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must stop that fifty lashes troke
that last fellow you had ought to have been tied up himself
i won't have my men knocked up with flogging these rascals
very good your honour says troke
captain frere says that the scenery is delightful
abandoned indeed by god and man almost
in the valley of the shadow of death he is with us
you have not been long in the colony mister meekin
if you please said meekin gravely
pray help yourself to wine
have you many visitors captain burgess very few
i was quartered with him at sarah island
so he's a friend of yours eh
i had the pleasure of meeting him in society
he is just married you know is he said burgess
the devil he is i heard something about it too
yes one oughtn't to leave the colony without seeing it says burgess it's worth seeing
in fact the ringleader john rex gave me his confession and i sent it to the bishop
a great rascal put in north
well now said meekin with asperity i don't agree with you
he seems to me to be truly penitent for his offences a misguided but not a hypocritical man if my knowledge of human nature goes for anything i hope he is said north
there's no fear of him said burgess cheerily if he grows uproarious we'll soon give him a touch of the cat
i suppose severity is necessary returned meekin though to my ears a flogging sounds a little distasteful
i have these attacks at times
the reverend meekin eyed his clerical brother with horror the reverend meekin was not accustomed to clergymen who wore black neckties smoked clay pipes chewed tobacco and drank neat brandy out of tumblers
so they went on to the verandah and looked down upon the lights of the prison and listened to the sea lapping the shore
by and by a short figure smoking a cheroot came up out of the dark and proved to be doctor macklewain who had been prevented from attending the dinner by reason of an accident to a constable at norfolk bay which had claimed his professional attention
dead said doctor macklewain
delighted to see you mister meekin
but macklewain was tired and wanted to get home
our roads lie together doctor
before the two clergymen had got half way down the steep path that led from the commandant's house to the flat on which the cottages of the doctor and chaplain were built macklewain rejoined them
another flogging to morrow said he grumblingly
whom is he going to flog now
you don't mean to say he's going to flog kirkland
perhaps you'll have the goodness to allow me to be the best judge of that returned macklewain drawing up his little body to its least insignificant stature
mister meekin expressed some alarm but doctor macklewain re assured him
we can't do anything without evidence complain
i shall find my portmanteau in my room you said yes yes
he sleeps at the back and north hurried off
an impulsive gentleman said meekin to macklewain as the sound of mister north's footsteps died away in the distance
macklewain shook his head seriously
he has the strangest fits at times
unless it's a cancer in the stomach i don't know what it can be cancer in the stomach
doctor we all have our crosses have we not
how delightful the grass smells
good night sir i hope you will be comfortable
i'll teach my prisoners to attempt suicide
that's macklewain's business
then don't you interfere with me sir
i've given my orders sir
then captain burgess cried north his pale face flushing i tell you the boy's blood will be on your head
i am a minister of god sir and i forbid you to commit this crime
damn your impertinence sir burst out burgess
you're a dismissed officer of the government sir
this of course was mere bravado on the part of the commandant
north knew well that he would never dare to attempt any such act of violence but the insult stung him like the cut of a whip
show mister north out he said and go down to the barracks and tell troke that kirkland is to have a hundred lashes to morrow
i'll show you who's master here my good sir
this is murderous
the government may go to and you too roared burgess get out
they shall not flog that boy he said
i'll report this to the government
i wish i hadn't taken that brandy he said fool that i am
oh god give me strength aid me help me
o lord look down upon me
he mixed a teaspoonful of this in a pannikin of water and drank it
it relieved him for a while
it was as though he had reached the crisis of a disease which had been for days gathering force
i must have a teaspoonful he said to allay the craving
twice he paused on the way to the sitting room and twice was he driven on by a power stronger than his will
he smelt the nutty aroma of the spirit
that at all times debasing at this particular time it was infamous that a vice unworthy of any man was doubly sinful in a man of education and a minister of god in vain
in the midst of his arguments he found himself at the cupboard with the bottle at his lips in an attitude that was at once ludicrous and horrible
when we took our seats at the breakfast table it was with the feeling of being no longer looked upon as connected in any way with this case
instantly they absorbed all my attention though i dared not give them a direct look and continued to observe them only in the glass
yes and a very respectable one
the lady is not the mother of the boys but their aunt
the boys belong to the gentleman who is a widower
george nodded
the boys look wide awake enough if the father does not
do they still insist that miss challoner was the only person in the room with them at this time
george
have you ever thought that she might have been a suicide
i know it sounds foolish but the alternative is so improbable
the boys look wide awake enough but who can tell i would sooner believe that
a man was looking in from the corridor behind at the four persons we were just discussing
i inquired of george with my eyes still on this furtive watcher
i took quite a fancy to him why
i am looking at him now
just an everyday detective but ambitious i suppose and quite alive to the importance of being thorough
yes he's mercurial in all his movements
what does he want
i asked as soon as george had returned to my side
he wants me to stand ready to obey any summons the police may send me
i emphasised complacently
he appeared to know for he told me at once that he was detective gryce a man who had grown old in solving just such baffling problems as these
he gave up work some time ago i have been told my husband went on but evidently a great case still has its allurement for him
the trail here must be a very blind one for them to call him in
i wish we had not left so soon