ross the gangway, and were passed to the
Indians behind. Hernando had let them into the plot, preferring to
trust them rather than the white scum. Nine men were soon able to
move; the waist chains still girdled them, but this did not interfere
with freedom and action, and no time was thrown away in an attempt to
cut them through. The three Indians behind the sailors were next
liberated. A dozen eager and desperate men were ready to make a dash
for life, and hardly two hours had gone by.

"How many more?" whispered Johnnie.

"We must wait before trusting any others," replied the wary Spaniard.

About an hour was allowed to slip by. The freed men laid themselves on
their benches and feigned slumber. Twice during the time a sentinel
passed along the gangway, and flashed a lantern here and there on to
the huddled forms. His glance was of a cursory description. The
toil-worn lines of wretched beings lay just as he had seen them a
hundred times: some were still as dead logs; others moved and babbled
in their sleep; here and there one sat with his head in his hands,
bowed down with sleep or agonizing thought. There was nothing unusual;
only the familiar scenes and sounds of the slave deck at night. The
sentinel walked off to the fore-deck to get a breath of sweeter air and
the company of a sailor comrade.

The slaves slept. Being, for the most part, without hope of anything
better than a few hours of forgetfulness between the sun-setting and
the dawn, the majority gave themselves willingly and thankfully to
slumber as soon as the scanty supper was eaten. No flash of a
sentinel's lantern, no tramping of feet, no cry of nocturnal bird or
beast would waken them; they sank into sleep as into some deep,
soundless, lightless pit. God rest all such unhappy ones!

The sentry showed no signs of paying any further visit; the captain was
ashore. Hernando slipped from his seat, cautiously wakened the fourth
English sailor, and gave him a file with whispered instructions; then
he passed on to a trustworthy fellow-countryman of his own and gave him
the other. He came back to his bench, and waited for about another
quarter of an hour. "Now," he whispered to his two companions. He
dropped to the floor and crawled on all fours to the after-part of the
ship. No one else moved. After what seemed almost an endless time, he
crawled back again. "The way is clear; not three men are awake above
our heads. I'll take the India