Page:The History of Slavery and the Slave Trade.djvu/351

 I kept my canoemen on the schooner by an abundant supply of 'bitters,' and at midnight landed half a dozen, who proceeded to the mulatto's cabin, where be was seized sans ceremonie. The terror of this ruffian was indescribable when he found himself in my presence — a captive, as he supposed, for the debt of flesh. But I soon relieved him, and offered him a libera] reward for his prompt, secret and safe pilotage to Kakundy. The mulatto was trilling, but the stream was too shallow for my keel. He argued the point so convincingly, that in half an hour I relinquished the attempt, and resolved to make 'Mahomet come to the mountain.'

" The two boats were quickly manned, armed, and supplied with lanterns; and, with muffled oars, guided by our pilot — whose skull was kept constantly under the lee of my pistol — we fell like vampyres on our prey in the darkness.

"With a wild hurrah and a blaze of our pistols in the air, we leaped on board, driving every soul under hatches without striking a blow I Sentries were placed at the cabin door, forecastle and hatchway. The cable was slipped, my launch took her in tow, the pilot and myself took charge of the helm, and, before daylight, the prize was alongside my schooner, transhipping one hundred and ninety-seven of her slaves, with their necessary supplies.

"Great was the surprise of the captured crew when they saw their fate; and great was the agony of the poisoner, when he returned next morning to the vacant anchorage, after a night of debauch with the king of Kakundy First of all, he imagined we were regular cruisers, and that the captain's death was about to be avenged. But when it was discovered that they had fallen into the grasp of friendly slavers, five of his seamen abandoned their craft and shipped with me.

"We had capital stomachs for breakfast after that night's romance. Hardly was it swallowed, however, when three canoes came blustering down the stream, filled with negroes and headed by his majesty. I did not wait for a salutation, but, giving the warriors a dose of bellicose grape, tripped my anchor, sheeted home my sails, and was off like an albatross!

"The feat was cleverly achieved; but, since then, I have very often been taxed by my conscience with doubts as to its strict morality. The African slave-trade produces singular notions of meum and tuum in the minds and hearts of those who dwell for any length of time on that blighting coast; and it is not unlikely that I was quite as prone to the infection as better men, who perished under the malady, while I escaped!

"It was a sweltering July, and the 'rainy season' proved its tremendous power by almost incessant deluges. In the breathless calms that held me spelh bound on the coast, the rain came down in such torrents that I often thought the solid water would bury and submerge our schooner. Now and then, a south-wester and the current would fan and drift us along; yet the tenth day found us rolling from side to side in the longitude of the Cape de Verdes.

"Day broke with one of its customary squalls and showers. As the cloud lifted, my look-out from the cross-trees announced a sail under our lee. It was