eted, her final preparations
for sea were vigorously pushed forward, and on the third day after our
arrival, having first visited the _Bangalore_ and bade farewell to her
passengers--each and every one of whom insisted that he (or she) owed
his (or her) life to me, and that henceforward I must regard myself as a
dearly cherished friend--I joined the little hooker as her commander,
and sailed the same afternoon for the Congo; my especial mission being
to test the truth, or otherwise, of Mendouca's statement respecting the
fate of the _Sapphire's_ boats' crews, and--in the event of its being
true--to attempt the rescue of any of the unfortunate people who might
perchance be still alive.

We made the high land to the northward of the river mouth about
midnight, after a rather long and uneventful passage; and, the wind
being light, and the river current strong, even at a considerable
distance from the entrance, we then reached in toward the land, and
anchored in fourteen fathoms, at about as many miles from the shore,
where we remained, rolling and tumbling about on the heavy swell, until
the sea-breeze set in, about eight o'clock the next morning. We then
hove up our mud-hook, and ran in, anchoring in Banana Creek, opposite
Lobo's factory, about six bells in the forenoon. There was only one
other vessel in the creek at the time, a Portuguese brig; and her build
and general appearance so unmistakably proclaimed her honest, that I
never gave her a second thought. Besides, I had a special mission to
accomplish--namely, the discovery and deliverance, if possible, of
between thirty and forty of my own countrymen, languishing in a bitter
captivity, and in daily, if not hourly, peril of death by torture as
cruel and protracted as the fiendish malignity of merciless savages can
possibly devise.

Now, I was as well equipped for such an expedition as I could possibly
wish, save in one particular. I had a smart, light-draught vessel,
capable of "going anywhere where a duck can swim," as we say at sea; we
were well armed, had plenty of ammunition, mustered a crew of twenty-six
prime seamen, the pick of the _Barracouta's_ crew--men who would go
anywhere, and face anything--we carried an ample supply of blankets,
beads, brass wire, old muskets, and tawdry finery of various
descriptions, priceless in the eyes of savages, for the purpose of
peaceable ransom, if such could be accomplished; but we lacked an
interpreter, a man acquaint