Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1906-04-27
for The Term of His Natural Life
CHAPTER V.
By MARCUs CLARkE

NAAS hdAIhWdJ was SupDOSGu 10 pIGNGuL
the prisoners from making a noise" but
he put very liberal Interpretation upon
the clause, and so long the the prison
ers RETAINED from shouting, yelling and
fighting he did not disturb them
To one coming in from the upper air,
the place would have seemed in pitchy
darkness; but the convict eye, accus-
toned to the sinister twilight, was en-
abled 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 The barricade was loop
hOled here and there. and the planks
were in some places wide enough to adj
NIT 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 con
trived for the humane purpose of ven
tilation, 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 sol
diers could sweep the prison from end
to end with grapeshot. Such fresh air
as there was, filtered through the loop
holes, and came, in somewhat larger
quantity, through a wind-sail passed in
to 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, but
~ "a L. "A
against them, the air they brought was
the peculiar property of such men as
occupied the berths into which they pen
etrated. 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 afixed to that portion
Of the forward barricade opposite the
door. Each berth was presumed to be
Ave feet six inches square, but the ne
cessities of stowage had deprived them
of six inches, and even under that pres
sure twelve men were compelled to sleep
on deck.
When Frere had come down, an hour
before, the prisoners were all snugly
between their blankets. They were not
80 now; though, at the first clink of the
bolts, they would be back again in their
old positions, to all appearances sound
asleep. Groups of men, in all imagin-
able attitudes, were lying, standing, sit
ting or pacing up and down.
Old men, young men and boys, stall
wart 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 break
ers craft, and the vulgar rufian took
lessons Of self-cOntrol from the keener
intellect of the professional swindler.
The fraudulent clerk and the fash
'cracksman" interchanged experiences.
The smuggler's stories of lucky adven-
lures 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 or
phaned children, would start as the
night-house ruffiAn clapped him on the
shoulder and bid him to take good heart
and "be a man." The shop boy, whose
love of fine company and high living
had brought him to this pass, had shak-
en- 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 uncom-
mon fate. The old fellows laughed, and
wagged their gray 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, jailers and parsons
were the natural prey Of all noteworthy
mankind. Only fools were honest, only
towards kissed the rod, and failed to
mediate revenge on that world of re-
spectability which had wronged them.
Bach newcomer was one more recruit
to the ranks Of ruffianism, and not a
man penned in that reeking den Of in
fanny but became a sworn hater Of law,
order and "freemen." What he might
have been before mattered not. He was
now prisoner, and he lost his self-re-
spect and became what his jailers took
him to be--a wild beast to be locked
under bolts and bars, lest he should
break out and tear them. The converse
tion ran upon the sudden departure of
the four What could they want with
them at that hour2
II tell you there's something up on
deck" says one to the grou pnearest
him, Don't you hear all that rumbling
and rolllngT'
What did they lower boats for? 1
heard the dip o the oars"
Amt cove to get no SLEEPY" cried
a gruff voice. My blood, if l have to
turn out, I'll knock some of your empty
heads together"
1t seemed that the speaker was a man
of mark, for the noise ceased instantly.
''Wot's the matterT roared the ST.
lencer of the riot, jumping from his
berth and scattering the Grow and his
companions right and left.
Just then there came a groan from
the man in the opposite bunk.