Chapter 13
Broken on the Wheel
“DRINK THIS, BAAKO. It help speed trip to Guinea. This help. Drink fast. No slow death, Baako. Guinea calling.”
The woman, captured with Baako three years earlier in West Africa, always had a liking for him, and wanted to make his death more merciful. The special formula for this drink, passed down verbally for generations in her village, required herbs, which luckily grew in abundance in St. Domingue. After the initial reduction of pain, Baako would hallucinate, and then experience terrible cramps, followed by death. She scurried away before the guard returned. It was almost daylight.
The roosters signaled the morning sun and the slave quarters began to show signs of life. Normally, it would be straight out to the fields, but today there would be a late
