"Be silent!" One of the men that had highlighted from the ship said. He was the leader of the group that had come in a little ship to the shores of Ufas. They had sailed in the dead of the night so that they wouldn't be seen by anybody lingering around the shore.
Unknown to the Ufik people, their land had been marked for this harvesting. Scouts had come before this time... say, three weeks ago, and they had returned with good news for the people that had sent them.
"The people there are strong," one of the scouts had said.
"They have skin like they can work for long hours under the sun..." another one said.
"I watched some of the women work on their farms. They work like men!" the other scout said.
And so, it was decided that they would come into the land of Ufas to complete and fill their quota.
There was a large assignment that their boss, Rod Rodney, was embarking on. He planned on growing cotton and becoming one of the greatest exporters of the product.
Rod Rodney wasn't going to allow anything to stop him. He was a ruthless man with a long beard and bald head. Rod's belly was so protruded that from afar, one would think that he was a woman that was due to give birth at any hour. Rod Rodney was disliked by the workers in his house, because of the way he treated them.
And so, he had spread his tentacles even to lands far away from his own country. The reason was to gather workers for his large project -- even though it was at he expense of other people.
Most of the people that worked for him were frail or well on their way out of their youthful age. This infuriated Rod and fueled his decision to get more workers...maybe thousands of them. Rod was prepared.
Rod was ready to bring people to his vast cotton farm whether by force... or by hook or crook. Rod was a meanly shrewd businessman.
He had sent some people far and wide to search for humans that would come to work for him and Rod had received good news about a particular region... called West Africa. What he had heard had made his ear red with interest.
In response to the letter he had received from the person Rod had put in charge of the expedition, Rod wrote: 'I commend your hard work and dedication to this project. Please go ahead with what you have suggested to me. If I like the first batch that would be brought to me, I plan on arranging a meeting with one of the leaders of that place.'
And that was how Mert Heller led the other eleven men that had sailed to the shores of Ufas into the village in the dead of the night.
None of the Ufik people had seen them for where they had docked their small ship was far from where the Ufik people usually received the missionaries or people that sailed into their land.
The twelve men gathered and crouched in the bushes. The bushes were thick enough to hide them all. Besides, it was the middle of the night, so they didn't fear being caught.
"So, this is my plan..." Mert Heller began.
He spoke quickly with his eyes so wide that they looked like torches in the blackness of the night. He had a thick mustache that covered the top of his lip and made the lip hardly visible.
The men knew Mert as a no-nonsense man that didn't allow anything to tamper with his money. And they all knew that the overall boss was going to settle them very well... only if they delivered the merchandise.
"No mistakes, and swift movements. This place here would be our base..." Mert Heller continued. "Tonight and early tomorrow morning would be the only time we have for this. We sail after we arrange on board the last set. I envision us getting at least 30 people first..." Mert said.
"Would that be enough?" one of the men asked.
"For now, yes. This is a trial. If the boss is happy with this operation, we would not have to hide the next time." Mert Heller said. But he was only fixed on getting the pay for this operation first because it was the riskiest, so it happened to carry a lot of money that would come from Rod Rodney's pocket.
Mert Heller couldn't wait.
"Anybody that delays would be left behind!" Mert warned. "Also, anybody that is caught, would be left behind too."
"Did everyone carry what they need for this?" Mert Heller asked.
"Yes!" some of them chorused, while some nodded. But Mert didn't see those who had nodded for the trees blocked out the unwelcome light of the moon.
"Now go, and be smart."
They all stood up straight and walked with dexterity through the thick bushes. With the way the men moved, one would think that they were inhabitants of the Ufas land.
* * *
An unlucky man that had come out of his hut to ease himself, with heavy sleep still in his eyes... his eyes weren't even open as he just wanted to empty his bladder and go back to the deep, sweet sleep he was having, was met by one of Mert Heller's men.
Most of the houses, known as huts, didn't have walls around them. It was only the elites of the village that could afford to fence their houses. Even though the so-called fences were built with blocks that were made from mud.
The kidnapper had put a cloth over the man's nose, which immediately sent him into a deep sleep.
The kidnapper hadn't even given the man the chance to arrange his undergarments properly before pouncing on him. He carried the man away from the front of the house that way, with his thing still dangling about.
They caught about twelve people that night alone.
People who were walking aimlessly on the road, couples making love in the bushes, and a few drunkards stumbling in a stupor on the streets.
When the men returned to their base, Mert Heller counted the men, women, girls, and boys that they had gathered.
"Good for a first try." He said with a smirk on his face.
"Now, chain them!"