 dedication and prologue of for the term of his natural life this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Landy for the term of his natural life by Marcus Clark dedication to Sir Charles Gavin Duffy my dear Sir Charles I take leave to dedicate this work to you not merely because your 19 years of political and literary life in Australia render it very fitting that any work written by a resident in the colonies and having to do with the history of past colonial days should be your name upon its dedicated page but because the publication of my book is due to your advice and encouragement the conflict of fiction has been hitherto shown only at the beginning or at the end of his career either his exile has been the mysterious end to his misdeeds or he has appeared upon the scene to claim interest by reason of an equally unintelligible love of crime acquired during his experience in a penal settlement Charles Reid has drawn the interior of a house of correction in England and Victor Hugo has shown how a French convict fares after the fulfillment of his sentence but no writer so far as I am aware has attempted to depict the dismal condition of a felon during his term of transportation I have endeavored in his natural life to set forth the working and the results of an English system of transportation carefully considered and carried out under official supervision and to illustrate in the manner best calculated as I think to attract general attention the inexperiency of again allowing offenders against the Lord to be herded together in places remote from the wholesome influence of public opinion and to be submitted to a discipline which must necessarily depend for its just administration upon the personal character and temper of their jailers your critical faculty will doubtless find in the construction and artistic working of this book many faults I do not think however that you will discover any exaggerations some of the events narrated a doubtless tragic and terrible but I hold it needful to my purpose to record them for they are events which have actually occurred and which if the blunders which produced them be repeated must infallibly occur again it is true that the British government have ceased to deport the criminals of England but the method of punishment of which that deportation was a part is still in existence Port Blair is Port Arthur filled with Indian men instead of Englishmen and within the last year France has established at New Caledonia a penal settlement which will in the natural course of things repeat in its annals the history of Macquarie Harbour and of Norfolk Island with this brief preface I beg you to accept this work I would that its merits were equal either to your kindness or to my regard I am my dear sir Charles faithful yours Marcus Clark the public library Melbourne prologue on the evening of the 3rd of May 1827 the garden of a large red brick bow windowed mansion called North End House which enclosed in spacious grounds stands on the eastern height of Hamster Heath between Finchley Road in the Chestnut Avenue was the scene of a domestic tragedy three persons were the actors in it one was an old man his white hair and wrinkled face gave token that he was at least 60 years of age he stood erect with his back to the wall which separates the garden from the Heath in the attitude of one surprise and a sudden passion and held up lifted the heavy ebony cane upon which he was ordinarily accustomed to lean he was confronted by a man of two and twenty unusually tall and athletic a figure dressed in rough seafaring clothes and he held in his arms protecting her a lady of middle age the face of the young man wore an expression of horror-stricken astonishment and a slight frame of the grey-haired woman was convulsed with sobs these three people were Sir Richard Devine his wife and his only son Richard who had returned from abroad that morning so madam said Sir Richard in the high-strung accents which in crisis of great mental agony are common to the most self-restrained of us you have been for 20 years a living lie for 20 years you have cheated and mocked me for 20 years in company with a scoundrel whose name is a byword for all that is profligate and base you have laughed at me for a credulous and hoodwinked fool and now because I dared to raise my hand to that reckless boy you confess your shame and glory in the confession mother dear mother cried the young man in a paroxysm of grief say that you did not mean those words you said them but in anger see I am calm now and he may strike me if he will lady Devine shuddered creeping close as though to hide herself in the broad bosom of her son the old man continued I married you Eleanor Wade for your beauty you married me for my fortune I was a plebeian a ship's carpenter you were well-born your father was a man of fashion a gambler the friend of rakes and prodigals I was rich I had been knighted I was in favour at court he wanted money and he sold you I paid the price he asked but there was nothing of your cousin my Lord Bellassus and Wharton in the bond spare me sir spare me said lady Eleanor faintly spare you I and you have spared me have you not lucky he cried in sudden fury I am not to be fooled so easily your family are proud Colonel Wade has other daughters your lover my Lord Bellassus even now thinks to retrieve his broken fortunes by marriage you have confessed your shame tomorrow your father your sisters all the world shall know the story you have told me by heaven sir you will not do this burst out the young man silence bastard cried sir Richard I bite your lips the word is of your precious mother's making lady Devin slipped through her son's arms and fell on her knees at her husband's feet do not do this Richard I have been faithful to you for two and twenty years I have borne all the slights and insults you have heaped upon me the shameful secret of my early love broke from me when in your rage you threatened him let me go away kill me but do not shame me so Richard who had turned to walk away stopped suddenly and his great white eyebrows came together in his red face with a savage scowl he laughed and in that laugh his fury seemed to congeal into a cold and cruel hate you would preserve your good name then you would conceal this disgrace from the world you shall have your wish upon one condition what is it sir she asked rising but trembling with terror as she stood with drooping arms and widely opened eyes the old man looked at her for an instant and then said slowly that this imposter who's so long has falsely borne my name has wrongfully squandered my money and unlawfully eaten my bread shall pack that he abandoned forever the name he has you served keep himself from my sight and never set foot again in house of mine you would not part me from my only son cried the wretched woman take him with you to his father then Richard Devine gently loose the arms that are gain clung around his neck kiss the pale face and turned his own scarcely less pale towards the old man I owe you no duty he said you have always hated and reviled me when by your violence you drove me from your house you set spies to watch me in the life I had chosen I have nothing in common with you I have long felt it now when I learned for the first time whose son I really am I rejoice to think that I have less to thank you for than I once believed I accept the terms you offer I will go name other think of your good name so Richard Devine laughed again I'm glad to see you are so well-disposed listen now tonight I send for quade to alter my will my sister's son Morris Frey shall be my air in your stead I give you nothing you leave this house in an hour you change your name you never by word or deed make claim on me or mine no matter what straight or poverty you plead if even your life should hang upon the issue the instant I hear that there exists on earth one who calls himself Richard Devine that instant shall your mother's shame become a public scandal you know me I keep my word I return in an hour madam let me find him and gone he passed them upright as if upborn by passion strode down the garden with the vigor that anger lends and took the road to London Richard cried the poor mother forgive me my son I have ruined you Richard Devine tossed his black hair from his brow in sudden passion of love and grief mother dear mother do not weep he said I'm not worthy of your tears forgive it is I impetuous and ungrateful during all your years of sorrow who most need forgiveness let me share your burden that I may lighten it here's just it is fitting that I go I can earn a name a name that I need not blush to bear nor you to hear I am strong I can work the world is wired farewell my own mother not yet not yet see he has taken the bell size road oh Richard pray heaven they may not meet touch they will not meet your pale you faint a terror of I know not what coming evil overpowers me I tremble for the future oh Richard Richard forgive me pray for me harsh dearest come let me lead you in I will write I will send you news of me once at least air I depart so you are calmer mother so Richard Devine night shipbuilder naval contractor and millionaire was the son of a Harwich boat carpenter early left an orphan with a sister to support he soon reduced his soul aiming life to the accumulation of money in the Harwich boat shed nearly 50 years before he had contracted in defiance of prophesied failure to build the Hastings sleep of war for his Majesty King George III's Lord of the Admiralty this contract was the thin edge of that wedge which eventually split the mighty oak block of government heritage into three decors and ships of the lion which did good service under Pellew Parker Nelson Hood which exfoliated and remafied into huge dockyards at Plymouth Portsmouth and Sheerness and borrows its buds and flowers countless barrels of measly pork and maggoty biscuit the soul aim of the course pushing and hard-headed son of Dick Devine was to make money he had cringed and crawled and flattered and blasted had licked the dust off great men's shoes and danced attendance in great men's anti chambers nothing was too low nothing too high for him a shrewd man of business a thorough master of his trade troubled with no scruples of honor or of delicacy he made money rapidly and saved it when made the first hint that the public received of his wealth was in 1796 when Mr. Devine one of the ship rights to the government and a comparatively young man of 44 or thereabouts subscribed 5,000 pounds to the loyalty loan raised to prosecute the French war in 1805 after doing good and it was hinted not unprofitable service in the trial of Lord Melville the treasurer of the Navy he married his sister to a wealthy Bristol merchant one Anthony Frey and married himself to Eleanor Wade the eldest daughter of Colonel Waternwade a boon companion of the regent and uncle by marriage of a remarkable scamp and dandy Lord Bellassus at that time what was lucky speculations in the funds assisted as it was whispered by secret intelligence from France during the stormy years of 1314 and 15 and the legitimate profit on his government contracts he had accumulated a princely fortune and could afford to live in princely magnificence but the old man of the sea burden of parsimony and avarice which he had voluntarily taken upon him was not to be shaken off and the only show he made of his wealth was by purchasing on his knighthood the rambling but comfortable house at Hampstead and ostensibly retiring from active business his retirement was not a happy one he was a stern father and a severe master his servants hated and his wife feared him his only son Richard appeared to inherit his father's strong will and imperious manner under careful supervision and a just rule he might have been guided to good but left to his own devices outside and galled by the iron yoke of parental discipline at home he became reckless and prodigal the mother poor timid Eleanor who had been rudely torn from the love of her youth her cousin Lord Bellassus tried to restrain him but the headstrong boy though owning for his mother that strong love which is often a part of such violent natures proved intractable and after three years of parental feud he went off to the continent to pursue