The long lash swung high into the air, and then came down upon the bare back of the dying man. Two strokes fell, and the whip had been raised for a third, when Max Harden flew like a wild beast at Cæsar's throat.
So sudden was the onslaught that the Portuguese was taken by surprise. Though Max was encumbered by the heavy chain which hung from his neck, he had room enough in which to move. His fellow-bondsmen, unable to believe the evidence of their eyes, ceased their work and stood together in a crowd, their eyes dilated and their limbs trembling in fear.
Max paid no heed to them. He was like a mad dog on a leash that rushes forth from its kennel and lays hold upon its victim. He took no heed of the consequences. He neither thought what he was doing, nor asked himself whether it were wise. He was just driven mad by the sight of such inhuman cruelty.
He flung Cæsar to the ground, and before the man could rise, the whip had been wrested from his hand. Max placed a foot upon his chest, and the lash of the whip rose and fell, cracked, made circles in the air and fell again, until Cæsar shrieked for mercy.
"THE LASH OF THE WHIP ROSE AND FELL, UNTIL CÆSAR SHRIEKED FOR MERCY."
Never, since the Dark Continent had been traversed by Tippu Tib, and the villages of the Upper Congo had been given over to plunder, had the slave-driver's whip been wielded with such remorseless energy. Cæsar groaned and writhed upon the ground, and struggled blindly to rise. The thong cut his cheek and hands, and the cruel knots which he himself had tied tore the coat from his back, till his cries became fainter, and at last he lay quite still. And at that, Max cast the whip in his teeth.
Throughout all this every one had remained motionless, rooted to the spot. The whole thing had been so unexpected and so sudden. Nothing like it had ever happened before.
De Costa stood by with chattering teeth. The very sight of Cæsar's punishment had set the ague shaking in his bones. The slaves were petrified by fear. They looked on in breathless silence, with their mouths opened wide and their heavy under-lips hanging so low as to show their white teeth and gums. As for the Arabs, even they were too surprised to act. They had known the Portuguese for two years, and they knew that his word was law; not one of them would have dared for a moment to defy him. On that account they could not believe what they saw.
Cæsar rolled over on his face, and then struggled to his feet. He stood for a moment swaying. Then he passed a hand across his eyes.