The boat's crew, who were fully aware of my
reasons for haste, lost no time in obeying the order, and the next
instant we were foaming away toward the brigantine, from the deck of
which the hoarse voice of Tasker, the gunner's mate, now reached us,
bawling an order for those for'ard to "stand by to slip!" But before we
were half-way across the intervening stretch of water a dull "boom"
resounded astern of us, and a length of some fifty feet of wharf face
suddenly leapt outward and fell with a heavy splash into the water,
followed, about half a minute later, by a second "boom" and splash, then
a third, fourth, fifth, and so on, until the entire wharf was completely
destroyed and the whole place a ghastly, fire-swept ruin. Then we, too,
turned our backs upon what, a short time before, had been one of the
most extensive, important, and conveniently situated slave factories on
the whole of the West Coast, and made sail to rejoin our companions. We
overtook them about half a mile outside the bar; and when I had
signalled the commodore that my mission of destruction was fulfilled, he
hoisted a general signal setting a course of north-west by west for Cape
Palmas; and, when this had been acknowledged, hoisted another to "try
rate of sailing." This, of course, was the same thing as giving the
word for a race, and, the weather being moderate at the time, we each at
once proceeded to pile upon our respective commands every rag of canvas
that we could find a yard, boom, or stay for.

The race proved an exceedingly interesting and exciting event, for all
the vessels were fast. The wind being off the land, the water was
smooth for the first three or four hours of the race; and during that
time there was scarcely a pin to choose between the _Josefa_ and the
brigantine, first one and then the other contriving to get the lead by a
length or two, while the brig and the barque also made a neck-and-neck
race of it but very gradually dropped astern until, by the time that we
had run the land out of sight, the _Josefa_ and the brigantine were
leading by nearly a mile, which lead we very gradually increased. By
this time, however, the breeze had freshened up considerably, and the
sea had got up, whereupon the _Josefa_ displayed so marked a superiority
that she had to take in all three royals and her mizzen topgallantsail
to avoid running away from the rest of us. But, contrary to my
expectations, _El Caiman_, which was an exceedingly