uld have preferred remaining on board, he accompanied Mr
Twigg on shore. He met at dinner several planters, agents of estates,
or attorneys, as they were called; two or three brother skippers whose
vessels lay in the harbour, a military officer, and a few nondescripts.
The conversation was pretty general, though the subject of sugar and rum
might have predominated, and Owen heard more about affairs in Jamaica
than he had hitherto done. The blacks, he found, were in an
unsatisfactory state; they had been discovered holding secret meetings
of a suspicious character. They had more than once before revolted and
committed most fearful atrocities; and one or two gentlemen expressed
the fear that, unless precautions were taken in time, the black's might
play the same trick again. Those gentlemen were, however, looked upon
by the rest of the company as timid alarmists.

"The cowhide is the best specific for keeping the black rascals in
order," exclaimed Mr Tony Grubbins, an attorney from a neighbouring
estate, who looked as if he not unfrequently used that same weapon of
offence. "We always know in good time what the negroes are about, for
they haven't the sense to keep their own secrets; if they show any
obstreperousness, we shall pretty quickly put them down."

"As there are ten blacks to one white man, if the negroes are combined
we might find it not so easy a matter to put them down," observed one of
the timid gentlemen.

"Pooh-pooh, sir!--show them the muzzle of a blunderbuss and they'll be
off like a shot," answered the other.

From the remarks made by the timid gentleman, Owen felt, however,
inclined to side with his opinion.

Captain Brown, of the good ship _Sarah Ann_, on hearing that Owen was to
sail without convoy, warned him of the danger he would run. "All very
well, sir," he observed, "when you get to the eastward of the islands,
but you'll find out that you'll have to run the gauntlet of the enemy's
cruisers, for they're pretty thick in these seas; and, in addition,
there are not a few picarooning, piratical rascals who don't pretend
even to be privateers, and boldly hoist the black flag, and rob and
murder all they can capture."

"I hope that the _Ouzel Galley_ can keep clear of them, as well as of
the regular cruisers of the enemy," answered Owen. "We fell in with a
gentleman of the sort on our passage out, but we had fewer guns and
hands than we have now, and we at first took him for one of our co