The clerk flushed, and then laughed bitterly.
“Oh, yes,” he said; “I know something about them.”
“And the prisoners?”
“Ye-es. Bah! what is the use of keeping it back? Of course I do, sir. I was sent out for the benefit of my country.”
“You?”
“Yes, sir; I am a lifer.”
Bayle gazed at the man in surprise.
“You look puzzled, sir,” he said. “Why, almost every other man out here is a convict.”
“But you have been pardoned?”
“Pardoned? No; I am only an assigned servant I can be sent back to the chain-gang at any time if I give offence. There, for heaven’s sake, sir, don’t look at me like that! If I offended against the laws, I have been bitterly punished.”