there the same reckless life which in London had offended Sir Richard Sir Richard upon this sent for Morris Frey his sister's son the abolition of the slave trade had ruined the Bristol House of Frey and bought for him a commission in a marching regiment hinting darkly of special favours to come his open preference for his nephew had galled to the quick his sensitive wife who contrasted with some heartpangs the gallant prodigality of her father with a niggardly economy of her husband between the houses of Parvon you devine and long descended what and Wade there had long been little love so Richard felt the Colonel despised him for a city night and had heard that over Claret and cards Lord Bellassus and his friends had often lamented the hard fortune which gave the beauty Eleanor to sow sword at a bridegroom Armagirl Esme Wade by Count Bellassus and Watton was a product of his time of good family his ancestor Armagirl was reputed to have landed in America before Gilbert O'Raleigh he had inherited his manner of Bellassus or Bellsize from one sir Esme Wade ambassador from Queen Elizabeth to the King of Spain in a delicate matter of Mendoza and afterwards counselor to James the first and lieutenant of the Tower this Esme was a man of dark devices it was he who negotiated with Mary Stuart for Elizabeth it was he who weren't out of Cobham the evidence against the great Raleigh he became rich and his sister the widow of Henry de Kercaven Lord of Hemfleet marrying into the family of the Wattons the wealth of the house was father-increased by the Union of her daughter Sibyl with Mama Duke Wade Mama Duke Wade was a Lord of the Admiralty and a patron of Pepis who in his diary July 17 1668 speaks of visiting him at Bellsize he was raised to the period in 1667 by the title of Baron Bellassus and Watton and married for his second wife Anne daughter of Philip Stanhope second Earl of Chesterfield allied to this powerful house the family tree of Watton Wade grew and flourished in 1784 Philip third Baron married the celebrated beauty Miss Povey and had issue Armagel Esme in whose person the family prudence seemed to have run itself out the fourth Lord Bellassus combined the daring of Armagel the adventurer with the evil disposition of Esme the lieutenant of the Tower no sooner had he become master of his fortune then he took to dice drink and debauchery with all the extravagance of the last century he was foremost in every riot most notorious of all the notorious bloods of the day Horace Walpole in one of his letters to Selwyn in 1785 mentions a fact which may stand for a page of narrative young Wade he says is reported to have lost one thousand guineas last night to that vulgarist of all the Bourbons the duck de Châtres and they say the fall is not yet nineteen from a pigeon Armagel Wade became a hawk and at thirty years of age having lost together with his estates all chance of winning the one woman who might have saved him his cousin Eleanor he became that most unhappy of all beings a well-born black leg when he was told by thin-lipped cool Colonel Wade that the rich shipbuilder Sir Richard Devine had proposed an alliance with fair-haired gentle Eleanor he swore with fierce knitting of his black brows that no law of man nor heaven should further restrain him in his selfish prodigality you have sold your daughter and ruined me he said look to the consequences Colonel Wade sneered at his fiery kinsmen you will find Sir Richard's house a pleasant one to visit Armagel and he should be worth an income to some experience the gambler as yourself Lord Bellassus did visit at Sir Richard's house during the first year of his cousin's marriage but upon the birth of the son who is the hero of this history he affected a quarrel with the city night and cursing him to the prince and points for a miserly Kermdodgen who neither diced nor drank like a gentleman departed more desperately at war with fortune than ever for his old haunts the year 1827 found him a hardened hopeless old man of sixty battered in health and ruined in pocket but who by dint of stays hair dye and courage yet faced the world with undaunted front and dined as gaily and bay leaf haunted bell sighs as he had dined at Carleton house of the possessions of the house of what and Wade this old men are Timbalus and Bear was all that remained and its master rarely visited it on the evening of the third of May 1827 Lord Bellassus had been attending a pigeon match at Hornsey Wood and having resisted the importunities of his companion Mr. Leonel Crofton a young gentleman rake his position in the sporting world was not the most secure he wanted him to go on into town he had avowed his intention of striking cross hamstered to bell sighs I have an appointment at the fir trees on the Heath he said with a woman asked Mr. Crofton not at all with a parson a parson you stare well he is only just ordained I met him last year at Bath and his vacation from Cambridge and he was good enough to lose some money to me and now waits to pay it out of his first curacy I wish your lordship joy with all my soul then we must push on for it grows late thanks my dear sir for the wee but I must go alone said Lord Bellassus dryly tomorrow you can settle with me for the sitting of last week Hark the clock is striking nine good night at half past nine Richard Devine quitted his mother's house to begin the new life he had chosen and so drawn together by that strange fate of circumstance which creates events the father and son approached each other as the young man gained the middle of the path which led to the Heath he met sir Richard returning from the village it was no part of his plan to seek an interview with the man whom his father had so deeply wronged and he would have stunk past in the gloom but seeing him thus alone returning to a desolated home the prodigal was tempted to utter some words of farewell and regret to his astonishment however sir Richard passed swiftly on with body bent forward as one in the act of falling and with eyes unconscious of surroundings staring straight into the distance half terrified at this strange appearance Richard hurried onward and at a turn of the path stumbled upon something which horribly accounted for the curious action of the old man a dead body lay upon its face in the heather beside it was a heavy riding whip stained at the handle with blood and an open pocket book Richard took up the book and read in gold letters on the cover Lord Bellassus the unhappy young man knelt down beside the body and raised it the skull had been fractured by a blow but it seemed that life yet lingered overcome with horror for he could not doubt but that his mother's worst fears have been realized Richard knelt there holding his murdered father in his arms waiting until the murderer whose name he bore should have placed himself be on pursuit it seemed an hour to his excited fancy before he saw a light pass along the front of the house he had quitted and knew that sir Richard had safely reached his chamber with some bewildered intention of summoning aid he left the body and made towards the town as he stepped out on the path he heard voices and presently some dozen men one of whom held a horse burst out upon him and with sudden fury seized and flung him to the ground at first the young man so rudely assailed did not comprehend his own danger his mind bent upon one hideous explanation of the crime did not see another obvious one which had already occurred to the mind of the landlord of the three Spaniards God defend me cried mr. Mogford scanning by the pale light of the rising moon the features of the murdered man but it is Lord Bellassus oh you bloody villain gem bring him along here perhaps his lordship can recognize him it was not I quite Richard Devin for God's sake my lord say then he stopped abruptly and being forced on his knees by his captors remain staring at the dying man in sudden and ghastly fear those men in whom emotion has the effect of quickening circulation of the blood reason rapidly in moments of danger and in the terrible instant when his eyes met those of Lord Bellassus Richard Devin had summed up the chances of his future fortune and realized to the full his personal peril the runaway horse had given the alarm the drinkers at the Spaniards Inn had started to search the heath and had discovered a fellow in rough costume his person was unknown to them hastily quitting a spot where beside a rifled pocketbook and a blood-stained whip lay a dying man the web of circumstantial evidence had enmeshed him an hour ago escape would have been easy he would have had but to cry I am the son of Sir Richard Devin come with me to your under house and I will prove to you that I have but just quitted it to place his innocence beyond immediate question that course of action was impossible now knowing Sir Richard as he did and believing moreover that in his raging passion the old man had himself met and murdered the destroyer of his honor the son of Lord Bellassus and Lady Devin saw himself in a position which would compel him either to sacrifice himself or to purchase a chance of safety at the price of his mother's dishonor and the death of the man whom his mother had deceived if the outcast son were brought a prisoner to North End House Sir Richard now doubly oppressed of fate would be certain to deny him and he would be compelled in self-defense to reveal a story which would at once bring his mother to open infamy and send to the gallows the man who had been for twenty years deceived the man to whose kindness he owed education and former fortune he knelt stupefied unable to speak or move come cried Mogford again say my lord is this the villain Lord Bellassus rallied his failing senses his glazing eyes stared into his son's face with horrible eagerness he shook his head raised the feeble arm as though to point elsewhere and fell back dead if you didn't murder him you robbed him growled Mogford and use her sleep at Bow Street tonight Tom run on to meet the patrol and tell him to leave word at the gatehouse that have a passenger for the coach bring him on Jack what's your name a he repeated the rough question twice before his prisoner answered but at length Richard Devin raised a pale face which stern resolution had already hardened into defiant manhood and said doors Rufus doors his new life had begun already for that night one Rufus doors charged with murder and robbery lay awake in prison waiting for the fortune of the morrow two other men waited as eagerly one Mr. Leonel Crofton the other the horsemen who had appointment with the murdered Lord Bellassus under the shadow of the fir trees on hamstered here as for Sir Richard Devin he waited for no one for upon reaching his room he had fallen senseless in a fit of apoplexy end of dedication and prologue book one chapter one of for the term of his natural life this is a LibriVox recording or LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org reading by Landy for the term of his natural life by Marcus Clarke book one the sea 1827 chapter one the prison ship in the breathless stillness of a tropical afternoon when the air was hot and heavy in the sky brazen and cloudless the shadow of the Malabar lay solitary on the surface of the glittering sea the sun he rose on the left hand every morning a blazing ball to move slowly through the unbearable blue until he sank fiery red in mingling glories of sky and ocean on the right hand had just got low enough to peep beneath the awning that covered the poop deck and awaken a young man in an undressed military uniform who was dosing on a coil of rope hang it said here rising and stretching himself with the weary sigh of a man who has nothing to do I must have been asleep and then holding by a stay he turned about and looked down into the waist of the ship save for the man at the wheel and the guard at the quarter railing he was alone on the deck a few birds flew round about the vessel and seemed to pass under her stern windows only to appear again at her bows a lazy albatross with the white water flashing from his wings rose with a dabbling sound to leeward and in the place where he had been glided the hideous fin of a silently swimming shark the seams of the Wells Club decks were sticky with melted pitch and the brass plate of the