the scandal of Cuba. I
learned from this man that a cargo had recently been "run" in the
neighborhood of Matanzas, and that its disposal was most successfully
managed by a Senor * * *, from Catalonia.

I slapped my thigh and shouted _eureka_! It flashed through my mind to
trust this man without further inquiry, and I confess that my decision
was based exclusively upon his _sectional_ nationality. I am partial
to the Catalans.

Accordingly, I presented myself at the counting-room of my future
consignee in due time, and "made a clean breast" of the whole
transaction, disclosing the destitute state of my vessel. In a very
short period, his Excellency the Captain-General was made aware of my
arrival and furnished a list of "the Africans,"--by which name the
Bosal slaves are commonly known in Cuba. Nor was the captain of the
port neglected. A convenient blank page of his register was inscribed
with the name of my vessel as having sailed from the port six months
before, and this was backed by a register and muster-roll, in order to
secure my unquestionable entry into a harbor.

Before nightfall every thing was in order with Spanish despatch when
stimulated either by doubloons or the smell of African blood;--and
twenty-four hours afterwards, I was again at the landing with a suit
of clothes and blanket for each of my "domestics." The schooner was
immediately put in charge of a clever pilot, who undertook the formal
duty and _name_ of her commander, in order to elude the vigilance of
all the minor officials whose conscience had not been lulled by the
golden anodyne.

In the meanwhile every attention had been given to the slaves by my
hospitable _ranchero_. The "head-money" once paid, no body,--civil,
military, foreign, or Spanish--dared interfere with them. Forty-eight
hours of rest, ablution, exercise and feeding, served to recruit the
gang and steady their gait. Nor had the sailors in charge of the party
omitted the performance of their duty as "_valets_" to the gentlemen
and "_ladies' maids_" to the females; so that when the march towards
Sant' Iago began, the procession might have been considered as
"respectable as it was numerous."

The brokers of the southern emporium made very little delay in finding
purchasers at retail for the entire venture. The returns were, of
course, in cash; and so well did the enterprise turn out, that I
forgot the rebellion of our mutineers, and allowed them to share my
bounty with the re