Colonel Thorndyke's Secret

  CHAPTER V.

  The scene in the convict yard at Sydney, five years after its foundationas a penal settlement, was not a pleasant one to the lover of humanity.Warders armed to the teeth were arranging gangs that were to go out tolabor on the roads. Many of the convicts had leg irons, but so fastenedas to be but slight hindrance to their working powers, but the majoritywere unironed. These were the better behaved convicts; not that thiswould be judged from their faces, for the brutalizing nature of thesystem and the close association of criminals had placed its mark onall, and it would have been difficult for the most discriminating tohave made any choice between the most hardened criminals and those whohad been sent out for what would now be considered comparatively trivialoffenses. The voyage on board ship had done much to efface distinctions,the convict life had done more, and the chief difference between thechained and unchained prisoners was that the latter were men of moretimid disposition than many of their companions, and therefore lessdisposed to give trouble that would entail heavy punishment. But itwas only the comparatively well conducted men who were placed upon roadwork; the rest were retained for work inside the jail, or were caged insolitary confinement. Each morning a number, varying from half a dozento a dozen, were fastened up and flogged, in some cases with mercilessseverity, but it was seldom that a cry was uttered by these, the mostbrutal ruffians of the convict herd. This spectacle was just over: itwas conducted in public for the edification of the rest, but, judgingfrom the low laughs and brutal jests, uttered below the breath, itsignally failed in producing the desired impression. Two of those whohad suffered the severest punishment were now putting on theircoarse woolen garments over their bloodstained shoulders; both werecomparatively young men.

  "I shall not stand this much longer," one muttered. "I will brain awarder, and get hung for it. One can but die once, while one can getflogged once a week."

  "So would I," the other said bitterly; "but I have some scores to settlein England, and I am not going to put my head in a noose until I havewiped them out. The sooner we make arrangements to get back there thebetter."

  "Yes, we have talked of this before," the other said, "and I quiteagreed with you that if we all had the pluck of men we ought to be ableto overpower the warders, in spite of their firearms. Of course someof us would get killed, but no one would mind that if there was but theremotest chance of getting away. The question is what we should do withourselves when we were once outside the prison. Of course I know thatthere are two or three hundred settlers, but there would not be muchto be got out of them, and life among those black fellows, even if theywere civil to us, which I don't suppose they would be, would not beworth having."

  "We might not have to stay there long; ships with stores or settlersarrive occasionally, and if a lot of us got away we might seize one byforce, turn pirates for a bit, and when we are tired of that sail tosome South American port, sell our capture, and make our way home toEngland. If we were not strong enough to take her, we could hide up onboard her; we should be sure to find some fellow who for a pound or twowould be willing to help us. The thing can be done if we make up ourminds to do it, and I for one have made up my mind to try. I haven'tchalked out a plan yet, but I am convinced that it is to be done."

  "I am with you, whatever it is," the other said; "and I think there aretwenty or thirty we could rely on. I don't say there are more than that,because there are a lot of white livered cusses among them who wouldinform against us at once, so as to get their own freedom as a rewardfor doing so. Well, we will both think it over, mate, and the sooner thebetter."

  The two men who were thus talking together were both by birth above thecommon herd of convicts, and had gained a considerable ascendency overthe others because of their reckless indifference to punishment andtheir defiance of authority. Few of the men knew each other's realnames; by the officials they were simply known by numbers, while amongthemselves each had a slang name generally gained on board ship.

  Separation there had, of course, been impossible, and when fastened downbelow each had told his story with such embellishments as he chose togive it, and being but little interfered with by their guards, saveto insure the impossibility of a mutiny, there had been fights of adesperate kind. Four or five dead bodies had been found and thrownoverboard, but as none would testify as to who had been the assailantsnone were punished for it; and so the strongest and most desperate hadenforced their authority over the others, as wild beasts might do, andby the time they had reached their destination all were steeped muchdeeper in wickedness and brutalism than when they set sail.

  The two men who were speaking together had speedily become chums, and,though much younger than the majority of the prisoners, had by theirrecklessness and ferocity established an ascendency among the others.This ascendency had been maintained after their arrival by theirconstant acts of insubordination, and by their apparent indifference tothe punishment awarded them. At night the convicts were lodged in woodenbuildings, where, so long as they were not riotous, they were allowed totalk and converse freely, as indeed was the case when their work for theday was done.

