time, allowing all
this, I cannot admit the negro to be on an equality with the white
races. They are inferior, I am certain, alike in intelligence,
disposition and nature, and I hold him as little qualified for self-
government on the European system as a child is fit to be entrusted with
a case of razors for playthings. Hayti is an illustration of this,
sir!"

"All right, my dear sir," said the skipper good-humouredly, glad to see
the colonel taken out of himself and forgetting his grief about his
little daughter for the moment in the discussion. "Carry on; we're
listening to you!"

His enthusiasm, however, did not last very long.

"Heavens! Senor Applegarth, and you, too, gentlemen," he went on in a
changed tone. "I have cause to love those Haytian scoundrels well, I
tell you! Well, sirs, to proceed with my story, the terrible end of
which I have nearly reached, this dog of a black rascal, the so-called
marquis, seemed quite content, much to my surprise, when Captain
Alphonse told him we were not bound for Cuba, but for Liverpool.

"It was all the same to him, he said, and as they were going the longer
voyage, perhaps Captain Alphonse would allow him and his companions to
work out their passage by assisting the crew in the navigation of the
ship.

"Captain Alphonse was delighted at this, for we had only half a dozen
good seamen on board, the rest of the hands being a lot of half-bred
mulattoes and niggers--some of the scourings of South America whom he
had picked up at La Guayra, most of whom knew how to handle a cutlass
better than a rope--so the proposed addition to the strength of our
ship's company was a very acceptable one, particularly as the `Marquis'
pointed out two of his companions as being expert sailors and qualified
pilots and navigators."

"Ha! You kept your eye on those gentry, colonel, I bet you did?"

"Yes, sir. They were the first I spotted when the row began; but I'm
anticipating matters."

"The divvle a bit, sor," interposed Garry O'Neil. "Let me jist change
the dressin' of your leg, an' ye can polish off the rist of the rascals
as soon as ye plaize."

"A thousand thanks," returned the other, shifting his position to allow
his leg to be attended to. "They did not disclose their purpose,
though, or `show their hand,' as they say at the game of monte, all at
once; for, moved by their voluntary offer to help work the ship, Captain
Alphonse promised the `marquis,' who when makin