compass case sparkled in the sun like a jewel there was no breeze and as the clumsy ship rolled and lurched on the heaving sea her idle sails flapped against her must with a regularly recurring noise and her bowsprit would seem to rise higher with the water swell to dip again with a jerk that made each rope tremble and taught him on the forecast all some half-dozen soldiers in all varieties of undress were playing at cards smoking or watching the fishing lines hanging over the cat heads so far the appearance of the vessel differed in no wise from that of an ordinary transport but in the waist a curious sight presented itself it was as though one had built a cattle pen there at the foot of the foremaster and at the quarter deck a strong barricade loop hold and furnished with doors for ingress and ran across the deck from bullwalk to bullwalk outside this cattle pen and armed sentries stood on guard inside standing sitting or walking monotonously within range of the shining barrels and the arm chest on the poop where some 60 men and boys dressed in uniform gray the men and boys were prisoners of the crown and the cattle pen was their exercise ground their prison was down the main hatchway on the tween decks and the barricade continued down made its sidewalls it was the fag end of the two hours exercise graciously permitted each afternoon by his Majesty King George IV to prisoners of the crown and the prisoners of the crown were enjoying themselves it was not perhaps so pleasant as under the awning on the poop deck but that sacred shade was only for such great man as the captain and his officers surgeon pine lieutenant Morris Frear and most important personages of all captain vickers and his wife that the convict leaning against the bullwalks would like to have been able to get rid of his enemy the Sun for a moment was probable enough his companions sitting on the comings of the main hatch or crouched in careless fashion on the shady side of the barricade were laughing and talking with blasphemous and obscene merriment hideous to contemplate but he was cat pulled over his brows and hands thrust into the pockets of his coarse gray garments held aloof from their dismal joviality the Sun poured his hottest rays on his head unheeded and though every crani and seam in the decks welter hot pitch under the fierce heat the man stood there motionless and morose staring at the sleepy sea he had stood thus in one place or another ever since the groaning vessel had escaped from the rollers of the Bay of Viscay and the miserable hundred and eighty creatures among whom he was classed had been freed from their irons and allowed to sniff fresh air twice a day the low-browed coarse-featured ruffians grouped about the deck cast many a layer of contempt at the solitary figure but their remarks were confined to gestures only there are degrees in crime and roof of stores the convicted felon who had but escaped the gallows to toil for all his life in irons was a man of mark he had been tried for the robbery and murder of Lord Bellassus the friendless vagabonds lame story of finding on the heath a dying man would not have availed him but for the curious fact sworn to by the landlord of the Spaniards Inn that the murdered nobleman had shaken his head when asked if the prisoner was his assassin the vagabond was acquitted of the murder but condemned to death for the robbery in London he took some interest in the trial considered him fortunate when his sentence was commuted to transportation for life it was customary on board these floating prisons to keep each man's crime a secret from his fellows so that if he chose and the caprice of his jailers allowed him he could lead a new life in his adopted home without being taunted with his former misdeeds but like other excellent devices the expedient was only a nominal one and few out of the doomed hundred and eighty were ignorant of the offense which their companions had committed the more guilty boasted of their superiority in vice the petty criminals swore that their guilt was blacker than it appeared moreover a deed so blood thirsty and a respite so unexpected had invested the name of Rufus doors with a grim distinction which his superior mental abilities no less than his haughty temper and powerful frame combined to support a young man of two and twenty owning to no friends and existing among them but by the fact of his criminality he was respected and admired the vilest of all the vile horde penned between decks if they laughed at his fine heirs behind his back cringed and submitted when they met him face to face for in a convict ship the greatest villain is the greatest hero and the only nobility acknowledged by that hideous commonwealth is that order of the halter which is conferred by the hand of the hangman the young man on the poop caught sight of the tall figure leaning against the bulwarks and it gave him an excuse to break the monotony of his employment hear you he called up with an oath get out of the gangway rufus doors was not in the gangway was in fact a good two feet from it but at the sound of lieutenant frair's voice he started and went obediently towards the hatchway touch your hat you dog cried frair coming to the quarter railing touch your damned hat do you hear rufus doors touched his cup saluting in half military fashion i'll make some of you fellows smart if you don't have a care went on the angry frair half to himself and half allowed insolent black guards and then the noise of the century on the quarter deck below him grounding arms turned the current of his thoughts a thin tall soldier like man with a cold blue eye and prim features came out of the cutty below handing out a fair herd affected mincing lady of middle age captain vickers of mr frair's regiment ordered for service in van diemen's land was bringing his lady on deck to get an appetite for dinner mrs vickers was forty two she owned thirty three and had been a garrison bell for eleven weary years before she married prim john vickers the marriage was not a happy one vickers found his wife extravagant fain and snappish and she found him harsh disenchanted and commonplace a daughter born two years after their marriage was the only link that bound the ill-assorted pair vickers idolized little silvia and when the recommendation of a long sea voyage for his failing health induced him to exchange the blanks he insisted upon bringing the child with him despite mrs vickers reiterated objections on the score of educational difficulties he could educate her himself if need be he said and she should not stay at home so mrs vickers after a hard struggle gave up the point and her dreams of bathed together and followed her husband with the best grace she could muster when fairly out to sea she seemed reconciled to her fate and employed the intervals between scolding her daughter and her maid in fascinating the borish young lieutenant morris frair fascination was an integral portion of julia vickers nature admiration was all she lived for and even in a convict ship with her husband at her elbow she must flirt or perish of mental inundation there was no harm in the creature she was simply a vain middle-aged woman and frair took her attentions for what they were worth moreover her good feeling towards him was useful for reasons which will shortly appear running down the ladder cap in hand he offered her his assistance thank you mr frair these horrid ladders i really quite tremble at them hot yes dear me most depressive john the camp still pray mr frair oh thank you silvia silvia john have you my smelling salts still a calm i suppose these dreadful calms this semi-fashionable slip-slop within 20 yards of the wild beast den on the other side of the barricade sounded strange but mr frair thought nothing of it familiarity destroys terror and the incurable flirt fluttered her muslins and played off her second-rate graces under the noses of the grinning convicts with as much complacency as if she had been in a chatting ballroom indeed if there had been nobody else near it is not unlikely that she would have disdainfully fascinated the tween decks and made eyes at the most presentable of the convicts there vickers with a bow to frair saw his wife up the ladder and then turned for his daughter she was a delicate looking child of six years old with blue eyes and bright hair though indulged by her father and spoiled by her mother the natural sweetness of her disposition saved her from being disagreeable and the effects of her education as yet only showed themselves in a thousand imperious prettinesses which made her the darling of the ship little miss silvia was privileged to go anywhere and do anything and even convictism shut its foul mouth in her presence running to her father's side the child shattered with all the volubility of flattered self-esteem she ran hither and thither asked questions invented answers laughed sang gambled peered into the compass case felt in the pockets of the man at the helm put her tiny hand into the big palm of the officer of the watch even ran down to the quarter-deck and pulled the coat tails of the century on duty at last tired of running about she took a little strapped leather ball from the bosom of her frock and calling to her father threw it up to him as he stood on the poop he returned it and shouting with laughter clapping her hands between each throw the child kept up the game the convicts his slice of fresh air was early eaten turned with eagerness to watch this new source of amusement innocent laughter and childish prattle were strange to them some smiled and nodded with interest in the varying fortunes of the game one young lad could hardly restrain himself from applauding it was as though out of the sultry heat which brooded over the ship a cool breeze had suddenly arisen in the midst of this mirth the officer of the watch glancing round the fast crimsoning horizon paused abruptly and shading his eyes with his hand looked out intently to the westwood frair he found mrs wicker's conversation a little tiresome and had been glancing from time to time at the companion as though in expectation of someone appearing noticed the action what is it mr best i don't know exactly it looks to me like a cloud of smoke and taking the glass he swept the horizon let me see said frair and he looked also on the extreme horizon just to the left of the sinking sun rested or seemed to rest a tiny black cloud the golden crimson splashed all about the sky had overflowed around it and rendered a clear view almost impossible i can't quite make it out says frair handing back the telescope we must see as soon as the sun goes down a little then mrs wicker's must of course look also it was prettily affected about the focus of the glass applying herself to that instrument with much girlish giggling and finally declaring after shutting one eye with her fair hand that positively she could see nothing but the sky and believed that wicked mr frair was doing it on purpose by and by a captain blunt appeared and taking the glass from his officer looked through it long and carefully then the mizzen top was appealed to and declared that he could see nothing and at last the sun went down with a jerk as though it had slipped through a slit in the sea and the black spot swallowed up in the gathering haze was seen no more as the sun sank the relief guide came up the after hatchway and the relieved guard prepared to superintend the descent of the convicts at this moment silvia missed her ball which taking advantage of the sudden lurch of the vessel hopped over the barricade and rolled to the feet of rufus doors who was still leaning apparently lost in thought against the side the bright spot of color rolling across the white deck caught his eye sleeping mechanically he picked up the ball and stepped forward to return it the door of the barricade was open in the century a young soldier occupied in staring at the relief guard did not notice the prisoner pass through it in another instant he was on the sacred quarter deck heated with the game her cheeks aglow her eyes sparkling her golden hair afloat silvia had turned to leap after her plaything but even as she turned from under the shadow of the cutty glided around at white arm and a shapely hand caught the child by the