  As to any attempt at escape, the authorities had but small anxiety, foruntil the arrival of the first settlers, three years after that ofthe convicts, there was nowhere a fugitive could go to, no food to beobtained, no shelter save among the blacks, who were always ready fora reward of tobacco and spirits to hand them over at once to theauthorities. The case had but slightly changed since the settlementbegan to grow. It was true that by stealing sheep or driving off a fewhead of cattle a fugitive might maintain himself for a time, but even ifnot shot down by the settlers or patrols, he would be sure before longto be brought in by the blacks.

  The experiment had already been tried of farming our better conductedconvicts to the settlers, and indeed it was the prospect of obtainingsuch cheap labor that had been the main inducement to many of thecolonists to establish themselves so far from home, instead of going toAmerica. As a whole the system worked satisfactorily; the men wereas much prisoners as were the inmates of the jail, for they knew wellenough that were they to leave the farmers and take to the bush theywould remain free but a short time, being either killed or handed overby the blacks, and in the latter case they would be severely punishedand set to prison work in irons, with labor very much more severe thanthat they were called upon to do on the farms.

  Some little time after the conversation between the two convicts theprison authorities were congratulating themselves upon the fact that adistinct change had taken or was taking place in the demeanor of many ofthe men who had hitherto been the most troublesome, and they put it downto the unusually severe floggings that had been inflicted on the twomost refractory prisoners in the establishment. When in the prisonyard or at work they were more silent than before, and did their tasksdoggedly and sullenly; there was no open defiance to the authorities,and, above all, a marked cessation of drunkenness from the spiritssmuggled into the place.

  Only the two originators were aware of the extent of the plot; for theyhad agreed that only by keeping every man in ignorance as to who hadjoined it could they hope to escape treachery. In the first place,they had taken into their confidence a dozen men on whom they couldabsolutely rely. Beyond this they had approached the others singly,beginning by hinting that there was a plot for escape, and that a goodmany were concerned, and telling them that these had bound themselvestogether by a solemn oath to kill any traitor, even if hanged for it.

  "No one is to know who is in it and who is not," the leaders said toeach recruit. "Every new man will be closely watched by the rest, and ifhe has any communication privately with a warder or any other officialhe will be found strangled the next morning; no one will know who didit. Even if he succeeded in eluding the vigilance of his comrades at thetime, it would soon be known; for if indulgence of any kind was showntowards one man, or he was relieved from his ordinary work, or evenfreed altogether and suddenly, he would be a dead man in twenty-fourhours, for we have friends outs
ide among the ticket of leave men whohave bound themselves to kill at once any man set free."

  To the question, "What do you intend to do when we get off?" the answerwas, "We shall go straight to the bush, so as to avoid a fight with thesoldiers, in the first place; then we shall join that night, and driveoff all the cattle and sheep from the settlements, take possession ofevery firearm found in the houses, then move off a couple of hundredmiles or so into the bush, and establish a settlement of our own.

  "Of course, we shall take horses and clothes and any spirits and foodwe may find. If the soldiers pursue us, we will fight them; but as thereare only three or four companies of them, and we shall be eight hundredstrong, we shall very soon show them that they had better leave usalone.

  "Oh, yes, no doubt they will send more soldiers out from England, butit will be over a year before they can get here; and we propose after wehave done with the fellows here to break up into parties of twenty andthirty, dividing the sheep and cattle among us, and each party goingwhere it will. The place is of tremendous size, as big as a dozenEnglands, they say, and each party will fix a place it fancies, wherethere is good water and a river with fish and so on, and we may live allour lives comfortably, with just enough work to raise potatoes and corn,and to watch our stock increasing. Anyhow, we might calculate on havingsome years of peace and freedom, and even if in the end they searchedus all out, which would be very unlikely, they could but bring us back,hang a few, and set the rest to work again; but we think that they wouldmost likely leave us alone altogether, quite satisfied with having gotrid of us."

  "Those who liked it could, no doubt, take wives among the blacks. Theconvict women who are out on service with the settlers would, you maybe sure, join us at once, and an enterprising chap who preferred a whitewoman to a black could always make his way down here and persuade one togo off with him to his farm. That is the general plan; if many get tiredof the life they have only to come down to Sydney, hide up near theplace on some dark night, and go down to the port, seize a ship, andmake off in her, compelling the officers and sailors to take them andland them at any port they fancy, either in Chili, Peru, or Mexico, or,if they like, sail west and make for Rio or Buenos Ayres or one of theWest Indian islands. As to when it is going to be done, or how it isgoing to be done, no one will be told till it is ready to be carriedout. We have not settled that ourselves, and thus one who was foolenough to risk certain death could tell the Governor no more than thatthere was a plot on hand, and that the man who had sworn him in wasconcerned in it."

