and entered without zest upon his work.
Somehow, the keenness had been taken out of him by that hour's
conversation in the darkened bureau of the Chief. The weeks passed
slowly, but Mercier never regained his enthusiasm. The physical
atmosphere took all initiative away. His comrades were listless
beings, always tired, dragging slowly to their daily rounds, and
finishing their work early in the morning before the heat became
intolerable. Then for hours they rested--retired to their bungalows or
that of a comrade, and rested, to escape the intense heat which never
varied, winter or summer, although it was a farce to speak of the
seasons as winter or summer, except in memory of home. Mercier soon
fell in with their ways. He drank a great deal, beginning very early
in the morning, and measured time by cigarettes, postponing his
duties, such that claimed him, till he had just finished another
cigarette. They were cheap and bad, but there was a solace in them,
and they whiled away the time. The only joviality about the place came
in the evenings, after many cigarettes, which made him nervous, and
after very many little glasses of brandy, which unfitted him for work
but which were necessary to stimulate him for what work he had to do.

Near the group of bungalows belonging to the officials and to the
prison guards, stood the prison building itself, a large, rambling,
one storeyed structure, with many windows fitted with iron bars. Here
the newcomers were kept, about eight hundred of them, and nearby, in
an adjacent compound, were quarters for about seven hundred prisoners
out on parole, by reason of good conduct. The confined prisoners did
not work, being merely confined, but those out on parole, on good
conduct, and whose terms would soon come to an end, were trusted to
work about the island in various capacities. They made the roads--such
few as there were. The island was so small that many roads were not
required, and since there was no traffic, but little labour was
required to keep the roads in repair. They also worked in the rice
fields, but, again, there were not many rice fields. It was easier to
bring rice from the mainland. There was a herd of water buffaloes,
used for ploughing during the season, and the buffaloes needed some
attention, but not much. So the paroled convicts were employed in
other ways about the island, in cooking for the prisoners, in cleaning
the various buildings, and as servants in the household