IN THE PENAL COLONY
105
into a rod. And then the play begins. The uninitiated notice no
external difference in the penalties. The harrow appears to be
working uniformly. Tremblingly it sticks its points into the body,
which has begun to tremble too, because of the bed. To make it
possible for everyone to verify the execution of the sentence, the
harrow was made of glass. A few technical difficulties had to be
surmounted in order to fasten the needles into it, but we finally
succeeded after many attempts. We simply spared no pains. And
now everyone can watch the progress of the writing on the body
through the glass. Would you mind coming nearer to look at the
needles?"
Slowly the explorer rose, walked over and bent over the har–
row. "You can see," said the officer, "two kinds of needles in dif–
ferent arrangements. Each long one has a short one next to it. For
the long one writes and the short one sprays water in order to wash
off the blood, and so keep the writing always clear. The bloody
water is then conducted into little drains and finally flows into this
principal drain which has an overflow pipe leading into the ditch."
The officer pointed out the exact direction which the blood-water
had to take. As he held both hands to the mouth of the overflow–
pipe in order to best illustrate his point, the explorer lifted his head
and, groping behind him, was about to return to his seat. At that
moment he saw to his horror that the condemned man, like himself,
had acted on the invitation of the officer to inspect closely the con–
struction of the harrow. He had dragged the drowsy guard a littfe
way forward with his chain, and was also bending over the glass.
He could be seen looking with uncertain eyes for the thing the two
gentlemen had just been examining but, because he lacked the
explanation, he was not successful. He bent first to one side, then
to the other. Again and again his eye roved over the glass. The
explorer wanted to push him back, for what he was doing was prob–
ably punishable. But the officer held the explorer back with one
hand, took a clod of earth from the ditch with the other and threw
it at the guard. The latter lifted his eyes suddenly, saw what the
condemned man had dared do, let his gun drop and, digging his
heels into the ground, he wrenched the condemned man back so
that he fell right over. The guard looked down at the man as he
writhed and clanked his chains. "Stand him up straight!" the
officer shouted, for he noticed that the explorer's attention was far