sash and drew her back the next moment the young man in gray had placed the toy in her hand morris fray descending the poop ladder had not witnessed this little incident on reaching the deck he saw only the unexplained presence of the convict uniform thank you said a voice as rufus doors duped before the passing silvia the convict raised his eyes and saw a young girl of 18 or 19 years of age tall and well-developed who dressed in a loose-sleeved robe of some white material was standing in the doorway she had black hair coiled around a narrow and flat head a small foot white skin well shaped hands and large dark eyes and even as she smiled at him her scarlet lips showed her white even teeth he knew her at once she was sara perfoy mrs vickers made but he'd never had been so close to her before and it seemed to him that he was in the presence of some strange tropical flower which exhaled a heavy and intoxicating perfume for an instant the two looked at each other and then rufus doors as seized from behind by his collar and flung with a shock upon the deck leaping to his feet his first impulse was to rush upon his assailant but he saw the ready bayonet of the century gleam and he checked himself with an effort for his assailant was mr morris frair what the devil do you do here asked that gentleman with an oath you lazy skulking hound what brings you here if i catch you putting your foot on the quarter deck again i'll give you a week in irons rufus doors pale with rage and mortification opened his mouth to justify himself but he allowed the words to die on his lips what was the use go down below and remember what i've told you cried frair and comprehending at once what had occurred he made a mental minute of the name of the defaulting century the convict wiping the blood from his face turned on his heel without a word and went back to the strong oak door into his den frair leaned forward and took the girl's shapely hand with an easy gesture but she drew it away with a flash of her black eyes you coward she said the stolid soldier close behind them heard it and his eye twinkled frair bit his thick lips with mortification as he followed the girl into the cutty sarah perfoy however taking the astonished silvia by the hand glided into her mistresses cabin with a scornful laugh and shut the door behind her end of chapter one book one section two or for the term of his natural life this is a libra vox recording all libra vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libravox.org recording by landy for the term of his natural life by marcus clark book one the c 1827 chapter two sarah perfoy convictism having been safely got under hatches and put to bed in its government allowance of sixteen inches of space per man cartilage was short by exigency of shipboard the cuddy was going to pass some not unpleasant evenings mrs vickers who was poetical and owned a guitar was also musical and sang to it captain blunt was a jovial course fellow sergeant pine had a mania for storytelling while if vickers was sometimes dull frair was always hearty moreover the table was well served and what with dinner tobacco waste music and brandy and water the sultry evenings passed away with a rapidity of which the wild beasts tween decks cooped by sixes in bursts of five feet three inches had no conception on this particular evening however the cuddy was dull dinner fell flat and conversation languished no signs of a breeze mr best asked blunt as the first officer came in and took his seat none sir these awful calms says mrs vickers how weak is it not captain blunt 13 days mum grub blunt i remember off the coromandel coast put in cheerful pine when we had the plague in the rattlesnake captain vickers another glass of wine cries blunt hastening to cut the anecdote short thank you no more i have the headache headache i don't wonder at it going down among those fellows it is infamous the way they crowd these ships here we have over 200 souls on board and not boat room for half of them 200 souls surely not says vickers by the king's regulations 180 convicts 50 soldiers 30 and ships crew all told and how many one two three seven in the cutty how many do you make that we are just a little crowded this time says best it is very wrong says vickers pompously very wrong by the king's regulations but the subject of the king's regulations was even more distasteful to the cutty than pines interminable anecdotes and mrs vickers hastened to change the subject are you not heartily tired of this dreadful life mr frair well it is not exactly the life i'd hope to lead said frair rubbing a freckled hand over his stubborn red hair but i must make the best of it yes indeed said the lady in that subdued manner with which one comments upon a well known accident it must have been a great shock to you to be so suddenly deprived of so large a fortune not only that but to find that the black sheep who got it all sailed for india within a week of my uncle's death lady devine got a letter from him on the day of the funeral to say that he had taken his passage in the hide aspies for karkata and never meant to come back again so richard devine left no other children no only this mysterious dick whom i never saw but who must have hated me dear dear these family quarrels are dreadful things poor lady devine to lose in one day a husband and a son in the next morning to hear of the murder of her cousin you know that we are connected with the belasses family my aunt's father married a sister of the second lord belasses indeed that was a horrible murder so you think that the dreadful man he pointed out the other day did it the jury seemed to think not said mr frayer with a laugh but i don't know anybody else who could have a motive for it however i'll go on deck and have a smoke i wonder what induced that old honks of a shipbuilder to try to cut off his only son in favor of a cob of that sort said surgeon pine to captain vickers as the broad back of mr morris frayer disappeared of the companion some boyish fall is abroad i believe self-made men are always impatient of extravagance but it is hard upon frayer he's not a bad sort of fellow for all his roughness and when a young man finds that an accident deprives him of a quarter of a million of money and leaves him without a sixpence beyond his commission in a marching regiment under orders for a convict settlement he has some reason to rail against fate how was it that the son came in for the money after all then why it seems that when old devine returned from sending for his lawyer to alter his will he got a fit of apoplexy the result of his rage i suppose and when they opened his room door in the morning they found him dead and the sons away on the sea somewhere said mr vickers and knows nothing of his good fortune it is quite a romance i'm glad that frayer did not get the money said pine grimly sticking to his prejudice i have seldom seen a face i like less even among my yellow jackets yonder oh dear doctor pine how can you interjected mrs vickers pawn my soul ma'am some of them have mixed in good society i can tell you there's pickpockets and swindlers down below who have lived in the best company dreadful wretches cried mrs vickers shaking out her skirts john i will go on deck at the signal the party rose echoed pine says captain blunt as the two were left alone together you and i are always putting our foot into it women are always in the way aboard ship return pine oh doctor you don't mean that i know said a rich soft voice at his elbow it was sarah perfoy emerging from her cabin here is the wench cries blunt we were talking of your eyes my dear well they'll bear talking about captain won't they are she turning them full upon him by the lord they will says blunt smacking his hand on the table at the finest eyes i've seen in my life and they've got the reddest lips under them that let me pass captain blunt if you please thank you doctor and before the admiring commander could prevent her she modestly swept out of the curry she's a fine piece of goods eh asked blunt watching her a spice of the devil in her too old pine took a huge pinch of snuff devil i tell you what it is blunt i don't know where vickers picked her up but i'd rather trust my life at the worst of those ruffians tween decks than in her keeping if i'd done her an injury blunt laughed i don't believe she'd think much of sticking a man either he said rising but i must go on deck doctor pine followed him more slowly i don't pretend to know much about women he said to himself but that girl's got a story of her own or i'm much mistaken what brings her on board this ship as ladies made is more than i can fathom and as sticking his pipe between his teeth he walked down they're now deserted deck to the main hatchway and turned to watch the white figure gliding up and down the poop deck he saw it joined by another in darker one he muttered she's after no good i swear at that moment his arm was touched by soldier in undressed uniform who had come up the hatchway what is it the man drew himself up and saluted if you please doctor one of the prisoners has taken sick and has a dinner's over and it's pretty bad i ventured to disturb your honor you ass says pine he like many gruff men had a good heart under his rough shell why didn't you tell me before and knocking the ashes out of his barely lighted pipe he stopped that implement with a twisted paper and followed his summoner down the hatchway in the meantime the woman who was the object of the grim old fellow's suspicions was enjoying the comparative coolness of the night air her mistress and her mistress's daughter had not yet come out of the cabin and the men had not yet finished their evening's tobacco the awning had been removed the stars were shining in the moonless sky the poop guy had shifted itself to the quarter-deck and miss Sarah Perfoy was walking up and down the deserted poop in close tether-teth with no lesser person than Captain Blunt himself she had passed and repast him twice silently and at the third turn the big fellow appearing into the twilight ahead somewhat uneasily obeyed the glitter of her great eyes and joined her you weren't put out my wench he asked at what I said to you below she effected surprise what do you mean why at my at what I at my rudeness there for I was a bit rude I admit I oh dear no you were not rude glad you think so return Phineas Blunt a little ashamed at what looked like a confession of weakness on his part you would have been if I had let you how do you know I saw it in your face do you think a woman can't see in a man's face when he's going to insult her insult you hey upon my word yes insult me you're old enough to be my father Captain Blunt but you've no right to kiss me unless I ask you ho ho laughed blunt I like that ask me ergad I wish you would you black-eyed minks so would other people I have no doubt that soldier officer for instance hey Miss modesty I've seen him looking at you as though he'd like to try the girl flashed at him with a quick side glance you mean Lieutenant Frear I suppose are you jealous of him jealous why dammy the lad was only breached the other day jealous I think you are and you've no need to be he is a stupid booby though he is Lieutenant Frear so he is you were right there by the Lord Sarah purrphi laughed a low full-toned laugh whose sound made Blunt's pulse take a jump forward and sent the blood tingling down to his finger's ends Captain Blunt said she you're going to do a very silly thing he came close to her and tried to take her hand what she answered by another question how old are you 42 if you must know oh and you are going to fall in love with a girl of 19 who is that myself she said giving him her hand and smiling at him with her rich red lips the mizzen hid them from the man at the wheel and the twilight of tropical stars held the main deck Blunt felt the breath of this strange woman warm on his cheek her eyes seemed to wax and wane and the hard small hand he held burnt like fire I believe you're right he cried I am half in love with you already she gazed at him with a contemptuous sinking of her heavily fringed eyelids and withdrew her hand then don't get to the other half or you're regretted shall I ask Blunt that's my affair calm you little vixen give me that kiss