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118 a hole which has been cut from the cabin for that purpose. When a batch has been thus disposed of another is allowed to descend, and in a little while the hold is full; fifty or more natives have been made prisoners, and meantime the strange missionary has returned from shore, the canoes are cut adrift or sunk by dropping pieces of iron into them, and the pretended missionary ship sails away with a cargo of slaves for the Queensland or Feejee market."



"And was this really done by Englishmen?" one of the youths asked.

"Yes, not only once, but several times," the Doctor answered; "and of the men thus stolen from their homes very few ever found their way back again. If you wish more information on this point, read 'Kidnapping in the South Seas,' by Captain Palmer, and 'The Cruise of the Rosario,' by Captain Markham, both of the Royal Navy. These gentlemen were sent to cruise in Polynesian waters to suppress the slave-trade; and though they made several captures, they did not find themselves supported by the colonial courts. 'In two glaring instances,' says Captain Markham, 'when slavers were seized and sent to Sydney for adjudication they were acquitted, and their captors were themselves condemned in heavy damages for detention and injury done to those vessels.'

"A notorious case," continued the Doctor, "was that of the slaver Carl, which has figured prominently in the newspapers and official documents. This vessel left Melbourne in June, 1871, for a cruise among