o parties of twenty and
thirty, dividing the sheep and cattle among us, and each party going
where it will. The place is of tremendous size, as big as a dozen
Englands, they say, and each party will fix a place it fancies, where
there is good water and a river with fish and so on, and we may live all
our lives comfortably, with just enough work to raise potatoes and corn,
and to watch our stock increasing. Anyhow, we might calculate on having
some years of peace and freedom, and even if in the end they searched
us all out, which would be very unlikely, they could but bring us back,
hang a few, and set the rest to work again; but we think that they would
most likely leave us alone altogether, quite satisfied with having got
rid of us."

"Those who liked it could, no doubt, take wives among the blacks. The
convict women who are out on service with the settlers would, you may
be sure, join us at once, and an enterprising chap who preferred a white
woman to a black could always make his way down here and persuade one to
go off with him to his farm. That is the general plan; if many get tired
of the life they have only to come down to Sydney, hide up near the
place on some dark night, and go down to the port, seize a ship, and
make off in her, compelling the officers and sailors to take them and
land them at any port they fancy, either in Chili, Peru, or Mexico, or,
if they like, sail west and make for Rio or Buenos Ayres or one of the
West Indian islands. As to when it is going to be done, or how it is
going to be done, no one will be told till it is ready to be carried
out. We have not settled that ourselves, and thus one who was fool
enough to risk certain death could tell the Governor no more than that
there was a plot on hand, and that the man who had sworn him in was
concerned in it."

So one by one every man in the prison was sworn by a terrible oath to
secrecy, to watch his companions, and to report anything that looked
suspicious. Many joined willingly, the prospect of relief, even should
it only be temporary, being too fascinating to be resisted. Some joined
against their will, fearing that a refusal to do so would be punished
by death; and the fact that two or three men were found strangled in bed
had a very great effect in inducing others to join in the plot.

These deaths caused some uneasiness to the authorities. Their utmost
endeavors failed to discover who were the perpetrators of these
murders; and even w