1 10 By Stream and Sea. 



insubordinate among the convicts had waited, probably for 

 years, and now was their time. Under cover of the friendly 

 veil, three of the building gang contrived to elude their 

 keepers, and one man in the field, taking advantage of the 

 momentary surprise with which the officials in that corner of 

 the settlement had been thrown, on hearing the signal, was 

 equally fortunate. 



****** 



The supposition is that a convict is known only as a 

 number, as an unknown quantity of the human family ; but 

 the actual names of the missing men were, in the course of 

 an hour, being whispered in the bar-parlour of the Kings- 

 ford Arms. Here a courageous sportsman, making the 

 hotel his head-quarters for the sake of the snipe and 

 occasional blackcock and woodcock to be had on the moor- 

 land; a couple of commercial travellers, waiting for the 

 vehicle which would shortly bear them into more welcome 

 beats ; and a warder or two off duty, were assembled, 

 discussing the event of the day, and speculating upon the 

 probable results. 



One other member of this company has yet to be men- 

 tioned, though perhaps we should take her presence as a 

 matter of course. It was Miss Western, the hotel bar-maid, 

 waitress, and book-keeper, a reserved, ladylike, irreproach- 

 able person, who had fulfilled the multifarious and not 

 always pleasant duties of her post with faultless faithfulness 

 courteous to all, familiar with none. For once, however, 

 Miss Western's normal taciturnity was broken : there was no 

 questioner more eager than she, until the full details had 

 been told. It was to her that the prison official, over his 

 luncheon-beer, gave the names of the escaped convicts, with 

 such incidental additions respecting their crimes, characters, 

 and behaviour during imprisonment, as would, be naturally 



