and I therefore consented. Some hours later the captain
returned, and upon my repeating to him the yarn which I had spun to the
mate he not only very readily consented to my working my passage, but
also offered me two excellent suits of clothes, two shirts, two pairs of
stockings, a pair of shoes, and a worsted cap in exchange for my
leopard-skin, which offer I gladly accepted; and that night found me
domiciled in the forecastle of _L'Esperance_ as one of her crew.

My companions, although a sufficiently lawless lot, were nevertheless
genial enough among themselves, and--let me do them justice--made me
heartily welcome among them. Naturally enough, having heard that I had
been a captive among the savages, they insisted upon my relating to them
my adventures; and this inaugurated an evening of yarn-spinning in the
forecastle, the incidents related having reference for the most part to
the slave-trade. There was one grizzled old scoundrel, in particular,
nicknamed--appropriately enough, no doubt--"Red Hand," who was full of
reminiscence and anecdote; and by-and-by, when the grog had been
circulating for some time, he made mention of the names _Virginia_ and
_Preciosa_, at which I pricked up my ears; for I remembered at once that
those were the names of the two slavers that our own and the American
Government were so anxious to lay by the heels, and which had hitherto
baffled all our efforts and laughed at our most carefully laid plans.
Not altogether to my surprise, I now learned that the _Virginia_ and the
_Preciosa_ were one and the same craft, manned by two complete crews--
one American and one Spanish--and furnished with duplicate sets of
papers. Thus, if by any chance she happened to be overhauled by a
British ship, she hoisted American colours, her American skipper,
officers, and crew showed themselves, and her American set of papers was
produced, the result being that she went free, although she might have a
full cargo of slaves on board--for the British were not authorised to
interfere with American slavers. And, in like manner, if an American
cruiser happened to fall in with her, she showed Spanish colours,
mustered her Spanish crew on deck, and produced her Spanish papers for
inspection if she were boarded, there being no treaty between America
and Spain for the suppression of slavery. What she did if she happened
to encounter a French cruiser I did not learn; apparently such an
accident had not yet happen