llows' own fault if
they venture to attack us, should some of them stick in their bodies,"
he observed, as the guns were loaded. A dozen boarding-pikes were also
found and served out to the men.

"I rather suspect that these weapons will prove more serviceable in the
hands of our stout fellows than muskets or pistols, which take time to
load," observed Adair. "They may serve us in good stead, should the
Brazilians attempt to climb up the side."

These arrangements being made, Adair and Desmond returned to the cabin
to finish their supper, which they had just begun when Pedro came to
them.

"Don't you think after all that that Portuguese fellow may have been
trying to frighten us for some object of his own, perhaps to ingratiate
himself into your favour?" asked Desmond.

"No! no, I think not," answered Adair, "the Brazilians have played
similar tricks on captured vessels before, in this very port, and they
are capable of any atrocity. There was an old friend of mine named
Wasey, a capital fellow, kind-hearted and brave, as true a man as I ever
met with. We were shipmates for a short time on the coat of Africa;
Rogers and Murray knew him well, and liked him as much as I did. He was
one of those quite unpretending characters who don't know what is in
them, except to those with whom they are intimate.

"We chased and captured a small schooner with a hundred and fifty slaves
on board. He was put in charge of her with ten hands, and directed to
take her to Sierra Leone, we having received on board her former crew,
that he might not be troubled with them. Soon after he parted company
from us a heavy gale sprang up from the eastward, and he was blown off
the land. The schooner, one of those slightly put together craft, built
expressly for slavers, sprang a leak, and the water gained so fast on
them, that it was as much as the crew, with a few of the blacks who were
to be trusted, could do to keep her afloat. His only chance of saving
the lives of his crew, and himself, as well as of the blacks, was to run
for the Brazilian coast. The schooner was also short of provisions and
water, and had he attempted to beat up for Sierra Leone, he knew that
most of the blacks must perish, even if he contrived to keep her afloat.
The weather in no way moderated, and though he set an example to his
men by taking his turn at the pumps, all hands working with a will, he
scarcely expected to get across the Atlantic. Still, by atte