A fierce gust +of wind drove the sea-rack over the moon, and the boat disappeared, as +though swallowed up by the gathering storm. North staggered back as the +truth struck him. + +He remembered how he had said, "I will redeem him with my own blood!" +Was it possible that a just Heaven had thus decided to allow the man +whom a coward had condemned, to escape, and to punish the coward who +remained? Oh, this man deserved freedom; he was honest, noble, truthful! +How different from himself--a hateful self-lover, an unchaste priest, +a drunkard. The looking-glass, in which the saintly face of Meekin was +soon to be reflected, stood upon the table, and North, peering into it, +with one hand mechanically thrust into the bag, started in insane rage +at the pale face and bloodshot eyes he saw there. What a hateful wretch +he had become! The last fatal impulse of insanity which seeks relief +from its own hideous self came upon him, and his fingers closed +convulsively upon the object they had been seeking. + +"It is better so," he muttered, addressing, with fixed eyes, his own +detested image. "I have examined you long enough. I have read your +heart, and written out your secrets! You are but a shell--the shell that +holds a corrupted and sinful heart. He shall live; you shall die!" The +rapid motion of his arm overturned the candle, and all was dark. + + + +Rufus Dawes, overpowered by the revelation so suddenly made to him, had +remained for a few moments motionless in his cell, expecting to hear +the heavy clang of the outer door, which should announce to him the +departure of the chaplain. But he did not hear it, and it seemed to him +that the air in the cell had grown suddenly cooler. He went to the +door, and looked into the narrow corridor, expecting to see the scowling +countenance of Gimblett. To his astonishment the door of the prison was +wide open, and not a soul in sight. His first thought was of North. +Had the story he had told, coupled with the entreaties he had lavished, +sufficed to turn him from his purpose? + +He looked around. The night was falling suddenly; the wind was mounting; +from beyond the bar came the hoarse murmur of an angry sea. If the +schooner was to sail that night, she had best get out into deep waters. +Where was the chaplain? Pray Heaven the delay had been sufficient, and +they had sailed without him. Yet they would be sure to meet. He advanced +a few steps nearer, and looked about him. Was it possible that, in his +madness, the chaplain had been about to commit some violence which had +drawn the trusty Gimblett from his post? "Gr-r-r-r! Ouph!" The trusty +Gimblett was lying at his feet--dead drunk! + +"Hi! Hiho! Hillo there!" roared somebody from the jetty below. "Be that +you, Muster Noarth? We ain't too much tiam, sur!" + +From the uncurtained windows of the chaplain's house on the hill beamed +the newly-lighted candle. They in the boat did not see it, but it +brought to the prisoner a wild hope that made his heart bound. He ran +back to the cell, clapped on North's wide-awake, and flinging the cloak +hastily about him, came quickly down the steps. If the moon should shine +out now! + +"Jump in, sir," said unsuspecting Mannix, thinking only of the flogging +he had been threatened with. "It'll be a dirty night, this night! Put +this over your knees, sir. Shove her off! Give way!" And they were +afloat. But one glimpse of moonlight fell upon the slouched hat and +cloaked figure, and the boat's crew, engaged in the dangerous task of +navigating the reef in the teeth of the rising gale, paid no attention +to the chaplain. + +"By George, lads, we're but just in time!" cried Mannix; and they laid +alongside the schooner, black in blackness. "Up ye go, yer honour, +quick!" The wind had shifted, and was now off the shore. Blunt, who had +begun to repent of his obstinacy, but would not confess it, thought the +next best thing to riding out the gale was to get out to open sea. "Damn +the parson," he had said, in all heartiness; "we can't wait all night +for him. Heave ahead, Mr. Johnson!" And so the anchor was atrip as Rufus +Dawes ran up the side. + +The Commandant, already pulling off in his own boat, roared a coarse +farewell. "Good-bye, North! It was touch and go with ye!" adding, "Curse +the fellow, he's too proud to answer!" + +The chaplain indeed spoke to no one, and