him
covered me with their rifles, and the guard on the west wall, and one
on the north wall, and one on the portico in front of the arsenal, all
covered me with rifles. The captain turned to a trusty and told him to
call the warden. The warden came out, and the captain told him I
was trying to run double on my extra, and said I was impudent and
insubordinate and refused to fall in. The warden said, 'Drop that and
fall in.' I told him I wouldn't fall in. I said I hadn't run double,
that I hadn't got my extra, and that I would stay there till I died
before I would be robbed of it. He asked the captain if there wasn't
some mistake, and the captain looked at his book and said there was no
mistake; he said he remembered me when I came up and got the tobacco and
he saw me fall into the new line, but he didn't see me get back in the
old line. The warden didn't ask the other men if they saw me get my
tobacco and slip back into the old line. He just ordered me to fall in.
I told him I would die before I would do that. I said I wanted my just
dues and no more, and I asked him to call on the other men in line to
prove that I hadn't been up.

"He said, That's enough of this.' He sent all the other men to the
cells, and left me standing there. Then he told two guards to take me
to the cells. They came and took hold of me, and I threw them off as if
they were babies. Then more guards came up, and one of them hit me over
the head with a club, and I fell. And then, sir"--here the convict's
voice fell to a whisper--"and then he told them to take me to the
dungeon."

The sharp, steady glitter of the convict's eyes failed, and he hung his
head and looked despairingly at the floor.

"Go on," said the chairman.

"They took me to the dungeon, sir. Did you ever see the dungeon?"

"Perhaps; but you may tell us about it."

The cold, steady gleam returned to the convict's eyes, as he fixed them
again upon the chairman.

"There are several little rooms in the dungeon. The one they put me
in was about five feet by eight. It has steel walls and ceiling, and a
granite floor. The only light that comes in passes through a slit in
the door. The slit is an inch wide and five inches long. It doesn't give
much light because the door is thick. It's about four inches thick,
and is made of oak and sheet steel bolted through. The slit runs this
way"--making a horizontal motion in the air--"and it is four inches
above my eyes when I stand on tiptoe. A