“He cursed me and was insolent,” aggressively answered the law-breaker in defence of his action.
“Yes, I dare say he was cheeky,” said the judge; “but you know the rule of this place is: All big boys that hit little boys must be punished with the cane, and all small boys who curse and are insolent to their elders must be brought to the white man for him to cane. There is only one who punishes on this station, and that is myself. Is it not so?”
“Yes, that is the law,” they unanimously assented.
“I have told you repeatedly,” continued the white man, “that without such a rule you cannot live happily here. The big ones among you would constantly harry and make drudges of the little ones, and their lives would become unbearable; and the younger ones, too, would irritate you older ones with their curses and impudence. It is a good law, is it not?”
“Yes, it is a good law,” they all agreed.
Thereupon the white man picked up a cane, and gave the law-breaker six good strokes with it on his hands, and turning to the small boy, he said: “If you get cursing or cheeking the other lads I will give you a thrashing that you will not quickly forget.”
The boys trooped off to their house. And Bakula, as he accompanied the lads, was surprised to hear no angry exclamations against the white man. The majority acknowledged the rule to be a good one, and that the white man was absolutely impartial in enforcing it.
During the evening my owner, together with eight or ten other lads, went to have a chat with their white man. On entering his house we found him reading a book and eating roasted peanuts. His evening meal was over, and he was just reading and resting. On our arrival he smiled, and putting down his book, at once began to chat with us. There had been a discussion in the boys’ house as to which was the greatest country: Portugal, Holland, or England,[[48]] and as the supporters of each were about equally divided they had come to the white man to settle the palaver for them. He listened to our questions, and taking down one of his books, told us the size of each country, the number of people in each, and the different kinds of articles made in each place. He then told us a story he had just read, and asked us to tell him one of our stories, which the oldest lad amongst us at once did, to our amusement. It was now late, but before wishing our white friend “to sleep well,” we all knelt in prayer and thanked the great God for His goodness, and especially for the loving gift of His Son Jesus Christ.
The next day was Saturday, so the boys swept up the courtyard, and all the various paths about the station, those also leading to the station and the “town square.” Bakula entered heartily into the work of tidying up the place, and by midday all the rubbish had been carried away and burnt. The boys had the rest of the day for themselves--some visited friends in the neighbourhood, others played hockey, one group went off to the forest in search of wild fruits, and another went rat-hunting in the farms and bush.
While Bakula was walking this afternoon through the town he saw a man stretched on a mat with a fowl tied to his leg, and a witch-doctor vigorously rubbing him. He was a sick man, and the “medicine man” had told him to bring a fowl before he could attempt to cure him. The fowl had been brought and a string had been tied from a leg of the fowl to a leg of the outstretched patient.