the case in regard to his emissary.
I was soon in possession of the actual thief, and had little
difficulty in securing his execution on the ruins he had made. Before
we launched him into eternity, I obtained his confession after an
obstinate resistance, and found with considerable pain that a brother
of Ormond, the suicide, was a principal mover in the affair. The last
words of the Mongo had been reported to this fellow as an injunction
of revenge against me, and he very soon learned from personal
experience that Kambia was a serious rival, if not antagonist, to
Bangalang. His African simplicity made him believe that the "red cock"
on my roof-tree would expel me from the river. I was not in a position
to pay him back at the moment, yet I made a vow to give the new Mongo
a free passage in irons to Cuba before many moons. But this, like
other rash promises, I never kept.

Sad as was the wreck of my property, the conflagration was fraught
with a misfortune that affected my heart far more deeply than the loss
of merchandise. Ever since the day of my landing at Ormond's factory,
a gentle form had flitted like a fairy among my fortunes, and always
as the minister of kindness and hope. Skilled in the ways of her
double blood, she was my discreet counsellor in many a peril; and,
tender as a well-bred dame of civilized lands, she was ever disposed
to promote my happiness by disinterested offices. But, when we came
to number the survivors of the ruin, ESTHER was nowhere to be found,
nor could I ever trace, among the scattered fragments, the slightest
relic of the Pariah's form!

* * * * *

Of course, I had very little beside my domestics to leave in charge of
any one at Kambia, and intrusting them to the care of Ali-Ninpha, I
went in my launch to Sierra Leone, where I purchased a schooner that
had been condemned by the Mixed Commission.

In 1829, vessels were publicly sold, and, with very little trouble,
equipped for the coast of Africa. The captures in that region were
somewhat like playing a hand,--taking the tricks, reshuffling the same
cards, and dealing again to take more tricks! Accordingly, I fitted
the schooner to receive a cargo of negroes immediately on quitting
port. My crew was made up of men from all nations, captured in prizes;
but I guardedly selected my officers from Spaniards exclusively.

We were slowly wafting along the sea, a day or two out of the British
colony, when the