It seemed like he only slept for few minutes before he was awoken by a kick. He couldn't recall how he fell asleep or passed out the last evening. The men pushed them outside, it was already morning. In broad daylight they were able to see themselves clearly. In total, they were ten boys. Dulai was the youngest amongst them. He looked around to find the boy that talked to him yesterday. He found him behind the other boys who were all staring at him , including the two men.
The one with the scar gave a mischievous smile while staring at him and then to his partner.
"Qu'avons-nous ici ?"( what do we have here?)
He said as he came closer. He raised his chin up, turning his face around as if he was checking a commodity in the market. "Comment t'appelles- tu petit garçon?"(what's your name little boy?)
"Dulai" he answered fearful of getting another thorough beating.
"Pas mal"( not bad).He said as he left his chin which was already hurting him.
" Nous obtiendrons une bonne affaire de lui"( we will get a good deal from him). The other said while puffing out smoke from the weed he was smoking.
"Nous?"( we?).The one with scar said giving him a cunning glare.
"Nous en Avons parle"( we talked about this).
" Alons- y, attachons- les!"(lets get going, tie them up!).
They tied them simultaneously to each other and then they began the journey. They traveled through the forest for hours until they got to a certain point. The scar man who seemed to be the leader halted them.
"Nous l'attendrons ici"( we will wait for him here).
Few minutes later, they heard the rustling of bushes in their opposite direction. It continued until it revealed a tall and hairy white man. Dulai was dumbfounded. He couldn't believe his eyes. He walked majestically towards them. He had a jet black hair, pointy nose and sharp eyes.
" hmm not bad" he said as he walked past them to the two men. They ensued into a discussion which was inaudible to them. Dulai wondered what they were talking about and so decided to look back at them. Surprisingly he found them staring at his direction while one of the men was pointing at him. He grew scared and moved his gaze immediately. Soon enough he heard footsteps towards them.He stopped in front of Dulai who was now shaking with fear. He looked him up and down and then said;
" I will have him for 3 pounds "
" sir can't you… " . The scar man tried to speak and was cut immediately by the white man as he shuddered in fear.
" that's all I can give, take it or leave it". He spoke with finality. Among the ten boys only dulai could understand English, even though none of the men knew. He heard everything they said clearly. They were all sold like a commodity in the market. He never thought in his wildest dream he would be in a situation like this. He remembered his family and hot tears built up in his eyes, threatening to pour out but he smartly blinked them back.He was the only one sold for three pounds as he gave 10 pounds for the other nine boys. He wondered why?
Soon enough they began to move with the white man and his two subordinates who also came with him.
" no misbehaving!"One of them scolded. At moment the other boys halted while only dulai kept moving.
" taxawal!" ( stop!).Babou and other boys tried to inform dulai. Hearing the chaos one of the white men who came with the hairy one who was probably higher than them came forward. He was at the back guarding them while the other was at the front row. He had a scarlet hair which was combed back with an angular face and blue eyes.
" who told you morons to stop? Huh" the boys kept staring sheepishly at him. "I'm talking to you guys are you deaf?"
Hearing the chaos dulai halted and looked back to find the red haired man scolding the other boys with a surprised looks on their faces.
"I'm going to teach you a lesson" he brought out a whip and whipped them. Dulai shuddered at the sound of the whip hitting the boys' skin.
" that's enough nickel, what's the matter?"
Their boss asked as he came towards the chaos."Isn't that too early?"
" they wouldn't move". He said staring wickedly at them.
" what happened boys?". He asked as they all kept silent. " they don't understand English ". He said as it dawned on the red haired man who was not totally convinced as dulai was moving. He thought they were pretending.
" but, he was moving ," he pointed towards dulai.
Their boss turned towards where he was pointing and saw dulai staring at them with his curious brown eyes.
That was when everything became clear. They stared at each other having found out the truth. He walked up to dulai.
"Can you speak English?". Dulai kept staring at him. After asking him a few questions which he kept silent, he decided to leave him knowing he would find out sooner or later.