e and
difficult to handle.

While we are waiting for material, I hear the name of Brown called out;
and find that I am told off, along with Jack and a number of others, to
help pull up another car. This time it is lumber and not coal; the
identical lumber, in fact, that stood in front of the north windows and
caused the P. K. such anxiety about our eyesight yesterday afternoon.

The gang is duly counted and handed over to the officer charged with the
job; and soon we are enjoying the exercise of successive tugs of war with
the block and tackle, similar to those of Tuesday. It is not so hard a job
as that was, however, there being but one car and that a comparatively
light one; so Jack and I regret that our spell of exercise is not longer
and stronger. It is far better than nothing, however, and we return,
refreshed and invigorated, to our basket-work.

While we are waiting for working material, Jack approaches me cautiously,
leaning against the table with a very listless air, as if nothing were
further from his thoughts than a subject of serious import.

"Did you hear anything last night, Tom?" he asks, turning his face just
enough in my direction to reach me with his voice, which is subdued to
its lowest tone.

"Did I? I should think I did," is my low reply. "What can you tell me
about it?"

Jack repeats the story substantially as I have already heard it. The
affair happened in one of the upper tiers almost directly over him, but he
could see nothing of it, and he only heard the details through others. He
thinks it is a bad matter, and adds one new item of information. He says
that a certain trusty has threatened to go to the Warden about the case;
he told the P. K. to his face that he would do so, and the P. K.
threatened the trusty with retaliation if he did; but that the man feels
so outraged by the brutality he witnessed that he intends to do it in
spite of the P. K.[10]

I know this particular trusty and should be sorry to have him get the
ill-will of the P. K., or any of the prison authorities. So I decide to
try to take steps to prevent this. Convicts, as I have already hinted,
have underground means of communication of which the officials do not
always know.

The truth of this last statement was demonstrated in an interesting way
this morning. Strict orders were given by the Warden when I first came
here that there was to be no photographing. We cannot prevent publicity
about this affair of mine. But