boats after undergoing inspection.

CHAPTER EIGHT.

WE ATTACK THE SLAVERS.

The attacking flotilla was composed of the launch, under Mr Smellie,
with me for an _aide_; the first cutter, in charge of Mr Armitage, the
third lieutenant; and the second cutter, in charge of Mr Williams, the
master's mate; the force consisting of forty seamen and four officers--
quite strong enough, in Captain Vernon's opinion, to give a satisfactory
account of the three slavers, which, it was arranged, we were to attack
simultaneously, one boat to each vessel.

The last parting instructions having been given to Smellie by the
skipper, and rounded off with a hearty hand-shake and an earnest
exclamation of "I wish you success;" with a still more hearty hand-shake
and a "Good-bye, Harold, old boy; good luck attend you!" from Mr
Austin, the second lieutenant motioned me into the launch; followed me
closely down; the word to shove off was given, and away we went
punctually at half-past nine to the minute.

The fog was still as thick as ever; so thick, indeed, that it was as
much as we could do to see one end of the boat from the other; and,
notwithstanding the care with which, as I had had an opportunity of
seeing, the second lieutenant had worked out all his calculations, I own
that it seemed to me quite hopeless to expect that we should find the
place of which we were in search. Nevertheless, we pushed out boldly
into the opaque darkness, and the boats' heads were at once laid in the
required direction, each coxswain steering by compass, the lighted
binnacle containing which had been previously masked with the utmost
care. Our object being to take the slavers by surprise the oars were of
course muffled, and the strictest silence enjoined. Thus there was
neither light nor sound to betray our whereabouts, and we slid over the
placid surface of the river almost as noiselessly as so many mist-
wreaths.

In so dense a fog it was necessary to adopt unusual precautions in order
to prevent the boats from parting company. We therefore proceeded in
single file, the launch leading, with the first cutter attached by her
painter, the second cutter, in her turn, attached by her painter to the
first cutter, bringing up the rear. The cutters were ordered to
regulate their speed so that the connecting rope between each and the
boat ahead should be just slack enough to dip into the water and no
more, thus insuring that each boat's crew should do