Francis Worcester Doughty

“ Closing the door, the guard conducted me into a large room, where was gathered an immense quantity of old junk and rigging of all descriptions.
"Cap!" he called.
"Yes," came from the distant side of the room, where a lot of men were gathered about a lantern.
"Somebody to see you," with which the guard went back to the door, leaving his lantern beside me.
A slight noise caused me to look around, and I was startled at seeing a human hand protruding up through a crevice in a junk pile. The hand held a bit of paper, at which I blankly stared, thinking it held by a dead hand. ”

“ By him I was made acquainted with several others belonging to the same gang, and on his guarantee of my trustworthiness, they talked freely before me.
One day Shadow was brought forcibly to my mind by a chance remark dropped by one of my new friends.
"Have you seen the young chap we've got in the Black Hole?"
This was the remark.
Could they mean Shadow?
At once I pricked up my ears.
"No," was the reply. "I want to see him, though. What does he look like?"
"A young fellow with a smooth face, not more than eighteen, and slender as a girl." ”

“ One of the boys told me that in the end he meant to have him knifed."
"The best thing to do. 'Dead men tell no tales,'" remarked the other.
Here they let the thing drop.
I wanted to find out where this Black Hole was, but dared ask no questions, nor press the subject of the young fellow's captivity. ”