Page:The History of Slavery and the Slave Trade.djvu/343

 heart slaves! I told the ting that a vessel or two, with abundant freights, would be waiting me on the river, and that I must hasten thither with his choicest gangs if he hoped to reap a profit.

"The king and the royal family were no doubt excessively grieved to part with the Furtoo Mongo, hut they were discreet persons and 'listened to reason.' War parties and scouts were forthwith dispatched to blockade the paths, while press-gangs made recruits among the villages, and even in Timbo. Sulimani-Ali himself sallied forth, before day-break, with a troop of horse, and at sundown came back with forty-five splendid fellows, captured in Findo and Furo!

"The personal dread of me in the town itself was augmented. If I had been a Pestilence before, I was Death now! When I took my usual morning walk the children ran from me screaming. Since the arrival of Sulimani with his victims, all who were under the yoke thought their hour of exile had come. The poor regarded me as the devil incarnate. Once or twice, I caught women throwing a handful of dust or ashes towards me, and uttering an invocation from the Koran to avert the demon or save them from his clutches. Their curiosity was merged in terror. My popularity was over!"

The captain takes command of the schooner La Esperanza, whose chief officer had died of the fever, resolved to make a visit to his friends in Cuba, for a little relaxation from the monotony of a slave-trader's life in Africa. The slave cargo was duly stowed, and the schooner put to sea, but the British bulldogs soon scented the foul slaver on the tainted breeze and were on his track.

"When the land breeze died away, it fell entirely calm, and the sea continued an unruffled mirror for three days, during which the highlands remained in sight, like a faint cloud in the east. The glaring sky and the reflecting ocean acted and reacted on each other until the air glowed like a furnace. During night a dense fog enveloped the vessel with its clammy folds When the vapor lifted on the fourth morning, our look-out announced a sail from the mast-head, and every eye was quickly sweeping the landward horizon in search of the stranger. Our spies along the beach had reported the coast clear of cruisers when I sailed, so that I hardly anticipated danger from men-of-war; nevertheless, we held it discreet to avoid intercourse, and, accordingly, our doubled-manned sweeps were rigged out to impel us slowly toward the open ocean. Presently, the mate went aloft with his glass, and, after a deliberate gaze, exclaimed: 'It is only the Dane, — I see his flag.' At this my crew swore they would sooner fight than sweep in such a latitude; and, with three cheers, came aft to request that I would remain quietly where I was until the Northman overhauled us.

"We made so little headway with oars that I thought the difference trifling, whether we pulled or were becalmed. Perhaps it might be better to keep the hands fresh, if a conflict proved inevitable. I passed quickly among the men, with separate inquiries as to their readiness for battle, and found all — from the boy to the mate — anxious, at every hazard, to do their duty. Our break