om Her Majesty's service, and off to the calaboose we
were marched. About twelve hours' liberty on shore was all we had
enjoyed. We were taken into the office and searched, and the money was
taken out of my pocket and carefully counted. They gave me a receipt for
it. Very greatly to their disgust, no big bank roll was found on my
chum. I never saw a cent of that money again. Our loss was somebody's
gain that time, sure enough. We were put into a cell with about fifteen
other prisoners, among them two sailors, deserters, from the English
sloop-of-war Siren. From them we found out the rules of our new
quarters. No food was furnished to prisoners--either to buy it, or have
friends bring it, was the custom. As they had been locked up for two
days without food, they had a yearning for something to eat. I called
the turnkey and made him understand in Spanish that I wanted coffee and
rolls for four. In Portuguese he made me understand that money would
have to be furnished first. I showed the receipt for money in the
office, but that would not do, so I took the fourteen-thousand-reis bill
out of my cap and handed it to him. He gave a queer, astonished look and
then a sickly smile, but we got the coffee and rolls, however. That
little luncheon cost me just two thousand reis. I considered myself
lucky to get the change back. They got nearly all of it, though, the
next day. Finally, we four deserters were taken outside the city limits
and, much to our surprise, landed in the penitentiary. Not having
committed any crime against the country, or having had a trial, we found
ourselves convicts "doing time" for nothing.

CHAPTER VIII

THE CAT-O'-NINE-TAILS

No red tape was wasted upon us. The formalities were few. Being taken
into a small building, we took off all our clothing, which was tied in
bundles with our names on them; then, after we had each received a pair
of blue overalls and a blue shirt, the change was complete. Barefooted
and bareheaded, we were marched to the cell houses and locked up. Food
was scarce the first day. We had nothing to eat, as no rations had been
issued for us. The second day only one meal was provided, a small one at
that. The third day, however, we would get all the law allowed. My
appetite was getting quite keen about this time. When the prospect of
getting something to eat looked promising, they found out that a slight
mistake had been made in our case.

The English consul had leased a smal