Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons Read Online Free Page B

also pushed the other children aside. Not me. Dahobar insisted I be taken. And Obour clung to me, so they took her, too.
    When Captain Quinn was satisfied with the rest of us, he ordered the Kroomen to bring Dahobar's reward from the long canoe. Hogsheads of rum. Barrels of cowrie shells. Stacks of new muskets.
    Those of us selected were then branded.
    I was so frightened I think I have chased the memory of it from my mind, as Obour and I had chased the birds from the rice fields. All I recollect is seeing Captain Quinn's men come forth with the hot brand. Then I fainted.
    Mother was holding me when I woke up. They let her put a cloth of cold water against my hip, as was being done to some others. While she did this, she took her cowrie shell off her neck and put it around mine.
    "No matter what happens," she whispered, "stay quiet, keep yourself small, eat what you are given, and never make a sound. This cowrie shell will protect you. It is a giver of life."
    Soon the pain from the branding subsided. It was not a deep brand, but it brought blisters. And to this day I have the initials T. F. on my hip. Timothy Fitch, the merchant who owned the slave ship.
    It was years before I could bring myself to look at it.
    We were given back our clothes and herded into the canoe. All around us the great two-headed beast of the ocean screeched and gnashed its teeth at us.
    I hid, hunkering down into the side of the canoe. I screamed. I vomited. I clutched Obour. I yelled for my mother, who was at the other end, so far away I could scarce see her.
    "Keziah!" I heard my mother calling my name, even above the surf crashing around us as the canoe rode the waves. I heard her voice as from a great distance though a giant of a Krooman was standing in the middle of the boat and directing the rowers.
    "Mother!" I screamed until my throat was raw. But no one heard me. The time for hearing me was past.
    Two men jumped out of the boat. We could hear their screams as they were eaten by sharks.
    When the canoe finally made it through the waves to the ship, there was great turmoil to get us up the rope ladder. Another jumped into the sea, a woman. Sharks were circling around, waiting. As one of the Koomi carried me up the rope ladder I looked down to see the swirling waters below filled with blood.
    The men were immediately shackled and hauled off 'tween decks. We could hear their cries from below as they were packed into the hold.
    The women were put in another part of the ship.
    Later, I learned many things. My mother had only sixteen inches to lie on. But since the
Phillis
was a loose-packed slaver, Mother had two and a half feet of space overhead, instead of only twenty inches, as she would have had if we were tight packed.
    This was considered lucky.
    Obour and I were the only two children. We were also put in the hold, shackled down. All I recollect is a Koomi man over me nailing down my chain, the cries and wails of those around me, the stench of those who had already dirtied themselves. And the dimness.
    There was no air in the hold. Even the candles could not live there. They went out. And then, so did I.

    The next morning we sailed. I learned later that slave ships must leave immediately. Sickness can break out on board. If the crew takes sick, the cargo can mutiny.
    Slaves are more likely to form an uprising within sight of shore than out at sea. Once at sea, they are helpless.
    So we sailed. I cried, feeling the ship move under me. Because I knew I would never see my home again. All because I disobeyed my mother and went out alone. All because Dahobar hated my father.
    All because the leopard came.
    But again, I was lucky. The gods favored me. Or mayhap it was the cowrie shell I now wore around my neck.
    The second day out, I came down with a dreadful sickness. I was brought abovedeck. In my delirium, I did not know how or by whom. But I woke with the smell of salt air in my nostrils and a man shoving boiled rice down my throat. I was