An Excerpt from The Slave Dancer I heard one piercing scream. My teeth began to chatter. Then a very small brown face rose above the rail as though it had flown up from the sea. It continued to rise slowly until its brown bare chest was visible. Then I saw dark hands around its waist. The hands lifted, the little girl's legs flew out, and I saw the head of the young man who had been carrying her. For a second, she sat on the deck, looking all around her, her eyes huge with amazement, then she crawled and jumped toward the rail but was forced back by the forward propulsion of the man who tottered over the rail, unable, it seemed, to bring his body any further. The child hugged the young man's neck frantically and buried her face in his hair. At that moment, Nicholas Spark bent his thin length and gripped the man's back as though he were gathering up cloth, and yanked him altogether over, the chains around his ankles striking the deck with a violent clanging. The clanging never ceased as one after another the captives struggled over the rail and were dropped or dragged onto the deck. How long did it all take? I'll never know. None of us moved. From the Trade Paperback edition. Excerpted from The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
