The rest of the transported were assigned as servants to those
willing to give them food and clothing without wages. The free men
were thus enabled to grow rich by the labours of the bondmen--vice
was punished and virtue rewarded.

Until all the passengers had been disposed of, sentinels were posted
on the deck of the transport with orders to shoot anyone who
attempted to escape. But when all the convicts were gone, Jack was
sorely tempted to follow the shilling-a-month men. He quietly
slipped ashore, hurried off to Botany Bay, and lived in retirement
until his ship had left Port Jackson. He then returned to Sydney,
penniless and barefoot, and began to look for a berth. At the Rum
Puncheon wharf he found a shilling-a-month man already installed as
cook on a colonial schooner. He was invited to breakfast, and was
astonished and delighted with the luxuries lavished on the colonial
seaman. He had fresh beef, fresh bread, good biscuit, tea, coffee,
and vegetables, and three pounds a month wages. There was a vacancy
on the schooner for an able seaman, and Jack filled it. He then
registered a solemn oath that he would "never go back to England no
more," and kept it.

Some kind of Government was necessary, and, as the first inhabitants
were criminals, the colony was ruled like a gaol, the Governor being
head gaoler. His officers were mostly men who had been trained in
the army and navy. They were all poor and needy, for no gentleman of
wealth and position would ever have taken office in such a community.
They came to make a living, and when free immigrants arrived and
trade began to flourish, it was found that the one really valuable
commodity was rum, and by rum the officers grew rich. In course of