irs is sure to be actuated by conscientious
motives.'

"'Ah,' he answers. 'You're sore about that review still, I see.'

"'Not at all,' says the Major; 'and, in proof, I invite you to be my
guest for the night, and to-morrow I'll show you over the prison and
explain my system.'

"The creature cried, 'Done!' and they set to and discussed jail matters
in great earnestness. I couldn't guess the Governor's intentions, but,
somehow, his manner troubled me. And yet I can remember only one point of
his talk. He were always dead against making public show of his
birds. 'They're there for reformation, not ignimony,' he'd say. Prisons
in the old days were often, with the asylum and the work'us, made the
holiday show-places of towns. I've heard of one Justice of the Peace, up
North, who, to save himself trouble, used to sign a lot of blank orders
for leave to view, so that applicants needn't bother him when they wanted
to go over. They've changed all that, and the Governor were instrumental
in the change.

"'It's against my rule,' he said that night, 'to exhibit to a stranger
without a Government permit; but, seein' the place is empty, and for old
remembrance' sake, I'll make an exception in your favour, and you shall
learn all I can show you of the inside of a prison.'

"Now this was natural enough; but I was uneasy.

"He treated his guest royally; so much that when we assembled the next
mornin' for the inspection, the grey-faced man were shaky as a wet dog.
But the Major were all set prim and dry, like the soldier he was.

"We went straight away down corridor B, and at cell 47 we stopped.

"'We will begin our inspection here,' said the Governor. 'Johnson, open
the door.'

"I had the keys of the row; fitted in the right one, and pushed open the
door.

"'After you, sir,' said the Major; and the creature walked in, and he
shut the door on him.

"I think he smelt a rat at once, for he began beating on the wood and
calling out to us. But the Major only turned round to me with his face
like a stone.

"'Take that key from the bunch,' he said, 'and give it to me.'

"I obeyed, all in a tremble, and he took and put it in his pocket.

"'My God, Major!' I whispered, 'what are you going to do with him?'

"'Silence, sir!' he said. 'How dare you question your superior officer!'

"And the noise inside grew louder.

"The Governor, he listened to it a moment like music; then he unbolted
and flung open the trap, and the creatu