Chapter 2 Down the coast of Africa
For two long years I live the life of a slave. I worked in the house and the garden, and every day I
planned to escape, but it was never possible.
I thought about it day and night. My master liked to go fishing in a little boat, and he always took
me with him. A men called Moely, and a young boy also went with us. One day my master said to us. "
Some of my friends want to go fishing tomorrow. Get the boat ready."
So we put a lot of food and drink on the boat, and the next morning, we waited for my master and his
friends. But when my master arrived, he was alone. "My friends don't want to go fishing today," he
said to me. "But you go with Moely and the boy, and catch some fish for our supper tonight."
"Yes, master," I answered quietly, but inside I was excited."Perhaps now I can escape," I said to
myself. My master went back to his friends and we took the boat out to sea. For a time we fished
quietly, and then I moved carefully behind Moely and knocked him into the water.
"Swin! I cried. Swim to the shore!" My master liked to shoot seabirds and so there were guns on the
boat. Quickly, I took one of these guns. Moely was swimming after the boat and I shouted to him:
Go back to the shore! You can swim there-it's not too far. I won't hurt you, but if you come near
the boat, I'll shoot you through the head!
So Moely turned, and swam back to the shore as quickly as he could. Then I said to the boy, "Xury,
if you help me, I'll be good friend to you. If you dont't help me, I'll push you into the sea too."
But Xury was happy to help me.
"I'll go all over the world with you," he cried. "I wanted to sail to the Canary Islands, but I was
afraid to go too far from the shore.
It was only a small boat. And so we sailed on south for some days. We hand very little water, and it
was dangerous country here, with many wild animals. We were afraid, but we often hand to go on shore
to get more water. Once I used a gun to shoot a wild animal.
I don't know what animal it was, but it made a good meal. For about ten or twelve day we sailed on
south, down the coast of Africa.
Then one day we saw some people on the shore-strange, wild peopel, who did not look friendly. By now
we had very little food, and We really needed help. We were afraid, but we had to go on shore. At
first, they were afraid of us, too. Perhaps white people never visited his coast.
We did not speak their language, of course, so we used our hands and face to show that we were
hungry. They came with food for us, but then they moved away quickly. We carried the food to our
boat and they watched us. I tried to thank them, but I hand nothing to give them.
Just then two big wild cats came down to the shore from the mountains. I think they were leopards.
The people were afraid of these wild cats, and the women crid out. Quickly, I took a gun, and shot
one of the animals. The second wild cate ran back up into the mountains. Guns were new to these
African people, and they were afraid of the loud noise and smoke.
But they were happy ahout the dead wild cat. I gave them the meat of the dead animal, and they
gave us more food and water. We now had a lot of food and water, and we sailed on. Eleven days
later we came near the Cape Verde Islands.
We could see them, but we couldn't get near because there was no wind. We waited. Suddenly Xury
called to me, 'Look, a ship!' He was right! We called and shouted and sailed out little boat a
fast as we could. But the ship did not see us. Then I remembered the guns which made a lot of
smoke. A few minutes later the the ship saw us and turned. When we were on the ship, the Portuguese
captain listened to my story.
He was going to Brazil and agreed to help me, but he wanted nothing for his help."No,"he said, when
I tried to pay him."Perhaps, one day, someone will help me when I need it."
But he gave me money for my boat, and for Xury, too. At first, I did not want to sell Xury as a
slave, after all our dangerous adventures together. But Xury was happy to go the captain, and the
captain was a good man."In the years'time," he said, "Xury can go free."
When we arrived in Brazil three weeks later, I said goodbye to the captain and Xury, left the ship,
and want to begin a new life.