At length they ceased,
and turning round, I found that the mate, at a signal from the captain
had cut him down. Almost doubled up with pain, the man walked slowly
forward, and went down into the forecastle. Every one else stood still
at his post, while the captain, swelling with rage and with the
importance of his achievement, walked the quarter-deck, and at each
turn, as he came forward, calling out to us,- "You see your
condition! You see where I've got you all, and you know what to
expect!"- "You've been mistaken in me- you didn't know what I was!
Now you know what I am!"- "I'll make you toe the mark, every soul of
you, or I'll flog you all, fore and aft, from the boy, up!"- "You've
got a driver over you! Yes, a slave-driver- a negro-driver! I'll see
who'll tell me he isn't a negro slave!" With this and the like matter,
equally calculated to quiet us, and to allay any apprehensions of
future trouble, he entertained us for about ten minutes, when he
went below. Soon after, John came aft, with his bare back covered with
stripes and wales in every direction, and dreadfully swollen, and
asked the steward to ask the captain to let him have some salve, or
balsam, to put upon it.
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