“We’ve only got your bare word for the fact, which is contradicted by two other prisoners,” said M‘Pherson, addressing himself to No. 74. “In addition to this, your word is not of much value, seeing that you are a notorious liar. Take the men back to their cells.”
The men were locked in their respective cells, then M‘Pherson turned to Morgan, and said—
“You must be more careful, sir. If anything of this sort is brought under my notice again, I shall report you.”
Having delivered himself of this speech, he turned on his heel and walked away. Morgan felt that he had had a narrow escape.
The chief warder, who was perhaps one of the most kindly disposed men in the whole prison, did not forget the circumstance, which, however, he never afterwards alluded to.
He took an early opportunity of getting No. 74 transferred to another part of the gaol, and so the matter ended.
We have devoted rather a lengthy chapter to Peace’s prison life, as the outside public know but little of the inner working of our convict prisons, and the various modes of discipline practised therein, but we must now turn to other scenes in this life drama.
CHAPTER LXII.
MR. WRENCH’S WANDERINGS—THE SEARCH AFTER A MURDERER.
It is astonishing how long a criminal may be at large after he is “wanted,” provided he gets away from his well-known haunts. Murderers have contrived to elude the vigilance of the police for a considerable space of time, and some have never been arrested for the crime they were supposed to have committed.