you said I was going to ask you for below and he caught her in his arms in an instant she had twisted herself free and confronted him with flashing eyes you dare she cried kiss me by force poo you make love like a schoolboy if you can make me like you I'll kiss you as often as you will if you can't keep your distance please Blunt did not know whether to laugh or be angry at this ruboff he was conscious that he was in rather a ridiculous position and so he decided to laugh you're a spitfire too what must I do to make you like me she made him a curtsy that is your affair she said and as the head of mr. frair appeared above the companion Blunt walked aft feeling considerably bewildered and yet not displeased she's a fine girl by jingo he said cocking his cap and I'm hanged if she ain't sweet upon me and then the old fellow began to whistle softly to himself as he paced the duck into glance towards the man who had taken his place with no friendly eyes but a sort of shame held him as yet and he kept aloof morris frair's greeting was short enough well sarah he said have you got out of your temper she frowned what did you strike the man for he did you no harm he was out of his place what business had he to come aft one must keep these wretches down my girl well there will be too much for you here do you think one man could capture a ship mr morris no but one hundred might nonsense what could they do against the soldiers there are fifty soldiers so there are but but what well never mind it's against the rules and I won't have it not according to the king's regulations as captain vickers would say frair laughed at her imitation of his pompous captain you are a strange girl I can't make you out come and he took her hand tell me what you are really will you promise not to tell of course upon your word upon my word well then but you'll tell not I come go on ladies made in the family of a gentleman going abroad sarah can't you be serious I am serious that was the advertisement I answered but I mean what you have been you are not a ladies maid all your life she pulled her shawl close around her and shivered people are not born ladies maids I suppose well who are you then have you no friends what have you been she looked up into the young man's face a little less harsh at that moment than it was going to be and creeping closer to him whispered do you love me Morris he raised one of the little hands that rested on the tough rail and undercover of the darkness kissed it you know I do he said you may be a lady's maid or what you like but you are the loveliest woman I ever met she smiled at his vehemence then if you love me what doesn't matter if you loved me you would tell me said he with a quickness which surprised himself but I have nothing to tell and I don't love you yet he let her hand fall with an impatient gesture and at that moment blunt he could restrain himself no longer came up fine night mr frair yes fine enough no signs of a breeze yet though no not yet just then from out of the violet haze that hung over the horizon a strange glow of light broke hello cries frair did you see that all had seen it but they looked for its repetition in vain blunt rubbed his eyes I saw it he said distinctly a flash of light they strained their eyes to pierce through the obscurity best saw something like it before dinner there must be thunder in the air at that instant a thin streak of light shot up and then sank again there was no mistaking at this time and a simultaneous exclamation burst from all on deck from out of the gloom which hung over the horizon rose a column of flame that lighted up the night for an instant and then sunk leaving a dull red spark upon the water it's a ship on fire cried frair end of chapter two book one section three of for the term of his natural life this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information also volunteer please visit LibriVox.org reading by Landy for the term of his natural life by Marcus Clark book one the c 1827 chapter three the monotony breaks they looked again the tiny sparks still burned and immediately over it they grew out of the darkness a crimson spot that hung like a lurid star in the air the soldiers and sailors on the forecastle had seen it also and in a moment the whole vessel was a stir mrs. vickers with little silvia clinging to her dress came up to share the new sensation and at the side of her mistress the modest maid withdrew discreetly from frair's side not that there was any need to do so no one heeded her blunt in his professional excitement had already forgotten her presence and frair was in earnest conversation with vickers take a boat said that gentleman certainly my dear frair by all means that is to say if the captain does not object and it is not contrary to the regulations captain you'll lower a boat eh we may say some of the poor devils cries frair his heartiness of body reviving at the prospect of excitement boat says bunt why she's 12 miles often more and there's not a breath of wind but we can't let him roast like chestnuts cried the other as the glow in the sky broadened and became more intense what is the good of a boat said pine the long boat only holds dirty men and that's a big ship yonder well take two boats three boats by heaven you'll never let him burn alive without staring a finger to save him they've got their own boats says blunt his coolness was in strong contrast to the young officers in petruosity and if the fire gains they'll take to him you may depend in the meantime we'll show him that there's someone near him and as he spoke a blue light flared hissing into the night there they'll see that I expect he said as the ghastly flame rose extinguishing the stars for a moment only to let them appear again brighter in a darker heaven mr best lower and man the quarter boats mr frair you can go in one if you like and take a volunteer or two from those gray jackets of yours amid ships I shall want as many hands as I can spare to man the longboat and cutter in case we want them steady there lads easy and as the first eight men who could reach the deck parted to the la board and starboard quarter boats frair ran down on the main deck mrs vickers of course was in the way and gave a gentile scream as blunt rudely pushed past her with a scarce mustard apology but her maid was standing erect and motionless by the quarter railing and as the captain paused for a moment to look around him he saw her dark eyes fixed on him admiringly he was as he said over forty two burly and gray haired but he blushed like a girl under her approving gaze nevertheless he said only that wenches a trump and swore a little meanwhile morris frair had passed a century and lept down into the tween decks at his nod the prison door was thrown open the air was hot and that strange horrible odor peculiar to closely packed human bodies filled the place it was like coming into a full stable he ran his eye down the double tier of bunks which lined the side of the ship and stopped at the one opposite him there seemed to have been some disturbance there lately for instead of the six pair of feet which should have protruded there from the gleam of the bull's-eye showed but four what's the matter here sentry he asked prisoner ill sir doctor sent him to hospital but there should be two the other came from behind the break of the births it was rougher stores he held by the side as he came and saluted i felt sick sir and was trying to get the scottle open the heads were all raised along the silent line and the eyes and ears were eager to see and listen the double tier of bunks looked terribly like a row of wild beast cages at that moment morris frair stamped his foot indignantly sick what are you sick about you my lingering dog i'll give you something to sweat the sickness out of you stand on one side here roofer stores wandering obeyed he seemed heavy and dejected and passed his hand across his forehead as though he would rub away a pain there which of your fellows can handle an awe frair went on there curse you i don't want 50 three you'll do come on now make haste the heavy door clashed again and in another instant the four volunteers were on deck the crimson glow was turning yellow now and spreading over the sky two in each boat cries blunt i'll burn a blue light every hour for you mr best and take care they don't swamp you lower away lads as the second prisoner took the awe of frair's boat he uttered a groan and fell forward recovering himself instantly sarah perfoy leading over the side saw the occurrence what is the matter with that man she said is he ill pine was next to her and looked at instantly it's that big fella in number 10 he cried here frair but frair heard him not he was intent on the beacon that gleaned ever brighter in the distance give away my lads he shouted and amid a cheer from the ship the two boats shot out of the bright circle of the blue light and disappeared into the darkness sarah perfoy looked at pine for an explanation but he turned abruptly away for a moment the girl paused as if in doubt and then air his retreating figure turned to retrace its steps she cast a quick glance around and slipping down the ladder made her way to the tween decks the irons started oak barricade that loophole for musketry and perforated with plated trapdoor for sterner needs separated soldiers from prisoners was close to her left hand and the sentry at its padlocked door looked at her inquiringly she laid her little hand on his big rough one a sentry is but mortal and opened her brown eyes at him the hospital she said the doctor sent me and before he could answer her white figure vanished down the hutch and passed round the bulkhead behind which lay the sick man end of chapter three book one section four of for the term of his natural life this is a libra vox recording all libra vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libravox.org reading by landi for the term of his natural life by marcus clark book one the c 1827 chapter four the hospital the hospital was nothing more nor less than a partitioned portion of the lower deck filched from the space allotted to the soldiers it ran four and aft coming close to the stern windows and was in fact a sort of artificial stern cabin at a pinch it might have held a dozen men though not so hot as in the prison the atmosphere of the lower deck was close and unhealthy and the girl pausing to listen to the subdued harm of conversation coming from the soldier's births turned strangely sick and giddy she drew herself up however and held out her hand to a man who came rapidly across the misshapen shadows thrown by the cyclist swinging lantern to meet her it was the young soldier who had been that day sentry at the convict gingway well miss he said i am here you see waiting for you you are a good boy miles but don't you think i'm worth waiting for miles grin for me to wear indeed you be said he serapurfway frowned and then smiled come here miles i've got something for you miles came forward grinning harder the girl produced a small object from the pocket of her dress if mrs vickers had seen it she would probably have been angry for it was nothing less than the captain's brandy flask drink said she it's the same as they have upstairs so it won't hurt you the fellow needed no pressing he took off half the contents of the bottle at a gulp and then fetching a long breath stood staring at her that's prime is it her dare say it is she had been looking at him with unaffected disgust as he drank brandy is all you men understand miles still sucking in his breath came a pace closer not it said he with a twinkle in his little pig's eyes i understand something else miss i can tell you the tone of the sentence seemed to awaken and remind her of her errand in that place she laughed as loudly and merrily as she dared and laid her hand on the speaker's arm the boy for he was but a boy one of those many ill-reared country louts who leave the plow tail for the musket and for a shilling a day experience all the pomp and circumstance of glorious war reddened to the roots of his closely cropped hair there that's quite close enough you're only a common soldier miles and you mustn't make love to me not make love to you says miles what did you tell me to meet you here for then she laughed again