plunging down the hatchway, +made for the stern cabins. "Close shave, your reverence!" said a +respectful somebody, opening a door. It was; but the clergyman did not +say so. He double-locked the door, and hardly realizing the danger he +had escaped, flung himself on the bunk, panting. Over his head he heard +the rapid tramp of feet and the cheery, + +Yo hi-oh! and a rumbelow! + +of the men at the capstan. He could smell the sea, and through the open +window of the cabin could distinguish the light in the chaplain's house +on the hill. The trampling ceased, the vessel began to move slowly--the +Commandant's boat appeared below him for an instant, making her way +back--the Lady Franklin had set sail. With his eyes fixed on the tiny +light, he strove to think what was best to be done. It was hopeless +to think that he could maintain the imposture which, favoured by the +darkness and confusion, he had hitherto successfully attempted. He was +certain to be detected at Hobart Town, even if he could lie concealed +during his long and tedious voyage. That mattered little, however. He +had saved Sylvia, for North had been left behind. Poor North! As +the thought of pity came to him, the light he looked at was suddenly +extinguished, and Rufus Dawes, compelled thereto as by an irresistible +power, fell upon his knees and prayed for the pardon and happiness of +the man who had redeemed him. + + + * * * * * + + +"That's a gun from the shore," said Partridge the mate, "and they're +burning a red light. There's a prisoner escaped. Shall we lie-to?" + +"Lie-to!" cried old Blunt, with a tremendous oath. "We'll have suthin' +else to do. Look there!" + +The sky to the northward was streaked with a belt of livid green colour, +above which rose a mighty black cloud, whose shape was ever changing. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. THE CYCLONE. + + + +Blunt, recognising the meteoric heralds of danger, had begun to regret +his obstinacy. He saw that a hurricane was approaching. + + + +Along the south coast of the Australian continent, though the usual +westerly winds and gales of the highest latitudes prevail during the +greater portion of the year, hurricanes are not infrequent. Gales +commence at NW with a low barometer, increasing at W and SW, and +gradually veering to the south. True cyclones occur at New Zealand. +The log of the Adelaide for 29th February, 1870, describes one which +travelled at the rate of ten miles an hour, and had all the veerings, +calm centre, etc., of a true tropical hurricane. Now a cyclone occurring +off the west coast of New Zealand would travel from the New Hebrides, +where such storms are hideously frequent, and envelop Norfolk Island, +passing directly across the track of vessels coming from South America +to Sydney. It was one of these rotatory storms, an escaped tempest of +the tropics, which threatened the Lady Franklin. + + + +The ominous calm which had brooded over the island during the day +had given place to a smart breeze from the north-east, and though the +schooner had been sheltered at her anchorage under the lee of the island +(the "harbour" looked nearly due south), when once fairly out to sea, +Blunt saw it would be impossible to put back in the teeth of the gale. +Haply, however, the full fury of the storm would not overtake them till +they had gained sea-room. + +Rufus Dawes, exhausted with the excitement through which he had passed, +had slept for two or three hours, when he was awakened by the motion +of the vessel going on the other tack. He rose to his feet, and found +himself in complete darkness. Overhead was the noise of trampling feet, +and he could distinguish the hoarse tones of Blunt bellowing orders. +Astonished at the absence of the moonlight which had so lately silvered +the sea, he flung open the cabin window and looked out. As we have said, +the cabin allotted to North was one of the two stern cabins, and from it +the convict had a full view of the approaching storm. + +The sight was one of wild grandeur. The huge, black cloud which hung in +the horizon had changed its shape. Instead of a curtain it was an arch. +Beneath this vast and magnificent portal shone a dull phosphoric +light. Across this livid space pale flashes of sheet-lightning passed +noiselessly. Behind it was a dull and threatening murmur, made up of the +grumbling of