s of things which he secretly brought into the prison. It
was strictly against the rules, in theory at least, to bring in anything
which was not sold in the store-room--tobacco, writing paper, pens,
ink, whisky, cigars, or delicacies of any kind. On the other hand, and
excellently well for him, it was true that tobacco of an inferior
grade was provided, as well as wretched pens, ink and paper, so that no
self-respecting man, if he could help it, would endure them. Whisky
was not allowed at all, and delicacies were abhorred as indicating rank
favoritism; nevertheless, they were brought in. If a prisoner had the
money and was willing to see that Bonhag secured something for his
trouble, almost anything would be forthcoming. Also the privilege of
being sent into the general yard as a "trusty," or being allowed to stay
in the little private yard which some cells possessed, longer than the
half-hour ordinarily permitted, was sold.

One of the things curiously enough at this time, which worked in
Cowperwood's favor, was the fact that Bonhag was friendly with the
overseer who had Stener in charge, and Stener, because of his political
friends, was being liberally treated, and Bonhag knew of this. He was
not a careful reader of newspapers, nor had he any intellectual grasp
of important events; but he knew by now that both Stener and Cowperwood
were, or had been, individuals of great importance in the community;
also that Cowperwood had been the more important of the two. Better yet,
as Bonhag now heard, Cowperwood still had money. Some prisoner, who was
permitted to read the paper, told him so. And so, entirely aside
from Warden Desmas's recommendation, which was given in a very quiet,
noncommittal way, Bonhag was interested to see what he could do for
Cowperwood for a price.

The day Cowperwood was installed in his new cell, Bonhag lolled up to
the door, which was open, and said, in a semi-patronizing way, "Got
all your things over yet?" It was his business to lock the door once
Cowperwood was inside it.

"Yes, sir," replied Cowperwood, who had been shrewd enough to get the
new overseer's name from Chapin; "this is Mr. Bonhag, I presume?"

"That's me," replied Bonhag, not a little flattered by the recognition,
but still purely interested by the practical side of this encounter. He
was anxious to study Cowperwood, to see what type of man he was.

"You'll find it a little different down here from up there," observed
Bonhag.