st of the crew. In fact, so pleased was I with the
result on inspecting the balance-sheet, that I resolved to divert
myself with the _dolce far niente_ of Cuban country life for a month
at least.

But while I was making ready for this delightful repose, a slight
breeze passed over the calmness of my mirror. I had given, perhaps
imprudently, but certainly with generous motives, a double pay to my
men in recompense of their perilous service on the Rio Nunez. With the
usual recklessness of their craft, they lounged about Havana, boasting
of their success, while a Frenchman of the party,--who had been
swindled of his wages at cards,--appealed to his Consul for relief. By
dint of cross questions the Gallic official extracted the tale of our
voyage from his countryman, and took advantage of the fellow's
destitution to make him a witness against a certain Don Teodore Canot,
who _was alleged to be a native of France_! Besides this, the
punishment of my mate was exaggerated by the recreant Frenchman into a
most unjustifiable as well as cruel act.

Of course the story was promptly detailed to the Captain-General, who
issued an order for my arrest. But I was too wary and flush to be
caught so easily by the guardian of France's lilies. No person bearing
my name could be found in the island; and as the schooner had entered
port with Spanish papers, Spanish crew, and was regularly sold, it
became manifest to the stupefied Consul that the sailor's "yarn" was
an entire fabrication. That night a convenient press-gang, in want of
recruits for the royal marine, seized the braggadocio crew, and as
there were no witnesses to corroborate the Consul's complaint, it was
forthwith dismissed.

Things are managed very cleverly in Havana--_when you know how_!

CHAPTER XXXVII.

Before I went to sea again, I took a long holiday with full pockets,
among my old friends at Regla and Havana. I thought it possible that a
residence in Cuba for a season, aloof from traders and their
transactions, might wean me from Africa; but three months had hardly
elapsed, before I found myself sailing out of the harbor of St. Jago
de Cuba to take, in Jamaica, a cargo of merchandise for the coast, and
then to return and refit for slaves in Cuba.

My voyage began with a gale, which for three days swept us along on a
tolerably good course, but on the night of the third, after snapping
my mainmast on a lee shore, I was forced to beach the schooner in
order