wful death-cry of five hundred helpless
beings, imprisoned in the burning vessel, rings in our ears, curdling
our blood, and seeming as if it would burst the very vault of Heaven
with its appalling tones. It was a fitting knell to be rung over the
slaver's grave.

And now the brilliant rays of the setting sun, streaming brightly over
the waters, gild with an unearthly glare the whirling clouds of smoke,
that rising towards the blue sky, grow fainter and fainter until they
are lost in the clear ether. The sea no longer dances and flashes in
the red light, as if exulting with the glee of fiends at the mortal
agony of its victims. Calm and smooth as a polished mirror, it lies
spread out over the spot where the slaver sank.

Suddenly a huge cloud of thick black smoke rises from the bosom of the
deep. It mounts upward until it rivals in height our vessel's masts,
and then it spreads itself over the scene like a sable pall, as if it
would prevent the fumes of such unclean and hideous offering from
rising to Heaven, and hurl them down on our accursed heads, as
witnesses of the wrath of that Being, who has said: "Thou shalt not
kill." And now for a moment all is still as the grave, and it seems to
me that the air is too hot and close to breathe; it stifles me, and I
feel like a second Cain.

At this moment a crowd of slaves, men, women, and little children, who
had been drawn down by the sinking vessel, appeared struggling on the
surface of the sea. The strongest cried like very devils in their
despair, whilst the women and children, the weak and the helpless,
gasped vainly for breath, and worn out by their efforts to sustain
themselves above the water, sank at last to the bottom with a look of
mute agony I shall never forget. Among the whole number, we did not
see one of the ship's crew. Like desperate men, they had sunk with
their vessel. We fished up about one half of the unhappy blacks, but
the direst necessity compelled us to leave the rest of them, as it was
impossible for us to take them on board. Oh that I could for ever blot
this scene from my memory!

It chanced that among those saved, was a young and pretty girl, who,
weak and exhausted, was lying on deck, her head resting on a block of
wood. A powerful negro swam to that part of the vessel where she lay.
Seeing him in the water, she sprang up and held out her hand to him,
to help him on board. As he was about to grasp it, he was struck in
the breast by a shot,