wild hurrah and a blaze of our pistols in the air, we leaped on
board, driving every soul under hatches without striking a blow!
Sentries were placed at the cabin door, forecastle and hatchway. The
cable was slipped, my launch took her in tow, the pilot and myself
took charge of the helm, and, before daylight, the prize was alongside
my schooner, transhipping one hundred and ninety-seven of her slaves,
with their necessary supplies.

Great was the surprise of the captured crew when they saw their fate;
and great was the agony of the poisoner, when he returned next morning
to the vacant anchorage, after a night of debauch with the king of
Kakundy. First of all, he imagined we were regular cruisers, and that
the captain's death was about to be avenged. But when it was
discovered that they had fallen into the grasp of _friendly slavers_,
five of his seamen abandoned their craft and shipped with me.

We had capital stomachs for breakfast after the night's romance.
Hardly was it swallowed, however, when three canoes came blustering
down the stream, filled with negroes and headed by his majesty. I did
not wait for a salutation, but, giving the warriors a dose of
bellicose grape, tripped my anchor, sheeted home my sails, and was off
like an albatross!

The feat was cleverly achieved; but, since then, I have very often
been taxed by my conscience with doubts as to its strict morality! The
African slave-trade produces singular notions of _meum and tuum_ in
the minds and hearts of those who dwell for any length of time on that
blighting coast; and it is not unlikely that I was quite as prone to
the infection as better men, who perished under the malady, while I
escaped!

CHAPTER XXXV.

It was a sweltering July, and the "rainy season" proved its tremendous
power by almost incessant deluges. In the breathless calms that held
me spell-bound on the coast, the rain came down in such torrents that
I often thought the solid water would bury and submerge our schooner.
Now and then, a south-wester and the current would fan and drift us
along; yet the tenth day found us rolling from side to side in the
longitude of the Cape de Verds.

Day broke with one of its customary squalls and showers. As the cloud
lifted, my look-out from the cross-trees announced a sail under our
lee. It was invisible from deck, in the folds of the retreatingmain,
but, in the dead calm that followed, the distant whistle of a
boatswain was distinctly