n, and was
rather trying to the nerves of all hands, for not only were we
constantly exposed to attack by the slavers, but there were the natives
also to be reckoned with; and these, as we all knew, had a most
objectionable habit of using poisoned arrows, the slightest wound from
which was invariably followed by death after some eight to twelve hours
of dreadful suffering. Shortly after noon we emerged from these natural
entanglements into a long reach of the river where the stream expanded
to a width of some three and a half miles, with a narrow deep-water
channel running about midway between the banks. Here we were quite free
from any possibility of ambush of any kind; and with a sigh of intense
relief the captain gave the word to pipe to dinner.

About four o'clock in the afternoon we arrived at a point where the
river again narrowed to a width of about a mile; but some two miles
farther on it again widened out, and changed its direction, trending
away almost due east, or about at right angles to its former course; and
this, according to the information in the skipper's possession,
indicated that we were nearing our destination. Drawing from his pocket
a sketch chart which he had already consulted several times during our
passage up the river, he again studied it intently for several minutes,
carefully comparing the configurations delineated upon it with our
actual surroundings; then, apparently satisfied with the result, he
refolded the paper, returned it to his pocket, and directed the coxswain
to bear away a couple of points toward a projecting point--which we
afterwards discovered to be the western extremity of an islet--on the
far side of the river. As we approached the spot for which we were
heading it became apparent that there were two islets instead of one
between us and the river bank; and a quarter of an hour later the gig,
with the rest of the flotilla following her, glided in between these two
islets, and, lowering her sails, made the signal for the other boats to
anchor.

The boats were now completely concealed from all possible observation,
for we soon saw that the islets between which we were anchored consisted
merely of mud-banks thickly overgrown with mangroves, and absolutely
uninhabitable even by natives; for there did not appear to be an inch of
ground upon either of the islets sufficiently solid to support even a
reed hut, while the mangroves were tall enough and grew densely enough
to hid