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I woke up and it was still dark out, so thought I had awaken early. But then I saw Kwaku trying to get a look outsid, and I ask if it was time to get up, and if it was still raining. He answered yes to both my questions. He said he could see the guard headed our way.

The guard opened the gate, and said we needed to clean up. He said the food would soon be ready, and that the Foreman had some bad news. I figured out the bad news, since it was still raining, and hated that for Kwaku and Dauda. We quickly did our business and got cleaned up, and followed the guard to the dinning shed. I noticed I was wadding through water, that was ankle deep, and I noticed the guard had on boots.

Once at the shed we sat down, and waited for the Foreman. He came down on the elevator, with our food, and he was wearing boots and carrying an umbrella. He put the food down on the table, and closed his umbrella before sitting down. He then informed us, that he had some bad news, and informed us we would have to stay, until the rain stopped. He told us the road up the hill, was nothing but mud and standing water. That the trucks couldn’t make it up and over the crest, and that they weren’t sure what the rest of the road looked like.

We finished our breakfast in silence, and then started expressing our disappointment. I tried to comfort the guys, by pointing out we had finished the job, so would be leaving soon. Don’t know if that really did any good, in comforting them, but I hoped that gave them some comfort.

We decided to stay at the shelter, rather than wade in the water going back to the slave quarters. I just hopped there was no more lightning storms, with everything being wet, and standing water in the pit. We stayed and ate both our lunch and evening meals at the shed.

Later the guard came down, and told us it was time to return to the slave quarters. He took the lead wearing his boots, and holding his umbrella. We stepped down, from the platform, into water that was well over our ankles. We waded that way to the quarters, and I was hoping there was nothing in the water, that could cause an injury.

We reached the slave quarters, and dried off on towels that the guard had brought with him. He then told us we wouldn’t be chained that night, so we just sat down on our mattress. The guard then left locking the gate, and turning off the light.

We still had the dim light, we needed when getting around in the dark. We started our nightly conversation, and it was mostly about the disapppoinent of not leaving. We talked about the rain and all the water in the pit. I wondered how high the water would get, before the rain stopped.

The pit has a number of small drains scattered around the main center of the mine. I’m not sure where the water goes, but think it may go into the nearby river. The drains are small, and just can’t handle this much rain, but it’s keeping the water low.

Kwaku was trying to see how much water was outside, and was trying to see if the rain was letting up, while we talked. Soon we were all getting a little sleepy, don’t know if that was from the sound of the rain, or just being tired. I fell asleep, not sure who was first.