rne along by a mass of men, dusty, but unharmed,
and having the convict between them. He sulkily raised a hand as he
passed me, either to rectify the position of his straw hat, or to offer
a tardy apology. A more wanton, unprovoked, and flagrant outrage than
that of which this man was guilty I never witnessed. It is customary for
"the old dogs", as the experienced convicts are called, to use the
most opprobrious language to their officers, and to this a deaf ear
is usually turned, but I never before saw a man wantonly strike a
constable. I fancy that the act was done out of bravado. Troke informed
me that the man's name is Rufus Dawes, and that he is the leader of the
Ring, and considered the worst man on the island; that to secure him he
(Troke) was obliged to use the language of expostulation; and that, but
for the presence of an officer accredited by his Excellency, he dared
not have acted as he had done.

This is the same man, then, whom I injured at Port Arthur. Seven years
of "discipline" don't seem to have done him much good. His sentence is
"life"--a lifetime in this place! Troke says that he was the terror
of Port Arthur, and that they sent him here when a "weeding" of the
prisoners was made. He has been here four years. Poor wretch!

May 24th.--After prayers, I saw Dawes. He was confined in the Old Gaol,
and seven others were in the cell with him. He came out at my request,
and stood leaning against the door-post. He was much changed from the
man I remember. Seven years ago he was a stalwart, upright, handsome
man. He has become a beetle-browed, sullen, slouching ruffian. His hair
is grey, though he cannot be more than forty years of age, and his
frame has lost that just proportion of parts which once made him
almost graceful. His face has also grown like other convict faces--how
hideously alike they all are!--and, save for his black eyes and a
peculiar trick he had of compressing his lips, I should not have
recognized him. How habitual sin and misery suffice to brutalize "the
human face divine"! I said but little, for the other prisoners were
listening, eager, as it appeared to me, to witness my discomfiture.
It is evident that Rufus Dawes had been accustomed to meet the
ministrations of my predecessors with insolence. I spoke to him for
a few minutes, only saying how foolish it was to rebel against an
authority superior in strength to himself. He did not answer, and the
only emotion he evinced during th