by the time they had reached their destination all were steeped much
deeper 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 their
recklessness and ferocity established an ascendency among the others.
This ascendency had been maintained after their arrival by their
constant acts of insubordination, and by their apparent indifference to
the punishment awarded them. At night the convicts were lodged in wooden
buildings, where, so long as they were not riotous, they were allowed to
talk and converse freely, as indeed was the case when their work for the
day was done.

As to any attempt at escape, the authorities had but small anxiety, for
until the arrival of the first settlers, three years after that of
the convicts, there was nowhere a fugitive could go to, no food to be
obtained, no shelter save among the blacks, who were always ready for
a reward of tobacco and spirits to hand them over at once to the
authorities. The case had but slightly changed since the settlement
began to grow. It was true that by stealing sheep or driving off a few
head of cattle a fugitive might maintain himself for a time, but even if
not shot down by the settlers or patrols, he would be sure before long
to be brought in by the blacks.

The experiment had already been tried of farming our better conducted
convicts to the settlers, and indeed it was the prospect of obtaining
such cheap labor that had been the main inducement to many of the
colonists to establish themselves so far from home, instead of going to
America. As a whole the system worked satisfactorily; the men were
as much prisoners as were the inmates of the jail, for they knew well
enough that were they to leave the farmers and take to the bush they
would remain free but a short time, being either killed or handed over
by the blacks, and in the latter case they would be severely punished
and set to prison work in irons, with labor very much more severe than
that they were called upon to do on the farms.

Some little time after the conversation between the two convicts the
prison authorities were congratulating themselves upon the fact that a
distinct change had taken or was taking place in the demeanor of many of
the men who had hitherto been the most troublesome, and they put it down
to the unusually severe floggings that had been inflicted o