Chapter XV: One Hundred Lashes
The morning sun, bright and fierce, looked down upon a curious sight. In a stone-yard was a little group of persons—Troke, Burgess, Macklewain, Kirkland, and Rufus Dawes.
Three wooden staves, seven feet high, were fastened together
in the form of a triangle. The structure looked not unlike that made
by gypsies to boil their kettles. To this structure Kirkland was bound. His feet were fastened with thongs to the base of the triangle; his wrists, bound above his head, at the apex. His body was then extended to its fullest length, and his white back shone in the sunlight. During his tying up he had said nothing—only when Troke pulled off his shirt he shivered.
"Now, prisoner," said Troke to Dawes, "do your duty."
Rufus Dawes looked from the three stern faces to Kirkland's white back, and his face grew purple. In all his experience he had never been asked to flog before. He had been flogged often enough.
"You don't want me to flog him, sir?" he said to the Commandant.
"Pick up the cat, sir!" said Burgess, astonished; "what is the meaning of this?"
Rufus Dawes picked up the heavy cat, and drew
its knotted lashes between his fingers.
"Go on, Dawes," whispered Kirkland, without turning his head. "You are no more than another man."
"What does he say?" asked Burgess.
"Telling him to cut light, sir," said Troke, eagerly lying; "they all do it."
"Cut light, eh! We'll see about that. Get on, my man, and look sharp, or I'll tie you up and give you fifty for yourself, as sure as God made little apples."
"Go on, Dawes," whispered Kirkland again. "I don't mind."
Rufus Dawes lifted the cat, swung it round his head, and brought
its knotted cords down upon the white back.
"Wonn!" cried Troke.
The white back was instantly striped with six crimson bars. Kirkland stifled a cry. It seemed to him that he had been cut in half.
"Now then, you scoundrel!" roared Burgess; "separate your cats! What do you mean by flogging a man that fashion?"
Rufus Dawes drew his crooked fingers through the entangled cords, and struck again. This time the blow was more effective, and the blood beaded on the skin.
The boy did not cry; but Macklewain saw his hands clutch the staves tightly, and the muscles of his naked arms quiver.
"Tew!"
"That's better," said Burgess.
The third blow sounded as though it had been struck upon a piece of raw beef, and the crimson turned purple.
"My God!" said Kirkland, faintly, and bit his lips.
The flogging proceeded in silence for ten strikes, and then
Kirkland gave a screech like a wounded horse.
"Oh! … Captain Burgess! … Dawes! … Mr. Troke! … Oh, my God! …
Oh! oh! … Mercy! … Oh, Doctor! … Mr. North! … Oh! Oh! Oh!"
"Ten!" cried Troke, impassively counting to the end of the first twenty.
The lad's back, swollen into a lump, now presented the appearance
of a ripe peach which a wilful child had scored with a pin. Dawes, turning away from his bloody handiwork, drew the cats through his fingers twice. They were beginning to get clogged a little.
"Go on," said Burgess, with a nod; and Troke cried "Wonn!" again.
Roused by the morning sun streaming in upon him, Mr. North opened
his bloodshot eyes, rubbed his forehead with hands that trembled, and suddenly awakening to a consciousness of his promised errand, rolled off the bed and rose to his feet. He saw the empty brandy bottle on his wooden dressing-table, and remembered what had passed. With shaking hands he dashed water over his aching head, and smoothed his garments. The debauch of the previous night had left the usual effects behind it. His brain seemed on fire, his hands were hot and dry, his tongue clove to the roof of his mouth. He shuddered as he viewed his pale face and red eyes in the little looking-glass, and hastily tried the door. He had retained sufficient sense in his madness to lock it, and his condition had been unobserved. Stealing into the sitting-room, he saw that the clock pointed to half-past six. The flogging was to have taken place at half-past five. Unless accident had favoured him he was already too late. Fevered with remorse and anxiety, he hurried past the room where Meekin yet slumbered, and made his way to the prison. As he entered the yard, Troke called "Ten!" Kirkland had just got his fiftieth lash.
"Stop!" cried North. "Captain Burgess, I call upon you to stop."
"You're rather late, Mr. North," retorted Burgess. "The punishment
is nearly over." "Wonn!" cried Troke again; and North stood by, biting his nails and grinding his teeth, during six more lashes.