ned that the people in the streets
knew we were going to prison, and I kept my eyes on the enamel card on
the back of the apron. I suppose I read, 'Two-wheeled hackney carriage:
if hired and discharged within the four-mile limit, 1s.' at least a
hundred times. I got more sensible after a bit, and when we had turned
into Gray's Inn Road I looked up and saw a tram in front of us with
'Holloway Road and King's X,' painted on the steps, and the Colonel saw
it about the same time I fancy, for we each looked at the other, and the
Colonel raised his eyebrows. It showed us that at least the cabman knew
where we were going.

"'They might have taken us for a turn through the West End first, I
think,' the Colonel said. 'I'd like to have had a look around, wouldn't
you? This isn't a cheerful neighborhood, is it?'

"There were a lot of children playing in St. Andrew's Gardens, and a
crowd of them ran out just as we passed, shrieking and laughing over
nothing, the way kiddies do, and that was about the only pleasant sight
in the ride. I had quite a turn when we came to the New Hospital just
beyond, for I thought it was Holloway, and it came over me what eight
months in such a place meant. I believe if I hadn't pulled myself up
sharp, I'd have jumped out into the street and run away. It didn't last
more than a few seconds, but I don't want any more like them. I was
afraid, afraid--there's no use pretending it was anything else. I was in
a dumb, silly funk, and I turned sick inside and shook, as I have seen
a horse shake when he shies at nothing and sweats and trembles down his
sides.

"During those few seconds it seemed to be more than I could stand; I
felt sure that I couldn't do it--that I'd go mad if they tried to force
me. The idea was so terrible--of not being master over your own legs and
arms, to have your flesh and blood and what brains God gave you buried
alive in stone walls as though they were in a safe with a time-lock on
the door set for eight months ahead. There's nothing to be afraid of in
a stone wall really, but it's the idea of the thing--of not being free
to move about, especially to a chap that has always lived in the open as
I have, and has had men under him. It was no wonder I was in a funk for
a minute. I'll bet a fiver the others were, too, if they'll only own up
to it. I don't mean for long, but just when the idea first laid hold of
them. Anyway, it was a good lesson to me, and if I catch myself thinking
of