stem of colonizing I got rid of the support of two hundred
and twenty-five negroes; and, as good luck would have it, a visit from
a friendly coaster enabled me, within ten days, to exchange my
beautiful cutter "Ruth" for a cargo of rice from the colony at Cape
Palmas.

It was fortunate that in a week after this happy relief the British
cruisers left our anchorage for a few days. No sooner were they off,
than a telegraph of smoke, which, in those days, was quite as useful
on the African coast, as the electric is on ours, gave notice to the
notorious "Volador." There was joy in the teeming factories when her
signal was descried in the offing; and, before the following dawn,
seven hundred and forty-nine human beings, packed within her one
hundred and sixty-five tons, were on their way to Cuba.

_This was the last cargo of slaves I ever shipped!_

CHAPTER LXVI.

When the thought struck me of abandoning the slave-trade, and I had
resolved to follow out the good impulse, I established a store in the
neighborhood of my old _barracoons_ with the design of trafficking in
the produce of industry alone. This concern was intrusted to the
management of a clever young colonist.

It was about this time that the British brig of war Termagant held New
Sestros in permanent blockade, forbidding even a friendly boat to
communicate with my factory. Early one morning I was called to witness
a sturdy chase between my scolding foe and a small sail which was
evidently running for the shore in order to save her crew by beaching.
The British bull-dog, however, was not to be deterred by the perils of
the surf; and, holding on with the tenacity of fate, pursued the
stranger, till he discovered that a large reinforcement of armed
natives was arrayed on the strand ready to protect the fugitives.
Accordingly, the Englishmen refrained from assailing the mariners, and
confined their revenge to the destruction of the craft.

As this affray occurred within gun-shot of my lawful factory, I
hastened to the beach under the belief that some of my _employes_ had
unluckily fallen into a difficulty with the natives. But on my arrival
I was greeted by a well-known emissary from our headquarters at
Gallinas, who bore a missive imparting the Volador's arrival in Cuba
with six hundred and eleven of her people. The letter furthermore
apprised me that Don Pedro, who persisted in sending merchandise to
my slave factory, still declined my resignation as h