  So one by one every man in the prison was sworn by a terrible oath tosecrecy, to watch his companions, and to report anything that lookedsuspicious. Many joined willingly, the prospect of relief, even shouldit only be temporary, being too fascinating to be resisted. Some joinedagainst their will, fearing that a refusal to do so would be punishedby death; and the fact that two or three men were found strangled in bedhad a very great effect in inducing others to join in the plot.

  These deaths caused some uneasiness to the authorities. Their utmostendeavors failed to discover who were the perpetrators of thesemurders; and even when everyone in the same hut was flogged to obtaininformation, not one opened his lips.

  One night the word was passed round that the time had come. One only ineach hut was familiar with the details, and he gave instructions to eachman individually as to what he was to do. The date had been determinedby the fact that the time which they had been sentenced to wear ironshad terminated the day before, and their unusually subdued and quietdemeanor having carried them through the interval without, as usual,fresh punishments being awarded them before the termination of theformer one.

  In the morning the whole of the convicts were drawn up to witness theflogging of the inmates of one of the huts, where a man had been foundstrangled the morning before. The first prisoner was taken to thetriangle, stripped to the waist, and tied up. There was a dead silencein the ranks of the convicts, but as the first blow fell upon hisshoulders there was a loud yell, and simultaneously the whole ranksbroke up, and a number of men sprang upon each of the warders, wrestedtheir muskets from them, and threw them to the ground. Then there was arush towards the Governor and officers, who were assembled in frontof the stone house that faced the open end of the square. Firing theirpistols, these at once took refuge in the house, three or four fallingunder the scattered fire that was opened as soon as the muskets of thewarders fell into the hands of the convicts.

  Directly the doors were closed the officers appeared at the windows, andopened a rifle fire upon the convicts, as did the guards near the gate.As comparatively few of the convicts had muskets, they began to waver atonce. But, headed by the two ringleaders, the armed party rushed at theguard, shot them down, and threw open the gate.

  Then an unexpected thing occurred. The soldiers from the barrackshappened to be marching down to do target practice on the shore, andwere passing the convict prison when the firing broke out. They wereat once halted, and ordered to load, and as the convicts, with exultantshouts, poured through the gate they saw a long line of soldiers, withleveled muskets, facing them.

  "At them!" one of the leaders shouted. "It is too late to draw back now.We have got to break through them."

  Many of the convicts ran back into the yard; but those armed withmuskets, the more desperate of the party, followed their leaders. Amoment later a heavy volley rang out, and numbers of the convicts fell.Their two leaders, however, and some twenty of their followers, keepingin a close body, rushed at the line of soldiers with clubbed muskets,and with the suddenness and fury of the rush burst their way throughthe line, and then scattering, fled across the country, pursued by adropping fire of musketry.

  The officers in command, seeing that but a fraction had escaped, orderedone company to pursue, and marched the rest into the prison yard. It wasalready deserted; the convicts had scattered to their huts, those whohad arms throwing them away. Dotted here and there over the square werethe bodies of eight or ten convicts and as many warders, whose skullshad been smashed in by their infuriated assailants as soon as they hadobtained possession of their muskets. Close to the gate lay the sixsoldiers who had furnished the guard; these were all dead or mortallywounded.

  The Governor and the officials issued from the house as soon as thesoldiers entered the yard. The first step to do was to turn all theconvicts out of the huts and to iron them. No resistance was attempted,the sight of the soldiers completely cowing the mutineers. When thebodies of the convicts that had fallen were counted and the roll of theprisoners called over, it was found that eighteen were missing, and ofthese six were during the course of the next hour or two brought in bythe soldiers who had gone in pursuit of them. The rest had escaped.

  The convicts were all questioned separately, and the tales they toldagreed so closely that the Governor could not doubt that they werespeaking the truth. All had been sworn in by one of two men, and knewnothing whatever of what was intended to be done that day, until afterthey were locked up on the evening previous. Each of those in the hutshad received his instructions the night before from the one man.

