, and plenty of them, too. They were tied up by the thumbs
so that their toes just touched the deck, and they were compelled to
sustain the weight of the body either on their thumbs or their toes for
hours at a time. They were 'bucked,' 'gagged,' and 'paddled,' and
'cold-showered,' and treated to other brutalities which have been known
in the English army and navy for a long time. In spite of their
liability to punishment, many of them paid little attention to the
rules, and some were continually yelling in the most horrible manner,
and day and night the sound of their voices was heard.

"Over the hatchway was a wheel by which the food of the convicts was
lowered into the hold at morning, noon, and night; at other times it was
used for raising in an iron cage, from the lower decks, convicts who
were allowed exercise, but the weight of whose irons prevented their
ascending by the companionways. Many of them wore 'punishment balls'
attached to their irons. The punishment balls and chain together
weighed about eighty pounds, and frequently bowed the prisoner double.

"The heaviest leg irons weighed thirty-five pounds, and some of them
forty pounds. You will readily understand why it was that men who tried
to escape by swimming, with such weights about them, were almost
invariably drowned in the attempt.

"A good many famous criminals were confined on board of the _Success_
and her four sister hulks. Among them was the notorious Captain
Melville, who for several years haunted the country between Melbourne
and Ballarat, and was credited with many murders and countless
robberies. When he was finally caught he admitted that his own share of
the gold he had stolen amounted to not less than two hundred and fifty
thousand dollars, and he claimed that he had hidden it in a place known
only to himself. For the last forty years people have been trying in
vain to find out where Melville hid his ill-gotten gold. He was in the
habit of riding to the top of Mount Boran, whence, by the aid of a
powerful field-glass, he was able to see the returning gold miners on
the road. Consequently, it is believed that Melville's treasure must be
hidden in the neighborhood of Mount Boran, but all attempts to find it
have proved fruitless.

"Melville was tried and convicted and condemned to be imprisoned for
thirty-two years on board the _Success_. He watched his opportunity, and
formed a conspiracy with a number of his fellow-convicts to rush upon