For the Term of His Natural Life

by Marcus Clarke

  “Whom is he going to flog now?”

  “That young butler-fellow of his.”

  “What, Kirkland?” cried North. “You don’t mean to say he’s going to flog Kirkland?”

  “Insubordination,” says Macklewain. “Fifty lashes.”

  “Oh, this must be stopped,” cried North, in great alarm. “He can’t stand it. I tell you, he’ll die, Macklewain.”

  “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.

  “My dear sir,” replied North, alive to the importance of conciliating the surgeon, “you haven’t seen him lately. He tried to drown himself this morning.”

  Mr. Meekin expressed some alarm; but Dr. Macklewain re-assured him. “That sort of nonsense must be stopped,” said he. “A nice example to set. I wonder Burgess didn’t give him a hundred.”

  “He was put into the long dormitory,” said North; “you know what sort of a place that is. I declare to Heaven his agony and shame terrified me.”

  “Well, he’ll be put into the hospital for a week or so to-morrow,” said Macklewain, “and that’ll give him a spell.”

  “If Burgess flogs him I’ll report it to the Governor,” cries North, in great heat. “The condition of those dormitories is infamous.”

  “If the boy has anything to complain of, why don’t he complain? We can’t do anything without evidence.”

  “Complain! Would his life be safe if he did? Besides, he’s not the sort of creature to complain. He’d rather kill himself.”

  “That’s all nonsense,” says Macklewain. “We can’t flog a whole dormitory on suspicion. I can’t help it. The boy’s made his bed, and he must lie on it.”

  “I’ll go back and see Burgess,” said North. “Mr. Meekin, here’s the gate, and your room is on the right hand. I’ll be back shortly.”

  “Pray, don’t hurry,” said Meekin politely. “You are on an errand of mercy, you know. Everything must give way to that. I shall find my portmanteau in my room, you said.”

  “Yes, yes. Call the servant if you want anything. He sleeps at the back,” and North hurried off.

  “An impulsive gentleman,” said Meekin to Macklewain, as the sound of Mr. North’s footsteps died away in the distance. Macklewain shook his head seriously.

  “There is something wrong about him, but I can’t make out what it is. 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! dear me, how dreadful!” says Meekin. “Ah! Doctor, we all have our crosses, have we not? How delightful the grass smells! This seems a very pleasant place, and I think I shall enjoy myself very much. Good-night.”

  “Good-night, sir. I hope you will be comfortable.”

  “And let us hope poor Mr. North will succeed in his labour of love,” said Meekin, shutting the little gate, “and save the unfortunate Kirkland. Goodnight, once more.”

  Captain Burgess was shutting his verandah-window when North hurried up.

  “Captain Burgess, Macklewain tells me you are going to flog Kirkland.”

  “Well, sir, what of that?” said Burgess.

  “I have come to beg you not to do so, sir. The lad has been cruelly punished already. He attempted suicide to-day—unhappy creature.”

  “Well, that’s just what I’m flogging him for. I’ll teach my prisoners to attempt suicide!”

  “But he can’t stand it, sir. He’s too weak.”

  “That’s Macklewain’s business.”

  “Captain Burgess,” protested North, “I assure you that he does not deserve punishment. I have seen him, and his condition of mind is pitiable.”

  “Look here, Mr. North, I don’t interfere with what you do to the prisoner’s souls; don’t you interfere with what I do to their bodies.” “Captain Burgess, you have no right to mock at my office.”

  “Then don’t you interfere with me, sir.”

  “Do you persist in having this boy flogged?”

  “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. You’ve no authority here in any way; and, by God, sir, if you interfere with my discipline, sir, I’ll have you put in irons until you’re shipped out of the island.”

  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. He made a stride towards the Commandant, as though to seize him by the throat, but, checking himself in time, stood still, with clenched hands, flashing eyes, and beard that bristled.

  The two men looked at each other, and presently Burgess’s eyes fell before those of the chaplain.

  “Miserable blasphemer,” says North, “I tell you that you shall not flog the boy.”

  Burgess, white with rage, rang the bell that summoned his convict servant.

  “Show Mr. 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.”

  “I’ll report this to the Government,” said North, aghast. “This is murderous.”

  “The Government may go to—, and you, too!” roared Burgess. “Get out!” And God’s viceregent at Port Arthur slammed the door.

  North returned home in great agitation. “They shall not flog that boy,” he said. “I’ll shield him with my own body if necessary. I’ll report this to the Government. I’ll see Sir John Franklin myself. I’ll have the light of day let into this den of horrors.” He reached his cottage, and lighted the lamp in the little sitting-room. All was silent, save that from the adjoining chamber came the sound of Meekin’s gentlemanly snore. North took down a book from the shelf and tried to read, but the letters ran together. “I wish I hadn’t taken that brandy,” he said. “Fool that I am.”

  Then he began to walk up and down, to fling himself on the sofa, to read, to pray. “Oh, God, give me strength! Aid me! Help me! I struggle, but I am weak. O, Lord, look down upon me!”