thunder, the falling of rain, and the roar of contending +wind and water. The lights of the prison-island had disappeared, so +rapid had been the progress of the schooner under the steady breeze, and +the ocean stretched around, black and desolate. Gazing upon this gloomy +expanse, Rufus Dawes observed a strange phenomenon--lightning appeared +to burst upwards from the sullen bosom of the sea. At intervals, the +darkly-rolling waves flashed fire, and streaks of flame shot upwards. +The wind increased in violence, and the arch of light was fringed +with rain. A dull, red glow hung around, like the reflection of a +conflagration. Suddenly, a tremendous peal of thunder, accompanied by +a terrific downfall of rain, rattled along the sky. The arch of light +disappeared, as though some invisible hand had shut the slide of a giant +lantern. A great wall of water rushed roaring over the level plain of +the sea, and with an indescribable medley of sounds, in which tones +of horror, triumph, and torture were blended, the cyclone swooped upon +them. + +Rufus Dawes comprehended that the elements had come to save or destroy +him. In that awful instant the natural powers of the man rose equal +to the occasion. In a few hours his fate would be decided, and it was +necessary that he should take all precaution. One of two events seemed +inevitable; he would either be drowned where he lay, or, should the +vessel weather the storm, he would be forced upon the deck, and the +desperate imposture he had attempted be discovered. For the moment +despair overwhelmed him, and he contemplated the raging sea as though +he would cast himself into it, and thus end his troubles. The tones of +a woman's voice recalled him to himself. Cautiously unlocking the cabin +door, he peered out. The cuddy was lighted by a swinging lamp which +revealed Sylvia questioning one of the women concerning the storm. As +Rufus Dawes looked, he saw her glance, with an air half of hope, half +of fear, towards the door behind which he lurked, and he understood that +she expected to see the chaplain. Locking the door, he proceeded hastily +to dress himself in North's clothes. He would wait until his aid was +absolutely required, and then rush out. In the darkness, Sylvia would +mistake him for the priest. He could convey her to the boat--if recourse +to the boats should be rendered necessary--and then take the hazard of +his fortune. While she was in danger, his place was near by. + + + +From the deck of the vessel the scene was appalling. The clouds had +closed in. The arch of light had disappeared, and all was a dull, +windy blackness. Gigantic seas seemed to mount in the horizon and sweep +towards and upon them. It was as though the ship lay in the vortex of +a whirlpool, so high on either side of her were piled the rough +pyramidical masses of sea. Mighty gusts arose--claps of wind which +seemed like strokes of thunder. A sail loosened from its tackling was +torn away and blown out to sea, disappearing like a shred of white paper +to leeward. The mercury in the barometer marked 29:50. Blunt, who had +been at the rum bottle, swore great oaths that no soul on board would +see another sun; and when Partridge rebuked him for blasphemy at such a +moment, wept spirituous tears. + +The howling of the wind was benumbing; the very fury of sound enfeebled +while it terrified. The sailors, horror-stricken, crawled about the +deck, clinging to anything they thought most secure. It was impossible +to raise the head to look to windward. The eyelids were driven together, +and the face stung by the swift and biting spray. Men breathed this +atmosphere of salt and wind, and became sickened. Partridge felt that +orders were useless--the man at his elbow could not have heard them. The +vessel lay almost on her beam ends, with her helm up, stripped even of +the sails which had been furled upon the yards. Mortal hands could do +nothing for her. + +By five o'clock in the morning the gale had reached its height. The +heavens showered out rain and lightnings--rain which the wind blew +away before it reached the ocean, lightnings which the ravenous and +mountainous waves swallowed before they could pierce the gloom. The ship +lay over on her side, held there by the madly rushing wind, which seemed +to flatten down the sea, cutting off the top of the waves, and breaking +them into