At first it alarmed
me, and I could not sleep. The captain says if they behave well they
will be much better off at Guadaloupe; and I am sure I wish the
ignorant creatures would come quietly, and have it over. To-day, one
of the blacks, whom they were forcing into the hold, suddenly
knocked down a sailor, and attempted to leap overboard. He was
caught, however, by the leg, by another of the crew; and the sailor,
rising in a passion, hamstrung him with his cutlass. The captain,
seeing this, knocked the butcher flat upon the deck with a
handspike. "I will teach you to keep your temper," said he; "he was
the best slave of the lot!"' The boy then runs to the chains, and
sees the slave who was found to be 'useless,' dropped into the sea,
where he continued to swim after he had sunk under the water, making
a red track, which broke, widened, faded, and was seen no more. At
last they got fairly to sea. The captain is described as being in
the best temper in the world; walking the deck, rubbing his hands,
humming a tune, and rejoicing that he had six dozen slaves on board;
men, women, and children; and all in 'prime marketable condition.'
The boy says, their cries were so terrible, that he dare not go and
look into the hold; that at first he could not close his eyes, the
sound so froze his blood; and that one night he jumped up, and in
horror ran to the captain's room; he was sleeping profoundly with
the lamp shining upon his face, calm as marble.
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