what a practical animal you are suppose i had something to say to you miles devoured her with his eyes it's hard to marry a soldier he said with the recruits proud intonation of the word but you might do worse miss and i'll work for you like a slave i will she looked at him with curiosity and pleasure though her time was evidently precious she could not resist the temptation of listening to praises of herself i know you're above me miss sarah you're a lady but i love you i do and you drives me wild with your tricks do i do you yes you do what did you come and make up to me for and then go sweetheart and with them others what others why the cutty folk the skipper and the parson and that prayer i see you walk in the deck with our own knights dumbum i'd put a bullet through his red head as soon as look at an hush miles dear they'll hear you her face was all aglow and her expanded nostrils throbbed beautiful as the face was that had a tigerish look about it at that instant encouraged by the epithet miles put his arm around her slim waist just as blunt had done but she did not resent it so abruptly miles had promised more hush she whispered with admirably acted surprise i heard a noise and as the soldier started back she smoothed her dress completely there is no one cried he isn't there my mistake then now come here miles miles obeyed who is in the hospital now i don't know well i want to go in miles scratched his head and grinned you can't why not you've let me in before against the doctor's orders he told me special to let no one in but himself nonsense it ain't nonsense there was a convict brought in tonight and nobody's to go near him her convict she grew more interested what's the matter with him don't know but he's to be kept quiet until old pine comes down she became authoritative come miles let me go in don't ask me miss it's against orders and against orders why you were blustering about shooting people just now the badgered miles grew angry was i bluster or no bluster you don't go in she turned away oh very well if this is all the thanks i get for wasting my time down here i should go on deck again miles became uneasy there are plenty of agreeable people there miles took a step after her mr frair will let me go in i dare say if i ask him miles swore under his breath don mr frair go in if you like he said i won't stop you but remember what i'm doing off she turned again at the foot of the ladder and came quickly back that's a good lad i knew you would not refuse me and smiling at the poor lachi was befalling she passed into the cabin there was no lantern and from the partially blocked stern windows came only a dim vaporous light the dull ripple of the water as the ship rocked on the slow swell of the sea made a melancholy sound and the sick man's heavy breathing seemed to fill the air the slight noise made by the opening door roused him he rose on his elbow and began to mutter sarah purr fought paused in the doorway to listen but she could make nothing of the low uneasy murmuring raising her arm conspicuous by its white sleeve in the gloom she beckoned miles the lantern she whispered bring me the lantern he unhooked it from the rope where it swung and brought it towards her at that moment the man in the bunk sat up erect and twisted himself towards the light sarah he cried in shrill sharp tones sarah and swooped with a lean arm through the dusk as though to seize her the girl leapt out of the cabin like a pantel struck the lantern out of her lover's hand and was back at the bunkhead in a moment the convict was a young man of about four and twenty his hands clutched convulsively now in the blanket were small and well shaped and the unshaven chin bristled with promise of a strong beard his wild black eyes glared with all the fire of delirium and as he gasped for breath the sweat stood in beads on his cello forward the aspect of the man was sufficiently ghastly and miles drawing back with an oath did not wonder at the terror which had seized mrs wicker's maid with open mouth and organized face she stood in the center of the cabin lantern in hand like one turned to stone gazing at the man on the bed echoed ebbs site says miles at length come away miss and shut the door his raving i tell you the sound of his voice recalled her she dropped the lantern and rushed to the bed you fool he's choking can't you see water give me water and reading her arms around the man's head she pulled it down on her bosom rocking it there half savagely to and fro awed into obedience by her voice miles dipped a panikin into a small unheaded punchin pleaded in the corner of the cabin and gave it to her and without thanking him she placed at the sick prisoner's lips he drank greedily and closed his eyes with a grateful sigh just then the quick ears of miles heard the jingle of arms here's the doctor coming miss he cried i hear the sentry saluting come away quick she seized the lantern and opening the horn slide extinguished it say it went out she said in a fierce whisper and hold your tongue leave me to manage she bent over the convict as if to arrange his pillow and then glided out of the cabin just as pine descended the hatch way hello cried he stumbling as he missed his footing where's the light here sir says miles fumbling with the lantern it's all right sir it went out sir went out what did you let it go out for your blockhead growl the unsuspecting pine just like you boobies what is the use of a light if it goes out eh as he groped his way without stretched arms in the darkness sarah perforate slipped past him unnoticed and gained the upper deck end of chapter four book one section five of for the term of his natural life this is the LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Landy for the term of his natural life for Marcus Clarke book one the c 1827 chapter five the barracoon in the prison of the tween decks reigned a darkness pregnant with murmurs the sentry at the entrance to the hatchway was supposed to prevent the prisoners from making a noise but he put a very liberal interpretation upon the clause and so long as the prisoners refrain from shouting yelling and fighting eccentricities in which they sometimes indulged he did not disturb them this course of conduct was dictated by prudence no less than by convenience for one century was but little over so many and the convicts if pressed too hard would raise a sort of bestial boo-hoo in which all voices were confounded and which while it made noise enough and to spare utterly precluded individual punishment one could not flog a hundred and eighty men and it was impossible to distinguish any particular offender so in virtue of this last appeal convictism had established a tacit right to converse in whispers and to move about inside its open cage to one coming in from the upper air the place would have seemed in pitchy darkness but the convict eye accustomed to the sinister twilight was unable to discern surrounding objects with tolerable distinctness the prison was about 50 feet long and 50 feet wide and ran the full height of the tween decks viz about five feet ten inches high the barricade was loophole here and there and the planks were in some places wide enough to admit a musket barrel on the aft side next to the soldier's births was a trapdoor like the stokehole of a furnace at first sight this appeared to be contrived for the humane purpose of ventilation but a second glance dispelled this weak conclusion the opening was just large enough to admit the muzzle of a small howitzer secured on the deck below in the case of a mutiny the soldiers could sweep the prison from end to end with grape short such fresh air as there was filtered through the loopholes and came in somewhat larger quantity through a wind-sail passed into the prison from the hatchway but the wind-sail being necessarily at one end only of the place the air it brought was pretty well absorbed by the 20 or 30 lucky fellows near it and the other 150 did not come so well off the scuttles were open certainly but as the roll of bonks had been built against them the air they brought was the peculiar property of such men as occupied the births into which they penetrated these births were twenty-eight in number each containing six men they ran in a double tier around three sides of the prison twenty yards at each side and eight affixed to that portion of the forward barricade opposite the door each birth was presumed to be five feet six inches square but the necessities of stowage had deprived them of six inches and even under that pressure twelve men were compelled to sleep on the deck pine did not exaggerate when he spoke of the custom of overcrowding convict ships and as he was entitled to half a guinea for every man who delivered a live at Hobart town he had some reason to complain when frair had come down an hour before the prisoners were all snugly between their blankets they were not so now though at the first clink of the bolts they would be back in their old positions to all appearances sound asleep as the eye became accustomed to the fetid duskiness of the prison a strange picture presented itself groups of men in all imaginable attitudes were lying standing sitting or pacing up and down it was the scene on the poop deck over again only here being no fear of restraining keepers the wild beasts were a little more free in their movements it is impossible to convey in words any idea of the hideous fantasmagoria of shifting limbs and faces which moves through the evil smelling twilight of this terrible prison house Callo might have drawn it Dante might have suggested it but a minute attempt to describe its horrors would but disgust there are depths in humanity which one cannot explore as they are mephitic caverns into which one dare not penetrate old men young men and boys stalwart burglars and highway robbers slept side by side with whiz and pickpockets or cunning featured area sneaks the forger occupied the same birth with the body snatcher the man of education learned strange secrets of housebreakers craft and the vulgar ruffian of st giles took lessons of self-control from the keener intellect of the professional swindler the fraudulent clerk and the flash cracksman interchanged experiences the smugglers stories of lucky ventures and successful runs were capped by the footpaths reminiscences of foggy nights and stolen watches the poacher grimly thinking of his sick wife and orphaned children would start as the nighthouse ruffian clapped him on the shoulder and bade him with a curse to take good heart and be a man the fast shock boy his love of fine company and higher living had brought him to this pass had shaken off the first shame that was on him and listened eagerly to the narratives of successful vice that fell so glibly from the lips of his older companions to be transported seemed no such uncommon fate the old fellows laughed and wagged their gray heads with all the glee of past experience and listening youths longed for the time when it might do likewise society was the common foe and magistrates jailers and passons with a natural prey of all noteworthy mankind only fools were honest only cowards kissed the rod and failed to meditate revenge on that world of respectability which had wronged them each newcomer was one more recruit to the ranks of ruffianism and not a man penned in that wreaking den of infamy but became a sworn hater of law order and free men what he might have been before mattered not he was now a prisoner and thrust into a suffocating barracune herded with the foulest of mankind with all imaginable depths of blasphemy and indecency sounded hourly in his sight and hearing he lost his self-respect and became what the jailers took him to be a wild beast to be locked under bolts and bars lest he should break out and tear them the conversation ran upon the sudden departure of the four what could they want with them at that hour i tell you there's something up on deck says one to the group nearest him don't you hear all that rumbling and rolling what did they lower boats for i heard the dip of the oars don't know mate perhaps a burial job has it in a short stout fellow is a sort of happy suggestion one of those coves in the parlor said another and a laugh followed the speech no such luck you won't hang your jib