A Black officer in a white uniform hesitated after looking at Book's expression but finally spoke out loud, "Great Hougen, we should avoid these white troops; their numbers are too many. It would be best to enter the South Carolina mountains or retreat to the west."
The "Hougen" he referred to was the Great Wizard of Voodoo, the religious position that Book now held.
Book glanced at him coldly and shoved the binoculars into his hands, pointing forcefully at the American Army's camp and said through clenched teeth, "I can't leave them behind."
The officer didn't follow the command; he knew that within those white-manned plantations, over 200 Black people were being hanged, which he had seen up close when he led a team to scout the day before.
Those Black people should have been preparing to join Book's movement, but before they could leave the area of South Carolina, they were captured and brought back. Then the American Army tied their wrists and hung them from the tree branches.
