e way, and
transported across the harbour and fairly started upon their journey.
Then, having already completed our own preparations for departure, our
prisoners were apportioned out among the four prizes, put down in the
holds on top of the ballast and made perfectly secure, and the officers
and men then proceeded to take up their quarters on board the vessels to
which they had severally been appointed by the skipper.

The captain himself naturally took command of the _Josefa_, with Mr
Purchase as his first lieutenant; Mr Hoskins was given the command of
the _Don Miguel_, with Copplestone and Parkinson from our old
midshipman's berth to bear him company and keep him from becoming too
completely satisfied with life; Mr Marline, the master, was placed in
charge of _La Belle Estelle_, with the boatswain's mate to assist him;
and, lastly, the skipper was good enough to show his confidence in me by
giving me the brigantine to navigate to Sierra Leone--our common
destination--with the gunner's mate and Jack Keene as my deck officers.

As there was not very much room in the anchorage for manoeuvring, we got
under way in succession, the _Josefa_ taking the lead, followed by _Don
Miguel_, after which went _La Belle Estelle_, while _El Caiman_, with
her canvas set, strained at the cable which secured her to the buoy, as
though she were afraid of being left behind.

But _I_ had a duty to perform before I cast off from the buoy at which
the brigantine was straining; therefore, while the other vessels got
under way, I and my boat's crew stood on the wharf and quietly watched
them go. Then, as soon as the brig was fairly clear of the anchorage, I
went, with two of my boat's crew, to the leewardmost building of the
settlement and set light to a little pile of combustibles that had been
carefully arranged in each room, finally thrusting a blazing torch into
the thatch upon quitting the building. And in the same way we proceeded
to each building in turn, until the entire settlement, barracoons and
all, was a roaring furnace of flame. Then, bidding my crew get down
into the boat and stand by to shove off in a hurry, I proceeded to a
certain spot and set fire to an end of slow match that was protruding
from a box sunk into the ground near the wharf face, after which I
picked up my heels and scampered off, best leg foremost, for the boat,
into which I sprang, without much consideration for my dignity, and gave
the word to shove off.