“But, Robert, I do not understand.”
“Do as I tell you,” he said sharply. “You will select two men—myself and Stephen Crellock.”
“Yourself and Stephen Crellock?”
“Yes. Don’t look so bewildered, woman. It is the regular thing, and we shall be set at liberty.”
“At liberty?”
“Yes, to go anywhere in the colony. You are answerable to the Government for us.”
“But, Robert, you would come as—my servant?”
“Pooh! Only in name. So long as you claim us as your servants, that is all that is wanted. Plenty are freed on these terms, and once they are out, go and live with their families, like any one else.”
“This is done here?”
“To be sure it is. I tell you that once a man has been in the gangs here for a few years they are glad to get him off their hands, so as to leave room for others who are coming out. Why, Milly, they could not keep all who are sent away from England, and people are easier and more forgiving out here. Hundreds of those you see here were lags.”