Institutions run on ritual or, if you prefer, procedure. And what soon became a ritual here was that after the third count of the day – post breakfast – as day follows night that count would be followed by Head Warder Delport's command, ‘Quarry toe!’ (To the quarry!)

Delport was a tall, heavily-built ogre with a permanently red face. Your stereotypical slave master, the man was possessed of inexhaustible energy. And an equal measure of cruelty. His reputation preceded him. Long before we set foot on the island, we had received warning of him. We had also been warned about his weapon of choice – a hosepipe. The man wielded that hosepipe at whim, on any part of a prisoner's body, at any time he felt like doing so, for any reason he deemed fit. But apparently, he was an expert on quarries. So, after the third count of the day, in his heavily-accented English, he’d shout to us: ‘Quarry toe!’

And, ‘Val in! Val in!’ – his warder subordinates chanted.

At that, all of us, hundreds of prisoners, formed rows of fours and, in what couldn’t be but long and unwieldy queues, walked towards the quarry. On all sides, we were surrounded by warders. Herds of sheep have sheepdogs, prisoners have warders – it is just a fact of prison life. Apart from guarding us and making sure we did not escape, the warders’ function appeared to be constantly urging us on ‘Kyk voor jou, agter is donker.’ (Look ahead, behind is dark.) And they had help from their Alsatian dogs which constantly nipped at our heels; thus helping their masters to speed up the procession.

The infamous four brothers Kleynhans usually led that escort task, something they seemed to relish. These men had a special propensity for violence, unavoidable perhaps, considering that they came from a long line of warders. And, as though that were not enough of a burdensome inheritance, the brothers now had Head Warder Delport to nurture them. It was under that gentleman's mentorship that the Kleynhans sons served their apprenticeship before they were released to do their dirty work.