The  guard  on  the  other  corner  never  got  out  of  his
cage,  nor  did  the  convict  escape,  but  Tan  was  called
to  the  warden's  office  and  reprimanded  for  not  shoot-
ing the  convict,  but  after  explaining  the  whole  situa-
tion and  the  circumstances  connected  with  it,  and
promising  faithfully  to  kill  the  next  convict  that
made  a  break  for  liberty,  and  quietly  saying  "halt"
after  being  killed,  he  was  permitted  to  resume  his
place  as  guard,  and  his  little  salary  moved  right
along  as  if  nothing  had  happened.  But  the  other
guard  who  did  not  succeed  in  getting  out  of  his  cage
to  assist  in  preventing  the  prisoner  from  scaling  the
wall,  lost  his  job  and  his  salary  was  stopped  that
day  at  high  twelve.
The  prisoners  were  all  herded  together  at  night  in
the  big  room  or  cage  made  of  lattice  work  before
described,  with  an  opening  all  round  between  the
cage  and  the  wall,  and  in  this  place  the  prisoners
were  kept  except  when  at  work,  and  in  this  den  of
desperadoes,  composed  of  thieves,  highway  robbers,
burglars  and  murderers,  were  hatched  many  plans
of  escape,  but  the  keeping  of  one  idea  ahead  of  the
convicts  by  the  officers  and  guards  was  all  that  kept
the  convicts  inside  this  makeshift  of  a  prison.
