arder, a stern, fierce-looking man with a
cutlass in his belt, shouted out some order; and as it was obeyed by
this or that man the boy soon began to know them as Number Forty-nine or
Hundred and eighty, or some other number. One particularly
scoundrelly-looking fellow, who made a point of catching his eye
whenever he could, for the purpose of winking, thrusting his tongue in
his cheek, or making some hideous grimace, and following it up with a
grin of satisfaction if he saw it caused annoyance, was known as
Twenty-five; a singularly brutal-visaged man with a savage scowl, who
never once looked any one full in the face, was Forty-four; and the
mild, pleading-looking man, who annoyed Dominic by his pitiful, fawning
air, was Thirty-three.

"Well, sir, what do you think of them?" said a familiar voice one day;
and turning sharply, Nic found himself face to face with the chief
warder.

"Think? I hardly know," said Nic. "I feel sorry for them."

"Just what a young gent like you would do, sir. Pity's a good thing,
but you must not waste it."

"But it seems a terrible thing for these men to be sent out like this."

"Seems, sir. But is it? You see, they needn't have been sent out.
They only had to behave themselves."

"But some of them may be innocent."

"Yes, sir," said the warder drily; "but which of 'em? Look at that
fellow coming round here now, slouching along, and never looking at
anything but the deck. He'll never look you in the face."

"Yes, I've noticed that."

"Wouldn't pick him out for an innocent one, would you?"

"Well, no," said Nic; "one seems to shrink from him."

"And right enough too, sir. He got off with transportation for life;
but I'm afraid he deserved something worse."

"Did he kill anybody?" said Nic in an awe-stricken whisper.

"Yes; more than one, I believe, sir: sort of human wild beast. I never
feel safe with him, and we all take care never to have Forty-four behind
us. Try again, sir."

"Well, this one coming now," said Nic. "He's rather common-looking, but
he doesn't seem so very bad. One would think he could be made a better
man."

"Twenty-five, sir. Well, he'll have every chance out yonder. He has
only got to get a good character over his work, and the governor and
them will soon let him go up country as a signed servant, and when he
has served his time he can start farmer on his own account. Makes faces
at you, doesn't he?"

"Yes," cried Nic eagerly.

"Ah,