  There were eighteen huts, each containing fifteen convicts. Of the menwho had given instructions six had fallen outside the gate, togetherwith sixteen others; five had been overtaken and brought in; altogether,twelve were still at large. Among these were the two leaders. The nextday six of the prisoners were tried and executed. The rest were punishedonly by a reduction in their rations; sentence of death was at the sametime passed upon the twelve still at large, so as to save the trouble ofa succession of trials as they were caught and brought in.

  The two leaders had kept together after they had broken through the lineof soldiers.

  "Things have gone off well," one said as they ran through. "Thosesoldiers nearly spoilt it all."

  "Yes, that was unlucky," the other agreed; "but so far as we areconcerned, which is all we care about, I think things have turned outfor the best."

  Nothing more was said until the
y had far outstripped their pursuers,hampered as these were by their uniforms and belts.

  "You mean that it is not such a bad thing that they have not all gotaway?"

  "Yes, that is what I mean. It is all very well to tell them aboutdriving off the sheep and cattle and horses, and going to start a colonyon our own account, but the soldiers would have been up to us before wehad gone a day's journey. Most of the fellows would have bolted directlythey saw them. As it is, I fancy only about a dozen have got away,perhaps not as many as that, and they are all men that one can relyupon. One can feed a dozen without difficulty--a sheep a day would doit--and by giving a turn to each of the settlers, the animals won't bemissed. Besides, we shall want money if we are ever to get out of thiscursed country. It would not be difficult to get enough for you and me,but when it comes to a large number the sack of the whole settlementwould not go very far.

  "My own idea is that we had best join the others tonight, kill a fewsheep, and go two or three days' march into the bush, until the heat ofthe pursuit is over. We are all armed, the blacks would not venture toattack us, and the soldiers would not be likely to pursue us very far.In a week or so, when we can assume that matters have cooled down a bit,we can come down again. We know all the shepherds, and even if they werenot disposed to help us they would not dare to betray us, or report asheep or two being missing. Of course, we shall have to be very carefulto shift our quarters frequently. Those black trackers are sure to besent out pretty often."

  "As long as we are hanging about the settlements there won't be muchfear of our being bothered by the blacks. Of course, we shall have todecide later on whether it will be best for us to try and seize a ship,all of us acting together, or for us to get quietly on board one andkeep under hatches until she is well away. That is the plan I fancymost."

  "So do I. In the first place the chances are that in the next two orthree months at least half the fellows will be picked up. To begin with,several of them are sure to get hold of liquor and make attacks upon thesettlers, in which case some of them, anyhow, are sure to get killed. Inthe next place, most of them were brought up as thieves in the slums ofLondon, and will have no more idea of roughing it in a country like thisthan of behaving themselves if they were transported to a London drawingroom. Therefore, I am pretty sure that at the end of three months weshall not be able to reckon on half of them. Well, six men are notenough to capture a ship, or, if they do capture it, to keep the crewunder. One must sleep sometimes, and with only three or four men on deckwe could not hope to keep a whole ship's crew at bay."

  "Then there is another reason. You and I, when we have got a decent rigout, could pass anywhere without exciting observation; while if we hadhalf a dozen of the others, whatever their good qualities, they would benoticed at once by their villainous faces, and if questions were to beasked we should be likely to find ourselves in limbo again in a veryshort time. So I am all for working on our own account, even if thewhole of the others were ready to back us; but, of course, we must keepon good terms with them all, and breathe no word that we think that eachman had better shift for himself. Some of those fellows, if they thoughtwe had any idea of leaving them, would go straight into Sydney anddenounce us, although they would know that they themselves would belikely to swing at the same time."

  As none of the convicts were acquainted with the bush, they had beenobliged to select as their rendezvous a hut two miles out of the town,where the convict gangs that worked on the road were in the habit ofleaving their tools. On the way there the two men killed a couple ofsheep from a flock whose position they had noticed before it becamedark. These they skinned, cut off the heads, and left them behind,carrying the sheep on their shoulders to the meeting.

  "Is that you, Captain Wild?" a voice said as they approached.

  "Yes; Gentleman Dick is with me."

  "That is a good job. We had begun to think that the soldiers had caughtyou."

  "They would not have caught us alive, you may take your oath. How manyare there of us here?"

  "Ten of us, Captain. I think that that is all there are."

  "That is enough for our purpose. Has anyone got anything to eat?"

  There was a deep growl in the negative.

  "Well, we have brought a couple of sheep with us, and as we have carriedthem something like a mile, you had better handle them by turns. We willstrike off into the bush and put another three or four miles between usand the jail, and then light a fire and have a meal."

