y checking every article,
and counting the money coin by coin. The Governor tendered me half a
sovereign, the highest sum a prisoner can earn. "Thank you," I said,
"but I can't take their money." We had to go through the farce.

In the little gate-house I met Mr. Bradlaugh, Mrs. Besant, and my wife.
Colonel Milman wished us good-bye, the gate opened, and a mighty shout
broke from the huge crowd outside. From all parts of London they had
wended in the early morning to greet me, and there they stood in their
thousands. Yet I felt rather sad than elated. The world was so full of
wrong, though the hearts of those men and women beat so true!

As our open carriage crawled through the dense crowd I saw men's lips
twitching and women shedding tears. They crowded round us, eager for
a shake of the hand, a word, a look. At length we got free, and drove
towards the Hall of Science, followed by a procession of brakes and
other vehicles over half a mile long.

There was a public breakfast, at which hundreds sat down. I took a cup
of tea, but ate nothing. After a long imprisonment I could not trust my
stomach, and I had to make a speech.

After Mr. Bradlaugh, Mrs. Besant and the Rev. W. Sharman (secretary of
the Society for the Repeal of the Blasphemy Laws), had made speeches,
which I should blush to transcribe, I rose to respond. It was a ticklish
moment. But I found I had a voice still, and the words came readily
enough. Concluding my address I said: "I thank you for your greeting.
I am not played out. I am thinner. The doctor told me I had lost two
stone, and I believe it. But after all I do not think the ship's timbers
are much injured. The rogues ran me aground, but they never made me haul
down the flag. Now I am floated again I mean to let the old flag stream
out on the wind as of yore. I mean to join the rest of our fleet in
fighting the pirates and slavers on the high seas of thought."

An hour afterwards my feet were on my own fender. I was _home_ again.
What a delicious sensation after twelve months in a prison cell!

Friends prescribed a rest at the seaside for me, but I felt that the
best tonic was work. In less than three days I settled everything. I
resumed the editorship of the _Freethinker_ at once, and began filling
up my list of engagements. On meeting the Committee, who had managed our
affairs in our absence, I found everything in perfect order, besides a
considerable profit at the banker's. Messrs. A. Hilditc