  To see him rolling on the sofa in agony, to see his white face, his parched lips, and his contracted brow, to hear his moans and muttered prayers, one would have thought him suffering from the pangs of some terrible disease. He opened the book again, and forced himself to read, but his eyes wandered to the cupboard. There lurked something that fascinated him. He got up at length, went into the kitchen, and found a packet of red pepper. He mixed a teaspoonful of this in a pannikin of water and drank it. It relieved him for a while.

  “I must keep my wits for to-morrow. The life of that lad depends upon it. Meekin, too, will suspect. I will lie down.”

  He went into his bedroom and flung himself on the bed, but only to toss from side to side. In vain he repeated texts of Scripture and scraps of verse; in vain counted imaginary sheep, or listened to imaginary clock-tickings. Sleep would not come to him. 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 reached it at length, and opening the cupboard, pulled out what he sought. A bottle of brandy. With this in his hand, all moderation vanished. He raised it to his lips and eagerly drank. Then, ashamed of what he had done, he thrust the bottle back, and made for his room. Still he could not sleep. The taste of the liquor maddened him for more. He saw in the darkness the brandy bottle—vulgar and terrible apparition! He saw its amber fluid sparkle. He heard it gurgle as he poured it out. He smelt the nutty aroma of the spirit. He pictured it standing in the cor
ner of the cupboard, and imagined himself seizing it and quenching the fire that burned within him. He wept, he prayed, he fought with his desire as with a madness. He told himself that another’s life depended on his exertions, that to give way to his fatal passion was unworthy of an educated man and a reasoning being, that it was degrading, disgusting, and bestial. 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.

  He had no cancer. His disease was a more terrible one. The Reverend James North—gentleman, scholar, and Christian priest—was what the world calls “a confirmed drunkard”.

  CHAPTER XV

  ONE HUNDRED LASHES

  THE morning sun, bright and fierce, looked down upon a curious sight. In a stone-yard was a little group of persons—Troke, Burgess, Macklewain, Kirkland, and Rufus Dawes.

  Three wooden staves, seven feet high, were fastened together in the form of a triangle. The structure looked not unlike that made by gipsies to boil their kettles. To this structure Kirkland was bound. His feet were fastened with thongs to the base of the triangle; his wrists, bound above his head, at the apex. His body was then extended to its fullest length, and his white back shone in the sunlight. During his tying up he had said nothing—only when Troke pulled off his shirt he shivered.

  “Now, prisoner,” said Troke to Dawes, “do your duty.”

  Rufus Dawes looked from the three stern faces to Kirkland’s white back, and his face grew purple. In all his experience he had never been asked to flog before. He had been flogged often enough.

  “You don’t want me to flog him, sir?” he said to the Commandant.

  “Pick up the cat, sir!” said Burgess, astonished; “what is the meaning of this?”

  Rufus Dawes picked up the heavy cat, and drew its knotted lashes between his fingers.

  “Go on, Dawes,” whispered Kirkland, without turning his head. “You are no more than another man.”

  “What does he say?” asked Burgess.

  “Telling him to cut light, sir,” said Troke, eagerly lying; “they all do it.”

  “Cut light, eh! We’ll see about that. Get on, my man, and look sharp, or I’ll tie you up and give you fifty for yourself, as sure as God made little apples.”

  “Go on, Dawes,” whispered Kirkland again. “I don’t mind.”

  Rufus Dawes lifted the cat, swung it round his head, and brought its knotted cords down upon the white back.

  “Wonn!” cried Troke.

  The white back was instantly striped with six crimson bars. Kirkland stifled a cry. It seemed to him that he had been cut in half.

  “Now then, you scoundrel!” roared Burgess; “separate your cats! What do you mean by flogging a man that fashion?”

  Rufus Dawes drew his crooked fingers through the entangled cords, and struck again. This time the blow was more effective, and the blood beaded on the skin.

  The boy did not cry; but Macklewain saw his hands clutch the staves tightly, and the muscles of his naked arms quiver.

  “Tew!”

  “That’s better,” said Burgess.

  The third blow sounded as though it had been struck upon a piece of raw beef, and the crimson turned purple.

  “My God!” said Kirkland, faintly, and bit his lips.

  The flogging proceeded in silence for ten strikes, and then Kirkland gave a screech like a wounded horse.

  “Oh!…Captain Burgess!…Dawes!…Mr. Troke!…Oh, my God!…Oh! oh!…Mercy!…Oh, Doctor!…Mr. North!…Oh! Oh! Oh!”

  “Ten!” cried Troke, impassively counting to the end of the first twenty.

  The lad’s back, swollen into a lump, now presented the appearance of a ripe peach which a wilful child had scored with a pin. Dawes, turning away from his bloody handiwork, drew the cats through his fingers twice. They were beginning to get clogged a little.

  “Go on,” said Burgess, with a nod; and Troke cried “Wonn!” again.

