usand were males, all in prime condition. This information having
reached the slavers' agents at Sierra Leone through the mysterious
channels by which news often travels in Africa, an effort of quite
exceptional magnitude was to be made to get at least the two thousand
males out of the country at one fell swoop; the present being regarded
as an almost uniquely favourable opportunity for the accomplishment of
this object, for the reason that the _Psyche_ was just then the only
ship which could by any possibility interfere with the scheme. And in
the event of her happening to put in an inopportune appearance on that
part of the coast at the critical moment--as she had a knack of doing,
in the most unaccountable manner--she was to be decoyed away from the
spot by the simple process of dispatching to sea a certain notorious
schooner well-known to be in the trade, but which, for this occasion
only, was to have no slaves or slave fittings or adjuncts on board, and
after a chase of some two or three hundred miles to the southward, was
to permit herself to be caught, only to be released again, of course,
after an exhaustive overhaul.

It was an admirable scheme, beautifully simple, and could scarcely fail
to achieve complete success, but for the fact that Captain Harrison had
contrived to obtain full particulars of it, and therefore knew exactly
how to frustrate the plan. His plot was as simple as that of the
slavers: he would proceed in the _Psyche_ to the scene of operations,
and when the decoy schooner made her appearance she would be permitted
to go on her way unmolested, while a boat expedition would be dispatched
up the river to the town of Olomba, where the vessels actually engaged
in shipping the two thousand blacks would be captured _flagrante
delicto_.

Naturally we were all thrown into a high state of jubilation at the
receipt of this intelligence; for it promised us a slice of good luck of
such magnitude as very seldom fell to the lot of a single cruiser. To
convey two thousand negroes across the Atlantic at once would
necessitate the employment of at least three large ships, the value of
which might be roughly calculated at, upon the very lowest estimate, ten
thousand pounds each, or thirty thousand pounds in all, besides which
there would be the head-money upon two thousand negroes, amounting
altogether to quite a nice little sum in prize-money for a cruise of
probably less than a month's duration. Oh, how w