And no sooner was the cry raised than Brodie threw something away from him as far as he could throw it. The sound of the article seemed to be music to the ear of the draper.
He ran at once to the spot and picked up a silver watch. The very “ticker” that had been taken from the man in the Cowgate three hours before.
In the meantime the struggle continued, and man but those who have had to deal with robbers can form an idea of the energy they display when caught suddenly after an exploit.
Then the worst passions are aroused, and the terror of apprehension gives them a power which is perfectly marvellous. Were this not so criminals would never escape as they have been frequently known to do out of the hands of courageous and determined officers.
At length, and receiving some aid from our valiant draper, who lost the sense of his loss in a kind of revenge against the class from which he had suffered, we succeeded in quelling them, whereto we were probably aided, too, by passengers who stopped to witness the row.
We landed them all safely, and they got their reward. Brodie, who had the watch, was sentenced to seven years’ transportation; Miller, the returned convict, got two years’ imprisonment; against Dunnet, not proven, for there was no proper identification. I have said that Miller was a returned convict. I am not sure but that the old notion that punishment tends to reformation hangs yet about many minds. For God’s sake, let us get quit of that.
I have had through my hands so many convicted persons, that the moment I have known they were loose I have watched them almost instinctively for a new offence. The simple truth is, that punishment hardens.
It is forgotten by the hopeful people that it is clay they have to work upon, not gold, and, therefore, while they are passing the material through the fire, they are making bricks, not golden crowns of righteousness.
Enough, too, has been made of the evident enough fact that they must continue their old courses because there is no asylum for them.
You may build as many asylums as you please, but the law of these strange nurslings of society’s own maternity cannot be changed in this way.