for them yet a while more like the skipper or gone fishing the skipper don't go fishing you fool what would you do fishing especially in the middle of the night that'd be like old dovery eh says a fifth alluding to an old grey-headed fellow who a returned convict was again under sentence for body-snatching i put in a young man who had the reputation of being the smartest crow in london fishes of man as the parson says the snuffling imitation of a messiah's preacher was good and there was another laugh just then a miserable little cockney pickpocket feeling his way to the door fell into the party a volley of oaths and kicks received him a banky pardon gentleman cries the miserable wretch but i won here go to the barbers and buy a wig then says the crow elated at the success of his last sally oh sir my back get up growing someone in the darkness oh lord i'm smothering here century vata cried the little cockney give us a drop of vata for mercy's sake i haven't moistened my chaff for this blessed day half a gallon a day bow and no more says a sailor next to him yes and what have you done with your half-gallon eh asked the crow derisively someone stole it said the sufferer he's been and blued it squealed someone been and blued it to buy a sunday vascular with oh wait here vicar young man and the speaker hid his head under the blankets in humorous affectation of modesty all this time the miserable little cockney he was a tailor by trade had been grovelling under the feet of the crow and his companions let me help gents he implored let me help i feel as if i should die i do let the gentleman up says the humorous in the bunk don't you see his carriage is evading to take him to the hopperer the conversation had got a little loud and from the topmost bunk on the near side a bullet had protruded ain't a cove to get no sleep cried a gruff voice my blood if i have to turn out i'll knock some of your empty heads together it seemed that the speaker was a man of mark for the noise ceased instantly and in the lull which ensued a shrill scream broke from the wretched tola help they're killing me ah what's the matter roared the silencer of the riot jumping from his birth and scattering the crow and his companions right and left let him be can't you here cried the poor devil here i'm fainting just then there came another groan from the man in the opposite bunk well unblessed said the giant as he held the gasping tailor by the collar and glared around him here's a pretty girl all the blessed chickens have got the croop the groaning of the man in the bunk redoubled pass the word to the sentry says someone more humane than the rest ah says the humorist pass him out it'll be one the less would rather have his room than his company sentry here's a man sick but the sentry knew his duty better than to reply he was a young soldier but he had been well informed of the artfulness of convict stratogens and moreover captain vickers had carefully apprised him that by the king's regulations he was forbidden to reply to any question or communication addressed to him by a convict but in the event of being addressed he was to call the non commissioned officer on duty now that he was within easy hailing distance of the guard on the quarter-deck he felt a natural disinclination to disturb those gentlemen merely for the sake of a sick convict and knowing that in a few minutes the third relief would come on duty he decided to wait until then in the meantime the tailor grew worse and began to moan dismally here hello called out his supporter in dismay hold up here what's wrong with you don't come the drops here pass him down some of you and the wreck was hustled down the line to the doorway water he whispered beating feebly with his hand on the sick oak get us a drink mister for god's sake but the prudent sentry answered never a word until the ship's bell warned him of the approach of the relief guard and then on a stalled pine coming with anxious face to inquire after his charge received the intelligence that there was another prisoner sick he had the door unlocked and the tailor was outside in an instant one look at the flushed anxious face was enough who's that moaning in there he asked it was the man who had tried to call for the sentry an hour back and pine had him out also convict isn't beginning to wonder a little taken both after the hospital he said and Jenkins if there are any more men taken sick let them pass the word for me at once I shall be on deck the guards stared in each other's faces with some alarm but said nothing thinking more of the burning ship which now flamed furiously across the placid water then of the peril near a home but as pine went up the hatchway he met blunt we've got the fever aboard good god do you mean it pine pine shook his grizzled head sorrowfully it's this cursed calm that's done it though I expected it all along with his ship crammed as she is when I was in the heckyba who is it pine laughed a half pitying half angry laugh a convict of course who else should it be they are reeking like bullocks at smithfield down there 180 men penned into a place 50 feet long with the air like an oven what could you expect poor blunt stamped his foot it isn't my fault he cried the soldiers are birthed aft if the government will ever load these ships I can't help it the government are the government the government don't sleep 60 men aside in a cabin only six feet higher the government don't get typhus fever in the tropics does it no but but what does the government care then blunt wiped his hot forehead who was the first down number 97 birth ten on the lower tier John Rex he calls himself are you sure it's the fever as sure as I can be yet head like a fireball and tongue like a strip of leather god don't I know it and pine grinned mournfully I've got him moved into the hospital hospital it is a hospital as dark as a wolf's mouth I've seen dog kennels I like better blunt nodded towards the volume of lurid smoke that rolled up out of the glow suppose there is a shipload of those poor devils I can't refuse to take him in no says pine gloomily I suppose you can't if they come I must stow him somewhere we'll have to run for the cape with the first breeze if they do come that is all I can see for it and he turned away to watch the burning vessel end of chapter five book one section six of for the term of his natural life this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org for the term of his natural life by Marcus Clark book one the sea 1827 chapter six the fate of the Idaspis in the meanwhile the two boats made straight for the red column that up rose like a gigantic torch over the silent sea as blunt had said the burning ship lay a good 12 miles from the Malabi and the pool was a long and weary one once fairly away from the protecting sides of the vessel that had borne them thus far on their dismal journey the adventurers seemed to have come into a new atmosphere the immensity of the ocean over which they slowly moved revealed itself for the first time on board the prison ship surrounded with all the memories if not with the comforts of the shore they had quitted they had not realized how far they were from that civilization which had given them birth the well-lighted well furnished cuddy the homely mirth of the forecastle the setting of centuries and the changing of guards even the gloom and terror of the closely locked prison combined to make the voyages feel secure against the unknown dangers of the sea that defiance of nature which is born of contact with humanity had hitherto sustained them and they felt that though alone on the vast expanse of waters they were in companionship with others of their kind and that the perils one man had passed might be successfully dared by another but now with one ship growing smaller behind them and the other containing they knew not what horror of human agony and human helplessness lying a burning wreck in the black distance ahead of them they began to feel their own littleness the Malabi that huge sea monster in whose capacious belly so many human creatures lived and suffered had dwindled to a walnut shell and yet beside her bulk how infinitely small had their own frail cock boat appeared as they shot out from under her towering stern then the black hull rising above them had seemed a tower of strength built to defy the utmost violence of wind and wave now it was but a slip of wood floating on an unknown depth of black fathomless water the blue light which at its first flashing over the ocean had made the very stars pale their luster and lighted up with ghastly radiance the enormous vault of heaven was now only a point brilliant and distinct it is true but which by its very brilliance dwarfed the ship into insignificance the Malabi lay on the water like a glow worm on a floating leaf and the glare of the signal fire made no more impression on the darkness than the candle carried by a solitary miner would have made on the abyss of a coal pit and yet the Malabi held 200 creatures like themselves the water over which the boats glided was black and smooth rising into huge foamless billows the more terrible because they were silent when the sea hisses it speaks and speech breaks the spell of terror when it is inert heaving noiselessly it is dumb and seems to brood over mischief the ocean in a calm is like a sulky giant one dreads that it may be meditating evil moreover an angry sea looks less vast in extent than a calm one its mounting waves bring the horizon nearer and one does not discern for how many leagues the pitiless billows repeat themselves to appreciate the hideous vastness of the ocean one must see it when it sleeps the great sky uproars from this silent sea without a cloud the stars hung low in its expanse burning in a violent mist of low ether the heavens were emptied of sound and each dip of the oars was re-echoed in space by a succession of subtle harmonies as the blades struck the dark water it flashed fire and the tracks of the boats resembled two sea snakes writhing with silent undulations through a lake of quicksilver it had been a sort of race hitherto and the rowers with set teeth and compressed lips had pulled stroke for stroke at last the foremost boat came to a sudden pause best gave a cheery shout and passed her steering straight into the broad track of crimson that already reeked on the sea ahead what is it he cried but he heard only a smothered curse from freer and then his consort pulled hard to overtake him it was in fact nothing of consequence only a prisoner giving in cursed says freer what's the matter with you oh you is it doors of course doors i never expected anything better from such a skulking hound come this sort of nonsense won't do with me it isn't as nice as lulloping about the hatchways i dare say but you'll have to go on my fine fellow he seems sick sir said compassionate bow sick not he shaming come give way now put your backs into it and the convict having picked up his oar the boat shot forward again but for all mr freer's urging he could not recover the way he had lost and best was the first to run in under the black cloud that hung over the crimson water at his signal the second boat came alongside keep wide he said if there are many fellows yet aboard they'll swamp us and i think there must be as we haven't met the boats and then raising his voice as the exhausted crew lay on their oars he hailed the burning ship she was a huge clumsily built vessel with great breadth of beam and a lofty poop deck strangely enough though they had so lately seen the fire she was already a wreck and appeared to be completely deserted the chief hold of the fire was a midships and the lower deck was one massive flame here and there were great charred rifts and gaps in her sides and the red hot fire glowed through these as through the bars of a great the main mast had fallen on the starboard side and trailed a blackened wreck in the water causing the unwieldy vessel to lean over heavily the fire roared like a cataract and huge volumes of flame flecked smoke poured up out of the hold and rolled away in a low lying black cloud over the sea as freer's boat pulled slowly round her stern he hailed the deck again and again still there was no answer and though the flood of light that died the water blood