Book Description

They branded Martha first, for no particular reason; she just happened to be the adolescent girl child closest and within easy reach of the smiling slave who was doing the branding. She was sobbing and crying, terrified and near panicking. Speaking softly in the singsong dialect of the Wolof tribe, the huge slave doing the branding tried to reassure her that the pain was mild and only temporary. He pointed to his own brand that stood out distinctly on his right shoulder. The brand was the Christian symbol of the cross where Jesus was crucified and murdered. Still smiling, he approached the girl holding the smoking red- and white-hot branding iron. Martha could see small heat waves and light smoke coming off the branding iron and disappearing in the light wind. The pain was horrendous; Martha passed out and her tiny body was eased down to the dirt floor by two slaves helping with the branding. There were four other brands of different designs smoldering in the white-hot flames and the brander would brand thirty slaves today. After years of slavery and hardship, Jason would tell her as they carefully planned their escape. "There is a place in Florida where the slavers are afraid to go."