fine white spray which covered the ocean like a thick +cloud, as high as the topmast heads. Each gust seemed unsurpassable in +intensity, but was succeeded, after a pause, that was not a lull but a +gasp, by one of more frantic violence. The barometer stood at 27:82. The +ship was a mere labouring, crazy wreck, that might sink at any moment. +At half-past three o'clock the barometer had fallen to 27:62. Save when +lighted by occasional flashes of sheet-lightning, which showed to the +cowed wretches their awe-stricken faces, this tragedy of the elements +was performed in a darkness which was almost palpable. + +Suddenly the mercury rose to 29:90, and, with one awful shriek, the +wind dropped to a calm. The Lady Franklin had reached the centre of the +cyclone. Partridge, glancing to where the great body of drunken Blunt +rolled helplessly lashed to the wheel, felt a strange selfish joy thrill +him. If the ship survived the drunken captain would be dismissed, and +he, Partridge, the gallant, would reign in his stead. The schooner, no +longer steadied by the wind, was at the mercy of every sea. Volumes of +water poured over her. Presently she heeled over, for, with a triumphant +scream, the wind leapt on to her from a fresh quarter. Following its +usual course, the storm returned upon its track. The hurricane was about +to repeat itself from the north-west. + +The sea, pouring down through the burst hatchway, tore the door of +the cuddy from its hinges. Sylvia found herself surrounded by a +wildly-surging torrent which threatened to overwhelm her. She shrieked +aloud for aid, but her voice was inaudible even to herself. Clinging to +the mast which penetrated the little cuddy, she fixed her eyes upon the +door behind which she imagined North was, and whispered a last prayer +for succour. The door opened, and from out the cabin came a figure clad +in black. She looked up, and the light of the expiring lamp showed her a +face that was not that of the man she hoped to see. Then a pair of dark +eyes beaming ineffable love and pity were bent upon her, and a pair of +dripping arms held her above the brine as she had once been held in the +misty mysterious days that were gone. + +In the terror of that moment the cloud which had so long oppressed her +brain passed from it. The action of the strange man before her completed +and explained the action of the convict chained to the Port +Arthur coal-wagons, of the convict kneeling in the Norfolk Island +torture-chamber. She remembered the terrible experience of Macquarie +Harbour. She recalled the evening of the boat-building, when, swung +into the air by stalwart arms, she had promised the rescuing prisoner to +plead for him with her kindred. Regaining her memory thus, all the agony +and shame of the man's long life of misery became at once apparent to +her. She understood how her husband had deceived her, and with what base +injustice and falsehood he had bought her young love. No question as to +how this doubly-condemned prisoner had escaped from the hideous isle of +punishment she had quitted occurred to her. She asked not--even in her +thoughts--how it had been given to him to supplant the chaplain in his +place on board the vessel. She only considered, in her sudden awakening, +the story of his wrongs, remembered only his marvellous fortitude and +love, knew only, in this last instant of her pure, ill-fated life, that +as he had saved her once from starvation and death, so had he come again +to save her from sin and from despair. Whoever has known a deadly peril +will remember how swiftly thought then travelled back through scenes +clean forgotten, and will understand how Sylvia's retrospective vision +merged the past into the actual before her, how the shock of recovered +memory subsided in the grateful utterance of other days--"Good Mr. +Dawes!" + +The eyes of the man and woman met in one long, wild gaze. Sylvia +stretched out her white hands and smiled, and Richard Devine understood +in his turn the story of the young girl's joyless life, and knew how she +had been sacrificed. + +In the great crisis of our life, when, brought face to face with +annihilation, we are suspended gasping over the great emptiness of +death, we become conscious that the Self which we think we knew so well +has strange and unthought-of capacities. To describe a tempest of +the