THE DEPRIVED... Chapter 4...Part 4.

A continuation of my book.

“Take your hands down and look at me.”
Sam let go the beam and dropped down on his feet and nearly falling. Gritting his teeth and through tears he turned to focus his eyes on the boy who stood before him.
“Me name’s Bonsy and I’m Master’s Boy, which means I run things round here. You call me Master Bonsy when you talks to me. You got that?”
Sam clung hard to his senses, standing upright through the pain. He nodded assent.
“That aint an answer and unless you wants another of the rope’s end you had better answer right.” said Bonsy raising the rope’s end and shaking it.
“Yes, I understand Master Bonsy.” croaked Sam.
“You aint on your own.” said Bonsy. “All the boys is given the end of a rope. Those new boys as come with you had the rope and cried like babies. Even us, me and Dropend here, we both got it when we first came, aint that right Dropend?”
Dropend readily agreed.
“You see what it is on board this vessel. We are all here to get adjustment and learn the ways of the legal and lawful, so we get punished all the time till we gets the devil drove out of us. And it’s also to let you know that any shenanikins gets the rope’s end. But if it’s worse than talking when you aint supposed to, if it’s like cursing out at the Warders then it’s the birching or cat-o-nine-tails which leaves you in an awful condition. Aint that right Dropend?”
Again, Dropend readily agreed.
“Take him upside and wet him down.” ordered Bonsy.
Dropend led Sam back up onto the deck and he stood there as Dropend tied a rope to a leather bucket before tossing it overboard, to draw it back up and throw the contents over Sam. The salt content stung into the cuts on his back and Sam could not help but cry out once more.
“You’ll get a good use of it afore you’re through. Make that a commitment.” said Dropend.
Sam was taken back down to the small cabin and given a uniform of black and white strip and ordered to dress. Somewhere on deck a bell rang out, followed by the piercing notes of a ship’s whistle.
“It’s bedtime.” said Dropend.
“Is there something to eat?” asked Sam, having not eaten for two days and hunger getting the best of him.
“Too late.” said Dropend curtly. “You get fed at twelve midday, that’s the only meal all the boys get so you have to short your belly and wait. Here, grab hold of this and don’t lose it.”
Dropend had lifted the lid of a large wooden box and drew out a hammock.
“Follow me down below decks to the sleeping quarters and there you has to find some spare hooks and sling up your hammock if you want to sleep, that’s your bunk.”
Sam followed Dropend down below decks and above the bilges to a long galley where hung row upon row of hammocks with boys, like strange bats, all hung up and filling the galley with loud snores and the crying and groans of those not yet settled to this sleeping arrangement. Sam was left to wander between the rows of hammocks, seeking a spare pair of hooks which were bolted to the upright posts. He noted that beneath each hammock in a neat folded pile were the uniform and boots of the boy above and at last espying  a pair of unused hooks he strung up the hammock then stripped down, neatly placing his prison garb and boots beneath the hammock. It took him three tries before he could securely lay in the hammock and grasp the sides without it tipping him up and out onto the floor.

The swaying motion of the ship as it rolled at high tide was a quick inducement to sleep and Sam had no longer closed his eyes than it seemed he was awakened by a shrill blast of the ship’s whistle blown by Bonsy who then went about with the rope’s end on the backs of those who still lay asleep in their hammocks. There was a constant thud of bare feet hitting the deck as the boys began to run naked, climbing the galley steps up to the deck proper. Sam followed them, pushing in amongst the boys and on reaching the deck he then joined the front of the two lines spread along the length of the ship.

“Every second boy to the front line step forward and tie a bucket then draw up the water and wet the first boy!”
The order came from the upper bridge, from a burly man in full whiskers and wearing a Warder’s dark blue uniform, the white shirt owing him a superior position. In one hand he carried a whip while in the other was a ship’s whistle which he now blew. The boy next to Sam ran forward to the side of the ship where there stood a row of leather buckets and tying the one in front of him the boy tossed it over the side and brought it back up laden with sea water which he promptly threw over Sam before running back and rejoining the line.
“Your turn!” whispered the boy urgently. “Get some water and throw it over me!”
Sam hurried to comply and shivering in the early dawn light he found it a good sense of fair play in throwing the bucket of water over the boy in turn. When this was done, the front line moved back to allow the second line to take their place and watch as the performance was repeated. The whistle was blown again once every boy stood in drenched condition and the order was given for the boys to return to the galley, to get dressed and be prepared for work. Sam did as the rest did, which was to hurry back down the stairs and dress his wet body in his uniform and boots then hurry back up topside again and reform in two lines as before.

“Hoi, you!”
Sam turned to see Master Bonsy.
“You aint to go in the line. The Captain wants to see you and them other new boys in the stateroom.” he said.

Behind Bonsy stood the six boys who had arrived with him the previous night.
“Follow me and keep in a tight line, else it’s the rope’s end.”
The boys filed behind him as he led them down the ship’s ladder and through to where the cabins began. Reaching the main stateroom, Bonsy stopped and had the boys face the front before he knocked lightly on the cabin door. The door was opened by the burly man with a full set of whiskers who had been on top-deck earlier.
“Here’s the new boys, Sir.” said Bonsy.
“The Governor wants to see that boy first.” said the Mate, pointing to Sam.
“You.” said Bonsy, indicating with his head that Sam was to enter the stateroom.
The Governor sat behind a large desk, a man of medium build who wore a monocle which gave his left eye an enlarged round of blue which seemed not to blink so that one was not sure if the eye was made of glass. His voice was soft when he spoke, as he did now.
“This fellow, Mr. Cameron.” he said to the burly man with the whiskers who stood directly behind Sam. “Is a most dangerous fellow and placed here because he tried to kill a man.”
He then turned the enlarged blue eye on Sam.
“Do you know why you are here and what our job is?” he asked.
Sam said nothing and felt a stab of pain as Mr. Cameron dug him in the back with the end of his whip handle.
“Do you know what my job is?” the Governor asked again.
“No Sir.” said Sam.
“You are here because you have the devil in you. You are not fit to walk among good Christian men. You are evil, you know that don’t you?”
“Yes Sir.” replied Sam.
The Governor leaned forward over the desk.
“My job here, with the help of Mr. Cameron and other members of staff, is to put you on the right path, to drive the devil from you so that you can see the error of your ways and become a good citizen. My job is to help you adjust so that you become a good Christian before you are shipped off to the Colonies. To do this, my officers on this prison hulk have to beat the devil out of you, to whip you each day until you pray for forgiveness. You understand this has to be done, don’t you?”
“Yes Sir.” replied Sam.
The Governor’s blue eye stared at Sam’s face as if trying to pierce his mind and read his thinking.
“You do understand, don’t you!” the Governor demanded again, becoming agitated.
“Yes Sir.” said Sam, unmoved.
“Take him away and have Master Bonsy give him the mast to climb. Perhaps that will liven his mind up.” sighed the Governor, the monocle dropping out from his eye so that the left eye now matched the right one.

Master Bonsy nodded as Mr. Cameron issued instructions then grasped Sam by the collar of his shirt.
“Come with me.” he said.