Page 599 - for-the-term-of-his-natural-life

into the yard, shut the gate, and said, ‘I’ve just got this from
my overseers. They say they’re afraid you’ll murder them as
you murdered Hankey. Now, if you want to murder, murder
me. Here I am. Step out, one of you.’ All this, said in a tone
of the most galling contempt, did not move them. I saw a
dozen pairs of eyes flash hatred, but the bull-dog courage of
the man overawed them here, as, I am told, it had done in
Sydney. It would have been easy to kill him then and there,
and his death, I am told, is sworn among them; but no one
raised a finger. The only man who moved was Rufus Dawes,
and he checked himself instantly. Frere, with a recklessness
of which I did not think him capable, stepped up to this ter-
ror of the prison, and ran his hands lightly down his sides,
as is the custom with constables when ‘searching’ a man.
Dawes—who is of a fierce temper—turned crimson at this
and, I thought, would have struck him, but he did not. Frere
then—still unarmed and alone—proceeded to the man, say-
ing, ‘Do you think of bolting again, Dawes? Have you made
any more boats?’
‘You Devil!’ said the chained man, in a voice pregnant
with such weight of unborn murder, that the gang winced.
‘You’ll find me one,’ said Frere, with a laugh; and, turning to
me, continued, in the same jesting tone, ‘There’s a penitent
for you, Mr. North—try your hand on him.’
I was speechless at his audacity, and must have shown
my disgust in my face, for he coloured slightly, and as we
were leaving the yard, he endeavoured to excuse himself, by
saying that it was no use preaching to stones, and such dou-
bly-dyed villains as this Dawes were past hope. ‘I know the

For the Term of His Natural Life