*
When blinks were not enough, the slaves developed a system of whistles and the loudest was to warn of danger. Stefan had noticed the two slightly leaning trees by the river before and after a full week of rain, the ground was loose enough to let them fall. Then when the wind began to blow hard and the trees began to sway, he whistled as loud as he dared. The sound alerted the slaves, but the guards had not yet caught on to the whistles and one threatened to lash him. He lowered his eyes submissively, went back to work and prayed the guard would let his infraction pass. He did. Then Stefan looked at the man next to him, glanced up at the trees and soon the silent word to stay away from them was passed from slave to slave.
One by one, the slaves moved to safer locations and still the guards did not notice how much danger they were in. Two stood directly beneath the trees talking and paying no attention. Then Stefan heard the fateful crack, cupped his hands and yelled, "Run!"
Two other slaves pointed at the trees and just in time, the guards realized what was happening. They scrambled out of the way right before the largest of the two trees fell and kept running until they were well away. Then they looked back in time to see the second tree crash to the ground.
Out of breath, the two guards were stunned. "We surely would have been killed," one of the guards said. He stared at Stefan for a long moment before he finally nodded his appreciation.
That began a measure of respect between the guards and the slaves. It also helped the guards look good in the eyes of their commander. Not many days after, the guards looked the other way and let them exchange names. The man Stefan bathed with was named Baodan.
When food was more scarce than usual, Stefan shared his with those who looked like they needed it more and the men were always grateful. This too the guards allowed, looking the other way when Stefan got up to scrape a portion of his into another man's bowl.
*
It was on a sunny day that two of the slaves delivered their basket of rocks to the top of the bridge, fell off and plunged to their deaths in the water below. It was not an accident, Stefan knew, for one man suffered such great despair daily, he suspected he would try to kill himself. In his attempt to save the first, the second man fell with him. At least this time Stefan knew their names and should he ever escape and find their families, he intended to notify them.