The six men remained sullen and silent and the Commissioner left them for a
while. He told the court messengers, when he left the guardroom, to treat the men with
respect because they were the leaders of Umuofia. They said, "Yes sir," and saluted.
As soon as the District Commissioner left, the head messenger, who was also the
prisoners' barber, took down his razor and shaved off all the hair on the men's heads.
They were still handcuffed, and they just sat and moped.
"Who is the chief among you?" the court messengers asked in jest. "We see that
every pauper wears the anklet of title in Umuofia. Does it cost as much as ten cowries?"
The six men ate nothing throughout that day and the next. They were not even
given any water to drink, and they could not go out to urinate or go into the bush when
they were pressed. At night the messengers came in to taunt them and to knock their
shaven heads together.
Even when the men were left alone they found no words to speak to one another.
It was only on the third day, when they could no longer bear the hunger and the insults,
that they began to talk about giving in.
"We should have killed the white man if you had listened to me," Okonkwo
snarled.
"We could have been in Umuru now waiting to be hanged," someone said to
him.
"Who wants to kill the white man?" asked a messenger who had just rushed in.
Nobody spoke.
"You are not satisfied with your crime, but you must kill the white man on top of
it." He carried a strong stick, and he hit each man a few blows on the head and back.
Okonkwo was choked with hate.