The next morning begines 
like all other days in the mine. 
 
Both the young and old, 
the still pretty ones and those who are worn-out, 
hurries to their work places, and the days race to meet the quota begines. 
 

Today Christina is ordered to help loading the coal waggons. 

They come in a nearly continuously stream, 
and nothing must interrupt them. 

The slaves pushing the coal waggons, 
are all very strong girls. 

Some of them, like Louise Miles here, were spotted 
at large sport meetings. 

 Louise had been so unlucky, that one of the sheriff´s nephews was on vacation and was among the spectators, when she won a big swimming contest in another state. 
 

So the waggon slaves can get on pushing the coals to the elevators as quickly as possible, weaker slaves as Christina must help them loading the heavy coals. 
 

Oh-no!  It´s too heavy! 
I just can´t lift one more. 
 My back!
 

While waiting for the next waggon to arrive, Christina sits down trying to ease her hurting back. 
 
She knows it is forbidden. 
The order is, that whenever there is a natural break in the work, she is to pick up a large stone or heavy log, and run back and forth with it, until the work can continue, so she will not become lazy. 
 

One of the black girls sees it, 
and leaves at once to find Maria.

"Mistress - Come quickly! 
The rich girl is not working." 
 

"Get up - Lazy fat slut ! 
Always have to look after you"
 

Christina bends over 
knowing to well, what is comming. 

If she in any way tries to avoid the cane, or moves only a bit durring the punishment, it will only be worse. 
 

"20 strokes now, and 20 more before sleeping time.  That ought to teach you!" 
 

"Master - I am only 21 years old, 
and I am a virgin." 

As the foreman that evening is chaining the slaves for the night, a young woman, who only has been a slave for a few days, tries to offer her body to him, in a desperate hope to achieve some better treatment. 
 

All that night Christina can see light
 in the tunnel over her´s. 

 For hours she can hear Maria beat the poor girl. 
  She will never forget, that down here they are not women anymore, but only work slaves. 
 

The next morning begines as all the other days. 
 

After the slaves are unchained, 
they are ordered to work.  
 

But where is Maria? 

 She is fast asleep. 

 

Christina and 2 of her work mates sees it, and takes a breack.  Because of the new girl´s misbehaviour, the whole group will not get anything to eat today anyway,  so they don´t have to worry about their quotas. 

A rare sound of girlish chatter is heard in the dark and normaly cheerless underground prison. 
 

"Sorry Master, but I was so tirred. 
I have not slept tonight. 
I punished that whore, as I was told to do." 
 

"Keep quiet!  20 strokes with the bullwhip 
will teach you!" 
 
Even she is a head girl, Maria is still a slave, 
and sometimes it is necessary to remind her. 
 

Carl do not want to loose Maria. 
She is one of the best head girls in the mine, 
so after punishing her, he decides to let her rest 
for the rest of the day. 
 
But in the meantime there has to be another head girl to watch over the slaves, or there will not be done much work, while Carl is elsewhere. 
 

Because Christina is the only girl present, who is wearing any clothes, Carl chooses her: 

"You are head girl for the rest of the day. 
Begine punishing those two sluts!" 

 

"Please no - master!  I can´t do it. 
I have never hit anybody in my life!

My parents did not believed in violence, 
and brought me up never to use it!" 
 

"I´am sorry Master, I just can´t do it." 
 

"Here -   Take the cane and bring
 the soft-hearted rich girl down to the lower tunnel! 
You know where, I mean!" 
 

For the first time in her life, Sally feels a huge power bubble up inside her. 

The Master has given her the cane, and 
have given her the power over a white girl. 
 

"Go on! - Rich girl. 
The water is not deap enough yet." 
 

Oh - It´s so cold! 
But I couldn´t  beat those girls. 
I couldn´t ! 
 

Hours after hour passes. 
Christina don´t know, how long 
she is ment to stand there. 
She is hungry and thirsty, but the water is dirty from 
all the filthy slaves, who walks through the tunnel carrying heavy baskets with coal. 
 

Suddently, after a long time, 
she sees a woman not carring any basket, 
comming down the tunnel 
holding something in her hand. 

She approaches the trembling girl, who 
stands chained in the freezing water. 

"Here, eat this ! 
You may have the half of my ration. 

I have a daughter at your age, who is working somewhere in another shaft in this hell hole. 
I know you have been kidnapped, just as we have been, by those bandits, who profits of all or work." 
 

The kind woman leaves her again shortly after. 
She has to get back to her work, before anybody misses her. 

Christina is again left alone standing in the freezing water.  None of the vast number of transport slaves passing her takes any notice of her. 
A slave chained to the wall as punishment, is too common a site down here. 
 

In the meanwhile work continues 
up in the tunnels. 

Suddently the ceiling falls in
 seriously injuring one of the new girls. 
  

Workers from a neighbouring shaft, 
have brocken through the wall. 
 

"Move it ! -  Get in and prop up the ceiling, 
before more damage is done." 

When the foreman says more damage, he is not talking about the wounded slave.  She means nothing.  What he is talking about is, that tunnel has to be repared as fast as possible, so work can continue. 
 

"Get moving fat sow! 
Get in and help support the celing." 

Maria has come to herself again 
after her punishment for sleeping.  
She is now more eager than ever 
to show her efficients. 
 

