A new day had begun, cattle were lowing on the distant plain, and birds
were chirping their matutinal songs in bush and tree when Mark Breezy,
John Hockins, and James Ginger--_alias_ Ebony--awoke from their uneasy
rest on the prison floor and sat up with their backs against the wall.
Their chains rattled sharply as they did so.
"Well now," said Hockins, gasping forth his morning yawn in spite of
circumstances, "I've many a time read and heard it of other folk, but I
never did think I should live to hear my own chains rattle."
"Right you are, 'Ockins; ob course I's got de same sentiments zactly,"
said the negro, lifting up his strong arm and ruefully surveying the
heavy iron links of native manufacture that descended from his wrist.
Mark only sighed. It was the first time he had ever been restrained,
even by bolt or bar, much less by manacles, and the effect on his young
mind was at first overwhelming.
Bright though the sun was outside, very little of its light found a
passage through the chinks of their all but windowless prison-house, so
that they could scarcely see the size or character of the place. But
this mattered little. They were too much crushed by their misfortune to
care. For some time they sat without speaking, each feeling quite
incapable of uttering a word of cheer to his fellows.
The silence was suddenly but softly broken by the sound of song. It
seemed to come from a very dark corner of the prison, in which nothing
could be seen. To the startled prisoners it sounded like heavenly
music--and indeed such it was, for in that corner sat two Christian
captives who were spending the first minutes of the new day in singing
praise to God.
The three comrades listened with rapt attention, for although the words
were unintelligible, with the exception of the name of Jesus, the air
was quite familiar, being one of those in which English-speaking
Christians are wont to sing praise all the world over.
When the hymn ceased one of the voices was raised in a reverent and
continuous tone, which was obviously the voice of prayer.
Just as the petition was concluded the sun found a loop-hole in the
prison, and poured a flood of light into it which partly illumined the
dark corner, and revealed two men seated on the ground with their backs
against the wall. They were fine-looking men, nearly naked, and joined
together by means of a ponderous piece of iron above two feet long, with
a heavy ring at either end which encircled their necks. The rings were
so thick that their ends must have been forced together with
sledge-hammer and anvil after being put round the men's necks, and then
overlapped and riveted. Thus it became impossible to free them from
their fetters except by the slow and laborious process of cutting them
through with a file. Several old and healed-up sores on the necks and
collar-bones of both men indicated that they and their harsh couplings
had been acquainted for a long time, and one or two inflamed spots told
all too clearly that they had not yet become quite reconciled. _See
Note 1_.
"Now isn't that awful," said John Hockins in a low voice with a sort of
choke in it, "to think that these poor fellows--wi' that horrible thing
that can't be much under thirty pounds weight on their necks, an' that
must ha' bin there for months if not for years--are singin' an' prayin'
to the Almighty, an' here am I, John Hockins, with little or nothin' to
complain of as yet, haven't given so much as a thought to--"
The choke got the better of our sailor at this point, and he became
suddenly silent.
"Das so!" burst in Ebony, with extreme energy. "I's wid you dere! I
tell you what it is, 'Ockins, dem brown niggers is true Kistians, an' we
white folks is nuffin but hipperkrits."
"I hope we're not quite so bad as _that_, Ebony," said Mark, with a sad
smile. "Nevertheless, Hockins is right--we are far behind these poor
fellows in submission and gratitude to our Maker."
While he spoke the heavy door of the prison opened, and a jailor entered
with two large basins of boiled rice. The largest he put on the ground
before our three travellers, the other in front of the coupled men, and
then retired without a word.
"Well, thank God for this, anyhow," said Mark, taking up one of the
three spoons which lay on the rice and going to work with a will.
"Just so," responded the seaman. "I'm thankful too, and quite ready for
grub."
"Curious ting, 'Ockins," remarked Ebony, "dat your happytite an' mine
seems to be allers in de same state--sharp!"
The seaman's appetite was indeed so sharp that he did not vouchsafe a
reply. The prisoners in the dark corner seemed much in the same
condition, but their anxiety to begin did not prevent their shutting
their eyes for a few seconds and obviously asking a blessing on their
meal. Hockins observed the act, and there passed over his soul another
wave of self-condemnation, which was indicated by a deprecatory shake of
his rugged head.