The Voyage of the Aurora Part 17

The latter thereupon explained to the crowd that while the first of the two men offered was undoubtedly valueless of himself and alone, he could be made very useful if purchased along with the second, who had been found to have great influence over him, and could, in fact, persuade him to do anything which might be required; and so on, and so on.

A little brisk bidding then ensued for the two on the part of the more speculative among the buyers, who were willing to risk a little possible loss on the chance of obtaining two slaves for a trifle more than the price of one; and finally they were purchased by a man who had all the appearance of being an overseer on some extensive estate. The lad Tom, who was next put up, was also bought by the same purchaser; and in a few minutes the three white men--now slaves--found themselves chained to a gang of negroes--men and women--who had also fallen into the hands of the same owner.

Half an hour afterwards the gang was put in motion, and, with the overseer (for such he eventually proved to be) at their head, and three other men, mounted--one riding on each side and one in the rear--as a guard, took their way through the town (which George at last ascertained was Havana), out into the country, and inland toward the hills, along a fairly good road, well shaded for the most part with a dense growth of tropical verdure.

A wearisome tramp along this road for a distance of some ten miles brought them late in the afternoon to the plantation which was to be their future home, or prison; and George, Walford, and the lad Tom, with an old negro who possessed a slight smattering of English, were installed into a small, but fairly comfortable, wooden hut, thatched with sugar-cane-leaves. Here the clothing which they had been wearing when purchased was taken from them, and they were supplied instead with short drawers and jumpers of blue dungaree; a plentiful meal of ground maize with a little salt was served out to them, and they were left for the remainder of the day to recover themselves and prepare for the labours which awaited them on the morrow.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

A DASH FOR FREEDOM.

To find one's self sold into slavery must be a thoroughly unpleasant experience; yet when George Leicester that night found himself actually a slave, the tenant of a slave-cabin, and with slaves only for his future companions and a.s.sociates, he felt by no means discouraged.

There was no oppressive feeling of despair weighing down his heart and crushing his spirit into utter hopelessness; on the contrary, he had the feeling as if a great load of care and anxiety had been lifted from off his heart; he now knew the worst of what was to befall him; he fully recognised that the life before him was to be one of unrequited hardship at least, and, it might be, also of suffering and bitter tyranny; but he braced himself to meet it all, whatever it might be, with unflinching fort.i.tude, sustained by the steadfast, inextinguishable hope of eventual escape.

This hope indeed of eventual escape rose high within his breast, now that he had actually arrived upon the spot from which it must be made.

The estate of which he was now one of the chattels was that of a tobacco and sugar planter. Of its extent he could at present form no opinion; but he saw that it was of considerable size, the whole of the cultivated ground within sight being the property of his owner. It was situated upon a tolerably level plain, with a road running through it, from the main road along which they had recently travelled, up to the planter's house, a wide straggling stone structure, with a thatched roof and a verandah all round, occupying the summit of a slight eminence nearly in the middle of the estate. Behind the house, at a distance of some twenty yards, stood another building, which George rightly guessed to be the stables; the slave-huts, of which there were thirty-four, were built, at a distance of about a quarter of a mile from the house, on a gentle slope, at the foot of which stood the boiling-house and sugar-mill, the store-houses, the tobacco factory, etcetera; and just beyond them, again, ran a tiny sparkling stream, from which was obtained the power for driving the crushing machinery.

The slave-cabins were wholly unenclosed, and George had not failed to notice on his arrival upon the estate that, though it was certainly fenced in, the fencing consisted of nothing more than a common rough post-and-rail fence, evidently intended merely to keep out cattle, and in his innocence he began to think that escape from such a place would prove a very easy matter, after all. "What, indeed," he asked himself, "was to prevent his rising from his bed upon the very first favourable night which should arrive, and quietly walking off the estate?" What, indeed?

But escape was far too precious a thing to be risked by being undertaken in ignorance of whatever perils might attend the attempt, so he resolved that for the present he would not attempt to frame any plans whatever; he felt pretty certain that, as a new acquisition, he would be closely watched for some time to come by those who might have the more immediate charge of him, and his first task, he told himself, must be to disarm any suspicion which might exist in their minds as to an intention on his part to escape. The time necessary to the accomplishment of this might also be profitably employed in acquiring a knowledge of Spanish, without which he fully realised that his attempt must inevitably fail; and he believed that, by the time he had thus paved the way for the great attempt, his ingenuity would have proved sufficient to gain without suspicion from his fellow-slaves a tolerably accurate idea of the perils and difficulties with which he would have to contend.

He took the lad Tom into his confidence at once, intending, of course, that the poor boy should, if he were willing to incur the risk, go with him and Walford, and share with them at least the _chance_ of freedom; and so, from the very first day of their thraldom, there were two keen, intelligent brains incessantly at work, diligently clearing the way to recovered liberty. To Walford George said nothing whatever of his purpose; the unfortunate wretch could not possibly aid them, and there was the possibility that he _might_ unwittingly betray them.

At six o'clock next morning the great bell at the engine-house rang, this being the signal for the slaves to turn out and get breakfast.

