An eyewitness related how, one day, when a gang of convicts was constructing a bridge over a stream, one of them murdered a constable who was in charge of the gang. From this dreadful act the scene of the murder received its name, and the “Bloody Bridge” stands, a lasting monument of the awful crime committed there. A tragic story was told of a convict who contrived to make his escape from Norfolk Island to another small island some three miles distant, called Philip Island. By some means this man, known as Jacky-Jacky, was discovered, and a boat was immediately dispatched to secure the escaped prisoner. Finding himself discovered and pursued, and choosing death rather than capture, Jacky-Jacky started to the highest point of the island, several hundred feet above the sea level, where he cast himself off and so perished. These were only some of the stories that were told by those who were themselves witnesses of the awful scenes, stories still more dark and fearful in their nature than were those in connection with the early settlement of the island lately deserted by the emigrants. But the deeds of horror and bloodshed had passed away with the lives of those who committed them, and everything betokened calmness and peace when the little colony entered on their newly granted possession. [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAPTER XII. A Goodly Heritage NORFOLK ISLAND, henceforth to become the home of the Pitcairn islanders, possesses remarkable beauty. Having all their lives been accustomed to wooden houses of the plainest description, roofed with thatch, and standing here and there embosomed amid trees, the sight of regularly laid out streets and stone-built houses was an entirely new experience to the new settlers. When they took possession of their present home, all the dwelling houses, as well as the government buildings, were in a good state of preservation, and some of the latter were splendid structures. The government house occupied a conspicuous place on a slight eminence nearly in the center of the town, and its spacious apartments, as well as its exterior, were well kept. The large garden adjoining showed signs of former care, but everything had been allowed to run wild, and the grapevines mingled in happy confusion with the honeysuckle, nasturtium, and other flowering creepers. Inclosed within high stone walls were the buildings of the old and new barracks, while near to the latter stood the ruins of what had been a fine hospital, which a fire had destroyed. Next to this, but separated by a wall, was the handsome commissariat store—now the church of the present inhabitants.