"And how long shall I have to suffer in this manner?" inquired
Manuel. "Can I not have my own bed and clothing?"
"Oh, yes," said Redman; "you can have them, but if you bring them
here, they'll not be worth anything when you leave; and the
prisoners upon this floor are so starved and destitute, that
necessity forces them to steal whatever comes in their way; and the
assistants are as much implicated as the prisoners. You'll fare
hard; but just do as we do in a calm, wait for the wind to blow, and
pray for the best. If you say any thing, or grumble about it, the
sheriff will order you locked, up on the third story, and that's
worse than death itself. The first thing you do, make preparations
for something to eat. We pay for it here, but don't get it; and
you'd starve afore you'd eat what they give them poor white
prisoners. They suffer worse than we do, only they have cleaner
rooms."
"I pray for my deliverance from such a place as this."
His manners and appearance at once enlisted the respect of those
present, and they immediately set to work, with all the means at
hand, to make him comfortable. Joseph Jociquei, a young man who had
been taken from a vessel just arrived from Rio, and was more
fortunate than the rest, in having a mattrass, seeing Manuel's weak
condition, immediately removed it from its place, and spreading it
upon the floor, invited him to lay down.
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