all directions, preparing, as we
imagined, to oppose our landing, for it was evident they were alarmed at
our appearance, which sufficiently indicated our intentions. The
slave-vessels, afraid of being seized, had disappeared from before the
town, and gone farther up the river before we arrived, so that, however
we might have been otherwise disposed, we did not drop anchor, but
continued to advance as long as the tide served, which was till
half-past one, when the wind failing, we were obliged to anchor. The
Duke's pilot, when we were off the town, requested to leave us for a
short time; he said, he "must go tell Duke news, and come back
directly." We afterwards discovered that his pretence to go ashore, was
merely a subterfuge to get away altogether, for he never returned, and
we had good reason for believing, that all the people, from the Duke (or
King, which is the same thing) to the meanest of his subjects, secretly
abet the unlawful proceedings of the slavers, by whom they realize much
larger profits than by the regular traders. At three, we sent the small
canoe, with two Kroomen, up the river, to ascertain the situation of the
slave-vessels, and soon got under weigh to follow them; but the wind
dying off towards sunset, we were obliged to anchor again. About an hour
afterwards, our canoe returned, with information that three slave
schooners, and a brig, had gone still farther up the river, indeed, as
far as the navigation of the river would allow, where they had fortified
themselves in the strongest manner, to resist any attack on our part:
having also the support of all the authorities of the native towns and
villages that could, with any show of prudence, be extended to them. We
also understood, that they had not a slave on board of either of them,
which was likely enough, as it is not customary to put them on board
until they are on the point of sailing. These circumstances determined
Lieutenant Badgeley to return to the town, in which resolution he was
also influenced by the consideration of the inferiority of our force. A
schooner of 120 tons, with no more than twenty Europeans on board; the
crew of the vessel being Africans (as the crews of most of the colonial
vessels that navigate this coast are,) could have but a poor chance
against five vessels, mustering not less than 150 white men of different
nations, and reckoning 30 guns to our six. The caution evinced by this
step, however justified by circumstances,