Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1907-12-05

struck Off, and four had died in them
since Tom first felt the weight of his,
but the vacant spaces ON the shelves
were neve vacant very long. Those
eighty suits of letters were in con-
tinual use. And still the dual work
went on of chiseling the great road to
a given level and of degrading each
newcomer to that of the worst man
there before him, for there was no
leveling up in these iron gangs, where
In mutual converse bred mutual de-
basement until best and worst found
common ground on the very bedrock
OF human infamy.
Tom for one, however, still stood out
among TIE worst, and there was an
other newcomer whom the gang had
nothing to teach either of misery or of
wickedness. Indeed, he laughed at the
n and greatly increased the other.
This was an ancient felon known on
ly as the First Fleeter-a wiZened page
of dreadful history, with not a tooth in
his head and but the one redeeming
trait of incessant c~heerfulness. He
had arrived with the first fleet in 1888.
He had sinned and suffered through
those unspeakable early years until
the sense of suffering became as dead
as the moral sense, and not a vestige
of either remained to him now. But
he would recount his crimes with grim
ming gums and gloat over unforgotten
agonies until there was a writhing man
on every ledge but his own. He lay
above Tom, who would listen to him
by the hour.
According to his w account, there
was literally nothing this old man had
not done or been done to in the early
days. He was cannibal, murderer and
worse, and his only regrets were for
neglected chances of additional crimes.
But his spirits never deserted him, and
for a cruel man he was singularly good
natured. He had weak and cunning
eyes, a perfectly bald head, displaying
every criminal cavity and protuber-
ance, and a million wrinkles which,
like his mumbling gums, were never
still. Yet it was better to hear his
wicked laughter than the clanking
irons of men who neither slept 0
spoke, n the evils endured by the
majors iron gang, which the First
Fleeter poohpoohed with a quaint SUI
periority, did seem less intolerable aft
er Il of his yarns.
bad rations?" he would croak when
the salt meat was rancid or the fresh
meat strong. Tell zee, there's none on
you knows what bad rations is. You
should ha' been at Toongabbie forty
year ago, We never had no rations at
all except when a ship come into har-
Dor. Toongabbie would ha' learned
We! Many's the time I've dragged tim
Der all day, twenty or thirty on us
yoked to the one tree like bullocks,
and dined off of pounded grass and
soup from a native dog. And glad to
get it, tell zee. We wasn't pampered
and spoilt like you blokes-not at Toon-
gabbie!"
Or perhaps some wretch was groan-
ing from the scourger's lash. The First
Fleeter waxed especially eloquent on
all such occasions.
Call that a t1ogging?" he would
quayer from his ledge. Zone little
fifty? If we'd had you at Toongabbie
you'd know what logging was. Five,
six an even eight bloomin' hundred
I've given an. took. What do you
think of that? There was no flies
about them t1oggings, ] tell zee; no, an
there was no flies about the hangings
either. I've e a man took an
strung up on the spot for prigging a
handful of weevilly biscuits, l have.
An all the time we was dyin' by doz-
ems Of the bad food an the ard graft
in the 'ot sun Lord, how we did die.
There was a big hole dug; we collec4
ed ZEN every day an pitched 'em in.
/ mind seeing one man pitched in be-
fore the breath was out of i'm.
amt dead he says. You will be by
sundown,' says the overseer, am do
you think we want you about the place
till tomorrow, you selfish man? There
wasn't no flies about that overseer. Ell
Their; it was him as killed three men in
a fortnight by oyerwork at the saw.
They just dropped dead at their work.
Take it away is all he says, put it
in the ground IN you never heard
nothing more. No. no." the old mon
ster would conclude, with his senile
chuckle, there wasn't no flies about
them old days in Toongabbie, | can
tell zee. I'd give a bit to have 'ad some.
o. this feather bed gang there, them as
thinks they know what 'ardship isl"
The First Fleeter became less loqua-
cious after a time, however, and much
less severe upon the luxury of the
majors iron gang. Honeybone's shrewd
eye was on him, and that of the First
Fleeter began to droop and ruminate
with a cunning pr%eoccupation that
made him quite silent on his ledge. At
length, however, he took to leaning
over and mumbling to Tom In the