, the whole of the apparatus being
secured to the stern of the vessel by a stout rope. Thus the passage of
the ship through the water caused this piece of canvas between the two
spars to open, when it acted as a drag upon her, and reduced her speed
so considerably that we soon overtook her. But no sooner were we well
under her guns than she opened fire, and before we could get alongside
her she had worked fearful execution both among our fighting-crew and
also the slaves. Our eyes were now opened to the true character of the
vessel, and the crew no longer had any desire to come to close quarters
with her; so they put up their helm and bore away with all speed for
Cadiz, the port nearest to us.

"And then began a chase that I shall never forget so long as I live,
sirs. With our full crew we might perhaps have been a match for the
English ship in point of speed, but half our galley-slaves were killed,
and the Englishman, having now cut away his drag, was coming up with us
hand over hand. The slave-drivers came down among us, and, standing on
the drivers' plank, running down the centre of the galley, drove us to
superhuman exertions by the merciless blows of their heavy-thonged
whips, the lashes of which were plaited up with small lead balls on
them. They even used the flat of their sword-blades to our backs, and
after that, when the English ship still continued to overhaul us, they
drew the edges of their weapons along our flesh, making the blood spurt.
We were, as you perhaps know, all manacled together, and at least half
our slaves were killed by the enemy's shot. The floor of the vessel was
ankle-deep in blood, and the corpses of the dead, still manacled to the
living--for there was no time to separate us,--kept time with our
strokes as we pulled, in a manner most horrible to look upon. The man
next me had had his head cut off by a cannon-shot--I remember at the
time wishing it had been mine,--and with every stroke I pulled his
corpse moved also, and with each movement jets of blood gushed up from
the torn veins, which were protruding from the gory neck, and flooded
me. Well, the vessel still continued to gain on us, and I saw the
Spanish dogs of slave-drivers whispering together, and presently they
called for buckets of fire. These were brought, full of glowing
charcoal, and into them irons were thrust. The unhappy slaves saw what
was in store for them, and pulled until their muscles cracked. Soon the
iron