He was a little flustrated, when he got into the top; but after he had sat down a bit, his breath come quiet and regular again, and I could see there was no chance of his nerve going." The next morning, soon after daybreak, the dockyard boats began to row alongside, with grey-coated convicts.

Reuben watched them as they came on board, with a sort of fascination with their closely cut hair, bullet heads, and evil faces.

Although he had no doubt that the repulsive expression was due partly to the close-cut hair and shaved faces, and their hideous garb, he could scarcely repress a shudder as he looked at them.

In some faces an expression of brutal ferocity was dominant.

Others had a shifty, cunning look, no less repulsive.
There were a few good-humoured faces, one or two so different from the others, that Reuben wondered whether they were innocent victims of circumstances, as he had so nearly been.