The frightened slaves runs as fast as they can 
in their chains, afraid of more punishments. 

When work finaly can continue, 
they all have to strain themselfs to over their limits. 
 

Oh - no!   We are so much behind! 
 
We must work much harder 
or our group will not reach the days quorta. 
 
Please let the foreman get a new girl very soon. 
 

Her prayers are heard. 

At the evening chaining, a new girl arrives 
from another shaft, and she seams very strong. 

 Tomorrow they will have a chance to meet their quotas and get something to eat again.  
  

The next morning Christina is loosened from the wall in the flooded lover tunnel, and crawls back to her own shaft, more dead than alive, to continue work.  
 

Reparement works - 

This means she will not get anything to eat today. 
How cruel can the foreman get?

If that kind woman hadn´t given her half of her ration the day before, Christina would have been in deep trouble now." 
 

With certainty - 

Christina will never again question any order. 
From now on she will obey no matter what ! 
 

As she strolls through the tunnel to where she now is ordered to fill baskets with coals, 
she feels strangely relieved.  

As if it was a walk through the garden at her parent´s large estate, on her way to the afternoon coffee breack after a tennis lesson. 
 

Sigh - One more task of endless work. 
 But so what? 
 

The next hours she fills one basket after another. 
But her minds are somehow elswhere.
As if the work is not important anymore. 

Then she is ordered to load the tipper waggons. 
 

"Hurry up girl ! 
As soon as you have finished loading that tipper waggon, you go working with the pickaxe." 

What kind of life is this? 
Why not lie down and die. 
I´am never going to leave this place anyway. 
  

"Please don´t give up! 

We will be punished too. 
I´am pregnant, and so are Holly and Jane. 
We MUST get something to eat."

Christina puts herself together again and continues 
working  with the heavy pickaxe. 

  Martha, the young pregnant girl is right. 
The whole group is punished, if one slacks off. 
 

At last one more horrible day is over. 

A whole 5 hours of sleep awaits. 

Tomorrow she will have to work hard! 
She MUST reach her quota! 
Not only for her own sake, 
but also for the other poor women ! 
 

Weak from not have eaten the day before Christina crawls to her work place, as soon as her leg irons have been unlocked from her necklace. 
 

She is determined, that she from today she will work as hard as possible, so it will not be her fault, if the group fails to meet the quotas. 
  

Hour after hour slowly passes 
as she ignores all pain and swings 
the heavy pickaxe with all force. 
 

in the afternoon she is ordered to fill baskets. 
 

"Push harder - Lazy slut!" 

The last 100 yards to the surface 
the track goes steep upwards, so the slaves 
have to use all their strengh. 
 

"Oh - No !  Poor Julia." 

She had always told everybody, she was sure her family sometime would find her 
and get her out from her. 
Now they will never know, what have becomne of their once so pretty and cheerful daughter and sister. 
   

Only an hour later a freashly 
abducted young woman arrives 
to take Julia´s place. 
 

Lisa is in a poor health. 
She has long suffered from a painful abscess, and once again she has failed her work quota, and has got nothing to eat. 


 

That evening Christina feels very sorry for herself. 

"Today Julia went to the bone pit, 
and soon Lisa might also go. 
They have both been slaves for 3 years. 
I have only been here about 3 months. 
How long will I survive?"  

Soon the exhausted slaves sleeps. 
But there is never completely silent 
in the dark and humid galleries. 

There are always some kind of noise . 
Regularly some one wakes up screaming from a
nightmare or suffering from cramps in her legs, or a homesick girl or two sobbing somewhere in the dark. 
 

"Get up lazy slut!" 

Dazed Christina tries to sit up. 
A few seconds ago she was dreaming of home, 
now she is back in the brute reality 
facing a new long day in the mine. 

Why does he always kick me so hard?
I would have obeyed him anyway. 
 

Moments later Christina is running to the elevators
with the days first heavy load . 
One more 19 hours work day has begone. 
 

Today Lisa is once more put to maintenance work. 
This means one more day with no food. 

The foreman has noticed, 
that Lisa is suffering from  the abscess. 
Just as well use her to do this kind of work. 
No reasone to waste food on sick slaves. 
  

After about 10 hours of continuously toil, 
the work is interrupted by 
Mrs. Brown and her assistant 
arriving with the food. 
 

"Thank you Mrs. - Thank you!" 

The most have reached their quotas, 
but others have not. 
 
"You two in behind - What are you doing here? 
Lazy girls don´t eat !
Get back to work immediately or you will get caned!" 
 

The newest girl turns her back to the others. 
She is trying not to vomit, by looking the other way, while those slaves, who have reached their quotas, swallows the rotten mess as if they where pigs. 

 

Christina feels a short moment of happiness, 
while she holds the sticky mess in her hands. 

The bad smell don´t disturb her anymore. 
Her stomach is screaming of hunger, and
the odour from her own unwashed body and filthy clothes overshadows that from her food. 
 

"Back to work! 
Push harder or shall I call Maria?" 
 
After a few minutes the lunch breack is over. 
There are only 9 more hours of work 
before it is time to sleep. 
 

After the break Christina is put to maintenance work. 

Oh-no !
I´am already hungry again, 
but because of this extra work, 
I don´t have a chance to meet my next quota.