  Roused by the morning sun streaming in upon him, Mr. North opened his bloodshot eyes, rubbed his forehead with hands that trembled, and suddenly awakening to a consciousness of his promised errand, rolled off the bed and rose to his feet. He saw the empty brandy bottle on his wooden dressing-table, and remembered what had passed. With shaking hands he dashed water over his aching head, and smoothed his garments. The debauch of the previous night had left the usual effects behind it. His brain seemed on fire, his hands were hot and dry, his tongue clove to the roof of his mouth. He shuddered as he viewed his pale face and red eyes in the little looking-glass, and hastily tried the door. He had retained sufficient sense in his madness to lock it, and his condition had been unobserved. Stealing into the sitting-room, he saw that the clock pointed to half-past six. The flogging was to have taken place at half-past five. Unless accident had favoured him he was already too late. Fevered with remorse and anxiety, he hurried past the room where Meekin yet slumbered, and made his way to the prison. As he entered the yard, Troke called “Ten!” Kirkland had just got his fiftieth lash.

  “Stop!” cried North. “Captain Burgess, I call upon you to stop.”

  “You’re rather late, Mr. North,” retorted Burgess. “The punishment is nearly over.”

  “Wonn!” cried Troke again; and North stood by, biting his nails and grinding his teeth, during six more lashes.

  Kirkland ceased to yell now, and merely moaned. His back was like a bloody sponge, while in the interval between lashes the swollen flesh twitched like that of a new-killed bullock. Suddenly, Macklewain saw his head droop on his shoulder. “Throw him off! Throw him off!” he cried, and Troke hurried to loosen the thongs.

  “Fling some water over him!” said Burgess; “he’s shamming.”

  A bucket of water made Kirkland open his eyes. “I thought so,” said Burgess. “Tie him up again.”

  “No. Not if you are Christians!” cried North.

  He met with an ally where he least expected one. Rufus Dawes flung down the dripping cat. “I’ll flog no more,” said he.

  “What?” roared Burgess, furious at this gross insolence.

  “I’ll flog no more. Get someone else to do your blood work for you. I won’t.”

  “Tie him up!” cried Burgess, foaming. “Tie him up. Here, constable, fetch a man here with a fresh cat. I’ll give you that beggar’s fifty, and fifty more on the top of ’em; and he shall look on while his back cools.”

  Rufus Dawes, with a glance at North, pulled off his shirt without a word, and stretched himself at the triangles. His back was not white and smooth, like Kirkland’s had been, but hard and seamed. He had been flogged before. Troke appeared with Gabbett—grinning. Gabbett liked flogging. It was his boast that he could flog a man to death on a place no bigger than the palm of his hand. He could use his left hand equally with his right, and if he got hold of a “favourite”, would “cross the cuts”.

  Rufus Dawes planted his feet firmly on the ground, took fierce grasp on the staves, and drew in his breath. Macklewain spread the garments of the two men upon the ground, and, placing Kirkland upon them, turned to watch this new phase in the morning’s amusement. He grumbled a little below his breath, for he wanted his breakfast, and when the Commandant once began to flog there was no telling where he would stop. Rufus Dawes took five-and-twenty lashes without a murmur, and then Gabbett “crossed the cuts”. This went on up to fifty lashes, and North felt himself stricken with admiration at the courage of the man. “If it had not been for that cursed brandy,” thought he, with bitterness of self-reproach, “I might have saved all this.” At the hundredth lash, the giant paused, expecting the order to throw off, but Burgess was determined to “break the man’s spirit”.

  “I’ll make you speak, you dog, if I cut your heart out!” he cried. “Go on, prisoner.”

  For twenty lashes more Dawes was mu
te, and then the agony forced from his labouring breast a hideous cry. But it was not a cry for mercy, as that of Kirkland’s had been. Having found his tongue, the wretched man gave vent to his boiling passion in a torrent of curses. He shrieked imprecation upon Burgess, Troke, and North. He cursed all soldiers for tyrants, all parsons for hypocrites. He blasphemed his God and his Saviour. With a frightful outpouring of obscenity and blasphemy, he called on the earth to gape and swallow his persecutors, for Heaven to open and rain fire upon them, for hell to yawn and engulf them quick. It was as though each blow of the cat forced out of him a fresh burst of beast-like rage. He seemed to have abandoned his humanity. He foamed, he raved, he tugged at his bonds until the strong staves shook again; he writhed himself round upon the triangles and spat impotently at Burgess, who jeered at his torments. North, with his hands to his ears, crouched against the corner of the wall, palsied with horror. It seemed to him that the passions of hell raged around him. He would fain have fled, but a horrible fascination held him back.

  In the midst of this—when the cat was hissing its loudest—Burgess laughing his hardest, and the wretch on the triangles filling the air with his cries, North saw Kirkland look at him with what he thought a smile. Was it a smile? He leapt forward, and uttered a cry of dismay so loud that all turned.

  “Hullo!” says Troke, running to the heap of clothes, “the young ’un’s slipped his wind!”

  Kirkland was dead.

  “Throw him off!” says Burgess, aghast at the unfortunate accident; and Gabbett reluctantly untied the thongs that bound Rufus Dawes. Two constables were alongside him in an instant, for sometimes newly tortured men grew desperate. This one, however, was silent with the last lash; only in taking his shirt from under the body of the boy, he muttered, “Dead!” and in his tone there seemed to be a touch of envy. Then, flinging his shirt over his bleeding shoulders, he walked out—defiant to the last.