ch we were about
to engage was one of very considerable importance, and the task which we
had set ourselves to perform was so formidable that, in order to insure
success, it would be necessary to employ practically the entire ship's
company, leaving the vessel in charge of the second lieutenant and only
enough hands to keep a look-out and perform such tasks as, for example,
the letting go of the stream anchors in case of necessity, the paying
out of the additional amount of cable, the keeping of the ship
reasonably clean, and so on.

On the following morning, having washed decks and partaken of breakfast,
the hands were mustered and inspected, the boats lowered, guns secured
in the bows of the launch, pinnace, and first and second cutters,
ammunition boxes passed down, masts stepped, sails cast loose, yards
hooked on, and, in short, everything made ready for a start. Then we
went down over the side and took our places in the boats to which we
were severally appointed, the captain going as usual in his own gig,
while Mr Perry, the first luff, was in command of the launch; Mr
Hoskins, the third lieutenant, commanding the pinnace; Mr Marline, the
master, having charge of the first cutter, while Mr Tompson, the
gunner, commanded the second cutter. The skipper took me, as he
generally did, in his own boat, but the other three mids. were left on
board the _Psyche_ to keep Mr Purchase company. For the rest, Nugent,
the master's mate, went with the first lieutenant, while Peter Futtock,
the boatswain, accompanied the third lieutenant in the pinnace.

We mustered ninety all told, and were none too many for the work that we
had undertaken to do, which was--to capture three, if not four, large
ships; capture and demolish the shore batteries which the slavers very
frequently erected for the defence of their strongholds; and also, most
likely, fight King Olomba and a whole flotilla of war canoes. The task
was indeed a formidable one; the more so that we, the attacking party,
would be, at least at the beginning of the fight, huddled closely
together in boats, while our antagonists would have all the advantage of
roomy decks to move about on, and steady gun platforms from which to
pour in their fire, to say nothing of a tremendous superiority in point
of numbers. We thought nothing of all this, however; we were going to
have a change from the monotony of shipboard life; we should be certain
to see new sights of a more or less in