In the dim twilight of that bare interior their faces scarcely appeared natural, and they conversed in undertones.

Most of the fellows were sober and silent, not a bad lot to my judgment, with only here and there a countenance exhibiting viciousness, or a tongue given to ribaldry.

I could remember seeing but few of them before, yet as I observed them more closely now, realized that these were not criminals being punished for crime, but men caught, as I had been, and condemned without fair trial, through the lies of paid informers.

I could even read in their actions and words the simple stories of their former lives--the farm laborer, the sailor, the store-keeper, now all on one common level of misfortune and misery--condemned alike to exile, to servitude in a strange land, beyond seas.
The ticket given me called by number for a certain berth, and I sought until I found this, throwing within the small bundle I bore, and then finding a chance to sit down on the deck beneath.

The last of the bunch of prisoners dribbled down the ladder, each in turn noisily greeted by those already huddled below.