Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1875-10-27

ping down into the river, which bad
grown very wide.
| 1t was not long before we were fairly
IN the channel, and the pilot got into
his boat and left us. fe esq
| There was nice breeze, but the sea
was perfectly smooth, and the ship
glded through the water with delight
full glibness; SO that felt that [ ought
to be doing something toward learning
my duties while / wasa able, and con6ded
to McNab that I should like to hold an
gathered on the main deck in charge OF
their wardens and the marines, who
mounted sentry over them with loaded
nuskets and fixed bayonets
l found that / had made an Official
application in the right quarter by &C.
cident, for McNab Immediately said:
cat what time ? at once ?"
And when / replied in the affirmative,
gave certain sharp, short ORDERS the
result of which was that in less than
ten minutes a warder came up to me,
touched his cap and reported
Cali ready, SIR
And following him / found the con-
victs drawn up in lines, bare-footed.
Ny inspection of them was mere
form, for, OF course, they were sent on
board sound and clean, but I made GER
tain suggestions with regard to the
sanitary arrangements betwe, n decks,
where their hammocks were slung, and
these were promptly attended to where
practicable. When [ had done McNab
challenged me to a game of chess, and
fortunately we proved to be very even
" matched. He was quite right in re-
lying SO much upon it as a resource;
how we should have got through the
weeks without it I cannot imagine; we
played at least six hours daily out of
the twenty four.
When we got into the broad swell of
| the Atlantic, [ had week sea-sick-
ness, during which MacNab got the
best of me at chess, and after was well
| began to have some trouble with the
| convicts. What schemers they were /!
| Their one great object was to get a
glass of grog or wine, which could only
be done by my order, and they regularly
studied the complaints for which I pre-
scribed such medical comforts, and
either simulated or manage to produce
them artifcially. Greenhorn as I was,
they imposed upon me rarely at first,
and just as [ was getting up 10 their
lodges, we passed the Equator. and
there was good deal of real sickness,
which gave them the advantage again.
AS time went on, I became familiarized
with the rogues. and learned to look
upon them as fellow-men who had gone
wrong rather than as wild beasts. I
talked to them freely, learned many of
their hlstories-at least their own YER
slons of them-and took considerable
interest in some of the narrators. Most
OF them were ignorant, debased crea
lures, either BON and bred to
prey on their fellow creatures, or
recruited from the most neglected ranks
OF society; but there were one or two
xceptions-notably, man who passed
under the name eff Williams, who was
gifted with rare abilities, and had the
manners and address of a gentleman.
His face would have afforded an inter-
esting study to a physiognomist, the
upper part beng highly intellectual,
the lower part betCkening unbounded
sensual1ty. His crime was forgery of
bank notes. This man never conde-
sended to try and trick me, as the
others did; neither did he talk like
some OF the better class convicts, nor
protest his innocence, which was the
almost universal custom. He was civil,
somewhat subdued in manner, and GLAD
of my conversation. He had Welded
to the temptation of trying to make his
fortune III too great hurry, had failed,
and was content to pay the penalty, he
said. Though ''ifer," he by no
means despaired of his future He was
informed that with good conduct he
would soon be free man within the
limits of the colony, and had perfect
confidence in his ability to earn a
comfortable livelihood if he had that
chance. And what did the country
matter? Life could be made as enjoy
able in one place as another. He
would net go back TO England to be
cut by all his relations and former
friends if he could.
Plausibly as Williams always talked,
I mistrusted him. I noticed that he
had established considerable influence
over the other convicts, and constantly
surprised him speaking earnestly in
corners to groups OF five or six Of them.
On my appearance these conferences
broke up, and in spite of all afectation
of Indifference i was certain on more
than one occasion that anxiety wa felt
lest should have caught Some word in
passing. And I knew, without being
able to prove it, that secret signs were
exchanged between Williams and at
1oast a Score whom cO111d have noint-e
ed out, habitually. zoe Il
Another convict who evidently had
some power with his fellows was Lloyd,
a Welsh sailor, who had stabbed anoth-
er in a quarrel and narrowly escaped the
gallows.
But it was natural enough that an
experienced sailor should obtain the
hearing of landsmen during voyage of
such length, and never suspected him
of striving to influence the others with
any sinister designs, as I certainly did
Williams.
But soon I had no time for idle specu-