red struck out every rope and spar distinct and clear he straining eyes could see no living soul aboard as they came nearer they could distinguish the gilded letters of her name what is it men cried freer his voice almost drowned amid the roar of flames can you see it rufous doors impelled it would seem by some strong impulsive curiosity stood erect and shaded his eyes with his hand well can't you speak what is it the hideous beast freer gasped the hideous beast the ship which his coven richard had sailed the ship in which his coven richard devine had sailed the ship for which those in england might now look in vain the hideous beast which something he'd heard during the speculations as to this missing cousin flashed across him back water men round with a pull for your lives best boat glided alongside can you see her name freer white with terror shouted a reply the hideous beast i know her she is bound for calcutta and she has five tons of powder aboard there was no need for more words the single sentence explained for whole mystery of her desertion the crew had taken to the boats on the first alarm and had left their death fraught vessel to her fate they were miles off by this time and unluckily for themselves perhaps had steered away from the side where rescue lay the boats tore through the water eager as the men had been to come they were more eager to depart the flames had even now reached the poop in a few minutes it would be too late for 10 minutes or more not a word was spoken with straining arms and laboring chests the rowers tugged at the oars their eyes fixed on a lurid mass they were leaving freer and best with their faces turned back to the terror they fled from urged their men to greater efforts already the flames had lapped the flag already the outlines of the stern carvings were blurred by the fire another moment and all would be over ah it had come at last a dull rumbling sound the burning ship parted asunder a pillar of fire flecked with black masses that were beams and planks rose up out of the ocean there was a terrific crash as those sea and sky were coming together and then a mighty mountain of water rose advanced caught and passed them and they were alone deafened stunned and breathless in a sudden horror of thickest darkness and a silence like that of the tomb the splashing of the falling fragments awoke them from their stupor and then the blue light of the Malabai struck out a bright pathway across the sea and they knew that they were safe on board the Malabai two men paced the deck waiting for dawn it came at last the sky lightened the mist melted away and then a long low far off streak of pale yellow light floated on the eastern horizon by and by the water sparkled and the sea changed color turning from black to yellow and from yellow to lucid green the man at the mast head hailed the deck the boats were in sight and as they came toward the ship the bright water flashing from the laboring oars a crowd of spectators hanging over the bulwarks cheered and waved their hats not a soul cried blunt no one but themselves well i'm glad they're safe anyway the boats drew alongside and in a few seconds freer was upon deck well mr freer no use cried freer shivering we only just had time to get away the nearest thing in the world sir didn't you see anyone not a soul they must have taken to the boats then they can't be that far off cried blunt sweeping the horizon with his glass they must have pulled all the way for there hasn't been enough wind to fill a hollow tooth with perhaps they pulled in the wrong direction said freer they had a good four hours starter us you know then best came up and told the story to a crowd of eagle listeners the sailors having hoisted and secured the boats were hurried off to the forecastle there to eat and relate to their experience between mouthfuls and the four convicts were taken in charge and locked below again he would better go and turn in freer said pine gruffly it's no use whistling for a wind here all day freer laughed in his heartiest manner i think i will he said i'm dog tired and sleepy as an owl and he descended the poop ladder pine took a couple of turns up and down the deck and then catching blunt eye stopped in front of vickers you may think it a hard thing to say captain vickers but it's just as well if we don't find these poor devils we have quite enough on our hands as it is what do you mean mr pine these vickers his humane feelings getting the better of his pomposity he would not surely leave the unhappy men to their fate perhaps return the other they would not thank us for taking them aboard i don't understand you the fever has broken out vickers raised his brows he had no experience of such things and though the intelligence was startling the crowded condition of the prison rendered it easy to be understood and he apprehended no danger to himself it is a great misfortune but of course you will take such steps it is only in the prison as yet says pine with a grim emphasis on the word but there is no saying how long it may stop there and i have got three men down as it is well sir all authority in the matter is in your hands any suggestions you make i will of course do my best to carry out thank you i must have more room in the hospital to begin with the soldiers must lie a little closer i will see what can be done and you would better keep your wife and the little girl as much on deck as possible vickers turned pale at the mention of his child good heavens do you think there is any danger there is of course danger to all of us but with care we may escape it there's that maid too tell her to keep to herself a little more she has a trick of roaming about the ship i don't like infection is easily spread and children always sicken sooner than grown-up people vickers pressed his lips together this old man with his harsh dissonant voice and hideous practicality seemed like a bird of ill omen blunt hitherto silently listening put in a word for defense of the absent woman the wench is right enough pine he said what's the matter with her yes she's all right i've no doubt she's less likely to take it than any of us you can see her vitality in her face as many lines as a cat but she'd bring infection quicker than anybody i'll i'll go at once cried poor vickers turning around the woman of whom they were speaking met him on the ladder her face was paler than usual and dark circles around her eyes gave evidence of a sleepless night she opened her red lips to speak and then seeing vickers stopped abruptly well what is it she looked from one to the other i came for dr pine vickers with the quick intelligence of affection guessed her errand someone is ill miss silvia sir it is nothing to signify i think a little feverish and hot and my mistress vickers was down the ladder in an instant with scared face pine caught the girl's round firm arm where have you been two great flakes of red came out in her white cheeks and she shot an indignant glance at blunt come pine let the wench alone were you with the child last night went on pine without turning his head no i've not been in the cabin since dinner yesterday mrs vickers only called me in just now let go my arm sir you hurt me pine loosened his hold as if satisfied at the reply i beg your pardon he said roughly i did not mean to hurt you but the fever has broken out in the prison and i think the child has caught it you must be careful where you go and then with an anxious face he went in pursuit of vickers sarah perfoy stood motionless for an instant in deadly terror her lips parted her eyes glittered and she made a movement as though to retrace her steps poor soul thought honest blunt how she feels for the child d that lovely surgeon he's hurt her never mind my last he said aloud it was broad daylight and he had not as much courage in love making as at night don't be afraid i've been in ships with fever before now awaking as it were at the sound of his voice she came closer to him but ship fever i have heard of it men have died like rotten sheep in crowded vessels like this tush not they don't be frightened miss silvia won't die nor you neither he took her hand it may knock off a few dozen prisoners or so they are pretty close packed down there he drew her hand away and then remembering herself gave it him again what is the matter nothing a pain i did not sleep last night there there you are upset i dare say go and lie down she was staring away past him over the sea as if in thought so intently did she look that he involuntarily turned his head and the action recalled her to herself she brought her fine straight brows together for a moment and then raised them with the action of a thinker who was decided on his course of conduct i have a two fake she said putting her hand to her face take some lordenum says blunt with them recollection of his mother's treatment of such ailments old pineal give you some to his astonishment she burst into tears there there don't cry my dear hang it don't cry what are you crying about she dashed away the bright drops and raised her face with a rainy smile of trusting affection nothing i'm lonely so far from home and and dr pine hurt my arm look she bared that shapely member as she spoke and sure enough there were three red marks on the white and shining flesh the ruffian cried blunt it's too bad and after a hasty look around him the infatuated fellow kissed the bruise i'll get the lordenum for you he said you shan't ask that bear for it come into my cabin blunt's cabin was in the starboard side of the ship just under the poop awning and possessed three windows one looking out over the side and two upon the deck the corresponding cabin on the other side was occupied by mr marisa freer he closed the door and took down a small medicine chest cleated above the hooks where hung his signal pictured telescope here he said opening it i've carried this little box for years but it ain't often i want the use for it but it ain't often i want to use thank god now then put some of this into your mouth and hold it there good gracious captain blunt you'll poison me give me the bottle i'll help myself don't take too much says blunt it's dangerous stuff you know you need not fear i've used it before the door was shut and as she put the bottle in her pocket the amorous captain caught her in his arms what do you say come i think i deserve a kiss for that her tears were all dry long ago and had only given increased color to her face the agreeable woman never wept long enough to make herself distasteful she raised her dark eyes to his for a moment with a saucy smile by and by she said and escaping gained her cabin it was next to that of her mistress and she could hear the sick child feebly moaning her eyes filled with tears real ones this time poor little thing she said i hope she won't die and then she threw herself on her bed and buried her hot head in the pillow the intelligence of the fever seemed to have terrified her had the news disarranged some well concocted plan of hers being near the accomplishment of some cherished scheme long kept in view at the sudden and unexpected presence of disease falsified her carefully made calculations and cast almost insurmountable obstacle in her path she die and through me how did i know that he had the fever perhaps i have taken it myself i feel ill she turned over on the bed as if in pain and then started to a sitting position stung by a sudden thought perhaps he might die the fever spreads quickly and if so all this plotting will have been useless it must be done at once it will never do to break down now and taking the file from her pocket she held it up to see how much it contained it was three parts full enough for both she said between her set teeth the action of holding up the bottle reminded her of the amorous blunt and she smiled a strange way to show affection for a man she said to herself and yet he doesn't care and i suppose i shouldn't by this time i'll go through with it and if the worst comes to the worst i can fall back on marise she loosened the cork of the file so that it would come out with as little noise as possible and then placed it carefully in her bosom i will get a little sleep if i can she said they have got the note and it shall be done tonight end of chapter six book one