y was glad when all was over and they returned to their ordinary
occupations again, for the thought of the last Christmas he had spent in
England brought the change in his circumstances home to him more
strongly than ever, and for once his buoyant spirits left him, and he
was profoundly depressed, while all around him were cheerful and gay.

Nothing surprised Godfrey more than the brutal indifference with which
most of the prisoners talked of the crimes they had committed, except
perhaps the indifference with which these stories were listened to. It
seemed to him indeed that some of the convicts had almost a pride in
their crimes, and that they even went so far as to invent atrocities for
the purpose of giving themselves a supremacy in ferocity over their
fellows. He noticed that those who were in for minor offences, such as
robbery with violence, forgery, embezzlement, and military
insubordination, were comparatively reticent as to their offences, and
that it was those condemned for murder who were the most given to
boasting about their exploits.

"One could almost wish," he said one day to his friend Osip, "that one
had the strength of Samson, to bring the building down and destroy the
whole of them."

"I am very glad you have not, if you have really a fancy of that sort. I
have not the least desire to be finished off in that sudden way."

"But it is dreadful to listen to them," Godfrey said. "I cannot
understand what the motive of government can be in sending thousands of
such wretches out here instead of hanging them. I can understand
transporting people who have been convicted of minor offences, as, when
their term is up, they may do well and help to colonize the country. But
what can be hoped from such horrible ruffians as these? They have the
trouble of keeping them for years, and even when they are let out no one
can hope that they will turn out useful members of the community. They
probably take to their old trade and turn brigands."

"I don't think they do that. Some of those who escape soon after coming
out might do so, but not when they have been released. They would not
care then to run the risk of either being flogged to death by the
_plete_ or kept in prison for the rest of their lives. Running away is
nothing. I have heard of a man, who had run away repeatedly, being
chained to a barrow which he had to take with him wherever he went,
indoors and out. That is the worst I ever heard of, for as for flog