far from being at ease, dreading lest the tyrannical
master from whom he had fled should discover his place of retreat, and
claim him. Hamed, however, made him understand that he now belonged to
the ship, and that all on board would fight for him with their big guns
and small-arms, and go to the bottom rather than give him up. On
comprehending this, he showed his joy by capering and singing, and
making a variety of demonstrative gestures, signifying that if his
former owner came to look for him, he would get more than he bargained
for. At length he stopped, and a shade of melancholy came over his
countenance. Hamed, who, in spite of his ugliness, possessed some of
the better feelings of human nature, asked him what was the matter.

He sighed, and said that he had a brother on shore who was as badly off
as he had been, and that he should now be parted from him for ever, as
he could never venture back to Mozambique, or set his foot on shore in
the neighbourhood, lest he should be kidnapped and carried back to a
worse bondage than that from which he had escaped.

Hamed, of course, could give him little hope of rescuing his brother,
and advised him to turn in and be thankful that he himself had escaped.
Notwithstanding poor Pango's fears, no one appeared to claim him, and
the next morning he was seen among the men forward, lending a hand at
all sorts of jobs, evidently anxious to make himself useful.

The pilot at length came off, announcing that the tide and wind would
now serve for taking out the ship. "Hands shorten in cable!" shouted
Ben Snatchblock, his pipe sounding shrilly along the decks. Pango
remained forward, concealing himself behind the foremast, though he
every now and then took a glance at the ill-favoured pilot, a big,
cut-throat, piratical-looking individual, who was standing aft near the
master, while his boat hung on alongside the quarter.

Sail was made, the anchor lifted, and the ship was gathering way, when a
black sprang out of the boat alongside through a port, and tried to hide
himself under one of the midship guns. The savage-looking pilot espied
him, and ordered him back into the boat. Instead of obeying, he clung
tightly to the gun. "Remove the man and put him back into the boat,"
said the commander; "but do not handle him roughly." Now, as the poor
black clung with might and main to the gun, and shrieked loudly for
mercy, the latter order prevented the seamen from executing the forme