From hill to plain, from shore to sea,
And justice hounding far and wide
Her bloodhounds through the country side,
Breathed hot and instant on my trace.
Browning.
“You know it was reported that John Weston was killed, shot dead, while trying to escape from Port Arthur. You will discover in the course of this narrative how that false report got out and how it secured his escape.
“John Weston was rather favored by the chaplain of the transport-ship on account, I think, of his youth and good looks, as well as his good behavior and the recommendation of the prison chaplain.
“When they were well out to sea he was taken from the convict gang into the chaplain’s room to wait on his reverence, though the office was a mere sinecure.
“He had a good time of it all through the voyage, with nothing at all to cry for but the lost company of his Lil and his brother, and the cruel imputation of crime under which he lived, or seemed to live, for really you do not believe that anybody in that ship could look at the handsome little fellow and take him for a criminal. You don’t, indeed!
“The Vulture was a very slow sailer, and we were five months at sea.