nsisting of boiled
salt beef and pork, with a few sweet potatoes, and a "duff" made of
flour, damaged by sea water, with a few currants and raisins dotted
about here and there in it--was served upon the _Psyche's_ mizzen royal
stretched upon the bare sand in the centre of our "tent"; and we partook
of it squatted round the sail cross-legged on the sand, finding the way
to our mouths by the light of four ship's lanterns symmetrically
arranged one at each corner of the sail.

Naturally enough, Mr Purchase--now ranking as first lieutenant _vice_
Mr Perry, acting captain--having told the tale of the happenings which
had resulted in our becoming castaways, was anxious to hear full
particulars of what had befallen the boat expedition; and this Mr Perry
proceeded to relate to him as we sat round the "table." When he had
finished there was silence for a moment; then Purchase looked up and
said--

"Don't you think it very strange that your experiences throughout should
have accorded so ill with the information that Captain Harrison acquired
at so much trouble and personal risk? Hitherto it has always happened
that such information as he has been able to pick up has proved to be
accurate in every particular."

"Yes," agreed Mr Perry, "it has. I've been thinking a good deal about
that to-day; and the opinion I have arrived at is that Harrison played
the game once too often, with this result--" and he waved his right hand
comprehensively about him, indicating the tent, the makeshift dinner,
and our condition generally.

"What I mean is this," he continued, in reply to Purchase's glance of
inquiry. "The poor old _Psyche_, as we all know, was a phenomenally
slow ship, yet her successes, since she came on the Coast, have been
greater and more brilliant than those of any other vessel belonging to
the squadron. And why? Because she had a trick of always turning up on
the right spot at the right moment. Now it seems to me that this
peculiarity of hers can scarcely have escaped the notice of the slave-
trading fraternity, because it was so very marked. I imagine that they
must often have wondered by what means we gained our information; and
when at length the thing had become so unmistakable as to provoke both
conjecture and discussion it would not take them long to arrive at a
very shrewd suspicion of the truth. When once the matter had reached
this stage discovery could not possibly be very long delayed. Captain
Harrison