Michael challenged him thus: "Come now, my blitherin' friend, tell us
your trouble--why are you risin'? You don't do this without cause--
what's the cause?"
The black man, naked except for a cloth about his loins, and with a small
bag at his hip, slung from a cord over his shoulder, showed his teeth in
a stark grimace.
"You're a newcomer here, massa, or you'd know we're treated bad," he
answered. "We're robbed and trod on and there's no word kept with us.
We asked the governor for more land and he moved us off. We warned him
against having one of our head young men flogged by a slave in the
presence of slaves--for we are free men, and he laughs. So, knowing a
few strong men can bring many weak men to their knees, we rose. I say
this--there's plenty weak men in Jamaica, men who don't know right when
they see it. So we rose, massa, and we'll make Jamaica sick before we've
done. They can't beat us, for we can ambush here, and shoot those that
come after us. We hide, one behind this rock and one behind that, two or
three together, and we're safe. But the white soldiers come all together
and beat drums and blow horns, and we know where they are, and so we
catch 'em and kill 'em.
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