that I had likewise
attracted the girl's attention, and that her gaze occasionally sought
mine. Then the guards came to me, and, with my limbs freed of fetters,
I was passed down the steep ladder into the semi-darkness between
decks, where we were to be confined. The haunting memory of her face
accompanied me below, already so clearly defined as to be
unforgettable.

It proved a dismal, crowded hole in which we were quartered like so
many cattle, it being merely a small space forward, hastily boxed off
by rough lumber, the sides and ends built up into tiers of bunks, the
only ventilation and light furnished by the open hatch above. The
place was clean enough, being newly fitted for the purpose, but was
totally devoid of furnishings, the only concession to comfort visible
was a handful of fresh straw in each bunk. The men, herded and driven
down the ladder, were crowded into the central space, the majority
still on their feet, but a few squatting dejectedly on the deck. In
the dim twilight of that bare interior their faces scarcely appeared
natural, and they conversed in undertones. Most of the fellows were
sober and silent, not a bad lot to my judgment, with only here and
there a countenance exhibiting viciousness, or a tongue given to
ribaldry. I could remember seeing but few of them before, yet as I
observed them more closely now, realized that these were not criminals
being punished for crime, but men caught, as I had been, and condemned
without fair trial, through the lies of paid informers. I could even
read in their actions and words the simple stories of their former
lives--the farm laborer, the sailor, the store-keeper, now all on one
common level of misfortune and misery--condemned alike to exile, to
servitude in a strange land, beyond seas.

The ticket given me called by number for a certain berth, and I sought
until I found this, throwing within the small bundle I bore, and then
finding a chance to sit down on the deck beneath. The last of the
bunch of prisoners dribbled down the ladder, each in turn noisily
greeted by those already huddled below. I began to recognize the
increasing foulness of air, and to distinguish words of conversation
from the groups about me. There was but little profanity but some
rough horse-play, and a marked effort to pretend indifference. I could
make out gray-beards and mere boys mingling together, and occasionally
a man in some semblance of uniform. A few bore wounds, and the c