The Irish standard., 1895-06-01
s,4sis
~ e 9 = - : i: ". Il
"a * 80 ~ sfis9s.5
SHOP. !. Gap
GIVEN AWAY !. III.
........, TO EVERY !. u. IL
49,. CUSTOMER,
t1LET,WT

when we might Salety go OIL Wlth'oW
shares of the plumber. In a moment
however, our hopes were shattered by
our being arrested as the mnrderers Of
Achulet. ~ ....... ...,,.s...,;~s -.lf3
1T came o about in this way: When
the raiah put his jewels into the hands
of Achmet he did it because he knew
that he was q trusty man. They are
suspicious folk III the east, however; so
what does this rajah do but take a sec,
ond even more trusty servant and set
him to play the spy upon the frsta'
This second man was ordered never to
let Achmet out of his sight, and he fol-
lowed him like. his shadow. He went
afte-~}him that night, and saw him pass
through the doorway. OF course he
thought he had taken refuge i'll the
fort, and applied for admission there
himself next day, but could find
no trace of Achmet. This seemed
TO him SO strange that he spoke
about it to g. sergeant OF guides
who brought it to the. ears of
the commandant. a thorough search
was quickly made, and the body was
discovered. Thus at the very moment
C1lIL VIC LuCuR nb Olluu NAA St1S Sot1Ab vo
were all four seized and brought to
trial on a charge Of murder-three OF
US because we had held the gate that
night, and the fourth because he was
known to have been in company or the
murdered man. Not word about the
Jewels came out at the trial, for the
raiah had been deposed and driven out
of India; SO no one had any particular
interest in them. The murder, how
ever, was clearly made out, and it was
certain that we must all have been
concerned in it. The three Sikhs got
penal serviJudc for life, and was con-
demned to death, though my sentence
was afterward committed into the
same as the others.
SIT was rather a queer position thnt
we found ourselves in then. There
we were, all four tied by the leg and
with precious little chance of ever get
ting ont again, while we each held b
secret which might have put each OF us
in palace If we could only have made
use Of it. It was enough to make a
man eat his heart out to have to stand
the kick and the cuff Of every petty
jack IN Office, to have rice to eat and
water to drink, when that gorgeous
fortune was ready for him outside, just
waiting to be picked up. 1t might have
driven me mad; but I was always u
pretty stubborn one, SO just held on
and bided my time.
SAT last it seemed to me to have
come. I was changed from Agra to
Madras, and from there to Blair island
in the Andamans. There are very few
white conv;cts at this settlement, and
as had behaved we'll from the first I
soon found myself a sort Of privileged
person. Twas given hut in Hope town,
which is small place on the slopes Of
Mount Harriet, and l was left pretty
much to myself: It is a sl1eary. fever
stricken place,>and all beyond our little
clearings was infested with wild canni-
bal natives, who we're ready enough to
blow a poisoned dart at us il they saw
a chance. There was digging, and.
ditching, and manipulating, and
dozen other things 10 be done, SO we:
were busy enough all day; though in
the evening we had little time to our
selves Among other things, learned
to dispense drugs for the surgeon, and
picked up a smattering of his kncwl-
edge. All the time I was on the look,
out for chance of escape; but it is
hundreds of miles from any other land,
and there is little or no wind in those
seas; SO it was a, terribly difficult job to
get away. '''
1.-THE surgeon, DR.. Somerton, was
fast, sporting young chap, and the
other young officers would meet in his
rooms Of an evening and play cards.
The surgery, where used TO make up
my drugs, was next to his sitting room,
with o small window between u.s.
Often, If Iefelt lonesome, used to turn
out the lamp in the surgery, and then,
standing there. ! could hear tn cir talk
and watch their play. Il ann fond Of a
hand at cards myself, and it was al
most as good as having one to watch
the others. There was Maj. shoito,
Capt. Morstan and Lieut.. Bromley
Brown, who were in command Of the
native troops, and there was the SUR
geon himself, and two or three prison:
officials, crafty old hands who played q
nice sly safe game. A very snug little
party they used to make. ~
"Well, there was one thing which
very soon struck me, and that was
that soldiers used always to lose and
the civilians to win. Mind, I don'tsay
that there was anything unfair, but SO
itwas.. These prison chaps had done
little else than play cards ever since
they had been at the Andamans, aud
they knew each others game to a
point, while the others jnst played to
pass the time and threw their cards
down anyhow. Night after night
the soldiers got up poorer men, and the
poorer they got the more keen they
were to play. Maj. sholto was the
hardest hit. He used to pay in notes and
gold at first, but soon it came to notes,
: of hand and flor big sums. He .somes
times would win for few deals, just
to give him heart, and then the luck
would set in, against him worse than
ever. All day he would wander. about
as black as thunder, and he took 70
drinking a deal more than was good
for him. ID. .@ =. -.a "a. ,.. 500
- "Ouc night he lost even more heavily
than usual Il. was sitting In my hut
when be and Capt. Morstan.a came
stumbling along on the way to their
quarters. They were bosom friends,
those two, and never far apart. The
major was raving about his losses ~
#" It's all up, Morstan,' he was say
ing, as they passed my hut 4 shall
have to send in my papers. ! am q
ruined man ~ -, ~
- Nonsense, old .chap.,,. said the
ofhcr e1anniry y IN, mon the sI1rN1 16erT