But, as a rule, attempts at evasion were made when the men were marched out to the quarries, when a dash would be made during a sea fog, or a convict would crawl into some hollow among the freshly hewn stones, and lie there, hoping not to be missed till he had made good his escape.
On this particular night a young member of the warder guard stood, rifle on shoulder, looking out to sea from the mere shelf of level rock near the top of the cliff.
A great steamer was making her way down channel, and her lights shone like stars away on the black waters.
“West Indy or South America; and a Dutch boat, I should say,” muttered the sentry; and he turned his eyes to where, well up under the shelter of the great promontory, the lights of several vessels showed where they lay at anchor.
“This is a miserable dog’s life,” muttered the man, “and I get precious sick of it, but I think I’d rather be here than there. One can feel bottom and be safe—sailors can’t. That one nighest in is the little man-o’-war, I suppose, and yon’s the big one. How dark it is!”
He stood there trying to pierce the blackness, out of which the anchor lights of the ships stood like stars, but he could see nothing save a faint bluish-greeny gleam now and then far below, where the phosphorescence of the sea washed gently, like so much luminous oil, over the bases of the cliffs and played among the masses of seaweed lying awash.
“How unked the sea is of a dark night. Fancy going sailing right away yonder, not knowing what you may hit upon next. Shore’s good enough for me, even if it’s being at Foreland convict prison, with a day out now and then.”
He turned his face shoreward, looking across the bay, dotted with faint lights, to where the red lamps of the harbour shone out with their lurid glow.
“That’s better,” he said as he followed the curve of the shore, with the faint golden gleam sent up by the gas lamps which dotted the bow like so many bright beads strung along the shore, on and on by the line of houses facing the sea front, till they ran out for a short distance to sea, and ended in quite a cluster, out of which flashed one with a bluish glare, whose rays cut the darkness, for it was the electric light at the end of the pier.
“Band’s playing,” said the man, listening intently; but the distance across the curve to the town pier was too great, and he could make out nothing but a stray note of a cornet now and then.