Chapter VII: The Blind Mob

"He that is stricken blind, cannot forget
The precious treasure of his eyesight lost."

--SHAKESPEARE.

The day after the doctor told me that I could go with the "blind mob," I joined them. These blind people used to carry on a little gardening and other occupations, such as the blind were suited for. And goodness knows what they were not suited for--they could play cards, dice, toss, and all sorts and conditions of things.

I had not been in the camp ten minutes before a notorious character, named "Teddy," came up and said to me: "Come on, come on, we will go and 'shake' some melons!" "Where abouts?" I inquired. "Oh! I'll show you," he answered, "out on the Glebe." Just fancy a man as "blind as a bat" asking me to go stealing melons. "No," I said, "I'm not going to get into any trouble over melons," and he called me all the crawling hounds and scoundrels that he could think of. Shortly afterwards he said to me, "Do you ever kill snakes?" "Not often," I said; "Why, what do you want to know that for?" "Well," he returned, "I want to get a snake's head to put teeth upwards in the overseer's boot--I'll do for him yet." I told him to be careful, or he would pull up on the scaffold.

I soon found out that I had got amongst the biggest lot of thieves and robbers in the place. I became possessed of a few pence, and they knew it. That night I retired, as usual, and put my trousers under my head. As soon as things were quiet the trousers were eased from under my head. I knew it but said nothing, and as soon as they found there was no money in them, back came the pants. I came from London as well as they did, and the money was hidden in a place that they dreamt not of.

This was quite enough of the "blind mob" for me. The next day at dinner time I went up to the boss and told him I would rather go into the road party than stay with thieves.