The slave awoke to a room full of shadows; the day's light had faded and twilight had come. He lay on his face as his consciousness gradually awoke; yet he felt pleasantly drugged, languorous. The memory of the afternoon returned to him; it seemed softened distant however, though it had not been a good day. The slave's sweet face and pleasant manner had shielded him from many of the penalties that overtook many of the household's slaves; yet a gradual accumulation of small infractions inevitably brought about a sentence to the whipping chamber of the household.
Surprised and shocked, he was protesting and pleading as the steward's men hauled him down the corridor and into the much feared chamber. His single garment was pulled over his head; naked and exposed, strong hands gripped his hair and arms and he was put in position in the wooden stocks against one wall. The top half of the stocks was lowered so that his neck and wrists were pinned at an uncomfortable angle. Fingers gripped his nose and when he opened his mouth to breathe, a woven leather ball was thrust into his mouth and tied tightly at the back of his head. As he squirmed helplessly, his ankles were placed in the stocks' lower section and secured there. He stood, bent over, capable of only a slight side to side movement of his hips; his soft, narrow buttocks protruding invitingly, with his legs parted and the long graceful length of his back hunched over by the grasp on his neck.
There was movement behind him; he strained to see or hear what was taking place, but caught only something that sounded like "Thirty". His inquiries, however, were abruptly halted, as a sudden swish, a crack and a fiery pain across his behind drove a gasp of air through his nostrils. He cried out through the gag, but another cutting stroke choked off his voice. His chastiser was evidently an artist at his work; a series of strokes, delivered at short, even intervals, laid a pattern of horizontal, parallel stripes across the slave's buttocks and the point where his behind joined his thighs. Each stroke immediately erupted into a stinging agony, which had only begun to subside when the following blow was delivered.
The slave writhed and tried to evade the cutting strokes; but he was effectively pinned and each stroke landed where it was intended. After ten stripes, a pause ensued; the slave was able to catch his breath, Sobbing, he tried to plead through the gag for an end to the punishment, but it was not to be. Apparently refreshed by the break, his tormentor recommenced the punishment, this time angling each cut upwards so that it crossed one or more of the prior set, doubling the effect and driving a muffled howl from the unfortunate youth. Ten blows were thus ingeniously administered; then another pause, while the youth's muffled cries subsided into great sobs. The final ten were angled in the opposite direction, some of which intersected the tender areas several times. The slave shrieked and raised himself to his tiptoes; such pain did not seem possible. His behind was surely a mass of blood.
Finally the punishment was done. The lad cringed, fearing more agony, but no more blows came and the stinging slowly lessened. Weeping, he felt the arm of the stocks lifted up and the gag loosened; a cup was held to his lips, he drank gratefully, and was led to the slaves' chambers, where he fell gratefully onto his bed; face down, needless to say. Drowsiness overcame him and he fell into a dreamless slumber.
