d hopefully.
Soon after daylight the convicts were astir.

"Is there any place where we can get water to wash?" he asked Mikail.

"There is a tap and a trough out there in the yard," the man said,
looking somewhat surprised at the request.

Godfrey hurried out, threw off his jacket and shirt, turned the tap on
to his head, and enjoyed a thorough sluice. Feeling vastly better for
the wash, he slipped on his things again and went into the room. He was
not surprised now that he had woke with something like a headache, for
the air of the room was close and unwholesome. Breakfast similar to the
supper the night before was soon served. Godfrey had plenty of bread
left from the evening before, and put the piece now served out to him
under his jacket. Half an hour later the convicts, ranged two and two,
started for the mines. The distance was five miles. The heavy tools were
taken in carts drawn by horses, and a guard of soldiers with loaded
muskets marched beside the line.

The mine was a large open cutting, and the prisoners were employed in
digging the sand and carrying it on hand-barrows to the place where it
was to be washed. The work was not entirely performed by prisoners, as
there were many free labourers also employed. Godfrey was given a
shovel, and his work consisted in loading the sand and gravel, as the
pickmen got it down, on to the barrows. Being unaccustomed to work, his
back ached and his hands were blistered by the end of the day; but he
knew, from his experience in rowing, that this would pass off before
long. At any rate the labour was far easier than he had anticipated. He
had expected to see overseers with whips, but there was nothing of the
sort. A few men directed the labour, and spoke sharply enough if they
saw any of the prisoners shirking, but there was nothing to distinguish
it from any other work of the kind, save the Cossack guards here and
there leaning upon their muskets, and certainly the men worked no harder
than ordinary labourers would do. Indeed, when the time was up and the
prisoners started on their return towards the prison, the free labourers
continued their work, and would do so, he afterwards learned, for some
hours, as it would take a considerable time for all the sand obtained
during the day to be thoroughly washed up and the gold extracted.
Godfrey had at first looked narrowly at the sand as he shovelled it, for
specks of gold, but had seen none; and indeed the proportion of gold