The door at length opened, and the great man was in the room. “Attention!” was shrieked out as only sycophants can do, and duly responded to; and the halt and the maim, “Old Hundred,” myself, burglars, and pickpockets, presented one uninterrupted, swerving, rickety line. As a spectacle, it must have been truly imposing, during which the Governor sat down. Our names were then respectively called out, and we crossed from one bench to another to show, as it were, our action. Not a muscle of the inspecting officer’s face moved during these scenes in the arena; and it might have been the Sphinx inspecting the army of Pharaoh, so little attention did he apparently pay to us. Nothing, however, had escaped him; and I learnt to believe there was some truth in the assertion that he had eyes in his boots, if not in his pockets also. As may be supposed, these various inspections took a considerable time, and the day was drawing in before they were all ended. We were thereupon informed that we should occupy temporary cells for “this night only,” and that our final allotment to various parts of the prison would be postponed till the morrow. The cell I now found myself in was indeed a small one—evidently only used as a half-way house, and fitted as sparingly as the thermometer one at Newgate. A notice posted up warned us not to go to bed till the bell rang at eight; and not wishing to break a rule before I had been in the place a day, I foolishly complied with the order. Meanwhile it was getting dark, and though a gaspipe was fitted into the wall, there was not the slightest indication of its being likely to be lit. Mike, who had frequently been here before, intimated his intention of turning in, and, “order be blowed!” strongly advised us to do the same. I only regret I was weak enough not to. The gloom gradually increased till we were left in outer darkness. To find the bed-clothing would now have been a difficulty; to make any resemblance to a bed an absolute impossibility. Still, on the strength of the notice, I waited through many dark and cold hours, until a brute with a human voice shouted out from somewhere, “You chaps will get no light to-night, so you can turn in when you please.” I was informed afterwards this was a favourite and utterly unauthorized assumption of authority on the part of this bully, and I trust it has only to be noticed to preclude the possibility of its continuance. It was a barbarous and cowardly act, and strictly opposed to the usual system of the prison. How I got through that cold night I cannot tell, for bed, bedding and light were all strangers to me; but night, more merciful than man, threw its mantle over me, and I slept as sound as only the weary can. CHAPTER XV. “OAKUM” LET US SING.