A Servant of Satan: Romantic Career of Prado the Assassin — page 107: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

A SERVANT OF SATAN, 99 A brawny prisoner who had volunteered to act as cor- rector, now stepped forth from the ranks, seized the “cat,” and began to let it fall heavily and at regular intervals on the back and shoulders of the unfortunate Frederick, allowing enough time between each blow to make the suffering still more acute. The first strokes left -long, livid stripes on the young man’s white skin. Soon, how- ever, the blood oozed forth, and by the time the twentieth blow was inflicted, Frederick’s back was one mass of lacer- ated and bleeding wounds. He bore the cruel punishment with Spartan courage, never uttering a complaint or letting a moan escape him. But when they untied his bonds and attempted to raise him from the bench, it was found that he had become insensible. For two weeks after this cruel punishment Frederick lay in the ship’s hospital, part of the time in a state of delirium brought on by wound-fever. When at length he had re- covered sufficiently to be able to leave the infirmary his tortures began afresh. Both he and the three convicts who had attempted to escape with him were set to perform the most disgusting and revolting kind of work that could be found on a vessel freighted with such an enormous cargo of human beings. It is needless to describe what these duties were, but it will be sufficient to state that they: were peculiarly repugnant to Frederick, reared as he had been in palaces, and accustomed to every form of the most refined and elegant luxury. As a further disciplinary measure they were deprived of one of their two meals a day. ‘lhe food on board the transport was execra- ble, and for some reason or other none was ever served out to the prisoners between the hours of 6 o’clock on Saturday morning and 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. , Frederick bore all these hardships in silence, but became more and more embittered against mankind. His heart > grew as hard asstone. very slight vestige of good feeling, Gomicboo cS €oO ’ ; ; ; . ’ i. ’ ‘* at of 4 . r ® - 0 ae nt . > »,