Half an hour was allowed for this, and at half-past six they were formed into gangs, and marched off to the fields in charge of the overseers.

George and Walford were handed a hoe apiece, and attached to one of the gangs detailed for work in the tobacco-fields. The lad Tom was attached to another gang, and he spent his first day of slave-labour among the sugar-cane.

The tobacco was fast ripening, and was just then at one of its many critical stages, the plants requiring individually almost as much care and attention as a new-born child. Each plant required that the earth should be hoed up round its stalk with almost mathematical accuracy to a certain height and no more; and every leaf had to be tenderly and scrupulously examined twice or thrice daily, to guard against the ruinous attack of the tobacco-grubs. It was exhausting, back-breaking labour, particularly for those unaccustomed to it, and the drivers'

whips were freely used to stimulate the sluggards or those who exhibited any signs of a _tendency_ to shirk the work; but George soon saw--and congratulated himself upon the circ.u.mstance--that the rule was evidently a mild one on this particular plantation, the whip being rarely used without provocation. It is scarcely necessary to say that Leicester was quite resolved to save himself from the indignity of the lash, if hard work would do it; and he was fortunate enough to return to his hut on that first day without the whip having once been raised against him.

Thus pa.s.sed day after day, and week after week; the only variation being that, when the tobacco was in proper condition, the fields had to be gone through with the utmost care, and those leaves which were sufficiently ripe were then picked, and laid in little heaps in the sun to "sweat" and cure, this process being repeated daily until the entire crop was gathered in. Then followed the "cleaning" of the fields and their preparation for another crop, and so on, upon all of which it is unnecessary to dwell.

George and Tom devoted the whole of their brief leisure after the work of the day was over to the cultivation of a knowledge of Spanish, being fortunate enough, in their pursuit of this acquirement, to make the acquaintance of a young and very intelligent negro, who had been for many years valet to his master, but, being unlucky enough to incur that gentleman's displeasure, had been sent in disgrace into the field-gang.

With him as a tutor their progress was rapid, and in little over six months they were able to converse in Spanish with tolerable fluency.

When at length George found that he was fairly master of the language, he began cautiously to touch on the subject of escape, a topic upon which Pedro, his tutor, was luckily always ready to enlarge. This gentleman, regarding himself as an injured individual, was always threatening--among his fellow-slaves, of course--to run away; and George was once on the point of declaring to the fellow his own intention of doing the same thing, but luckily his discretion stepped in and prevented his committing so great an imprudence, the reflection occurring to him just in time, that a man who _talked_ so much about the matter was, after all, very unlikely to _act_ to any purpose.

One night, however, Pedro entered George's cabin, looking very gloomy and sulky; and, flinging himself down on a stool, he announced that he had called to say farewell, as he was fully determined not to submit any longer to such base treatment.

"Why, what has happened now, Pedro?" exclaimed George, when he heard this announcement.

"I will tell you, friend George," answered Pedro. "You may possibly have observed that miserable piece of insolence called Juan, who has been promoted to the post from which I was so unjustly expelled? Well, this wretched ape must needs send--_send_, mind you, not come down and himself ask, but _send_--for a man to move some furniture up at the house there. I have no doubt he specially named _me_, as I was ordered to go; and I--I refused; I declined to be subjected to such an indignity, and for this I was at once flogged. I have been humiliated, disgraced, dishonoured, and I am resolved not to bear it any longer; I shall fly to-night."

"Well," said George, "I hope you will get off clear; I see no reason why you should not."

"You do not?" exclaimed Pedro. "Ah! my good friend, that is because you are new to this wretched country. Are you not aware, then, that the master keeps quite a pack of bloodhounds for the purpose of hunting runaway slaves, and that these bloodhounds are turned loose every night to scour the estate? They have been trained to watch over us and prevent our escape. If I should happen to encounter one to-night, I shall be compelled to abandon the attempt; for he will follow me about, and, should I attempt to pa.s.s the fencing, spring upon and hold me until his baying brings the overseers to the spot. Have you never encountered any of these fiends of dogs?"

"Never," answered George, his heart sinking at the startling news.

"This is the first I have heard of them. Then is it quite impossible to walk about the estate at night without being pounced upon by a bloodhound?"

"Oh, dear no," was the reply. "They are so trained that they will not molest you so long as you keep within the boundaries of the estate; but they will watch and follow you until you return to your cabin. And, of course, as there is only a dozen of the dogs in all, you _may_ perchance get away without encountering one of them. But if you do, your prospects of escape are still small, for you would be missed in the morning, the dogs would at once be put upon your track, and a regular slave-hunt would then begin. A slave-hunt is rare sport, I promise you--for everybody but the slave."

"Then it seems," remarked George, "that, even in the event of your getting clear of the estate, you have very little hope of escape, after all?"

"None," was the reply, "none whatever--unless you happen to possess a certain secret, the secret of _hiding the scent_, so that the dogs cannot follow your trail. Then, indeed, you _may_ hope to escape, but not otherwise. _I_ am fortunate enough to possess this secret, and as we have been good friends--you and I--I do not mind letting you into it--provided that if you make one in the hunt to-morrow--they take slaves to help sometimes--you will aid my escape in any way you can."

