“Yes, they belong to me,” Peace returned.
“All right,” said the other, throwing them into a corner, where a pile of similar bundles were lying.
After he had undergone the usual examination by the doctor, a card was given him with a number on it, which he was told was his number, to which he was to always answer, as prisoners left their names behind them.
All this he knew perfectly well from sad experience, but he was too artful to let it appear that he was well acquainted with prison life.
They would find that out in all probability quite soon enough.
When fully equipped, and feeling very uncomfortable, he was marched down a passage and through a door at the foot of a winding spiral stone staircase into the Pentagon yard, across this and through a gate or two in the dividing railings into a similar door, up a spiral stone staircase like the first one he had passed—one flight, two flights, three flights, to the very top where he was transferred by the warder who had conducted him so far, to the care of another warder, and he at once pointed out the way along the passage to a cell, the door of which he opened, and introduced him to the quarters he was to take up during his sojourn at Millbank.
The little ticket with his number was taken from him, and placed by the warder in a rack over the doorway. This done, he locked Peace in.
Each convict establishment has a governor, deputy governor, and one or more chief warders. At the time of Peace’s incarceration in Millbank it had no less than three, who had under them three grades of officials—principals, warders, and assistant warders.
The slang name for all the prison officials is “screws,” all are armed in some way, the leading officials wear swords, the warders and assistant warders are armed with truncheons, which are carried in cases at the side, much the same as those worn by the police.
When with a gang of men at outdoor work these truncheons are replaced by a short rifle and bayonet. In addition, there is at Dartmoor and other prisons away from London, the civil guard, armed with rifles and bayonets, who do military duty in guarding the place.