Here a gentle voice breaks in. "Yes, I guess it is all right. I thought I recognized his voice."
"Yes, I'm the fellow you mean," is my reassuring statement. I feel that things are opening well.
"Well, Tom! I'm Number Four, and that other fellow's Number Two. But, say, what're you in for?"
So I tell the story again, of my complaint regarding our bad working material and the condition of my hands. Regarding the latter my statements, although somewhat exaggerated, are not so very far from the truth. As I mention my hands it occurs to me that they feel very disagreeably sticky. They must continue in that condition, however, for some time, for I can't wash them until I am out of this place.
My invisible audience listens apparently with interest to my story; and Number Four sums up his impressions with another enthusiastic, "Well, Tom, you're all right!" which seems to be his highest form of encomium.
Presently I take up some questioning on my own account.
A voice from the dim and fading daylight of the vault outside answers, "Hello, Tom!"
"Six of us, now you've come. That fellow who spoke a while ago is in Two, next to you. There's a fellow in Three, but he's got a bad cold so he can't talk very well. Then there's my partner in Five; and a big fellow in Eight, but he don't say much. Quite a nice party, you see, Tom. Glad you've come to join us. Say! how long are you goin' to be here?"
"I don't know. There was some talk of letting me out to-night if I would promise to behave myself."
Then the pleasant voice of Number Two breaks in again. "Well, if they don't let you out to-night, you're good till Monday, because they never let us out of here on Sunday."
I shall not attempt to reproduce all the conversation of this memorable night. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon when I entered the dark cell. During the next three hours, as I sat on the floor close to the door of my iron cage, our talk covered a wide range of topics from grave to gay. We touched upon almost every subject, from prison fare and the ethics of the jail to the comparative merits of various trans-Atlantic liners. We discussed politics--New York City, state and national; Prison Reform, from various angles; the character and conduct of celebrities we had seen or known--both in and out of prison; and other things too numerous to mention. I must confess that, on the whole, more intelligent, instructive, and entertaining conversation it has seldom been my lot to enjoy. I soon came to the conclusion that under favorable conditions the jail was decidedly the most sociable place in prison.