rapidly over the rough
pavement, towards the warehouse.

There were but two alternatives left for him--either to endure the
torments of that unnatural position until the box was taken from the
cart, or to cry out for some one to rescue him, in which case, clothed
as he was in the garb of the prison, he would be immediately recognized
as an escaped convict, and sent back to his old quarters. This latter
alternative was so dreadful to him that he resolved to endure the
torture if possible; and he could not help shuddering when he thought
that perhaps he might be placed in the same position in the warehouse!

The drive from the wharf to Pearl street occupied scarce five minutes,
yet during that brief period of time, the Dead man endured all the
torments of the damned. The blood settled in his head, and gushed from
his mouth and nostrils; unable to hold out longer, he was about to yell
in his agony for aid, when the cart stopped, and in a few moments he was
relieved by his box being taken down and carried into the warehouse,
where, to his inexpressible joy, it was placed in a position to cause
him no further inconvenience. The warehouse being an extensive one, many
persons were employed in it; and he deemed it prudent to remain in his
box until night, as the clerks and porters were constantly running
about, and they would be sure to observe him if he issued from his place
of concealment then.

As he lay in his narrow quarters, he heard the voices of two persons
conversing near him, one of whom was evidently the proprietor of the
establishment.

'We have just heard from Sing Sing,' said the proprietor--'that the
villain they call the Dead Man made his escape this morning, in what
manner nobody knows. I am sorry for it, because such a wretch is
dangerous to society; but my regret that he has escaped arises
principally from the fact that he is an excellent workman, and I, as
contractor, enjoyed the advantages of his labor, paying the State a
trifle of thirty cents a day for him, when he could earn me two dollars
and a half. This system of convict labor is a glorious thing for us
master mechanics, though it plays the devil with the journeymen. Why, I
formerly employed fifty workmen, who earned on an average two dollars a
day; but since I contracted with the State to employ its convicts, the
work which cost me one hundred dollars a day I now get for _fifteen_
dollars.' And he laughed heartily.

'So it seems,' remarked the