A breeze came up with the sun; sails were spread, sweeps taken in, and
the Indians freed from their chains. The delight of the poor fellows
was unbounded. They fell down before their rescuers, worshipping them;
then they rushed up on deck, dancing and singing like a mob of children
let loose from confinement. There was plenty of excellent food aboard,
and for once the rowers fed sumptuously. The breeze continuing, all
save the three commanders and the deck hands laid themselves down and
slept until nearly noon. Then labour began again. The wind still held
strongly, so the natives were put to work cleansing the slave-deck of
its accumulated filth. The chains, save about a score of the strongest
sets, were tossed overboard. These were kept in case of mutiny amongst
the scum whites. There was no fear of trouble with the natives; the
faithful, grateful creatures would follow their liberators everywhere.
The cleaning being finished, a council of all the whites--save the
three put into bonds--was held on the after-deck. Hernando, as prime
mover in the revolt, presided. As the Spaniard was a good seaman, he
was unanimously appointed captain; whereupon he chose Morgan, Jeffreys,
and a trustworthy Spaniard as his chief officers. Then, before the
whole assembly, he swore solemnly to do his utmost for the welfare of
his ship; and his three officers, having his promise to issue no orders
that a gentleman might hesitate to fulfil, solemnly swore to obey him
to the death. The others, according to their several stations, took
vows of faithful obedience to their officers.
The captain then proceeded to set matters in order. There were
prisoners in the cabins near them; these were brought forth one by one,
and examined with commendable fairness. Morgan was surprised at the
change in Hernando. He had expected to find him vindictive and cruel,
and he knew that not a soul in the fore-part of the galley had been
spared in the darkness of the previous night. But liberty had softened
the Spaniard; he remembered the injustice he had suffered, not with a
view to exacting "eye for eye" and "tooth for tooth" from others, but
with the resolve not to inflict injustice upon his fellows. The trials
of the prisoners took up the remainder of the day. Some who had been
cruel to the slaves were hanged with but little ceremony; it was hardly
to be expected that men whose backs still smarted would do otherwise.
The two boatswains had perished the night before; the chief boatswain
was doomed to share their fate; two others were hanged; the rest were
sent below to the slave-deck, and chained to one of the oars, far
enough away from the troublesome slaves who were undergoing punishment.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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