One only in each hut was familiar with the details, and he gave instructions to each man individually as to what he was to do.

The date had been determined by the fact that the time which they had been sentenced to wear irons had terminated the day before, and their unusually subdued and quiet demeanor having carried them through the interval without, as usual, fresh punishments being awarded them before the termination of the former one.
In the morning the whole of the convicts were drawn up to witness the flogging of the inmates of one of the huts, where a man had been found strangled the morning before.

The first prisoner was taken to the triangle, stripped to the waist, and tied up.

There was a dead silence in the ranks of the convicts, but as the first blow fell upon his shoulders there was a loud yell, and simultaneously the whole ranks broke up, and a number of men sprang upon each of the warders, wrested their muskets from them, and threw them to the ground.

Then there was a rush towards the Governor and officers, who were assembled in front of the stone house that faced the open end of the square.