elements is not easy, but to describe a tempest of the soul is +impossible. Amid the fury of such a tempest, a thousand memories, each +bearing in its breast the corpse of some dead deed whose influence +haunts us yet, are driven like feathers before the blast, as +unsubstantial and as unregarded. The mists which shroud our +self--knowledge become transparent, and we are smitten with sudden +lightning-like comprehension of our own misused power over our fate. + +This much we feel and know, but who can coldly describe the hurricane +which thus o'erwhelms him? As well ask the drowned mariner to tell +of the marvels of mid-sea when the great deeps swallowed him and the +darkness of death encompassed him round about. These two human beings +felt that they had done with life. Together thus, alone in the very +midst and presence of death, the distinctions of the world they were +about to leave disappeared. Then vision grew clear. They felt as beings +whose bodies had already perished, and as they clasped hands their freed +souls, recognizing each the loveliness of the other, rushed tremblingly +together. + +Borne before the returning whirlwind, an immense wave, which glimmered +in the darkness, spouted up and towered above the wreck. The wretches +who yet clung to the deck looked shuddering up into the bellying +greenness, and knew that the end was come. + + + +END OF BOOK THE FOURTH + + + + +EPILOGUE. + + At day-dawn the morning after the storm, + the rays of the rising sun fell upon an + object which floated on the surface of + the water not far from where the schooner + had foundered. + + This object was a portion of the mainmast + head of the Lady Franklin, and entangled + in the rigging were two corpses--a man + and a woman. The arms of the man were + clasped round the body of the woman, + and her head lay on his breast. + The Prison Island appeared but as a long + low line on the distant horizon. + The tempest was over. As the sun rose + higher the air grew balmy, the ocean placid; + and, golden in the rays of the new risen + morning, the wreck and its burden drifted + out to sea. + + + + +APPENDIX. + + BOOK ONE: + + + CHAPTERS I,IV,V,VII. Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the state of the colony + of New South Wales. Printed by order of the House of Commons, 1822. + + "Two Voyages to New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land", by Thomas Reid + [Surgeon on board the Neptune and Morley transport ships], + Member of the Royal College of Surgeons in London, and Surgeon + in the Royal Navy. London: Longman and Co., 1822. + + "Narrative of a Visit to the Australian Colonies", by James Backhouse. + London: Hamilton, Adams and Co., 1843. + + Report of a Select Committee on Transportation. Printed by order of the + House of Commons, 1838. [Evidence of Colonel Henry Breton.--Q.2,431-2,436.] + + + + BOOK TWO: + + + CHAPTERS I,II,III. Report of a Select Committee [ut supra], 1838. Evidence of John Barnes, Esq., + pp.37-49. Also Appendix to above Report, I., No.56,B. + + "Tasmanian Journal of Natural Science", etc., vol. ii. + Account of Macquarie Harbour, by T. G. Lempriere, Esq., A.D.C.G., + pp.17, 107, 200. Tasmania: Henry Dowling. London: John Murray, 1846. + + "Van Diemen's Land Anniversary and Hobart Town Almanac, 1831." Account of + Macquarie Harbour, by James Ross, p.262. Hobart Town: James Ross, 1832. + + "Meliora", April, 1861--"Our Convict System": case of Charles Anderson, + chained to a rock for two years in irons. See also "Our Convicts", p.233, + vol.i., Mary Carpenter. Longmans, 1864. + + "Backhouse's Narrative" [ut supra] chapters iii., iv. + Files of Hobart Town Courier, 1827-8, more especially October 23 + and December 7, 1827, and February 2, 1828. + + CHAPTERS IV. and VIII. Report of a Select Committee [ut supra], 1838, pp. 353, 354, 355. + + CHAPTERS IX., XV., XVII. "Tasmanian Journal" [ut supra], vol.i.: Account of Macquarie Harbour, + by T. G. Lempriere, Esq. [ut supra]. The seizure of the Cypress (sic.), + pp.366-7. Escape of Morgan and Popjoy, p.369. The seizure of the Frederick, + pp.371-375. + + "Van Diemen's Land Annual", 1838: Narrative of the Sufferings and Adventures + of certain of Ten Convicts, etc., pp.1-11. Hobart Town: James Ross, 1838. + + "Old Tales of a Young Country", by Marcus Clarke: + The Last of Macquarie Harbour, pp. 141-146. The Seizure of the Cyprus, + pp.133-140. Melbourne: George Robertson, 1871. + + + + BOOK THREE: + + + CHAPTER II. Transportation: Copy of a communication upon the subject of Transportation + addressed to Earl Grey by the Lord Bishop of Tasmania. + Reprinted for private distribution to the heads of families only. + Launceston: Henry Dowling, 1848. + + Report of a Select Committee [ut supra], 1837. + Evidence of Ernest Augustus Slade, Esq.