11
Three days later, the Sylphide had made first-rate progress northwards: sheets full, ropes rigid and singing, boards and masts creaking and trailing a continuous pearl-white wake for several hundreds of yards.
During a lull in deck activities, Robert asked his group of friends who sat in relaxed good company around him, ‘So what became of those poor bloody black folk? I never saw them again after that little distraction on the dock back there.’
Captain Campbell was quick to reply. ‘Sad news I’m afraid. The two oldest, parents of the young boy, I think, are both dead. Bled to death I was told.’
Disbelief and disappointment struck not just at Harry’s heart, but at the hearts of all those who had witnessed the dockside flogging that those old folk had endured.
‘And the boy… what becam
