The sale lasted for three or four hours, the prisoners being knocked down, as they say, for various sums, the greatest price being given for those women who were young and strong. The reason, I have been told, is that the women make better servants, endure the heat more patiently, do not commonly drink the strong spirit which destroys the men, and, though they are not so strong, do more work.
'This I did, and so stood before them all bareheaded.'
Last of all, the man called my name. 'Alice Eykin, Rebel. Stand forth, Alice Eykin, Rebel.'
'Do not go down among them,' said the Captain. 'Let them see at once that yours is no common case. Stand here.'
He led me to the top of the ladder or steps which they call the companion—leading from the waist to the quarter-deck.
'Madam,' he said, 'it will be best to throw back your hood.'
This I did, and so stood before them all bareheaded.
Oh! ye who are women of gentle nurture, think of such a thing as this: to stand exposed to the curious gaze of rough and ribald men; to be bought and sold like a horse or an ox at the fair! At first my eyes swam and I saw nothing, and should have fallen but that the Captain placed his hand upon my arm, and so I was steadied. Then my sight cleared, and I could look down upon the faces of the men below. There was no place whither I could fly and hide. It would be more shameful still (because it might make them laugh) to burst into tears. Why, I thought, why had I not accepted the Captain's offer and suffered my name to be entered as one of those who had died on the voyage and been buried in the sea?