mate
told me that there are two men here, the worst characters he ever
know'd--ashore or afloat. One they calls Yoosoof--an Arab he is; the
other Marizano--he's a slave-catcher, and an outlaw just now, havin'
taken up arms and rebelled against the Portuguese authorities.
Nevertheless these two men are secretly hand and glove with the Governor
here, and at this moment there are said to be a lot o' slaves ready for
shipment and only waitin' till the `Firefly' is out of the way. More
than this my friend could not tell, so that's w'y I went to
excogitate.--I beg parding, sir, for being so long wi' my yarn, but I
ain't got the knack o' cuttin' it short, sir, that's w'ere it is."

"Never mind, lad; go on to the end of it," replied the captain. "Did
you excogitate anything more?"

"I can't say as I did, sir, but it was cooriously enough excogitated
_for_ me. W'en I was lying there looking through the bush at the bay, I
sees two men comin' along, arm in arm. One of 'em was an Arab. W'en
they was near I saw the Arab start; I thought he'd seen me, and didn't
like me. No more did I like him or his comrade. However, I was wrong,
for after whisperin' somethin' very earnest-like to his friend, who
laughed very much; but said nothin', they came and sat down not far from
the bush where I lay. Now, thinks I, it ain't pleasant to be an
eavesdropper, but as I'm here to find out the secrets of villains, and
as these two look uncommon like villains, I'll wait a bit; if they
broach business as don't consarn me or her Majesty the Queen, I'll
sneeze an' let 'em know I'm here, before they're properly under weigh;
but if they speaks of wot I wants to know, I'll keep quiet. Well, sir,
to my surprise, the Arab--he speaks in bad English, whereby I came to
suppose the other was an Englishman, but, if he is, the climate must
have spoiled him badly, for I never did see such a ruffian to look at.
But he only laughed, and didn't speak, so I couldn't be sure. Well, to
come to the pint, sir, the Arab said he'd got hold of two shipwrecked
Englishmen, whom he meant to put on board of his dhow, at that time
lyin' up a river not three miles off, and full of slaves, take 'em off
the coast, seize 'em when asleep, and heave 'em overboard; the reason
bein' that he was afraid, if they was left ashore here, they'd discover
the town, which they are ignorant of at present, and give the alarm to
our ship, sir, an' so prevent him gettin' clear off, which he