place--the lie was
given and returned--filthy language was used profusely; and, what with
the quarrelling of the men, and the shouting and swearing of the
officers, a scene was carried on that might have rivalled an Irish row
in the infernal regions.

The principal reason why such a culpable error had been committed--and
this all hands knew--had been the appearance of the cruiser. She had
caught them at their work, and suddenly put a stop to it.

Had she not arrived, it is probably enough that the men--however idle
and drunken--would have finished their work and provided water enough
for the voyage, but the unexpected appearance of the warship had driven
all ideas of the water casks out of their heads; and they had thought
only of shipping the "freight" and getting out of the river as speedily
as possible.

In reality the skipper was the man answerable for the whole misfortune.
He had allowed no time to complete the filling of the casks; and,
indeed, had he done so, he would never have set sail, but must have lost
both his barque and his cargo in the river.

It is probable enough he had never thought of the other horn of the
dilemma; indeed, it is certain he had not--else he would long before
have discovered the shortness of his supply, and taken some means to
remedy it. No means had been used either to provide more water, or to
economise what there was. Neither crew nor cargo had been upon rations
since the beginning of the voyage; water had been dealt out to all as
freely and lavishly as if the ocean itself had been a fresh-water lake.

I watched the investigation with painful forebodings. I waited, as
patiently as I could for the result.

The report was at length delivered in presence of the whole crew. Its
effect was like that of an electric shock upon all of them. There were
but two casks on board that contained fresh-water, and these were only
half-full!

CHAPTER FORTY FOUR.

Yes--two half casks or one whole one--in all, about one hundred gallons
of fresh-water to serve for a crew of forty white men and a cargo of
five hundred black ones; to serve them for weeks! Why, it would not be
a single day's allowance--far less, indeed--it would scarce give each of
them a drink!

I have said, that the announcement, as to the quantity of water
remaining, produced upon the crew a very marked effect. Up to this time
they had been in a state of gloomy apprehension--still not without hope
that among the m