"Agreed!" exclaimed George joyously. "In any case I would do that.

Still, the secret is a valuable one, and I should like to be made acquainted with it."

"You shall, _amigo_," said Pedro. And, placing his hand inside the bosom of his shirt, he produced a handful of leaves.

"Do you see these?" he asked.

George intimated that he did.

"Take particular notice of them, so that you may recognise them again with certainty whenever you see them," urged Pedro. "Note their shape, their exact colour; note their peculiar odour; and, above all, note their taste; for there are other plants, quite worthless for the purpose, closely resembling this one; but the _taste_ will at once tell you when you have found the right one."

George eagerly took a quant.i.ty of the leaves in his hand, and carefully examined them, noting that, though they varied in size, they were all of exactly the same shape and hue; then he held them to his nostrils and inhaled their odour until he thought he had become fully acquainted with it. And finally he put one in his mouth, and masticated it. The juice had a very peculiar flavour indeed, so peculiar that he felt sure he should never forget it.

"And how do you use these leaves?" asked George.

"If," answered Pedro, "you have an opportunity to gather them only a few hours before you wish to use them, so that they are perfectly fresh, all that you have to do is to bruise and crush them, so that their juice shall be free to escape, and then rub them well all over your feet.

This imparts the odour of the plant to the skin, and so 'hides the scent' that the dogs are quite unable to follow it. But if the leaves have been gathered so long that they have become dry, you must put them in water to soak until they become soft once more; then first wash your feet in the water, and afterwards rub them thoroughly with the leaves.

Only, in the latter case, you will require a much larger quant.i.ty of leaves."

"Thanks, Pedro, I shall remember that," answered George. "One more question, and I have done. Where is this plant to be found?"

"Ah! now you have given me a puzzle," exclaimed the black. "The plant is very scarce, and is growing daily more so, for the reason that the slave-owners carefully root it up and destroy it wherever they find it.

They are fully acquainted with its peculiar properties, they know that it has freed many a persecuted slave from the bondage of a cruel and tyrannical master, and that, if allowed to flourish, it would free many more; so it is carefully sought out, and ruthlessly dug up when found.

Notwithstanding which, a plant is to be found here and there by diligently searching after it. It grows generally in wet or marshy ground, and in such spots you will have to seek for it, if ever you need it. Now, I must go; it is close upon the time for the head overseer to go his rounds, and I want him to see me in my own cabin. As soon as he is once more fairly out of the way I shall be off. Good-night--and good-bye."

"Good-bye," answered George, grasping the negro's proffered hand; "good-bye, and thank you for your valuable secret. I heartily wish you good luck; and if they get up a hunt, and take me to help, I'll do what I can to throw them off the scent. Which way do you go?"

"You had better know nothing about that," answered Pedro cautiously.

"All I ask is, that if you catch sight of me, or observe any sign of my having pa.s.sed, you will simply keep quiet about it. And now, once more, good-bye."

Ten minutes later the head overseer, going his rounds, on looking into Pedro's cabin, found that individual apparently fast asleep on the floor, with his back against the wall, and such an utterly f.a.gged, worn-out look pervading his entire personality that the man was almost betrayed into a momentary feeling of pity for "the poor boy."

His surprise was therefore proportionally great when, on the following morning, it became apparent that Pedro had succeeded, in spite of the dogs, in making good his escape from the estate.

A slave-hunt was at once organised, and about nine o'clock, as George was hard at work in the fields, he saw the hunters--some half a dozen in number, mounted, and accompanied each by a bloodhound--pa.s.s down the main road through the estate and out on to the open ground beyond. Here the party divided, half going in one direction, and half in the other, to encircle the estate, and endeavour to pick up the trail. They were absent the whole day, but when they returned at about midnight, the unfortunate Pedro was with them, handcuffed, and secured by a rope round his neck to the saddle of one of the hors.e.m.e.n. It afterwards transpired that he had been perfectly successful, not only in evading the dogs during his actual escape from the estate, but also in "hiding the scent"

from them; and his capture was due to the unfortunate circ.u.mstance of his having been met by a friend of his master's who, an hour afterwards, encountered the party in pursuit of him, and so put them upon his track.

Next morning the unhappy wretch was "made an example of," by being flogged so severely in the presence of all the other slaves belonging to the plantation that at first it seemed doubtful whether he would ever recover from the effects of it; and, though he did eventually, it was nearly three months before he was again fit for work.

This incident of Pedro's escape and its unfortunate failure was naturally the chief topic of conversation among the slaves for a long time afterwards, and George heard so much of the many difficulties attending such attempts, that he often felt upon the very brink of despair. The obstacles were so great as to be almost insurmountable when those who made the attempt were strong, healthy, thoroughly inured to fatigue, and had all their faculties about them; but when it came to not only making good one's own escape, but also that of a feeble and weakly companion of unsettled reason, the task seemed so utterly hopeless, so thoroughly impracticable, that it appeared almost worse than madness to dream of undertaking it.