N. Francis Xavier
Part LIV
(Continued from last week)
A small canoe slipped silently into the protected harbor of Viper Island. It was well past dusk. Oil lamps glimmered in the barracks on the shore. The sentry on duty peered into the boat, jerked to attention and lifted the boom to allow it. A hooded figure stepped outside, followed by a child and woman in convict uniform. They walked up the incline towards the condemned cells. The boy walked with a limp. A man on guard duty challenged them. The woman whispered something to him. He came to attention immediately, saluted and walked with them. They walked past the cells holding sullen faced convicts. All were in chains. Some cursed as the party walked past. The guard told them to shut up.
There was heavy security outside the condemned cells. Oil lamps burned casting eerie shadows all over. The condemned men sat on their haunches, clothed in nothing but loincloths. Sweat glistened on their bodies in the dim light.
The guard spoke to the sentries who again stiffened and showed them to a cell locked with a huge padlock. An oil lamp burned outside its barred door. Inside the cell a lone figure sat huddled in a corner. It had some kind of a rosary in its hand and kept mumbling a prayed as it turned the beads.
“Hemraj, are you there?” the woman said, in Hindustani, peering into the shadows.
The human figure in the corner sprang up as if electrified.
“Minnie memsaab,” it cried out, and ran to the door, clutching the bars.
The woman threw back her hood, and spoke to the guard. After some deliberations a key turned in the lock. The woman, child and her servant entered the cell.
Hemraj fell at her feet, sobbing. She held him by the shoulders and lifted him up. They looked into each other’s eyes for a moment. Hemraj turned his gaze towards the child. “Reggie baba,” he said repeatedly, and sobbed uncontrollably.
The servant took out a bundle from under her sari. She laid it on the floor and opened it.
“Hemraj, I know you declined your last meal. But I want you to have it from my hand. You know Wimberley saab considers you innocent. Unfortunately he has no influence with the Superintendent to save you. But we have the highest regard for you. We pray that the Almighty grants to eternal rest and we are all reunited in the Kingdom of God after the day of the last judgment.
The woman wiped her eyes. She was crying, and started sobbing loudly after speaking to Hemraj. The child also started crying, seeing his mother cry.
“Memsaab, please remember me once I’m gone. Hemraj won’t be there to ferry you and Reggie baba and Captain saab across to Ross and back for the Saturday night dances. But there’ll be someone else. You may even have a motor boat. But remember old Hemraj.
Hemraj’s voiced choked with emotion as he spoke.
Mrs. Wimberley also could not control her emotions. At last she controlled herself and spoke.
“Let me feed you with my own hands Hemraj. I brought rotis, daal and subji. Come, don’t decline.” Her voice choked again.
“Memsaab, see that my body is cremated tomorrow, and my ashes immersed in the sea near Dundas Point, so that I am reunited with my ancestors. I know what they do with the bodies of the hanged. Please save me from that fate. I don’t want anything more.
The servant spread a cloth on the stone floor of the cell. Mrs Wimberley knelt down and opened containers with food. Hemraj sat in front of her silently, and, like a small child ate from her hand.
The guard whispered something. It was time to leave. There might be a visit from Ross. Minnie rose. The servant rolled up the cloth with the containers. Minnie hugged Hemraj. Hemraj hugged and kissed Reginald Gordon Wimberley, the little lame boy. They parted silently. The guard slammed the door shut and turned the key in the lock.
As Minnie’s canoe left the harbor the lights of a power boat could be seen in the distance.
The hanging party was coming to make preparations for the execution of the recaptured convicts the next day. (To be Continued)
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