  Two of the men came forward and took the sheep. Then they turned offfrom the road, and taking their direction from a star, followed it foran hour.

  "I think we have got far enough now," the man called Captain Wild said."You had better cut down the bushes, and we will make a fire."

  "But how are we to light it?" one of them exclaimed in a tone ofconsternation. "I don't suppose we have got flint and steel or tinderbox among us."

  "Oh, we can manage that!" the Captain said. "Get a heap of dried leaveshere first, then some wood, and we will soon have a blaze."

  His orders were obeyed. Some of the men had carried off the warders'swords as well as their muskets, and now used them for chopping wood.As soon as a small pile of dried leaves was gathered the Captain brokea cartridge and sprinkled half its contents among them, and then droppedthe remainder into his musket. He flashed this off among the leaves, anda bright flame at once shot up, and in five minutes a fire was burning.

  One of the sheep was soon cut up, the meat hacked in slices from thebones, a ramrod was thrust through the pieces, and, supported by foursticks, was laid across the fire. Three other similarly laden spitswere soon placed beside it, and in a short time the meat was ready foreating. Until a hearty meal had been made there was but little talking.

  "That is first rate," one of the men said, as he wiped his mouth withthe back of his hand. "Now one only wants a pipe and bacca and a glassof grog, to feel comfortable."

  "Well, Captain, are you satisfied with the day's work?"

  "It would have been a grand day had it not been for the soldiers passingjust at the time. As it is, Gentleman Dick and I have been agreeing thatas far as we are all concerned it has not turned out so badly. Therewould have been a lot of difficulty in finding food if we had all gotaway, and some of those mealy mouthed fellows would have been sure to goback and peach on us at the first opportunity. A dozen is better than ahundred for the sort of life we are likely to lead for some time. We arestrong enough to beat off any attack from the black fellows, and also tobreak into any of these settlers' houses.

  "We can, when we have a mind to, take a stray sheep now and then, oreven a bullock would scarcely be missed, especially if our pals in thesettlement will lend us a helping hand, which you may be sure they willdo; in fact, they would know better than to refuse. Then a large partycould be traced by those black trackers at a run, while a small onewould not; especially if, as we certainly will do, we break up into twosand threes for a time. First of all, though, we must go well into thebush; at daybreak tomorrow morning we will drive off twenty sheep, andgo right away a hundred miles, and wait there till matters have settleddown. They will never take the troops out that distance after us. Thenwe can come back again, and hang about the settlement and take what wewant. The wild blacks don't come near there, and we shall be safer inpairs than we should be if we kept together; and of course we could meetonce a week or so to talk over our plans. We must borrow some whisky,flour, tea, tobacco, and a few other items from the settlers, but we hadbetter do without them for this trip. I don't want to turn the settlersagainst us, for they have all got horses, and might combine with thetroops to give chase, so it would be best to leave them alone, at anyrate till we get back again. Another reason for treating them gently isthat even if they did not join the troops they might get into a funk,and drive their sheep and horses down into Sydney, and then we shouldmighty soon get short of food. It will be quite time enough to draw uponthem heavily when we make up our minds to get hold of a ship and sailaway. Mo
ney would be of no use to us here, but we shall want it when weget to a port, wherever that port may be."

  "That sounds right enough, Captain," one of the convicts said, "and justat present nothing would suit me better than to get so far away fromthis place that I can lay on my back and take it easy for a spell."

  There was a general chorus of assent, and there being neither tobacconor spirits, the party very soon stretched themselves off to sleep roundthe fire.

  In the morning they were up before daylight, and half an hour laterarrived at one of the farms farthest from Sydney. Here they found aflock of a hundred sheep. The shepherd came to the door of his hut onhearing a noise.

  "You had best lie down and go to sleep for the next hour," the leader ofthe convicts said sharply. "We don't want to do an old pal any harm, andwhen you wake up in the morning and find the flock some twenty short, ofcourse you won't have any idea what has come of them."

  The man nodded and went back into the hut and shut the door, and theconvicts started for the interior, driving twenty sheep before them.

  During the first day's journey they went fast, keeping the sheep at atrot before them, and continuing their journey through the heat of theday.

  "I tell you what, Captain," one of the men said when they halted atsunset, "if we don't get to a water hole we shall have to give up thisidea of going and camping in the bush. My mouth has been like an ovenall day, and it is no use getting away from jail to die of thirst outhere."

