Overpowered by numbers, their arms tightly pinioned behind them, their mouths gagged, and held between two soldiers, negro after negro was marched off—the ravine was left to its usual silence—and the reign of “Klaas,” the “Slave King,” was over. ------ So ends the legend. The conspirators being conveyed to the capital, various were the punishments awarded them. Klaas, or, as he was more generally called, “Count,” Tomboy, and Hercules were broken alive upon the wheel. In their last moments their fortitude did not forsake them; and their last words expressed their hatred to the whites. Some were gibbeted alive in a place called Green’s Bay. Frank, who belonged to E. Chester, Esq., and several more, were burned in Otto’s pasture, at the outskirts of the capital; and the rest, who were looked upon as the dupes of their reputed king, were transported to the Spanish coasts. Quelch was pardoned: he played the traitor’s part, and amused the ear of Klaas and his comrades with some chimerical scheme while the soldiers passed by who accomplished their destruction; and old Morah, the Obeah woman who attended their meetings, escaped punishment by falling a prey to death before her trial. So signal was the victory obtained, and so severe the punishment of the conspirators, that the remaining slaves became intimidated, and quietly bore their yoke without seeking for deliverance. In 1739, the country emancipated Cuffee and Robin for their discovery of this insurrection, paying to their masters their respective value, and presented Manuel with a reward for his services in that affair.[49] ------ [46] A dealer in necromancy. [47] A small white shell, about the size and shape of an olive, used as the general currency in Guinea. [48] A wild shrub, supposed to be of great use in witchcraft. [49] For some further particulars, see Appendix, No. 14. CHAPTER X. Governor William Mathew—Sir George Thomas, Bart.—James Verchild —Honourable William Woodley—Sir Ralph Payne—Hon. Craister Greathead—General Burt—The circumstances of his death—Sir Thomas Shirley, Bart. After the suppression of the insurrection related in the last chapter, it was resolved in future to keep a better watch over the negroes, and be more strict in the government of them. Slaves were not to be allowed to congregate about the streets of St. John’s; and if they refused to disperse, when ordered to do so, it was justifiable to fire upon them: the country paying for those who were shot. If any of the negroes were suspected of treasonable practices, conspiracies, or insurrections, they were to suffer torture, not extending to death; but in case any of them died under the pain of having a limb cut off, &c., the owner of such slaves received the value of them from the public treasury.