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interwoven diamonds blazed on his skin. Abubakar nodded
approvingly.
“Double diamonds . In Kumasi, in the kinte, they stand for
justice… and for slavery. In the holy language, the ‘adileen are those
who are just…and the Adeline was a slaving ship. And now you
belong to the Al-Jaza’ – the Recompense. How fitting.”
The captain was dazed, his eyes unfocused, his mind oblivious to
the man’s words.
“Come on! Buck up, man! In a week, you’ll be boasting to the
other captains. Nary a one has a brand to rival the Adeline’s.”
“Captains?” Bayonne asked, staring at Abubakar without
comprehension.
“So many ships we chased. So many we stove in – the San Jan,
the Henrietta Marie, the Adelaide, and the Mary. The Phoenix, the
Dove, and the Fox. The Christopher, the Abercrombie. The
Esperanza, the Trouvadore, the Creole, the Lyra. Dozens and dozens
of ships we have sunk. Thousands of slaves freed. And each ship’s
crew, we gave their own brand. None is the equal of yours.”
The captain’s eyes glazed, and he shook his head.
“I don’t understand.”
“Bah! Enough! We haven’t got all day! You next!” Abubakar
hauled the overseer before the holy man. Again the incantations.
Again the somber assent.
“No! No! Not me! Take another!” the overseer shrieked,
thrashing about in frenzy of desperation, struggling to break
Abubakar’s grasp. The man’s fingers gripped like the coils of a
python. Again the sizzling of live meat, and the horrid smell. The
overseer screeched and fell senseless to the floor. Hawkins felt he
might collapse himself, from the mere anticipation of the tribulation
that lay before him.
One by one, the sailors were hauled forward. One by one, their
flesh hissed and charred, their screams buffeted Hawkins’s ears. The
number remaining dwindled steadily, and with each of his compatriots
subjected to the crimson iron, the pit of Hawkins’s dread yawned
deeper and deeper. His heart was palpitating, racing near unto
bursting. His stomach churned, and his knees threatened to give way.
His chest felt crushed. He could not get enough air to breathe.
“Oh God in Heaven!” he prayed silently, though he was not
accustomed to reverence. “Deliver me from this appalling fate! If ever
I have done but an ounce of good, if even the smallest of my deeds
has been pleasing to Thee, then avert from the hide of this, the most
abased of Your creation, the hideous torture that lays in wait for him.
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