  There had been similar remarks during the day, and the two leadersagreed together that it would be madness to push further, and that,whatever the risk, they would have to return to the settlements unlessthey could strike water. As they were sitting moodily round the firethey were startled by a dozen natives coming forward into the circleof light. These held out their hands to say that their intentions werepeaceful.

  "Don't touch your muskets!" Captain Wild exclaimed sharply, as someof the men were on the point of jumping to their feet. "The men arefriendly, and we may be able to get them to guide us to water."

  The natives, as they came up, grinned and rubbed their stomachs, to showthat they were hungry.

  "I understand," the Captain said; "you want a sheep, we want water;" andhe held up his hand to his mouth and lifted his elbow as if in the actof drinking.

  In two or three minutes the natives understood what he wanted, andbeckoned to the men to follow. The tired sheep were got onto their legsagain, and half a mile away the party arrived at a pool in what in wetweather was the bed of a river. A sheep was at once handed over to thenatives, and when the men had satisfied their thirst another sheep waskilled for their own use.

  After a great deal of trouble the natives were made to understand thatthe white men wanted one of their party to go with them as a guide, andto take them always to water holes, and a boy of fifteen was handed overto them in exchange for two more sheep, and at daybreak the next morningthey started again for the interior, feeling much exhilarated by thepiece of luck that had befallen them. They traveled for four days more,and then, considering that the soldiers had ceased their pursuit longago, they encamped for ten days, enjoying to the utmost their recoveredfreedom and their immunity from work of any kind. Then they returnedto the neighborhood of the settlements, and broke up, as their leaderproposed, into pairs.

  They had been there but a short time before the depredations committedroused the settlers to band themselves together. Every horse that couldbe spared was lent to the military, who formed a mounted patrol offorty men, while parties of infantry, guided by native trackers, wereconstantly on the scent for the convicts.

  "This is just what I expected," Captain Wild said to his lieutenant. "Itwas the choice of two evils, and I am not sure that the plan we chosewas not the worst. We might have been quite sure that these fellowswould not be able, even for a time, to give up their old ways. If theyhad confined themselves, as we have done, to taking a sheep when theywanted it, and behaving civilly when they went to one of the houses andbegged for a few pounds of flour or tea, the settlers would have made nogreat complaint of us; they know what a hard time we have had, and youcan see that some of the women were really sorry for us, and gave usmore than we actually asked for. But it has not been so with the others.They had been breaking into houses, stealing every thing they could laytheir hands upon, and in three or four cases shooting down men on theslightest provocation.

  "The money and watches were no good to them, but the brutes could nothelp stealing them; so here we are, and the settlement is like a swarmof angry bees, and this plan of handing over most of their horses to themilitary will end in all of us being hunted down if we stay here. Twowere shot yesterday, and in another week we shall all either be killedor caught. There is nothing for it but to clear out. I am againstviolence, not on principle, but because in this case it sets people'sbacks up; but it cannot be helped now. We must get a couple of horsesto ride, and a spare one to carry our swag. We must have half a sack offlour and a sheep--it is no use taking more than one, because the meatwon't keep--and a good stock of tea and sugar. We must get a good supplyof powder, if we can, some bullets and shot. We shall have to get ourmeat by shooting.

  "There is no time to be lost, and tonight we had better go to thatsettler's place nearest the town. He has got two of the best horses outhere--at least so Redgrave, that shepherd I was talking to today, toldme--and a well filled store of provisions. If he will let us have themwithout rumpus, all well and good; if not, it will be the worse forhim. My idea is that we should ride two or three hundred miles along thecoast until we get to a river, follow it up till we find a tidy placefor a camp, and stop there for three or four months, then come backagain and keep ourselves quiet until we find out that a ship is going tosail; then we will do a night among the farmhouses, and clean them outof their watches and money, manage to get on board, and hide till weare well out to sea. We must get a fresh fit out before we go on board;these clothes are neither handsome nor becoming. We must put on our bestmanners, and tell them that we are men who have served our full time,and want to get back, and that we were obliged to hide because we hadnot enough to pay our full passage money, but that we have enough to paythe cost of our grub, and are ready to pull at a rope and make ourselvesuseful in any way. If we are lucky we ought to get enough before westart to buy horses and set ourselves up well in business at home."

  "I think that is a very good plan," the other agreed, "and I am quitesure the sooner we make ourselves scarce here the better."