the visitor may have
spotted these. However, I return his stare insolently, with as much of the
air of an old timer as I can muster on the spur of the moment. At the same
instant I whisper some joke over to Murphy that makes him smile; and the
guy moves on, staring at others of my shopmates in their turn.

"I guess he was after me, all right," I remark to my partner, "and I'm
afraid these infernal specs may have given me away."

As a matter of fact the two visitors returned from the basket-shop again
disappointed. One of them thought he had seen Tom Brown, but wasn't quite
sure. My identity seems to be sufficiently merged--so far as outsiders are
concerned.

Toward the close of the afternoon my talk with my partner becomes more
serious. In spite of the rules, newspapers seem to circulate here and are
precious in proportion to their rarity. Some one hands a paper to Murphy,
who passes it over to me; and I, after glancing over it, hand it back to
him to be returned. The editor of this particular sheet, in commenting
upon my adventure, expressed doubt as to the possibility of "the amateur
convict" being able to get hold of the real life of the prison. This view
makes me smile, under the circumstances, and I ask Murphy what he thinks
about it. His reply is that there is no doubt of my being able to get all
I want, and getting it straight.

"Well, I want to know all there is," I lightly rejoin, "and I'm thinking
of breaking the rules in some way before I get out of here, so as to be
sent down to the punishment cells."

A look of genuine concern comes over my partner's face, and his voice
sinks to an awestruck whisper. "Do you mean the jail?" he asks.

"Yes," I answer; "I want to learn everything possible about this place, so
I think I may as well spend at least one night in jail."

"Well, you'd better be careful." My partner speaks slowly and
impressively. There can be no doubt of his sincerity; a glance at his
earnest, troubled face settles that. "I went down to that place once," he
continues; "and I want to tell you--after eight hours of it I just caved
right in! I told them that they could do anything they liked with me."

"Was it so very bad?" I ask.

"Well, my advice to you is to give it a wide berth," is his evasive
answer. Then there is silence between us for a moment, and when he begins
again it is evident that his thoughts have turned into a still more
serious channel. "Yes, you can learn a great deal, but