sums, far in advance of the usual
market, were offered by him for a cargo of _boys_; still we were
delayed full twenty days longer than our contract required before a
supply reached Bangalang.

As I had promised _Mongo John_, or John the Chief, to visit his
factory, I took this opportunity to fulfil my pledge. He received me
with elaborate politeness; showed me his town, barracoons, and stores,
and even stretched a point, to honor me by an introduction to the
_penetralia_ of his _harem_. The visit paid, he insisted that I should
dine with him; and a couple of choice bottles were quickly disposed
of. Ormond, like myself, had been a sailor. We spoke of the lands,
scenes, and adventures, each had passed through, while a fresh bottle
was called to fillip our memories. There is nothing so nourishing to
friendship as wine! Before sundown our electric memories had circled
the globe, and our intimacy culminated.

While the rosy fluid operated as a sedative on the Mongo, and glued
him to his chair in a comfortable nap, it had a contrary effect on my
exhilarated nerves. I strolled to the verandah to get a breath of
fresh air from the river, but soon dashed off in the darkness to the
sacred precincts of the _harem_! I was not detected till I reached
nearly the centre of the sanctuary where Ormond confined his motley
group of black, mulatto, and quarteroon wives. The first dame who
perceived me was a bright mulatto, with rosy checks, sloe-like eyes,
coquettish turban, and most voluptuous mouth, whom I afterwards
discovered to be second in the chief's affections. In an instant the
court resounded with a chattering call to her companions, so that,
before I could turn, the whole band of gabbling parrots hemmed me in
with a deluge of talk. Fame had preceded me! My sable nurse was a
servant of the harem, and her visit to the schooner, with the tale of
the tragedy, supplied anecdotes for a lifetime. Every body was on the
_qui vive_ to see the "white fighter." Every body was crazy to feel
the "white skin" she had healed. Then, with a sudden, childish freak
of caprice, they ran off from me as if afraid, and at once rushed back
again like a flock of glib-tongued and playful monkeys. I could not
comprehend a word they said; but the bevy squealed with quite as much
pleasure as if I did, and peered into my eyes for answers, with impish
devilry at my wondering ignorance.

At last, my sable friends seemed not only anxious to amuse themselves