“Hey, where’s that boy?”
“Yeah, I thought he was coming back to tell us more about Moses.”
In the flickering lamplight, Simon saw the overseer glance anxiously at Mal-Chin. “Who was supposed to wake the new kid up?”
“I tried to find him before bed, but I couldn’t.”
The overseer turned to the other prisoners and scowled. “Anybody see him?”
Nobody answered. Men fidgeted in their seats, and one scooted farther into the shadows.
“Was he at work in the mines today?” Several faces turned pale. Simon glanced at the ladder. “I told you we shouldn’t just let anyone in,” the overseer hissed at Mal-Chin.
One of the prisoners jumped up, but Mal-Chin blocked his path, folding his arms across his massive chest. “Where do you think you’re going?”
The prisoner tried to swing a leg over the ladder.
