y supposed that _about_ two hundred and fifty
Mexican ounces would compensate him to a fraction, and, accordingly,
the two hundred and fifty shiners, glistening on the deck, forthwith
returned to their bag and went overboard into his boat.

"_Adieu! mon cher_," said I, as I followed the gold; "_la fortune de
guerre_ has many phases, you see; how do you like this one? The next
game you play on the coast of Africa, my chicken, recollect that
though a _knave_ can take a trick, yet the _knave may be trumped
before the hand is played out_!"

CHAPTER XXVIII.

La Esperanza discharged her cargo rapidly, but, before I was ready to
send back a living freight, poor Escudero fell a victim to African
fever.

I had seen much of the country; I had made some money; my clerk was a
reliable fellow; I was growing somewhat anxious for a change of scene;
and, in fact, I only wanted a decent excuse to find myself once more
aboard a "skimmer of the seas," for a little relaxation after the
oppressive monotony of a slaver's life. Escudero's death seemed to
offer the desired opportunity. His mate was an inexperienced seaman;
his officers were unacquainted with the management of a slave cargo;
and, upon a view of the whole field of interests, I thought it best to
take charge of the schooner and pay a visit to my friends in Cuba. In
the mean time, however, a Danish brig arrived for negroes, so that it
became necessary for me, with my multiplied duties, to bestir myself
in the collection of slaves.

Whilst I was dining one afternoon at Ormond's factory with the Danish
captain of the trader, the boom of a gun, followed rapidly by two or
three more, announced the arrival of another craft. We drank a toast
to his advent, and were beginning to condole a little over our
difficulty in procuring blacks, when the look-out ran into our room
with the report that my Spaniard was firing into the Dane. We rushed
to the piazza whence the scene of action might be beheld, and another
shot from my vessel seemed to indicate that she was the aggressor. The
Dane and myself hurried aboard our respective schooners, but when I
reached the Esperanza, my crew were weighing anchor, while the
quarter-deck was strewn with fire-arms. The mate stood on the heel of
the bowsprit, urging his men to alacrity; the sailors hove at the
windlass with mingled shouts of passion and oaths of revenge; on a
mattress lay the bleeding form of my second officer, while a seaman
g