--Q.870. Ibidem, 1838: + Evidence of James Mudie, Esq.--Q.804-813. + + CHAPTER IX. Backhouse's Narrative [ut supra]: Appendix, lxxvi. + + CHAPTER X. "Van Diemen 's Land Annual", 1838 [ut supra], pp.12-33. Old Tales, etc, + [ut supra], The Last of Macquarie Harbour, pp.147-156. + + CHAPTER XV. Report of a Select Committee [ut supra], 1838: + Evidence of E. A. Slade, Esq.-Q.1,882-1,892. + Ibidem: Appendix No.ii., E. + + CHAPTER XX. Report of a Select Committee [ut supra], 1837: + Evidence of John Russell, Esq., Assist.-Surgeon 63rd Regiment.--Q.426-615. + Ibidem: Evidence of Colonel Geo. Arthur--Q.4,510-4,548. + + CHAPTERS XXIII., XXIV., XXVI. "The Adventures of Martin Cash, the Bushranger." Hobart Town: + J. L. Burke, 1870. pp.64-70. + + "Van Dieman's Land Annual" [ut supra], 1829: Visit to Port Arthur. + Account of the Devil's Blow-Hole. + + CHAPTER XXVII. Report of a Select Committee [ut supra], 1832, Appendix I., No.56 C. and D. + Deposition of Alexander Pierce and official statements of trial and execution + of Pierce and Cox for murder and cannibalism. + + "The Bushrangers,", by James Bonwick, Esq. Article-"Port Arthur" + + + + BOOK IV. + CHAPTERS III., IV. Sessional Papers printed by order of the House of Lords, 1847. + Enclosure to No. XI. Extract of a paper by the Rev. T. B. Naylor. + Enclosure 3 in No.XIV. Copy of Report [dated Hobart Town, 20th June, 1846] + from Robert Pringle Stewart, Esq.: [officer appointed by the Lieut.-Governor + of Van Dieman's Land, to inspect the penal settlement of Norfolk Island] + to the Comptroller-General. + + House of Lords Report of a Commission on the execution of Criminal Law, 1847, + Evidence of the Lord Bishop of Tasmania--Q.4,795--4,904 and 5,085--5,130. + + Despatch of His Excellency Sir William Denison to Secretary of State, + 10th July, 1847. + + Report of a Select Committee [ut supra], 1838: + Evidence of the Very Rev. Wm. Ullathorne, D.D.--Q.150-318. + + Report of House of Lords [ut supra], 1847: + Evidence of Albert Charles Stonor, Esq., Crown Solicitor of New South Wales-- + Q.5,174-5,197. Also evidence of Rev. Wm. Wilson, D.D.--Q.5,545-5,568. + + Correspondence relating to the dismissal of the Rev. T. Rogers + from his chaplaincy at Norfolk Island; for private circulation. + Launceston: Henry Dowling, 1846. + + "Backhouse's Voyages" [ut supra] + + CHAPTERS VII., VIII., IX., XII. Adventures of Martin Cash [ut supra], pp.133-141; + Cases of George Armstrong, + "Pine Tree Jack", and Alexander Campbell. + + Punishment of the "gag" and "bridle". Correspondence relating to + the Rev. T. Rogers [ut supra], pp. 41-43. + + Punishment of the "gag" and "bridle". + + Report of a Select Committee [ut supra], 1838: + Evidence of the Very Rev. Wm. Ullathorne, D.D.--Q.267:-- + "As I mentioned the names of those men who were to die, + they one after another, as their names were pronounced, + dropped on their knees and thanked God that they were + to be delivered from that horrible place, whilst the others + remained standing mute, weeping. It was the most horrible + scene I have ever witnessed." + + Ibidem: Evidence of Colonel George Arthur.--Q.4,548. + + Ibidem: Evidence of Sir Francis Forbes.--Q.1,119. + + Ibidem: Q.1,335-1,343:-- + + "...Two or three men murdered their fellow-prisoners, + with the certainty of being detected and executed, + apparently without malice and with very little excitement, + stating that they knew that they should be hanged, + but it was better than being where they were." + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's For the Term of His Natural Life, by Marcus Clarke + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOR THE TERM OF HIS NATURAL LIFE *** + +***** This file should be named 3424.txt or 3424.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/2/3424/ + +Produced by Col Choat + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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