int and sea-craft,
to disguise the Saint Paul as a very respectable cruiser.

In twenty-seven days we touched at the Cape de Verds for provisions,
and shaped our way southward without speaking a single vessel of the
multitude we met, until off the Cape of Good Hope we encountered a
stranger who was evidently bent upon being sociable. Nevertheless, our
inhospitable spirit forced us to hold our course unswervingly, till
from peak and main we saw the white flag and pennant of France
unfurled to the wind.

Our drum immediately beat to quarters, while the flag chest was
brought on deck. Presently, the French _transport_ demanded our
private signal; which out of our ample supply, was promptly answered,
and the royal ensign of Portugal set at our peak.

As we approached the Frenchman every thing was made ready for all
hazards;--our guns were double-shotted, our matches lighted, our small
arms distributed. The moment we came within hail, our captain,--who
claimed precedence of the lieutenant of a transport,--spoke the
Frenchman; and, for a while, carried on quite an amiable chat in
Portuguese. At last the stranger requested leave to send his boat
aboard with letters for the Isle of France; to which we consented with
the greatest pleasure, though our captain thought it fair to inform
him that we dared not prudently invite his officers on deck, inasmuch
as there were "several cases of small-pox among our crew, contracted,
in all likelihood, at Angola!"

The discharge of an unexpected broadside could not have struck our
visitor with more dismay or horror. The words were hardly spoken when
her decks were in a bustle,--her yards braced sharply to the
wind,--and her prow boiling through the sea, without so much as the
compliment of a "_bon voyage_!"

Ten days after this _ruse d'esclave_ we anchored at Quillimane, among
a lot of Portuguese and Brazilian slavers, whose sails were either
clewed up or unbent as if for a long delay. We fired a salute of
twenty guns and ran up the French flag. The salvo was quickly
answered, while our captain, in the full uniform of a naval commander,
paid his respects to the Governor. Meantime orders were given me to
remain carefully in charge of the ship; to avoid all intercourse with
others; to go through the complete routine and show of a man-of-war;
to strike the yards, haul down signal, and fire a gun at sunset; but
especially to get underway and meet the captain at a small beach off
the port,